Canto 10: The Summum BonumChapter 16: Kṛṣṇa Chastises the Serpent Kāliya

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.16.4

śrī-śuka uvāca

kālindyāḿ kāliyasyāsīd

hradaḥ kaścid viṣāgninā

śrapyamāṇa-payā yasmin

patanty upari-gāḥ khagāḥ

SYNONYMS

śrī-śukaḥ uvācaŚrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said; kālindyām — within the river Yamunā; kāliyasya — of the serpent Kāliya; āsīt — there was; hradaḥ — lake; kaścita certain; viṣa — of his poison; agninā — by the fire; śrapyamāṇa — being heated and boiled; payāḥ — its water; yasmin — into which; patanti — would fall down; upari-gāḥ — traveling above; khagāḥ — the birds.

TRANSLATION

Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Within the river Kālindī [Yamunā] was a lake inhabited by the serpent Kāliya, whose fiery poison constantly heated and boiled its waters. Indeed, the vapors thus created were so poisonous that birds flying over the contaminated lake would fall down into it.

PURPORT

In this regard the ācāryas explain that the Kāliya lake was situated apart from the main current of the river; otherwise the Yamunā's waters would have been poisonous even in cities like Mathurā and in other places farther away.

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