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Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 2: Chapter 7: Verses 26-33
The stories of the Lord's sportful descents
In order to relieve the oppression of the earth, which will be overrun by the armies of kings who are secondary incarnations of demons (the enemies of gods), the Lord will be partially born as Sri Balarama and Sri Krsna, representing severally a grey and a dark hair[1]of the Deity. In these forms He will perform feats bearing testimony to His greatness, even though His ways are beyond the comprehension of the common people. To suck out the life of the demoness Ulukika (Putana) even as a new-born babe (of less than ten days), to turn a cart upside down with His foot, while yet three months old, and to knock down two very high Arjuna trees while crawling on His hands and knees between them-all these feats are such as cannot be conceived to have been performed by anyone else than the Lord Himself. Living in Vraja, He will bring back to life the cattle of Vraja as well as their keepers-who meet their death by drinking the poisonous water of the Yamuna-by casting His gracious look at them. And further in order to purify the waters of the Yamuna He will sport in that river and expel the serpent Kaliya, whose tongue is ever restless due to the vehemence of the fierce poison. The same night, when the (dry) forest of rushes (surrounding them on all sides) begins to be consumed by wild fire and the entire Vraja is dead asleep (on the bank of the Yamuna), that Lord of incomprehensible power with Balarama will ask them to close their eyes, and save them from certain death. This exploit of the Lord will be indeed supernatural. Every cord that His mother (Yasoda) catches hold of to bind her Child with will prove inadequate. Nay, when the cowherd lady (Yasoda) beholds the (fourteen) spheres in His mouth, even as He yawns, she will at first be filled with dismay and then she will be roused to a sense of His supreme divinity. Again, He will rid His father Nanda of fear (of the python) and deliver Him from Varuna's noose and will further rescue the cowherd boys that will be shut up in caves by the demon Vyoma (Maya's son). Nay, He will take to His own (eternal and blissful) Abode, Vaikuntha, the people of Gokula, even though they remain working all day long and, due to over-exertion, sleep as a log at night. When, on the yearly sacrificial offering (to Indra) being stopped by the cowherds (Nanda and others), the god of rain will pour down torrential showers all over the territory of Vraja for the destruction of that land, the Lord in His anxiety to protect (them as well as) their cattle will, at the (tender) age of seven, graciously and sportfully hold up on His untiring hand Mount Govardhana even as a tall mushroom for seven days (consecutively). While sporting in the groves (of Vrndavana) on a night bright with the rays of the full moon, He will, as a prelude to His Rasa dance, pour out (from His flute) a sweet and prolonged melody, which will kindle the flame of love in the heart of the young cowherdesses (and draw them to the lovely spot). (In the course of the Rasa dance that follows) an attendant of Kubera (Sankhacuda by name) will carry them off and the Lord (while rescuing them) will sever his head[2]
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