Khadiravana

A Comprehensive Guide to Śrī Vṛndāvana Dhāma

Krishna & Balarama Enter Forest

Overview

Krishna killed Bakasura in the Khadiravana forest. This forest is 40km (24 miles) northwest of Vrindavana and has a parikrama of 7km. The name is taken from the word khaira. Khaira means “to chase or pursue.” There is a Radha Krishna temple here.

On the north bank of Maduri Kunda (Sangama Kunda or Krishna Kunda) are the bhajana kutirs of Lokanatha Gosvami and Bhugarbha Gosvami. Located here is a temple with Deities of Sri Caitanya and Prabhu Nityananda. The Rasa-mandala is next to the bhajana kutirs. They would occasionally stay here.

Pastimes

Sangama means “union,” and at this place Krishna and the gopis would meet together. At this place Krishna and His friends played many games while they took care of the cows. There are also the Sri Dauji Temple with a Deity of Balarama and Revati (his wife) and Sri Kamala Devi Temple. The Dauji Temple is near the main road.

The Deity of Radha-Vinod manifested Himself to Lokanatha Gosvami in the town of Umaraa, which is 5km (3 miles) from here.

Directions

This forest is about 10km northeast of Varsana. Khadiravana is just off the road that goes between Chata and Varsana. The present name of the village is Khairo or Kara.

Killing of Bakasura

(From Krsna Book by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada)

“All the cowherd boys would daily go to the banks of the River Yamuna to water their calves. Usually, when the calves drank water from the Yamuna, the boys also drank. One day, after drinking, when they were sitting on the bank of the river, they saw a huge animal that looked something like a duck and was as big as a hill. Its top was as strong as a thunderbolt. When they saw that unusual animal, they became afraid of it. The name of this beast was Bakasura, and he was a friend of Kamsa’s.

He appeared on the scene suddenly and immediately attacked Krishna with his pointed, sharp beak and quickly swallowed Him up. When Krishna was thus swallowed, all the boys, headed by Balarama, became almost breathless, as if they had died. But when the Bakasura demon was swallowing up Krishna, he felt a burning fiery sensation in his throat. This was due to the glowing effulgence of Krishna. The demon quickly threw Krishna up and tried to kill Him by pinching Him in his beaks. Bakasura did not know that although Krishna was playing the part of a child of Nanda Maharaja, He was still the original father of Lord Brahma, the creator of this universe.

The child of mother Yasoda, who is the reservoir of pleasure for the demigods and who is the maintainer of saintly persons, caught hold of the beaks of the great gigantic duck, and before His cowherd boyfriends, bifurcated his mouth, just as a child very easily splits a blade of grass. From the sky, the denizens of the heavenly planets showered flowers like the cameli, the most fragrant of all flowers, as a token of their congratulations. Accompanying the showers of flowers was a vibration of bugles, drums and conchshells.” (Krishna Book, 11).