The History of the Demons in Krsna Lila

NOTE: I have found a detailed description of the past lives of the different 
demons who were killed by Lord Krsna when He appeared on this planet. These 
descriptions are given in the Garga Samhita, a large work by Garga Muni, the 
priest of the Yadu dynasty. This work was translated by my Godbrother, 
Kusakratha das. I felt that these descriptions would be interesting to 
everyone in the Questions and Answers conference, therefore I have compiled 
them into a short paper, which I am presenting to all of you now for your 
reading pleasure. 

Putana Witch

King Bahulasva asked Narada Muni why the great demoness, Putana, who killed 
many children, attained liberation at the hands of the Lord? Krsna accepted 
her as a mother and gave her the position of His mother in the spiritual sky 
After all, despite her many demoniac disqualifications, and despite her trying 
to kill the Lord Himself, Krsna accepted her as a mother and gave her the 
position of His mother in the spiritual sky. This is was certainly very 
wonderful, and in order to clear up this matter, Bahulasva inquired from 
Narada.

Long beforeago, when Bali Maharaj conquered the entire universe and became the 
king of heaven ruling over all the planetary systems, Lord Vamanadeva appeared 
in Bali Maharaj's his sacrificial arena in order to cheat him Bali Maharaj of 
his kingdom and return it to the demigods who were the rightful owners. When 
Lord Vamanadeva appeared in that assembly, Ratnamala, the daughter of Maharaj 
Bali, saw Him and manifested a love for Him as she would for her own son.

Ratnamala thought "How wonderful it would be to have a son like Him. If I had 
a son like Him, then could give Him my breast milk to drink. Seeing His 
beautiful smiling face like that would make me very happy." Lord Vamanadeva, 
understanding the pure desire of the daughter of His great devotee Ratnamala, 
within Himself awarded her, the daughter of His great devotee, Bali Maharaj, 
the benediction she desired. Therefore, at the end of Dvapara yuga, she became 
Putana, who, by receiving the touch of the Lord and offering Him her breast to 
suck, was awarded her innermost desire.

Sakatasura, the Air-demon

When, on the day of Krsna's appearance, Mother Yasoda placed Krsna in a cradle 
underneath a cart to protect Him from danger while she received guests in her 
home, a demon named Utkaca was sent by Kamsa to Gokula to try to kill Him. 
This demon had a body of air, and, entering into the cart that Krsna was 
placed under, tried to make the cart fall on top of Krsna, thus crushing Him. 
But Krsna immediately kicked the cart with His little foot and caused it to 
smash completely, thus killing the air demon. Immediately Utkaca attained a 
spiritual body, and after respectfully bowing down before Lord Krsna, he 
Utkaca went to the Goloka planet on a chariot pulled by one hundred horses.

The secret behind this demon's success is as follows. Utkaca was previously 
Hiranyaksa's son. One day he went to the hermitage of Lomasa Rsi and broke 
some trees. Lomasa Rsi became very angry at this powerful, giant demon and 
cursed him with the words, "O evil-hearted one, become body-less!" Immediately 
his Utkaca's body fell away as a snake sheds his skin. Seeing the power of the 
great brahmana, the king of the demons fell at the brahmana's feet and said, 
"O sage, O ocean of mercy. Please be kind to me. I did not know your power. O 
lord, please give me a body."

The sage Lomasa had learned a hundred lessons in morality from Lord Brahma, 
and he became pleased with the plea of the demon. It seems that the anger of a 
saintly person can bring about a benediction, and sometimes liberation. 
Therefore, he told the demon that he may have a body made of air, and, when 
the Caksusa manvantara is finished and the Vaivasvata manvantara has come, the 
foot of Lord Hari would give him liberation. Thus he became liberated when 
kicked by the reddish lotus like foot of child Krsna. (It seems that the anger 
of a saintly person can bring about a benediction, and sometimes liberation.)

Trnavarta

As we all have read in the Krsna book, one day Mother Yasoda was playing with 
her wonderful child on her lap, when He manifested the weight of the universe 
and she had to put Him down. All of a sudden a whirlwind appeared out of 
nowhere and picked up baby Krsna and took taking Him high in the sky. This was 
the work of another demon friend of Kamsa, Trnavarta demon. He ultimately was 
killed by Krsna who seemed to the demon to be as heavy as Mount Meru and who 
caused Trnavarta him to crash to the earth, breaking all his bones and ending 
his life. According to Narada Muni, Krsna actually strangled the demon while 
they were both in outer space, and the demon was screaming "Let go! Let go!" 
As soon as the demon was strangled to death by Krsna, the spirit soul of the 
demon merged into the body of Krsna as lightning merges into a dark monsoon 
cloud.

King Bahulasva asked Narada about the pious deeds Trnavarta must have 
performed in the past to get the blessing of merging into the body of the 
Lord. Narada Muni replied that formerly Trnavarta was a powerful and devoted 
king of the country Pandu, who and was a follower of religion, a performer of 
yajnas, and a giver of charity. This king was once enjoying with a thousand 
beautiful women on a riverbank in a very nice spot. One day Durvasa Muni, the 
very powerful, easily angered, partial incarnation of Lord Siva,, who was 
very, very powerful and easily angered, came before the king. Unfortunately, 
for the king, he did not bow down to offer respects before Durvasa to offer 
respects, at which the sage became angry and cursed him, "O evil-hearted one, 
become a demon."

The king became aware of his great offense and immediately fell down at the 
feet of the sage. The sage became pleased at this act of humility and blessed 
the king, "O king, the touch of Sri Krsna's form will give you liberation." 
Because of this, the king became a demon named Trnavarta who and received 
liberation by the touch of the body of the Lord.

Vatsasura

One day, another demon friend of Kamsa appeared within the group of calves 
that Krsna and the cowherd boys were protecting. This demon tried to attack 
Krsna by kicking Him with his hind legs, but Krsna threw him into a tree and 
killed him. When he died, a great light entered into the body of the Lord. 
After hearing about his liberation, Bahulasva asked about the previous pious 
deeds that the demon performed to be granted the benediction of entering into 
the body of Lord Krsna.

Narada Muni explained that Vatsasura was formerly a great demon of the name 
Pramila, who was the son of Ma?ru. This demon Pramila was so powerful that he 
could conquered all the demigods. After his victory, he entered the ashram of 
Vasistha Muni and saw his a very special cow named Nandini. This cow was not 
ordinary in any way. Not only could she produce anything that Vasistha Muni 
required, but she could also speak, and had full cognizance of everything that 
was happening, and had the ability to deal with any situation that she was in. 

The demon foolishly desired to have that cow, so he he conceived of a plan to 
attain her. He transformed himself into a brahmana and begged the cow in 
charity from Vasistha Muni. Vasistha Muni was no ordinary person, and he could 
immediately understand the demon's trick, so. he was remained silent, but 
Nandini, the cow, understanding the situation and how to rectify it, said to 
the demon, "You are a demon, Muru's son, and you have assumed the form of a 
brahmana to steal the sage's cow. Therefore. O wicked-hearted one, now you 
become a calf!"

Despite his great power and opulence, the demon was no match for the power of 
a brahmana and his cow, and therefore he immediately became a calf. 
Understanding that he had made a big mistake, the demon circumambulated 
Vasistha Muni and Nandini, bowed down before them and begged, "Please save 
me!" Nandini was merciful to the demon and promised him that at the end of 
Dvapara yuga he, as a calf, would mingle amongst many other calves and would 
attain liberation. Narada Muni remarks that it is not very surprising that the 
demon Vatsasura entered the body of Lord Krsna considering this benediction 
from the cow of Vasistha Muni.

Bakasura

The story of the killing of Bakasura is very interestingly told in the Garga 
Samhita with details not revealed in the Srimad-bhagavatam. A summary of these 
details follows.

A great duck demon, named Bakasura, appeared by the shore of the Yamuna. He 
was as big as a mountain, with huge feet, quacking like thunder, and with a 
beak that resembled a thunderbolt, and as the cowherd boys ran from him in 
fear, he swallowed up Lord Krsna. The boys immediately started crying as Krsna 
was more important to them than their very lives, and the demigods cried out, 
"Alas! Alas!" The demigods were very angry at the demon. Indra struck the 
demon with his invincible thunderbolt weapon, but that thunderbolt, which 
formerly had severed the head of Vrtrasura, although causing the demon to fall 
down to the ground, did not kill him, and the demon stood up again. Lord 
Brahma struck Bakasura with his Brahma-danda weapon with great force which 
caused the demon to fall unconscious for 48 minutes, however, this powerful 
demon did not die, but got up, shook his body, yawned and roared like a 
thunderclap.

Lord Siva struck the great demon with his trident and cut off one of his 
wings, but the demon did not die. Powerful Vayu blew the duck demon away with 
his wind weapon, but Bakasura returned again to that spot. Yamaraj hit the 
demon with his weapon, but instead of killing the demon, his weapon was 
broken. Surya shot one hundred sharp and deadly arrows at the remaining wing 
of Bakasura, but Bakasura did not die. Kuvera cut off the remaining wing of 
the duck, but still he did not die. Soma struck the duck with his ice weapon, 
but the demon, although tormented by the cold which caused him to faint, got 
up again. Then Agni burned the feathers of the duck to ashes with his fire 
weapon, and Varuna bound him with a rope and dragged him across the ground, 
hurting the sinful duck, but still he did not die.

Goddess Bhadrakali aimed a powerful blow with her mace which caused the demon 
to faint and fall into a deep coma, but although his head was broken, the 
wicked and powerful demon got up again, shaking and roaring. Then Karttikeya 
threw his sakti-weapon at the demon thus cutting off one of his feet, but this 
best of the demoniac birds did not die.

Seeing that the demigods could not stop him, Bakasura started roaring like 
thunder and angrily chased the demigods away with his sharp beak, as the 
demigods flew into the sky. However, the devarsis, brahmarsis and brahmanas 
offered their blessings to the Lord within the stomach of Bakasura. At that 
time the Lord expanded His glorious form, thus breaking the throat of the 
great duck demon. The demon could not tolerate this and vomited Krsna out of 
his beak. Immediately the duck tried to catch Krsna with his sharp beak, but 
Krsna threw the duck to the ground by catching him by the tail. When the duck 
stood up and attempted to attack Krsna with his beak, Krsna split the duck's 
beak with both His hands just like an elephant will playfully break the branch 
of a tree.

This caused the demon to die. Immediately a light came out of his dead body 
and entered into Lord Krsna, as the demigods shouted cries of victory and 
showered flowers upon the Lord.

King Bahulasva was very curious as to who this demon was previously and why he 
was forced to accept the body of a duck. Narada Muni explained as follows. 
"Formerly, this duck demon was the son of Hayagriva who defeated the demigods 
in battle and stole the parasol of Indra. This powerful demon ruled an opulent 
kingdom for one hundred years by stealing the opulences from other human 
kings. Once upon a time, this demon approached the leaf hut of Jajali Muni 
which was situated at Ganga Sagara. He decided to start fishing there and 
proceeded to cast fishhooks into the water and capture fish. The sage did not 
like this and forbade the demon to do this again and again, but the foolish, 
wicked demon did not care about the sage's words. The perfected sage Jajali 
cursed him by saying, 'O demon, you eat fish like a duck - then become a 
duck!'

"Immediately, Utkala became a duck, lost all his power and with his pride and 
arrogance destroyed he, understanding the sage's power, fell at the feet of 
the sage with folded hands saying, 'O sage, I did not know your power earned 
through great austerities, therefore, please save me. Wise sages such as you 
know that simply by the association of great saints like yourself the door of 
liberation opens. Sages such as you see everything equally, they see friends 
and enemies, honor and dishonor, gold and earth, and happiness and distress 
all as the same. By seeing you one can attain everything, including the 
kingdom of Brahma and Indra. What is the use of dharma, artha and kama, for 
simply by your mercy one can attain the Supreme.'

"Jajali Muni, who had performed austerities for 60,000 years, was pleased with 
these words from the mouth of the demon and said, 'When Sri Krsna, the Supreme 
Personality of Godhead appears in Vraja mandala, Bharata varsa, herding many 
calves in the forest of Vrindavan, in Manu of Vaivasvata, in the twenty-eighth 
yuga cycle, at the end of the Dvapara-yuga, you will enter into His body. Even 
though many demons, such as Hiranyaksa, have hated the Lord, they have become 
liberated when killed by Him.' Due to the blessing of Jajali Muni the demon 
Utkala became Bakasura and entered into the body of Krsna. Such benedictions 
are possible by associating with great saints and getting their blessings."

Aghasura

After hearing how Aghasura merged into the form of the Lord when he was killed 
when Krsna expanded within his throat, King Bahulasva eagerly wanted to know 
who he was in his previous birth. Narada Muni, who knew these things 
perfectly, and much more, replied immediately as follows.

Aghasura was the demon Sankhacuda's son. He was young, strong, and handsome 
like a second Kamadeva. The sage Astavakra was very powerful and advanced, but 
he had a body which was disfigured. Agha, being puffed up by his material 
opulence and beautiful body, laughed when he saw the sage and said, "Who is 
this ugly person?" Hearing this, the sage cursed Agha to become the ugliest 
snake on Earth. 

Agha realized that he had made a serious mistake, and he fell at the feet of 
the sage, his pride and arrogance finished. Seeing this action by the demon, 
the sage became pleased with him and decided to give him a benediction. The 
sage said that when Sri Krsna, who is far more beautiful than millions of 
Cupids, enters into the stomach of Agha, he will then become freed from the 
form of a snake. Thus by the curse of Astavakra, Aghasura became a snake and 
by the sage's blessing, he attained a liberation unobtainable by the demigods.

Dhenukasura

Since the Garga Samhita gives some details of the killing of Dhenukasura not 
found in the Bhagavatam, I would like to retell the story here. Once Krsna, 
Balaram, and Their cowherd friends, entered in the Talavan forest to eat the 
nice fruits which were growing there, but which no one could take due to ass 
demons making their home there. Lord Balaram, being bold, walked up to one 
Tala tree and making a fearless roaring sound, shook the tree and made the 
fruits fall so that the boys could collect them and eat. The sound of the 
falling fruits caused Dhenukasura, a most powerful friend of Kamsa, to wake up 
filled with anger from his midday nap. 

The demon came before Lord Balaram to fight with Him and strongly kicked the 
chest of the Lord with his hind legs. Balaram chased after the demon, caught 
his legs with one hand and threw the demon on top of a tala tree causing many 
other tala trees to fall down. The demon got up from the ground and attacked 
Lord Balaram again, but Balaram grabbed him and whirled him around and threw 
him eight miles away just like one elephant would throw another elephant in 
battle. This was quite troublesome to the demon whose head was severely 
injured when he hit the ground, and he fell unconscious. However, being a 
brave demon, he immediately got up and full of rage manifested another 
terrifying form which possessed four horns. Seeing this form, the cowherd boys 
fled, and the demon chased after them.

Some of the boys were very brave and attacked the demon, although he was so 
seemingly powerful. Sridam was very angry and hit the demon with a stick, 
while Subala hit him with his fist. Stoka Krsna whipped the demon with a rope, 
and Arjuna and Amsu threw him far away. Visala and Rsabha kicked him again and 
again while Tejasvi tried to strangle him. Devaprastha slapped him and 
Varuthapa hit him with a ball. But when Krsna grabbed the demon and whirled 
him around and threw him onto Govardhana Hill, he remained unconscious for one 
hour.

After somehow coming back to consciousness, the demon grabbed Krsna and 
carried Him 800,000 miles in the sky where they engaged in battle. Krsna 
grabbed the demon and threw him down to the ground where his bones were broken 
and he lost consciousness. But because he was not an ordinary person, he got 
up again, made a terrible sound, and then uprooted Govardhana Hill and threw 
it at the Lord. The Lord, however, caught that mighty hill and threw it back 
at Dhenuka's head. The demon caught the hill and threw it back at Krsna, who 
easily caught it and placed it back in its original position.

The ass-demon dug into the ground with his horns and charged at Lord Balarama. 
While roaring so loudly that the universe echoed the roar while the earth 
shook, he kicked Lord Balarama with his rear legs. Lord Balarama grabbed the 
demon with both hands and broke his head while throwing him to the ground, 
which caused the demon to become unconscious. Then, Lord Balarama, deciding to 
finish the demon for good, punched him with His fist, which caused the demon 
to give up his life as the demigods showered flowers from the sky.

Amazingly, after Dhenukasura was killed in that way, he left his body and 
manifested a beautiful dark form, dressed in yellow garments, and wearing a 
garland of forest flowers. Immediately a beautiful chariot appeared moving as 
fast as the mind, which was eight miles long, carrying 100,000 associates of 
the Lord, decorated with 1000 flags, 1000 wheels, 1000 horses, replete with 
100,000 camaras, which was yellow, and decorated with many jewels and bells 
and tinkling ornaments. The demon circumambulated the two Lords, and then, 
brilliant and effulgent with a light that illuminated all directions, he got 
up on the chariot and went to the planet of the Lord, Goloka, which is far 
beyond the material realm.

Naturally, King Bahulasva was amazed at the transformation and destination of 
the demon and requested Narada Muni to explain how such an exalted personality 
had become an ass in the first place. Narada said that his former name was 
Sahasika, and he was a very powerful son of Maharaj Bali, the grandson of 
Prahlada Maharaj. One day this demon was enjoying himself with 10,000 women on 
the mountain called Gandhamadana. While enjoying, they were making a loud 
sound with their musical instruments and ankle bells, and this unfortunately 
disturbed and broke the trance of Durvasa Muni who was meditating on the Lord 
in a cave there.

Durvasa Muni is a very advanced mystic, and everyone fears his cursing which 
is so fierce that it can make the universe tremble. He was very thin from his 
austerities, had a long beard and walked with wooden sandals and a wooden 
stick and glowed with the intense flames of anger. He left his cave and cursed 
Sahasika as follows. "You are a fool and an ass. Therefore rise up and become 
an ass! O demon, after 400,000 years, in the sacred forest of Talavana, Vraja 
Mandala, you will attain liberation by Lord Balarama's hand."

Narada Muni comments that because Lord Krsna had promised Prahlada Maharaj 
that none of his descendents would be killed by Him, Krsna arranged the death 
of Dhenukasura by the hand of Lord Balaram.

Kaliya

As we know, the Kaliya serpent was punished severely by the dancing lotus feet 
of the Lord who kicked him on his many heads again and again. Since it is a 
great benediction to touch the lotus feet of Lord Krsna, what to speak of 
getting those reddish lotus feet on one's head, King Bahulasva inquired very 
curiously how Kaliya got the blessing of the dust of the Lord's feet on his 
head which even great yogis cannot attain after many, many births. He wanted 
to know what pious deeds the snake had performed in his previous births.

Narada replied that during the time of Svayambhuva Manu, a descendent of Bhrgu 
Muni named Vedasira Muni, was performing austerities in the Vindhya Hills. One 
day a sage named Asvasira Muni came as an unexpected guest to Vedasira's 
ashram and wanted to perform austerities there. This somehow displeased the 
Muni who greeted the unwanted guest with red and angry eyes and spoke 
unpleasant words to him. Vedasira told the brahmana, whose wealth was in 
austerity, not to perform austerities in his ashram but to find some other 
place to practice. Those who engage in the performance of austerities are 
prone to anger, and thus the sage Asvasira also became angry and his eyes were 
red hot.

Asvasira Muni replied to the sage Vedasira by saying that his ashram was not 
really his at all, but belonged to Maha Visnu and that many sages in the past 
had also lived and performed austerities there. Then he cursed him by saying, 
"You are angry for no reason and you hiss as if you were a snake. Therefore, 
become a snake who will be terrified of Garuda!" This was too much for 
Vedasira Muni to bear, so he counter-cursed the sage saying that he was a fool 
who wanted to take great revenge for a slight offense and who therefore had 
the qualities of a crow which he would immediately become.

Lord Visnu, who is kind to all His devotees, suddenly appeared on the scene to 
console the two sages who were very unhappy due to their cursing each other. 
The Lord said that the two sages were equally devoted to Him and they were 
just like the two arms of His transcendental body. The Lord admitted that He 
had the power to make His own words false, but never the words of such sages 
as they, for this is His vow. Therefore the Lord adjusted the situation by 
promising Vedasira that He would place His lotus feet on his head and that 
because of this he would never have to fear Garuda. And to Asvasira the Lord, 
while telling him not to lament, promised him that although a crow, he will 
still have the highest transcendental knowledge and yogic siddhis. After thus 
speaking to the sages, He departed.

The sage Asvasira became the crow Bhusunda on Mount Nila who was very powerful 
and devoted to Lord Rama, and who was like a shining lamp of scriptural 
understanding. He recited the Ramayana to Garuda. 

In the Caksusa Manvantara, Prajapati Daksa gave his eleven beautiful daughters 
in charity to Kasyapa Muni. One of these daughters was Kadru, who was 
considered the best. (This Kadru later became Rohini, the mother of Lord 
Balarama). Kadru later gave birth to many millions of snakes, who were very 
powerful, invincible, and very poisonous. Some had a hundred heads and some a 
thousand heads. Among them Vedasira took birth and became known as Kaliya. 
Lord Brahma gave Kaliya and other snakes born of Kadru, the place known as 
Ramanaka-dvipa to live. Srila Prabhupada has given his opinion that the 
present island of Fiji is the former home of Kaliya. Although only snakes 
lived in this island, Kaliya was still afraid because Garuda would go there 
when hungry and eat all the snakes. This caused the snakes to be very upset.

One day when Garuda was in a peaceful mood, the snakes came before him and 
prayed that he was very great as the personal carrier of Lord Visnu, but if he 
continued to eat all the snakes then how would they live? So it was arranged 
that each month, one snake would be offered to Garuda for his meal from a 
different house. However, when it came time for Kaliya to offer a snake from 
his house, he impudently ate the offering himself. When Garuda came to collect 
his meal, he understood what Kaliya had done and in a very angry mood, 
forcibly kicked him, which made Kaliya fall unconscious. When Kaliya got up, 
he expanded his hundred hoods and with his many fangs bit Garuda with great 
power. But Garuda was no ordinary bird, he was the carrier of the Lord, and he 
was far superior to even a most powerful snake like Kaliya, so he grabbed him 
with his beak and threw him to the ground and beat him with his wings again 
and again.

Kaliya managed to escape from the beak of Garuda and curled around his feet, 
spitting poison on him again and again. This made Garuda especially angry, and 
he grabbed Kaliya again in his beak and dragged him here and there along the 
ground. Kaliya could not tolerate this punishment and ran swiftly as Garuda 
chased him. Kaliya tried to escape by running around the whole world, but 
wherever he ran he saw Garuda ready to punish him. Kaliya then took to the 
skies and tried to escape by flying through the universe, but this did not 
help. He then tried to escape to the subterranean regions, but Garuda always 
followed him. He could not find any shelter from Lord Krsna's devotee carrier.

Greatly unhappy and afraid, Kaliya approached Lord Ananta Sesa, who was his 
brother as He was the first born son of Kadru, and he appealed to Him to save 
him from this dangerous condition. Seeing Kaliya so afraid, Ananta Sesa took 
compassion on him and explained that although there was no shelter for him 
anywhere, there was one place where Garuda would not go, and that was a lake 
within the river Yamuna where Saubhari Muni had cursed Garuda to not come. 
There, Kaliya was safe from the attack of Garuda and later on he received the 
causeless mercy of the Lord who danced on Kaliya's heads with His lotus feet.

Sankhacuda

Once, Sankhacuda was walking towards his home with Kamsa, when he came across 
Krsna enjoying the rasa dance with His gopis in the forest of Vrindavan amidst 
music and singing. Sankhacuda was very lusty, and he was black with a tiger's 
face and moving tongue, was as tall as ten palm trees, and was very 
frightening to the gopis as he entered into the arena of the rasa dance. As 
soon as the gopis saw him they cried out, "Alas! Alas!" and ran in all 
directions. Sankhacuda fearlessly kidnapped Satacandranana gopi and ran to the 
north. The gopi screamed "Krsna! Krsna!" and Sri Krsna, grabbing a tree in His 
hand, chased the demon angrily like invincible death.

Seeing that Krsna was coming after him and there was no hope to be saved, the 
yaksa demon left the gopi behind and ran as fast as he could. However, he 
could not outrun the Lord who was right behind him. Sankhacuda ran up to the 
Himalaya mountains, and when he saw he could run no further, he grabbed a tree 
in his hand and turned to face the Lord in battle. The Lord, wasting no time, 
with his mighty arms threw a tree at the demon who immediately fell like a 
tree felled by a hurricane. The demon rose and punched Krsna while roaring 
loudly. Krsna grabbed him, whirled him around, and threw him to the ground. 
The yaksa got up and grabbed Krsna and threw Him to the ground. Back and forth 
they fought, each trying to gain victory over the other. Finally, with a 
powerful stroke of His hand, the Lord severed the head of the demon. Krsna 
took the jewel from the demon's crown as booty.

A brilliant effulgence left the dead body of the demon and remained in the sky 
for a long time, illuminating the area until it finally entered into the body 
of Sridama, an intimate friend of Krsna. 

King Bahulasva was puzzled. All the other demons who were killed by the Lord, 
merged into His body, yet this demon entered the form of Sridama. Why was 
this? Narada Muni explained that this particular pastime began in Goloka and 
that he had heard about it from Narayana Rsi, and incarnation of the Lord.

It seems that Sri, Viraja and Bhu were three wives of the Lord. Sri Radha was 
the most dear companion of Lord Krsna. One day Lord Krsna was enjoying 
pastimes with Viraja in a secluded forest grove. Viraja was as beautiful as 
ten million moons and was very similar to Srimate Radhika. One of Srimate 
Radharani's associates informed Her that Krsna had enjoyed Himself with 
Radha's rival, Viraja, and Sri Radha became unhappy at Viraja's happiness and 
jealous anger awoke within Her. She got up on a brilliant and wonderful 
chariot carrying a stick and accompanied by many gopi friends, She rushed to 
see Her beloved Sri Krsna.

When they arrived at the entrance of the place where Krsna was enjoying with 
Viraja, they saw Sridama guarding, and thus they immediately started rebuking 
him and, because they were eager to enter the grove, they started hitting 
Sridama with sticks. This commotion was so loud that Krsna decided to leave 
the place immediately. Viraja, who was still there, was greatly afraid of Sri 
Radha, so she transformed herself into a river that flowed for 80,000,000 
miles around Goloka, as an ocean encircles a continent. Seeing that Krsna had 
disappeared and that Viraja had become a river, Sri Radha went back to Her own 
forest grove.

After Radha left, Krsna returned, transformed Viraja back from being a river 
to being a beautiful gopi girl dressed in glittering garments, and again 
enjoyed a rasa dance with her on the shore of the Viraja river. Knowing that 
Sri Radha was suffering due to His separation, Krsna and Sridama went to the 
forest where She resided. As is usual for Srimate Radharani, when she saw Sri 
Krsna she displayed Her jealous anger although He is more dear to Her than 
life itself. She sharply told Krsna to go where His real love (Viraja) was, 
and asked Him why He would want to stay in Her forest? Upon hearing Her, Lord 
Krsna returned to Viraja's forest.

Sridama, however, did not like Her speech and angrily defended his dearmost 
friend by saying that Krsna is the original Personality of Godhead, more 
powerful than the most powerful and can do whatever He likes. Sridama told 
Radha that She should not criticize Him. Srimate Radharani did not appreciate 
Sridama's comment and said, "O fool, you praise your father and criticize Me, 
your mother. Fool, leave Goloka and become a demon!" Sridama replied just 
befitting the friend of the Lord and said that although Krsna was kind to Her 
and came to see Her, still she was angry and jealous towards Him. Therefore, 
he cursed Radha that She would go to earth and be separated from Him for one 
hundred years.

After they cursed each other in this way, they both became anxious and afraid. 
Krsna appeared on the scene at that very moment and admitted that the curses 
would be applied for although He had the power to negate His own words, He 
could never negate the words of His devotees. Therefore Sri Radha descended 
when Krsna appeared on the earth and Sridam became the demon known as 
Sankhacuda. Krsna blessed Sridam that he would die by the Lord's hand and he 
would again attain his original form. 

Pralambasura

Pralambasura entered into the arena where the cowherd boys were playing in the 
disguise of a boy, and after it was decided that one group of boys would have 
to carry another group who won in a fighting match, Pralambasura carried away 
Lord Balaram and tried to kill Him. We know that Lord Balaram killed that 
demon with a mighty punch to his head.

The story behind his liberation is as follows. Once the yaksa king Kuvera 
wanted to worship Lord Siva and thus ordered his yaksa servants to prepare a 
special flower arrangement called a raksa-amulet and to place these throughout 
his forest (Caitraratha). Someone stole some of these flowers and this caused 
Kuvera to speak a curse. He said "Any demigod or human that takes any of these 
flowers will become a demon."

A gandharva named Vijaya, the son of Huhu, was walking on pilgrimage to 
different holy places while chanting the glories of Lord Visnu with a vina in 
hand. One day he came to Kuvera's forest, and, being unaware of the curse of 
Kuvera, picked some of the sumanah flowers which were placed by the yaksas for 
Kuvera's worship of Lord Siva. Due to the curse he immediately became a demon, 
Pralambha. Seeing his condition, he immediately took shelter of the great soul 
Kuvera, bowed down before him, and presented an appeal for mercy. Kuvera 
became pleased with this presentation and blessed him. He said that the 
gandharva was a peaceful hearted devotee of Visnu and thus he should not 
lament. At the end of Dvapara-yuga, in the Bhandiravana forest by the shore of 
the Yamuna, he would attain liberation by the hand of Lord Balaram. In this 
way the gandharva attained liberation by the grace of Kuvera.

Vyomasura

Vyomasura was the demon who entered into the assembly of the cowherd boys 
while they were playing and stole away the boys and imprisoned them in a cave. 
Krsna found out about his rascaldom and killed him by throwing him to the 
ground. After wandering around the ten directions for some time, the spirit 
soul of the demon merged into the body of Lord Krsna like a lightning bolt 
merges into a dark raincloud.

Narada Muni explained the reason for the demon's fortune. In his former birth, 
Vyomasura was a great king named Bhimaratha who lived in the city of Varanasi 
and who was expert at archery, very charitable, performed many sacrifices, and 
who was a great devotee of Lord Visnu. Like other great devoted kings, he 
eventually gave up his kingdom to his son, and, renouncing everything, went to 
the Malaya Hills where he performed austerities for one hundred thousand 
years.

The king, although a great renouncer of the world, had not yet conquered his 
pride, and thus, when the sage Pulastya Muni came to his ashram accompanied by 
many disciples, the king-sage neither stood up not bowed down to receive him. 
Pulastya cursed the king to become a demon. When the king heard this he fell 
down at the feet of the sage in full surrender and the sage, the friend of the 
fallen and very kind to those who suffered, gave him the benediction that in 
the forest of Vrindavan, during the pastimes of Lord Krsna, he would be killed 
by the Lord and attain the destination desired by all the yogis. Thus King 
Bhimaratha became the son of the demon Mayasura and was killed by the powerful 
arms of Lord Sri Krsna.

Aristasura

We know well the history of Aristasura and how the great bull demon was killed 
easily by Lord Krsna, but there is more to this story that is told in the 
Garga Samhita. When Krsna grabbed the horns of the bull and whirled him round 
and round till he lost his life and then threw him to the ground, immediately, 
the spirit soul of Aristasura left the dead body and assumed the form of a 
brahmana. He bowed before the lotus feet of the Lord and spoke to Him with 
words choked in emotion. He explained that he was a brahmana named Varatantu 
and that he was the student of Brhaspati. One day, being careless, he sat with 
his feet facing his guru. Brhaspati became angry at this and said, "You sit 
like a bull and have offended your spiritual master. Therefore, O fool, become 
a bull." Due to this curse, Varatantu became a bull in East Bengal. Due to his 
associating with demons, he became a demon as well, and he committed many 
sinful acts till finally he was killed by the grace of the Lord. After 
revealing his story, he offered many obeisances to the lotus feet of the Lord 
and then ascended a heavenly airplane and went to the higher regions while 
spreading his great effulgence in all directions.

Kesi

After Krsna killed the great horse demon by pushing His arm within his mouth 
and suffocating him, a being emerged from the body of Kesi. The person wore a 
crown and earrings and with folded hands he bowed before Krsna. He began to 
speak to the Lord and revealed that his name was Kumuda, and he was a servant 
of King Indra who was powerful, handsome, heroic, and glorious and who carried 
the parasol of the king of heaven. He revealed that after King Indra had 
performed a asvamedha yajna to atone for the killing of Vrtrasura, a brahmana, 
he, Kumuda, desired to ride the splendid horse designated to be sacrificed. 
This horse had one black ear and ran as fast as the mind. Kumuda stole the 
horse and rode it to Talaloka. The Maruts raced after him and arrested him 
with ropes and brought him and the horse back before Indra, who cursed Kumuda 
saying, "Wretch! Become a demon!" Indra cursed Kumuda to have a horse's form 
for two manvantaras on the earthly planet. By the touch of the Lord, Kumuda 
was finally relieved from the curse.

Kumuda prayed to the Lord that he would be the Lord's eternal servant. He said 
that his heart was fixed at the lotus feet of the Lord and he offered his 
respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supersoul, 
the witness of everything. He then circumambulated Lord Krsna, got up on a 
celestial airplane and immediately flew to Vaikuntha while filling all 
directions with light.

Kamsa's Washerman

In Treta-yuga, in Ayodhya, the kingdom of Lord Ramacandra, the Lord's spies 
heard Kamsa's washerman, in his previous birth, speak to his wife as follows, 
"I will not maintain you, a sinner that returns at dawn from another's house. 
Ramacandra, who is greedy to enjoy with His wife, may continue to maintain His 
Sita, but I am not like Him." Because of hearing this, and also criticism from 
others in the kingdom, Lord Rama banished His beloved Sita to the forest. Lord 
Rama did not want to punish those who criticized Him, so the critic took 
various births and eventually became a washerman in Mathura and a servant of 
Kamsa. Lord Krsna, who is an ocean of mercy, killed him to stop his blasphemy, 
and after the washerman's sudden demise at the hand of the Lord, he attained 
liberation.

The Weaver in Mathura (He was not a demon, but it is interesting anyway)

When Krsna and Balaram were walking around enjoying the city of Mathura, a 
weaver, who was a devotee, offered to the Lord the best clothes he could make. 
Because of his service, the Lord awarded him a transcendental form like His 
own. Narada Muni revealed that in his previous life he lived in Mithila, and 
who was a great devotee and expert weaver as well. On the order of the king of 
Mithila, Siradhvaja, he prepared very fine garments for Lord Rama and Laksmana 
on the Lord's wedding day. Seeing the Lords before him, the weaver became 
enchanted at Their gorgeous and handsome forms, and desired to in the future 
offer fine garments and fit the Lords personally with the clothes. Lord Rama 
blessed the weaver within His heart and gave him the benediction that he would 
be able to take birth in Mathura City and personally fit the clothes on Krsna 
and Balaram when They would come there.

The Florist in Mathura (Also interesting)

Kuvera had a beautiful garden called Caitraratha. Within that garden was a 
florist named Hemamali who was peaceful, generous and devoted to Lord Visnu. 
He always associated with saintly persons and he worshiped Lord Siva to attain 
the company of Lord Visnu. It seems that this florist was very determined to 
attain the blessings of Lord Siva, for he offered daily three hundred lotus 
flowers, along with his humble obeisances, to the lotus feet of Lord Siva for 
5000 years. 

Since Lord Siva is an ocean of mercy, he was pleased by this humble service 
and granted the florist any benediction he wanted. Hemamali asked that he be 
able to see with his own eyes the perfect Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord 
Krsna, enter his home. Lord Siva granted this desire, and so Hemamali took 
birth as the florist Sudama in Mathura at the time of Krsna's appearance in 
this world. Krsna and Balarama entered the house of Sudama just to fulfill 
Lord Siva's benediction.

Kubja (also not a demon)

The story of Kubja and who she was in her previous life is extremely 
interesting. This story starts during the time of Lord Rama, when He was 
exiled in the forest with Laksmana and Sita. When these three transcendental 
personalities were in the Pancavati forest, a raksasi named Surpanakha fell 
passionately in love with Lord Rama. As Lord Rama would only accept one wife, 
and was not interested in her at all, the raksasi had no chance to marry Him. 
This made her exceedingly angry and displaying her raksasa nature, she tried 
to devour Sita-devi. Because of this inhuman display, Laksmana became angry 
and, taking his sword, He cut off her ears and nose.

Surpanakha ran to Lanka and told Ravana about all that happened to her. After 
this, she went to Puskara-tirtha, and desiring to get Lord Rama as her 
husband, she meditated on Lord Siva while underwater for 10,000 years. Lord 
Siva became pleased by this meditation and granted her any boon she desired. 
Surpanakha said that Lord Siva was the great master of the demigods, was dear 
to the great saints and had all power to grant benedictions. Therefore she 
wanted that Lord Rama would become her husband. Lord Siva apologized that at 
the present her desire would not be able to be fulfilled, but in the future, 
in Mathura, during the appearance of Lord Krsna, she would have her desires 
fulfilled.

Thus Surpanakha became Kubja in Mathura and by Lord Siva's blessing she became 
the beloved of Lord Krsna.

Kuvalayapida

After Krsna killed the elephant Kuvalayapida along with his caretaker, the 
spirit soul of the elephant merged into the body of the Lord. Bahulasva asked 
why he became an elephant in the first place and why he entered the body of 
the Lord? Narada Muni explained as follows.

Bali Maharaj had a son called Mandagati, who was the best of all warriors and 
was as strong as a hundred thousand elephants. Once, while he was on a 
pilgrimage in Ranga-ksetra, he pushed his way through a crowd of people, 
pressing people away with his powerful arms as if he were a maddened elephant. 
Unfortunately for Mandagati, one of the people pushed down to the ground was 
the old sage Trita Muni, who became very angry and cursed Bali's wild and 
powerful son thus. "Pushing people on the way to Ranga-ksetra, you have become 
like a wild elephant. Fool, I curse you to become an elephant!"

Immediately Mandagati became an elephant, and although he was formerly a 
powerful Daitya, he lost his power and splendor. He could understand that the 
sage he pushed down was very powerful, and thus he bowed before him with 
folded hands and circumambulated him. Mandagati said to the sage that he was 
an ocean of mercy, the king of the yogis, and the best of the brahmanas. He 
asked when he would become freed from being an elephant. He admitted that he 
should have never offended a great saint like Trita Muni, for such sages have 
the power to curse even the most powerful demons, and they have the power to 
bless anyone as well. Trita Muni was pacified by these humble words of the 
Daitya, and thus the kind and exalted brahmana spoke, his anger gone. He said 
that he was pleased with the Daitya's devotion, however, whatever he spoke 
could not be false and therefore, although Mandagati would remain an elephant, 
he would simultaneously get a benediction that even the demigods cannot 
attain. 

While requesting the Daitya to not lament, Trita Muni said that in the future, 
in Mathura, he would attain liberation at the hand of Lord Krsna.

Mandagati thus became an elephant in the Vindhya hills. He was as strong as 
10,000 elephants. Because he was so powerful, King Jarasandha captured him 
with the aid of 100,000 other elephants, and gave him as a wedding present to 
King Kamsa. Later, when engaged by Kamsa to kill Krsna, he was killed by the 
Lord and merged into His form.

Canura, Mustika, Kuta, Sala and Tosala, wrestlers in Kamsa's arena

King Bahulasva inquired as to who the wrestlers in Kamsa's arena that were all 
killed by Krsna and Balarama, were in their previous lives. Narada Muni 
explained that in ancient times, in the city of Amaravati, lived a great sage 
called Utathya who had five very beautiful sons. Somehow these five sons were 
not at all attracted to brahminical activities and instead of studying the 
vedas and chanting mantras, they were more attracted to King Bali's wrestling 
camp where they studied wrestling. Their father was very upset that they had 
given up their brahminical duties and said, "Peacefulness, self-control, 
austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, wisdom, knowledge and religiousness - 
these are the qualities by which brahmanas work. Heroism, power, 
determination, resourcefulness, courage in battle, generosity, and leadership 
are the qualities of work for the ksatriyas. Farming, cow-protection, and 
business are the qualities of work for the vaginas, and for the sudras there 
is labor and 

service to others. Rogues, why do you, a brahmana's sons, reject your 
brahminical duties and engage in wrestling, a ksatriya's work? I curse you to 
become wrestlers in Bharata-varsa. By associating with demons, you will become 
demons yourselves."

Because of the curse of their father, Utathya, these five sons became 
wrestlers on earth and later on, by the touch of the Lord's body, they were 
liberated.

The Eight Younger Brothers of Kamsa

After the wrestlers were all killed by Krsna and Balarama, and Kamsa himself 
was killed, the younger brothers of Kamsa, headed by Kanka and Nyagrodha, 
attacked the Lords and were killed and attained liberation. Who they were in 
their previous births were as follows.

In Alaka-puri, long before, there lived a Yaksa called Devayaksa who was wise, 
learned, glorious and sincerely devoted to Lord Siva. He had eight sons named 
Devakuta, Mahagiri, Ganda, Danda, Pracanda, Khanda, Akhanda, and Prthu. When 
it was time to worship Lord Siva, Devayaksa asked his sons to go pick a 
thousand lotus flowers at sunrise. These sons went to Manasa-sarovara and 
picked the lotus flowers, which were filled with humming bees, for the 
worship. After they collected these flowers, they greedily smelled them and 
then gave them to their father. Because they had already smelled the flowers, 
the worship of Lord Siva became spoiled and because of this the foolish sons 
became demons for three births. When they were killed by Lord Balarama in the 
wrestling arena of Kamsa, they were freed from the sin they committed and 
attained liberation.

Krsna's Conchshell, Pancajana 

King Bahulasva was very interested to know the history of the demon Pancajana, 
who had the body of a conch. Narada Muni explained that Lord Krsna, the master 
of the three worlds, had, by His own prowess, long ago attained His conch and 
other paraphernalia. Amongst the paraphernalia of the Lord, His conchshell, 
Pancajanya, was especially exalted due to constantly touching the mouth of the 
Lord and drinking the nectar of His lotus lips. Unfortunately, one day he 
became very proud of his position and in his heart he felt that he was the 
king of conchshells who was as effulgent as the king of swans. He thought that 
Lord Krsna personally held him; therefore, who could be more fortunate than 
him? He thought that when Lord Krsna is victorious in battle, He would point 
the conchshell to the South and make a great sound through him. When this 
occurs, the conch would drink the nectar of Lord Krsna's lips which is even 
difficult for Goddess Laksmiji to obtain. This made him think that he was the 
most important of all the Lord's paraphernalia, for day and night he drank the 
nectar of the Lord's lips. The goddess of fortune, Laksmiji, did not like 
these thoughts of the conch and angrily cursed him to became a demon named 
Pancajana and live in the depths of the ocean. Later, as the king of the 
conches, he became inimical towards the Lord. The Lord then killed him and he 
merged into Lord Krsna's body. Again he attained the position as the most 
fortunate conchshell in the Lord's hand.