Such an act of defiance greatly enrages Indra and he assembles all the gods.  He forgets that earlier in the story it was the gods themselves who begged Vishnu to be born on earth and that many of their number have even taken birth as cowherds and cowgirls in order to delight in Krishna as his incarnation.  Instead he sees Krishna as ’a great talker, a silly unintelligent child and very proud.’  He scoffs at the cowherds for regarding Krishna as a god, and in order to reinstate himself he orders the clouds to rain down torrents.  The cowherds, faced with floods on every side, appeal to Krishna.  Krishna, however, is fully alive to the position.  He calms their fears and raising the hill Govardhana, supports it on his little finger.[26] The cowherds and cattle take shelter under it and although Indra himself comes and pours down rain for seven days, Braj and its inhabitants stay dry.  Indra is compelled to admit that Vishnu has indeed descended in the form of Krishna and retires to his abode.  Krishna then sets the hill down in its former place.  Following this discomfiture, Indra comes down from the sky accompanied by his white elephant and by Surabhi, the cow of plenty.  He offers his submission to Krishna, is pardoned and returns.

All these events bring to a head the problem which has been exercising the cowherds for long—­who and what is Krishna?  Obviously no simple boy could lift the mountain on his finger.  He must clearly be someone much greater and they conclude that Krishna can only be Vishnu himself.  They accordingly beseech him to show them the paradise of Vishnu.  Krishna agrees, creates a paradise and shows it to them.  The cowherds see it and praise his name.  Yet it is part of the story that these flashes of insight should be evanescent—­that having realized one instant that Krishna is God, the cowherds should regard him the next instant as one of themselves.  Having revealed his true nature, therefore, Krishna becomes a cowherd once again and is accepted by the cowherds as being only that.

One further incident must be recorded.  In compliance with a vow, Nanda assembles the cowherds and cowgirls and goes to the shrine of Devi, the Earth Mother, to celebrate Krishna’s twelfth birthday.  There they make lavish offerings of milk, curds and butter and thank the goddess for protecting Krishna for so long.  Night comes on and they camp near the shrine.  As Nanda is sleeping, a huge python begins to swallow his foot.[27] Nanda calls to Krishna, who hastens to his rescue.  Logs are taken from a fire, but as soon as the snake is touched by Krishna, a handsome young man emerges and stands before him with folded hands.  He explains that he was once the celestial dancer, Sudarsana who in excess of pride drove his chariot backwards and forwards a hundred times over the place where a holy man was meditating.  As a consequence he was cursed and told to become a python until Krishna came and released him.  To attract Krishna’s attention he has seized the foot of Nanda.  Krishna bids him go and, ascending his chariot, Sudarsana returns to the gods.