by lightning.  Singing, dancing, embracing and loving, they passed the hours in extremities of bliss.  They took off their clothes, their ornaments and jewels and offered them to Krishna.  The gods in heaven gazed on the scene and all the goddesses longed to join.  The singing mounted in the night air.  The winds were stilled and the streams ceased to flow.  The stars were entranced and the water of life poured down from the great moon.  So the night went on—­on and on—­and only when six months were over did the dancers end their joy.’

As, at last, the dance concludes, Krishna takes the cowgirls to the Jumna, bathes with them in the water, rids himself of fatigue and then after once again gratifying their passions, bids them go home.  When they reach their houses, no one is aware that they have not been there all the time.

[Footnote 25:  Plate 11.]

[Footnote 26:  Plate 12.]

[Footnote 27:  Note 11.]

[Footnote 28:  Plate 13.]

[Footnote 29:  Plate 14.]

[Footnote 30:  Plate 15.]

(iii) The Death of the Tyrant

This scene with its crescendos of excitement, its delight in physical passion and ecstatic exploration of sexual desire is, in many ways, the climax of Krishna’s pastoral career.  It expresses the devotion felt for him by the cowgirls.  It stresses his loving delight in their company.  It suggests the blissful character of the ultimate union.  No further revelation, in fact, is necessary for this is the crux of Krishna’s life.  None the less the ostensible reason for his birth remains—­to rid the earth of the vicious tyrant Kansa—­and to this the Purana now returns.

We have seen how in his anxious quest for the child who is to kill him, Kansa has dispatched his demon warriors on roving commissions, authorizing them to attack and kill all likely children.  Many children have in this way been slaughtered but Kansa is still uncertain whether his prime purpose has been fulfilled.  He has no certain knowledge that among the dead children is his dreaded enemy.  He is still unaware that Krishna is destined to be his foe and he therefore continues the hunt, his demon emissaries pouncing like commandos on youthful stragglers and hounding them to their deaths.  Among such youths Krishna is still an obvious target and although unaware that this is the true object of their quest, demons continue to harry him.

One night Krishna and Balarama are in the forest with the cowgirls when a yaksha demon, Sankhasura, a jewel flashing in his head, comes among them.  He drives the cowgirls off but hearing their cries, Krishna follows after.  Balarama stays with the girls while Krishna catches and beheads the demon.

On another occasion, Krishna and Balarama are returning at evening with the cows when a bull demon careers amongst them.  He runs amok scattering the cattle in all directions.  Krishna, however, is not at all daunted and after wrestling with the bull, catches its horns and breaks its neck.