Kamsa was an
evil man and had friendships with all sorts of evil spirits,
men and women. There was an evil woman named Putana, who was
a witch and could fly using uprooted trees. She was a
cannibal, relishing human blood, especially small babies.
She had the powers to change her appearance at will and as
desired, to lure and attract her prey. She was sent out to
kill and eat all babies born in the last 10 days all over
the kingdom.
She entered
the Gokul village like a beautiful damsel and dressed
nicely. She was so attractive that no one bothered to
enquire about her or stop her. The innocent cowherd men and
women thought that she was one of the noble souls around who
had come to see the new born baby. She freely entered the
house of Nand and saw the Lord Krishna, lying there as a
small baby and sleeping. She took the baby in her lap. She
had poisoned her nipples of her breasts and tried to suckle
the baby. This was the method she had followed to kill all
the babies. In the olden days, women suckling the babies of
others was not frowned upon and was considered an act of
high affection and honor. She did not know that she was
holding death personified in the form of a baby. Lord
Krishna sucked not only her milk, he also sucked her life
out. She struggled and tried to shake away the baby crying
"Oh child leave me, leave me" and regained her
ugly appearance and tried to take off from the place. No one
can escape from the Lord's punishment. She fell down dead
like a tree. The people of the village were terrified by her
real appearance and picked baby Krishna playing on her dead
body.
Mother
Yashoda, being a simple soul, picked up the baby and started
praying to all gods for the welfare of the baby. She did not
know that her baby was the supreme lord himself who needed
no protection. She performed all sorts of prayers for the
protection of the baby. In the mean time Nand and his
retinue had returned to the village and saw the gigantic
body of Putana. Nand immediately recalled the prophecy of
Vasudeva that there might be troubles in the village. As per
custom, the villagers cut the body into various pieces and
burnt them. When the dead carcass was burning, they found
that the smoke coming out had a good aroma, instead of the
normal abnormal smell of burning flesh. This was because
Putana was washed of her all her sins being killed by the
supreme Lord himself. She obtained Salvation or
"Moksha" as per Vedic beliefs.
According to
Vedic rules, killing of a women, Brahmins, Cows, Children is
forbidden all the times. The first demon to be killed was a
woman. As also according to Vedic beliefs, there are seven
kind of mothers. The real mother, wife of a teacher, wife of
a Brahmin or teacher, cow, the nurse and mother earth.
Putana gave her milk to the lord. She had played her role as
a nurse. The lord killed her for her evil intentions. He
also rewarded her for giving him her milk. From that angle
she had played a mother's role. He rewarded her for that by
granting her permanent liberation. Any service to the lord,
however small it might be, never goes unrewarded.
End of
Chapter 5
Written
by Madhavan T Gopalachary
