Putana Uddhar Sthali, Mahavan: Where Krishna's First Pastime Freed a Demoness

Putana Uddhar Sthali, at a glance

What is the Putana Uddhar Sthali?

The Putana Uddhar Sthali, also known as the Putana Vadh Sthali or the Putana Moksha Sthali, is a deeply revered sacred site at Mahavan, in old Gokul near Mathura, honoured as the place where the infant Lord Krishna performed his very first divine pastime. Here, only days old, the baby Krishna slew the terrible demoness Putana, sent to kill him; and, in the self-same act, he granted her liberation, her moksha, a wonder that has moved the hearts of devotees across the ages. The site lies within the ancient Nand Bhavan, the house of Nanda Baba known as the Chaurasi Khamba. For old Gokul, see our gokul up guide and to visit Gokul and Mahavan, a mathura vrindavan tour packages with Experience My India can plan it.

From the ground (Gurudutt): I was born in Gokul and of all the pastimes I share with guests, the uddhar of Putana moves me most. Think of it: one who came with poison to kill the Lord was given, instead, the love due to a mother and a place in the highest abode. At the Chaurasi Khamba the priests show the spot of this first leela and I tell guests that this is the very measure of Krishna's mercy, that even an enemy who offered him but a drop of milk was saved. We tell it as the cherished tradition of Braj. Radhe Radhe.

Putana, the demoness sent by Kansa

The story, by the Srimad Bhagavatam, begins with the fear of a tyrant:

• The command of Kansa. The tyrant Kansa of Mathura, having learned that the child destined to end him had been born, sent his demons through the region to destroy the newborn infants; and among them he sent the fearsome, venomous demoness Putana, skilled in dark and shape-shifting powers, to find and kill the baby who was Krishna.

• The disguise of a mother. By her mystic power, Putana took the form of a beautiful, radiant woman, gentle as any mother and in this fair disguise she entered unsuspected into Nand Bhavan, the house of Nanda Baba in Gokul, while Mother Yashoda and Rohini were occupied; none within saw the demoness beneath the lovely form.

• The poisoned breast. Putana had smeared upon her breast a deadly poison, the Kalakoot; and, taking up the infant Krishna from his cradle, she offered him her breast to feed, meaning to kill him with the poison as he suckled. But the Lord, who knows all hearts, received her in another way than she intended. We present this as the cherished tradition of Braj.

Krishna's first pastime: the deliverance of Putana

Then unfolded the first leela of the Lord. The infant Krishna, closing his eyes, took the breast and began to suckle; and, as he drank, he drew from Putana not only the poison, which could not harm him, but her very life-breath, her prana, itself. In agony the demoness cried out, by the tradition, Muncha, Muncha, Leave me, leave me, and, as her life left her, her fair disguise fell away and she crashed to the earth once more in her vast and terrible demonic form, so great that her fall shook the land. Yet the baby Krishna was seen playing fearlessly upon the breast of the fallen giantess, unharmed and serene, to the wonder and terror of all Braj. It was the first of the Lord's slayings of the demons of Kansa, performed when he was but an infant of a few days. We present this as the cherished belief and tradition of Braj, held with faith and recounted with reverence.

Putana Uddhar: why it is liberation, not mere slaying

Though the site is called the Putana Vadh Sthali, the place of the slaying, it is cherished above all as the Putana Uddhar Sthali, the place of her deliverance; for this is its true wonder:

• The grace of a mother's role. Putana came with the malice to murder; yet, because she had taken the role of a mother and given the Lord her breast and her milk, Krishna, in his boundless mercy, accepted her as a mother would be accepted, looked past her intent to the service she had rendered and granted her the grace due to a nurse of the Lord.

• The gift of moksha. So Krishna cleansed her of the sins of lifetimes and raised her soul to the supreme spiritual abode, the highest liberation, moksha; by the tradition she attained a destination that the greatest yogis long for. That one who came to kill him was given the love and the reward of a mother is the very measure of the Lord's absolute mercy and compassion.

• The fragrance of a purified soul. By the local account, when the people of Braj burned the demoness's great body, there arose from the smoke not a foul odour but a sweet and divine fragrance, a surabhi, for her body had been purified by the touch of the Lord; so even her ashes bore witness to the grace she had received. We present this as the cherished tradition of Braj.

The previous birth: Ratnamala, daughter of Bali

The tradition cherishes a tender account of why this grace came to Putana, from a former life. By the Garga Samhita and the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, in a former age, the age of Satya, Putana had been Ratnamala, a daughter of the great and devoted King Bali. When the Lord came as the dwarf Vamana, Ratnamala, beholding his enchanting child-like beauty, was filled with a mother's love and longed, in her heart, to have such a divine child of her own and to nurse him at her breast; but afterwards, when Vamana bound her father Bali, her feeling turned bitter and a darker wish arose, to give such a child poisoned milk instead. In his mercy, the Lord remembered the first, loving wish as well as the later, bitter one; and in his pastime at Gokul he fulfilled them both, receiving her milk and granting her, through her very death, the motherly grace she had once longed for. We present this as the cherished belief and tradition of Braj, held with faith and recounted with reverence.

The site at Mahavan today and how to reach

The place of this first pastime is honoured at Mahavan, within the ancient house of Nanda Baba:

• Within the Chaurasi Khamba. The Putana Uddhar Sthali is within the ancient Nand Bhavan, the eighty-four-pillared temple known as the Chaurasi Khamba, the old residence of Nanda Baba at Mahavan; here the priests and guides point out the spot of the pastime, the room of the cradle from which Putana took the child and where her deliverance unfolded. This same holy house is cherished, too, for the other first pastimes of Krishna, the slaying of Sakatasura and Trinavarta and the Damodara leela nearby.

• Where it is. Mahavan, old Gokul, lies about 15 km south-east of Mathura city, on the far side of the Yamuna from the main Mathura and Vrindavan side. The Chaurasi Khamba stands on a small rise reached by steps, with its courtyard and its ancient pillars, among the close-set holy places of old Gokul.

• How to reach and visiting. Most pilgrims come by car, auto-rickshaw or taxi from Mathura or Vrindavan, usually as part of a Gokul and Mahavan day; the sthali is within the Chaurasi Khamba, so a Braj guide who knows Mahavan helps you find the spot and tells the story on the ground. Come in the cool of the morning or evening and keep the peace of this holy site.

See our 84 khambha temple mahavan guide to the house of Nanda Baba, the gokul vs mahavan guide to the two old Gokuls, the brahmand ghat gokul of another pastime nearby and our how to commute in vrindavan guide for reaching Gokul.

We take guests to the Putana Uddhar Sthali and the holy places of Gokul and Mahavan, the Chaurasi Khamba, the ghats of the Yamuna and the whole of Braj, in a comfortable vehicle with a Braj-born guide, born in Gokul, who knows the first pastimes and the old stories. A shared day tour starts from around ₹1,499 per person, with darshan free. The braj 84 kos yatra covers the whole of Braj, our mathura vrindavan tour the twin cities and our vrindavan tour package Vrindavan in a day. You can also plan with our mathura vrindavan tour itinerary. Message me on WhatsApp at +91-7302265809 to plan your Gokul darshan.

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