Srimad Bhagavatam – day 636
Demon Agha transforms into a python
“Demon Agha was the brother of Putana and Bakasura, who had arrived in this forest at the behest of Kamsa”.
All these demons were the subordinates of Kamsa and each of them was equipped with a distinctive illusionary power. We have discussed that Krishna would resort to different techniques to kill the different demons. Kamsa was sending these demons one after another to attack Krishna. Since Kamsa was not aware of Krishna’s exact identity and presence, he would send the demons to cause grief to all the thousands of children who lived in and around Brindavan. In fact, Kamsa would instruct these demons to kidnap all the children of Brindavan as Krishna would be one amongst them.
“The time for Agha’s death had neared. Seeing Krishna, the leader of all the cowherd-boys, demon Agha thought, ‘Aha! This is the boy who has killed my brother Baka and my sister Putana. How could this boy, who is no more than 2 to 3 feet tall, kill my mighty siblings? In order to bring joy to my siblings, I shall kill this boy along with all his companions. In addition, I shall devour these calves.
After all, for every living entity his child is his life-force. Children are most dear to their parents. With the death of all the children, the residents of Brindavana will be reduced to living corpses. Where is the necessity to worry about the body once the life-force has departed? As such, there is no need to fear the residents of Brindavana, who will be nothing more than living corpses’.
Having concluded thus, demon Agha instantly transformed into an inconceivably huge python which could simultaneously gobble all the children and their calves”.
All of us are aware of the habits of a python. It completely gobbles up the living entity, irrespective of whether it is a deer or a human. It is said that some varieties of pythons swallow buffaloes or other gigantic animals completely. This is shown in the National Geographic channel.
“The gigantic python, which was approximately 20 miles long resembled a huge mountain. It lay on the ground in the path taken by the boys with a desire to swallow them all. Its wide-open mouth resembled a deep mountain cave which could accommodate thousands of living entities simultaneously. The lower jaw of this python was touching the ground while its upper jaw reached the clouds in the sky.
The borders of its mouth appeared like the borders of a cave. Its sharp teeth resembled sharp mountain peaks. Its appearance was such that any passer-by would enter into its mouth mistaking it for a mountain cave. As seen in any other cave, the inner portions of his mouth were dark and dingy. Its tongue, which was spread neatly, was like a broad pathway into the cave”.
Its neatly laid tongue resembled a neat tar road on which trucks could traverse effortlessly.
“His exhalation was like hot winds. His eyes were burning like two huge fireballs. The appearance of this mammoth python was beyond description. Seeing this gigantic form before them, all the cowherd boys were perplexed. ‘Was it a pathway or was it a cave?’-they wondered. ‘could it be a huge mountain that was spitting fire? From where do these hot winds blow?’- they thought. They concluded that it was a natural wondrous location of Brindavan”.
The boys were fascinated with this picturesque beauty that stood before their eyes. They admired the smooth pathways, the two fire balls atop the mountain and the hot winds there.
Srihari Krishna