Hindu mythology, Vedic and Purânic . Seeingthe Gopas (cowherds) preparing to worship the giver of rain, hedissuaded them from it, and urged them to worship instead themountain that supplies their cattle with food, and their cattlethat yield them milk. Acting upon this advice, they presentedto the mountain Govarddhana curds, milk, and flesh. Thiswas merely a device by which Krishna himself diverted the wor-ship of Indra to himself; for upon the summit of the moun-tain Krishna presented himself, saying, I am the mountain,and partook of much food presented by the Gopas ; whilst in hisown form as
Hindu mythology, Vedic and Purânic . Seeingthe Gopas (cowherds) preparing to worship the giver of rain, hedissuaded them from it, and urged them to worship instead themountain that supplies their cattle with food, and their cattlethat yield them milk. Acting upon this advice, they presentedto the mountain Govarddhana curds, milk, and flesh. Thiswas merely a device by which Krishna himself diverted the wor-ship of Indra to himself; for upon the summit of the moun-tain Krishna presented himself, saying, I am the mountain,and partook of much food presented by the Gopas ; whilst in hisown form as Krishna he ascended the hill along with the cow-herds, and worshipped his other self. Having promised themmany blessings, the mountain-person of Krishna , being greatly incensed at the disregard shown him by *74 The Puranic Deities. Nanda and others, sent great floods to destroy them and theircattle ; but Krishna, raising the mountain Govarddhana aloft onone hand, held it as an umbrella and sheltered his friends from. KRISHNA HOLDING Ul MOUNT GOVARDDHANA. the storm for seven days and nights. Indra then visited Krishnaand praised him for what he had done ; and his wife Indranientreated Krishna to be a friend of their son Arjuna. Krishna did not by any means confine his attention to thewants of the cowherds amongst whom he spent his early days. The Krishna Avatara. 175 On one occasion Satrajit, a worshipper of the Sun, who hadreceived from his lord a magnificent jewel named Syamantaka,came to visit Krishna at Dwaraka, adorned with his jewel, whichshone so brightly that the inhabitants thought the Sun himselfwas present. It was a most marvellous gem, for its possessorreceived through it eight loads of gold daily, and was free fromall fear of portents, wild beasts, fire, robbers, and famine ; butthere was this strange condition attached to its possession : although it was an inexhaustible source of good to a virtuousperson, when worn by a man of bad character it was
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