The Avatāra Kṛṣṇa: “A Child Whose Actions are not Those of a Child”: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

Reporting to his counsellors about a young herder named Kṛṣṇa who lived in his cow settlement (vraja, ghoṣa) where, among other feats, he killed his nursemaid Pūtanā, defeated the snake Kāliya, lifted up Mount Govardhana, Kaṃsa describes him as “a child whose actions are not those of a child” (bālenābālakarmaṇā, HV 65.5). A few verses later, he adds: “Behaving like a child without actually being one, he enjoys children’s games” (v. 31, abālo bālyam āsthāya ramate bālalīlayā). Kṛṣṇa plays as children do, but the problem is that he also behaves as if he were a god: “Who are you—the gopas say after his raising of Mount Govardhana—a Rudra, a Marut, or a Vasu?”