Parāçara said:—That demon, in the form of an ass, and all his relatives,
being slain, the cow-herds and their wives began to roam at pleasure in
that picturesque grove of palms. Having slain that fiend Dhenuka, the
two sons of Vasudeva, greatly delighted, repaired to the Bhāndira
fig-tree. They began to roam about shouting and singing and collecting
fruits and flowers from the trees—sometimes driving the cattle to a
distant pasture, sometimes calling them by their names, sometimes
carrying the foot-ropes of the kine upon their shoulders, sometimes
decorating themselves with garlands of forest flowers, they appeared
like two young bulls when the horns first appear. Dressed, the one in
yellow and and the other in sable garments, they appeared like two
clouds one white and one black, surmounted by the bow of Indra. The two
brothers, although lords of the universe, having descended upon earth,
began to sport mutually with frolics beneficial to the world. Adopting
human duties and assuming human character and engaged in human sports,
they stayed about in the forest. And these two highly powerful
(brothers) engaged in exercise, in swinging upon the boughs of trees, or
in boxing and wresting and hurling stones.
Having seen Krishna and Balarāma thus sporting, this Asura Pralamba, on
one occasion with a view to carry them away stealthily arrived there
assuming, the guise of a cow-herd. And that foremost of demons, assuming
a human shape, mixed with them, unsuspected. Then seeking their faults
he found Krishna irrepressible and made up his mind accordingly to slay
the son of Rohini.
The boys commenced playing at the game of leaping like deer, two and two
together. Govinda was matched with Sridama and Balarāma with Pralamba;
the other boys were coupled with one another and went leaping away.
Krishna beat his companion and Balarāma his, and the boys who were on
Krishna's side, were also victorious. The boys who were defeated,
carrying the victorious boys on their shoulders went to the Bhāndira fig
and then came back to the starting-place. And placing Sankarshana
speedily on his shoulders the demon Pralamba did not tarry there and ran
away like unto a cloud with the moon. Being unable to carry the weight
of Rohini's son that foremost of fiends began to increase in bulk like
unto a cloud in the rainy season. Beholding him like a scorched
mountain, his head crowned with a diadem and his neck hung round with
garlands, having eyes as large as cart wheels, a fearful form and
shaking the earth with his tread, Balarāma called out, as he was carried
away, "Krishna! Krishna! I am carried off by some demon, disguised as a
cow-herd and huge as a mountain! What shall I do? Tell me Madhusudana,
the villain runs away speedily".
Parāçara said:—The high-souled Krishna, cognisant of the prowess and
strength of the son of Rohini, opened his mouth, smiling and said—"O
thou the soul of all, the cause of cause and all that is alone when the
world the destroyed, why art thou assuming clearly the character of a
man? Dost thou not know that you and are alike the origin of the world
and have come to relieve it of its load? The sky is thy head; the waters
are thy person; earth is thy feet; eternal fire is thy mouth; the moon
is thy mind; the wind is thy breath; the four regions are thy arms and
hands. O big souled and highly powerful lord, thou hast a thousand
heads, a thousand hands and feet and bodies. Thou art the beginning of
all creation—Brahmā, sprung from lotus—and the sages have praised thee
in these terms for a thousand times. No one else knoweth thy divine
person. The celestials worship only thy incarnate person. Dost thou not
know that in the end the whole world will disappear in thee? O thou of
endless forms; thou art upholding all creation, mobile and immobile.
Thou, being identical with time with its division of hours and minutes,
devourest the world. As the waters of the sea, when swallowed up by
submarine fire, are transferred into winds and thrown in the form of
snow upon Himachala, where coming in contact with the rays of the sun,
re-assume the watery nature, so this world, devoured by thee at the time
of dissolution, is again created by thee at the end of a Kalpa through
thy creative energy. Thou and I, soul of the universe, are but one and
the same cause of the creation of earth, although for its protection we
exist as distinct individuals! Bringing to thy memory, who thou art, O
being of illimitable prowess, destroy thyself the demon. Suspending a
while your human character, do what is right".
Thus reminded by the noble Krishna, the powerful Balarāma laughed and
crushed Pralamba with his knees striking him simultaneously on the head
and face with his fists so as to beat out both his eyes. Vomitting blood
from his mouth and having his brain forced through the skull, the demon
fell upon the ground and died. Seeing Pralamba slain the cow-herds were
surprised and rejoiced and exclaimed "Well done!" and praised Balarāma.
Thus praised by his play-mates and accompanied by Krishna, Balarāma,
after the death of the demon Pralamba, came back to Gokula.