एते चांशकलाः पुंसः कृष्णस्तु भगवान् स्वयम् “These are portions of the Supreme, but Krishna is Bhagavan himself.” — Bhagavata Purana 1.3.28 At 4:40 on Friday evening, a small…
एते चांशकलाः पुंसः कृष्णस्तु भगवान् स्वयम् “These are portions of the Supreme, but Krishna is Bhagavan himself.” — Bhagavata Purana 1.3.28 At 4:40 on Friday evening, a small boy dressed as Krishna will climb a kadamba branch at Tulsi Ghat in Varanasi. He will leap into the Ganga, subdue the serpent Kaliya and rise on its hood playing his flute. For those few minutes, the Ganga becomes the Yamuna and Kashi becomes Vraj. This is Nag Nathaiya, one of the oldest living performance traditions of Varanasi.
It falls on Kartik Shukla Chaturthi, which this year comes on November 13. Lakhs of devotees are expected on the ghats, on rooftops and on boats. The tradition traces its origin to Goswami Tulsidas and it has been staged on the same steps for more than four centuries. The Story Behind the Spectacle The episode comes from the tenth book of the Bhagavata Purana, in its sixteenth and seventeenth chapters. Kaliya, a many-headed serpent, had made his home in a pool of the Yamuna near Vrindavan.
His venom poisoned the water and cattle, later cows who drank from it fell dead. Even birds flying above the pool are said to have dropped from the sky. Krishna climbed a kadamba tree on the bank and dived into the poisoned water. Kaliya coiled around him. The boy freed himself and began to dance on the serpent’s many hoods, crushing its pride with every step.
Only when Kaliya’s wives pleaded for mercy did Krishna spare him and send him away from the river. The Yamuna was clean again and Vraj was safe. The tale has been told for centuries as a story of good over evil. It is also, in a quieter way, a story of a river restored to its people. A Leela Born on Tulsidas’s Ghat Tulsi Ghat takes its name from the poet-saint who lived and worked here.
Tulsidas is remembered above all for the Ramcharitmanas. Yet tradition credits him with starting this Krishna leela as well, at the very ghat that bears his name. For Tulsidas, devotion to Rama and love for Krishna were never rival loyalties. Both flowed from the same bhakti. Kashi, Shiva’s own city, welcomes Rama and Krishna alike and that openness is part of its character.
This is a source-linked briefing. Read the original report from Organiser Weekly .