626 KRISHNA ' S DEPRAVED CONDUCT
design of Kamsa, the two children were interchanged. Yasoda, who had sunk into a deep slumber during the
birth of her child, had been unable to ascertain whether she had given birth to a boy or a girl; she did not therefore detect the substitution, and always looked upon
Krishna as her own son.
As soon as the tyrant Kamsa had learnt of his sister ' s safe delivery, he ordered the child to be brought to him that it might be put to death. But the child, an incarnation of the Supreme Being, was already in safety at Gokulam, in the house of the shepherd Nanda. Kamsa wished, but in vain, to vent his rage on the little girl, who was no less than the Supreme Being himself, under the
name of Badra-Kali, whose adventures are to be found written in the history of the goddesses. Little Krishna spent his earlier years in games and amusements suitable to his age. His ordinary pastime was to steal milk and butter, which he divided afterwards with his friends the shepherdesses. His youth was thus spent in the midst of a pastoral life, and he is often represented playing on a flute, the favourite instrument of shepherds.
On reaching manhood he gave himself up entirely to
a life of dissipation and most unbridled debauchery. He did not even respect the virtue of his sisters or of his own mother. He carried them all off by force, and treated them as if they had been his legitimate wives.
In the meanwhile he declared war against the tyrant Kamsa, his uncle, routed and slew him, and gave back the
crown to Ugrasena.
Having resolved to marry, he carried off the maiden
Rukmani and very many other virtuous girls. The number
of his wives amounted to sixteen thousand, and they bore
him a prodigious number of children.
He waged several wars against Vacharada, against the king Banasura, and even against Siva himself, who had sided with the latter monarch. It was Aniruddha, Krishna ' s son, who caused the dispute between his father and Banasura, whose daughter Balaramma x he( Aniruddha) had
1
The daughter ' s name was Usha. Ed.