S'rî
S'uka said: 'After Krishna and Râma had washed
Themselves, o chastiser of the enemies, heard They the
vibrations of kettledrums and went they there to take a
look.
S'ukadeva
Gosvâmî said: O chastiser of enemies, Krishna
and Balarâma, having executed all necessary
purification, then heard the kettledrums resounding at the
wrestling arena, and They went there to see what was
happening. (Vedabase)
Text
2
Reaching
the gate of the arena saw Krishna standing there the elephant
Kuvalayâpîda, directed by his
keeper.
When
Lord Krishna reached the entrance to the arena, He saw the
elephant Kuvalayâpîda blocking His way at the
urging of his keeper. (Vedabase)
Text
3
Tightening
His clothes and tying together His curly locks, spoke He with
words grave like the rumbling clouds to the elephant
keeper:
Securely
binding up His clothes and tying back His curly locks, Lord
Krishna addressed the elephant-keeper with words as grave as
the rumbling of a cloud. (Vedabase)
Text
4
'Elephant
keeper, o elephant keeper, give way to us, move aside right now
or else will I send you with your elephant today to the abode
of Yama [the lord of death].
[Lord
Krishna said:l O driver, driver, move aside at once and let
Us pass! If you don't, this very day I will send both you
and your elephant to the abode of Yamarâja!
(Vedabase)
Text
5
Thus
threatened goaded the angered elephant keeper the fierce
elephant that was alike Yama, the time and death, toward
Krishna.
Thus
threatened, the elephant-keeper became angry. He goaded his
furious elephant, who appeared equal to time, death and
Yamarâja, into attacking Lord Krishna.
(Vedabase)
Text
6
The
master elephant running forward violently seized Him with his
trunk, but striking him He escaped from the grip and
disappeared between his legs.
The
lord of the elephants charged Krishna and violently seized
Him with his trunk. But Krishna slipped away, struck him a
blow and disappeared from his view among his legs.
(Vedabase)
Text
7
Infuriated
not seeing Him spotted he Him by his sense of smell and took he
hold of Him with the end of his long nose, but using force He
freed himself once more.
Infuriated
at being unable to see Lord Kes'ava, the elephant sought Him
out with his sense of smell. Once again
Kuvalayâpîda seized the Lord with the end of his
trunk, only to have the Lord forcefully free Himself.
(Vedabase)
Text
8
Grabbing
him by the tail dragged Krishna him, as easy as Garuda does
with a snake, that mountain of power for twenty-five
bow-lengths.
Lord
Krishna then grabbed the powerful Kuvalayâpîda
by the tail and playfully dragged him twenty-five
bow-lengths as easily as Garuda might drag a snake.
(Vedabase)
Text
9
Acyuta with
moving him to the left and to the right was also moved about by
him, just like a calf with a young boy [at its tail]
would [see also 10.8:
24]
.
As
Lord Acyuta held on to the elephant's tail, the animal tried
to twist away to the left and to the right, making the Lord
swerve in the opposite direction, as a young boy would
swerve when pulling a calf by the tail. (Vedabase)
Text
10
Then coming
face to face, slapped He the elephant with His hand, ran away
and thus hitting him at each step, made He him
trip.
Krishna
then came face to face with the elephant and slapped him and
ran away. Kuvalayâpîda pursued the Lord,
managing to touch Him again and again with each step, but
Krishna outmaneuvered the elephant and made him trip and
fall. (Vedabase)
Text
11
He, running,
acted as if He fell to the ground, but then He suddenly got up
so that the elephant angrily came to strike the earth with his
tusks.
As
Krishna dodged about, He playfully fell on the ground and
quickly got up again. The raging elephant, thinking Krishna
was down, tried to gore Him with his tusks but struck the
earth instead. (Vedabase)
Text
12
With his
prowess foiled got that lord of the elephants out of
frustration into a frenzy, but urged on by his keepers,
attacked he furiously Krishna again.
His
prowess foiled, the lordly elephant Kuvalayâpîda
went into a frenzied rage out of frustration. But the
elephant-keepers goaded him on, and he furiously charged
Krishna once again. (Vedabase)
Text
13
The
Supreme Lord, the killer of Madhu, confronting him in attack
seized him firmly by his trunk and made him fall to the
ground.
The
Supreme Lord, killer of the demon Madhu, confronted the
elephant as he attacked. Seizing his trunk with one hand,
Krishna threw him to the ground. (Vedabase)
Text
14
As
easy as a lion jumping on the fallen one, yanked the Lord out a
tusk and killed He the elephant and his keepers with
it.
Lord
Hari then climbed onto the elephant with the ease of a
mighty lion, pulled out a tusk, and with it killed the beast
and his keepers. (Vedabase)
Text
15
Leaving aside
the dead elephant entered He, sprinkled with drops of the
elephant's blood and sweat and holding the tusk on His
shoulder, the arena with His lotuslike face shining of the fine
drops that had appeared of His own perspiring.
Leaving
the dead elephant aside, Lord Krishna held on to the tusk
and entered the wrestling arena. With the tusk resting on
His shoulder, drops of the elephant's blood and sweat
sprinkled all over Him, and His lotus face covered with fine
drops of His own perspiration, the Lord shone with great
beauty. (Vedabase)
Text
16
Surrounded by
several cowherdboys entered Baladeva and Janârdana
the arena, o King, with the elephant's tusks as their chosen
weapons.
My
dear King, Lord Baladeva and Lord Janârdana, each
carrying one of the elephant's tusks as His chosen weapon,
entered the arena with several cowherd boys.
(Vedabase)
Text
17
To the
wrestlers He was lightning, to the men He was the best, to the
women He was Cupid incarnate, to the cowherds He was a
relative, to the impious rulers He was a chastiser, to His
parents He was a child, to the king of Bhoja He was death, to
the unintelligent He was the gross of the universe, to the
yogis He was the Supreme Reality and to the Vrishnis He was the
most worshipable deity - thus seen differently He entered the
arena together with His brother [see *
and rasa].
The
various groups of people in the arena regarded Krishna in
different ways when He entered it with His elder brother.
The wrestlers saw Krishna as a lightning bolt, the men of
Mathurâ as the best of males, the women as Cupid in
person, the cowherd men as their relative, the impious
rulers as a chastiser, His parents as their child, the King
of the Bhojas as death, the unintelligent as the Supreme
Lord's universal form, the yogis as the Absolute Truth and
the Vrishnis as their supreme worshipable Deity.
(Vedabase)
Text
18
Within
Kamsa, who saw Kuvalayâpîda killed and the two of
Them invincible, then rose a great anxiety o ruler of
man.
When
Kamsa saw that Kuvalayâpîda was dead and the two
brothers were invincible, he was overwhelmed with anxiety, O
King. (Vedabase)
Text
19
The two mighty
armed Lords the way They were dressed with garments, ornaments
and garlands like two actors in excellent costumes, shone,
present in the arena, with an effulgence that overwhelmed the
minds of all onlookers.
Arrayed
with variegated ornaments, garlands and garments, just like
a pair of excellently costumed actors, the two mighty-armed
Lords shone splendidly in the arena. Indeed, They
overpowered the minds of all onlookers with Their
effulgences. (Vedabase)
Text
20
Seeing
the two Supreme Personalities opened the people sitting in the
galleries, the citizens and the people from outside, o King, by
the force of their joy, their eyes and mouths wide and drank
they in Their faces, never getting enough of Them with their
vision.
O
King, as the citizens of the city and the people from
outlying districts gazed upon those two Supreme
Personalities from their seats in the galleries, the force
of the people's happiness caused their eyes to open wide and
their faces to blossom. They drank in the vision of the
Lords' faces without becoming satiated. (Vedabase)
Text
21-22
As if drinking
with their eyes, licking with their tongues, smelling through
their nostrils and embracing with their arms, spoke they among
one another commemorating the beauty, qualities, charm and
bravery of the things they had seen and heard:
The
people seemed to be drinking Krishna and Balarâma with
their eyes, licking Them with their tongues, smelling Them
with their nostrils and embracing Them with their arms.
Reminded of the Lords' beauty, character, charm and bravery,
the members of the audience began describing these features
to one another according to what they had seen and heard.
(Vedabase)
.
Text
23
'These two
surely are direct expansions of Hari, the Supreme Personality,
who have descended to this world in the home of
Vasudeva
[The
people said:] These two boys are certainly expansions of
the Supreme Lord Nârâyana who have descended to
this world in the home of Vasudeva. (Vedabase)
Text
24
This one indeed
was, born from Devakî, brought to Gokula where He lived
hidden all this time growing up in the house of
Nanda.
This
one [Krishna] took birth from mother Devakî
and was brought to Gokula, where He has remained concealed
all this time, growing up in the house of King Nanda.
(Vedabase)
Text
25
Pûtanâ
as well as the whirlwind-demon were by Him put to death and so
He also dealt with many others: the Arjuna trees,
S'ankhacûda, Kes'î, Dhenuka ...
He
made Pûtanâ and the whirlwind demon meet with
death, pulled down the twin Arjuna trees and killed
S'ankhacûda, Kes'î, Dhenuka and similar demons.
(Vedabase)
Text
26-27
The cows and
their tenders were by Him saved from the forest fire,
Kâliya the serpent He subdued, Indra was sobered up by
Him, for seven days He held with one hand the best of all
mountains delivering all the residents of Gokula from rain,
wind and hail...
He
saved the cows and the cowherds from a forest fire and
subdued the serpent Kâliya. He removed Lord Indra's
false pride by holding up the best of mountains with one
hand for an entire week, thus protecting the inhabitants of
Gokula from rain, wind and hail. (Vedabase)
Text
28
The
gopîs seeing His always cheerful, smiling face and
glance ever free from fatigue could transcend all sorts of
distress and live happily...
The
gopîs overcame all kinds of distress and
experienced great happiness by seeing His face, which is
always cheerful with smiling glances and ever free of
fatigue. (Vedabase)
Text
29
They say that
by Him this Yadu dynasty will grow very famous and, protected
in every way, will achieve all riches, glory and
power...
It
is said that under His full protection the Yadu dynasty will
become extremely famous and attain wealth, glory and power.
(Vedabase)
Text
30
And this
brother of His, the lotus-eyed Râma, He's of all opulence
and killed Pralamba, [and we think...] Vatsâsura,
Bakâsura and others...'
This
lotus-eyed elder brother of His, Lord Balarâma, is the
proprietor of all transcendental opulences. He has killed
Pralamba, Vatsaka, Baka and other demons. (Vedabase)
Text
31
As the people
were thus speaking and the musical instruments sounded, spoke
Cânûra, addressing Krishna and Balarâma, the
following words:
While
the people talked in this way and the musical instruments
resounded, the wrestler Cânûra addressed Krishna
and Balarâma with the following words.
(Vedabase)
Text
32
'O son of
Nanda, o Râma, You two heroes are well respected and
skillful at wrestling; the king hearing of it wanted to see
that and called for You.
[Cânûra
said:l O son of Nanda, O Râma, You two are well
respected by courageous men and are both skillful at
wrestling. Having heard of Your prowess, the King has called
You here, wanting to see for himself. (Vedabase)
Text
33
Citizens indeed
when they in mind, deeds and words perform to the pleasure of
the king will acquire good fortune, but opposite to this it is
different.
Subjects
of the King who try to please him with their thoughts, acts
and words are sure to achieve good fortune, but those who
fail to do so will suffer the opposite fate.
(Vedabase)
Text
34
The
gopas obviously always very happy tend their calves in
the forests and play and horse around while grazing the
cows.
It
is well known that cowherd boys are always joyful as they
tend their calves, and that the boys playfully wrestle with
each other while grazing their animals in the various
forests. (Vedabase)
Text
35
Therefore,
let the two of You and us act to the pleasure of the king who
embodies all alive, so that all living beings will be
satisfied.'
Therefore
let's do what the King wants. Everyone will be pleased with
us, for the king embodies all living beings.
(Vedabase)
Text
36
Hearing that
spoke Krishna words befitting the time and place [see also
4.8:
54] in
welcome of the wrestling that He Himself also considered
desirable:
Hearing
this, Lord Krishna, who liked to wrestle and welcomed the
challenge, replied with words appropriate to the time and
place. (Vedabase)
Text
37
'As subjects of
the Bhoja king, must We also, even though wandering in the
forest, always execute whatever pleases him, for that will
confer upon Us the greatest benefit.
[Lord
Krishna said:] Although forest-dwellers, We are also
subjects of the Bhoja king. We must gratify his desires, for
such behavior will confer upon Us the greatest benefit.
(Vedabase)
Text
38
We young boys
will as it should contest with those equal in strength; the
wrestling match should take place so that the members of the
audience in this arena will not fall from their
belief.'
We
are just young boys and should play with those of equal
strength. The wrestling match must go on properly so that
irreligion does not taint the respectable members of the
audience. (Vedabase)
Text
39
Cânûra
said: 'You and Balarâma are no boys or youngsters, You're
the strongest of the strong who sported to kill the elephant
that had the strength of a thousand elephants!
Cânûra
said: You aren't really a child or even a young man, and
neither is Balarâma, the strongest of the strong.
After all, You playfully killed an elephant who had the
strength of a thousand other elephants. (Vedabase)
Text
40
Therefore
should the two of You fight with those who are strong, there's
sure no injustice in that; it's Your prowess against mine, o
descendent of Vrishni, and let Balarâma take it up with
Mushthika.'
Therefore
You two should fight powerful wrestlers. There's certainly
nothing unfair about that. You, O descendant of Vrishni, can
show Your prowess against me, and Balarâma can fight
with Mushthika. (Vedabase)
*Thus
one speaks of ten rasas,
attitudes or moods toward Krishna: fury [perceived by the
wrestlers], wonder [by the men], conjugal
attraction [the women], laughter [the
cowherds], chivalry [the kings], mercy [His
parents], terror [Kamsa], repulsion [the
unintelligent], peaceful neutrality [the yogis] and
loving devotion [the
Vrishnis].