Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists

Myths<?of the HindusBuddhistsIt was not long after this that a feast was held for rejoicingsat the birth of Krishna ;but he was forgotten in thegeneral merry-making, and lay byhimself under a cart.Now another rakshasi, passing by, saw that he lay theresucking his toes, and to avenge Putana she sat on the cartas if to crush it ;but Krishna gave a kick and broke thecart and killed the demoness. All the pots of milk andcurds in the cart were broken, and the noise of the brokencart and flowing milk broughtall the herd-boys and herdgirlsto the spot, and they found Krishna safe and sound.When Shrl Krishna was five months old another fiend camein the shape of a whirlwind to sweep him away fromYasoda s lap where he lay ;but at once he grew so heavythat Yasoda had to lay him down. Then the stormbecame a cyclone, but no harm came to Krishna, for nonecould even lift him. But at last he allowed the whirlwindto take him up into the sky, and then, while the peopleof Braj were weeping and lamenting, Krishna dashed therakshasa down and killed him, and the storm was over.Krishna s MischiefKrishna and Balaram grew up together in Gokula ;theirfriends were the gopas and gopls, the herd-boys and herdgirls; their hair was curly, they wore blue and yellowtunics, and crawled about and played with toys and used tocatch hold of the calves tails and tumble down ;andRohinI and Yasoda followed them about lest any accidentshould happen to them. But Krishna was very mischievous.He used to take away the pots of curds whenthe gopls were asleep; when he saw anything on a highshelf he would climb up and itpulldown and eat some ofit, and spill or hide the rest. The gopls used to go andcomplain of him to Yasoda, calling him a butter-thief;222