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| Welcome, Guest | |
| Krishna Training Guide |
| Test Their knowledge |
| Q: What does parched mean? A: Parched means to go dry. A parched throat means a dry throat that thirsts for water. |
“But don’t drink (the teacher should widen her eyes and shake the head as if to say ‘no, no’) water from here,’ said one of the elder gopas.
When his friends asked him why, he said: ‘My God! Don’t tell me that you don’t know that the poisonous Kalia snake stays here with his family. His poison is so deadly that even the plants near this bank have begun to fall ill and die. ‘
So after making baby Krishna fall asleep, Yashoda made a cradle or a jhoola by tying two ends of a cloth under the shade of a cart which a is a small wooden car pulled by bulls. She then went back to her guests. But why did Yashoda leave baby Krishna alone? You must be thinking right? But sometimes when you have a party at home, your mother has to attend to the guests, make sure that everybody is being looked after isn’t it? So Yashoda, too, had to leave the baby and look after her guests.
And what this cowherd was saying was true you know. Even the air here
was so poisonous that the birds flying above this place would breathe
the air, gasp (pause) and drop dead – just like that! (snap your
fingers) (with your fingers also show the motion of birds fluttering in
the air and then open your mouth to gasp and then bring the hand down
in a sweep to show ‘drop dead’.) So powerful were the fumes
- ie the air — that even by breathing, people could die, just imagine!
So nobody would build their houses near the Madu-lake where the poisonous
Kalia snake lived.
But little children sometimes don’t listen to their words of their
elders. And then they find themselves in such trouble! Right? Do you always
listen to your elders? I hope so. So even if they were told about Kalia,
the gopas led their cows and calves to the lake for a drink. And then
what do you think happened? Did they live or did they die? Well, no sooner
had the cattle drunk the water, they let out a moan of pain (make a painful
face) and fell down and died. Then their whole body turned blue. Why do
you think they turned blue? Oh yes, they turned blue with the poison and
died! And what does this remind you of? Of course this person did not
turn blue
and die….but who am I talking of?
| Test Their knowledge |
| Q: Whose throat also turned blue? And why did
it turn blue? A: Yes! When Lord Shiva drank the poison during samudra manthan to save the asuras and gods from the Halahal poison, His throat turned blue. And because His throat turned blue, He came to be called Neelkantha, meaning, the one with the blue throat! |
Ok, but what about the gopas? Who would save them now? Let’s see what happened then. Suddenly they saw somebody scramble on top of the Kadamba tree, the only tree on the banks of the lake which was still left standing and had not been affected by the poisonous fumes. But who could he be? But even as they were wondering who had climbed on top of the tree, they saw a wonderful sight! The Kadamba tree, which was till then completely bare and dry, were sprouting beautiful green leaves and flowers!
And then they heard a splash. Somebody had jumped from the tree and into the lake! ‘Who is this little boy who has dared to disturb me? (say this dramatically and in a gruff voice)?’ thought Kalia and he became very angry and he swam towards the spot where he knew the little boy was.
All around the gopas watched in fright as the huge snake made a hiss, hisss sound (make the hissing sound and prolong the ssss part). And then with a big and frightening his he came out of the water waving his hood, i.e. his head (the teacher should curve her hand like a hood and make it nod towards the children) And what a frightful snake he was! Do you want to know what he looked like? He was a very big snake with hundred and one hoods and hundred and one forked tongues. What is a forked tongue? It is a tongue that is split in two! Kalia’s eyes seemed to spit fire and his heads shone red like a ruby stone! And then can you guess what happened?
Kalia entangled the boy. He wound his huge body all around the little boy to the horror of everybody watching. ‘O poor little boy, now he will surely die!’ said all the people of Vrindavan who had gathered by the banks of the Yamuna. ‘Look how Kalia’s tail is lashing the water and holding the boy firmly in his grip,’ said another with a gasp.
Hey, how come none is asking who this little boy was…So go ahead make a guess — who was the little boy who had jumped into the lake to fight Kalia? Yes! He was Krishanji! Ok, let’s see how Krishanji conquers Kalia… First, He made Himself very heavy so that when Kalia tried to hold Him in his grasp, he failed. It was impossible to hold the little boy who weighed a ton indeed! For example if you try to hold a heavy bag in your hand don’t you want to let it go after a while? So try as he might, with a lot of huffing and puffing, Kalia just could not (shake your head) hold onto Krishna and had to let Him go.
Hey, and what does this remind you of?
| Test Their knowledge |
| Q: In which other story did Krishna make himself
big and heavy to rescue His friends? A: Yes, He entered the mouth of the Aghasura snake and expanded His size till Aghasura choked. He then brought his friends out of the snake’s mouth, safe and sound. |
Ok now let’s see what Krishna does to this snake. With His powerful hands, He grabbed hold of Kalia and punched him real hard like a boxer! (the teacher should try to enact Krishna’s grabbing of Kalia and his punch). Then, with a swift movement, He jumped on Kalia’s hood and began to dance from one hood to the other. And how many heads did Kalia have? Hundred and one, that’s right! So whenever Kalia would even try to raise one of His hood, immediately Krishna would jump up and down on it and slap his hood down with His foot.
Krishna danced with such power and pace that His footprints got firmly imprinted on Kalia’s hoods and His feet began to glow a radiant red because of all the jewels on Kalia’s heads. As Krishna hopped about, soon enough, one by one, the life in each of his hood, began to be put out. Kalia began to bleed through his mouths and nose (point to your mouth and nose). And the water all around in the Madu lake began to go red with blood.
So what do you think happened next? Did Krishna kill him? What do you think? As Kalia lay dying, all his wives and relatives came out of the waves. With tears in their eyes, they stood with folded hands (teacher should fold hers) in front of Krishna. ‘O Lord, if Kalia our husband dies, what will happen to us? Please have mercy and do not kill him. Let him live and we will do just as you say,’ they said.
And Krishna who was a very kind God forgave them.’ But you cannot live here,’ He told them. Go to the sea. Go away with your family from the Yamuna so that the cowherds and cattle and drink its water in peace.’ And as soon as His words were spoken, Kalia and his wives and children and slithered out of the Made lake leaving its water sweet, clean, clear and pure. And everybody on the banks of the Madu began to sing and dance with joy at having got rid of Kalia and at having got back Krishna safe and sound….
The questions asked in this section will be followed immediately with sticking the relevant picture on the activity sheet. The questions should keep to the sequence of the story. Make sure the child is able to correlate between the question asked and the cut-out handed out. Ensure that he/she places it in the correct place.
Q1. From which lake did the gopas drink water?
They drank water from Madu lake, a lake near the Yamuna. Highlight name ‘Yamuna’.
Q2. What did did Krishna do each time Kalia raised his head?
After breaking free from the dreaded clutch of Kalia Krishna jumped on
Kalia’s hood and began to dance from one hood to the other. Stick
PCO ‘coil of Kalia’ to cver Krishna in His clutches.and
Stick PCO ‘Krishna dancing on his hoods’. Paste CI ‘payals’ on
Krishna’s feet and sketch His ‘footprints’ on Kalia’s
heads.
Q3. As Krishna danced on Kalia’s head, why did His feet turn red?
Krishna’s feet began to glow a radiant red because of the jewels
on Kalia’s hood. Paste CI ‘jewels’ (on Kalia’s
head), and take a red pen to sketch redness on Krishna’s foot.
If the children appear to be distracted in class, a recap may be advisable, with specific questions to the child/ren who were distracted. The questions in this section need not be the same questions as asked in the Activity or follow the sequence of the story. The non-sequential pattern of questions will test how much they have really retained.
Q: As Krishna danced on Kalia’s head, why did His feet turn red?
Q: What happened after the calves and cowherds drank water from the Madu
lake?
Q: The Madu lake was near which river?
Q: How many heads did Kalia have?
Q: In the end, what did Krishna tell Kalia to do?
Learn to forgive — Did you see how graciously Krishna forgave Kalia? Though He had fought Kalia with the intention of killing him, he forgave him the minute his wives begged for forgiveness. Sometimes we continue to be angry even if the other person has said sorry isn’t it? But that is not right you know. If he/she has said sorry from the heart, If he/she has said that the same mistake will not repeated again, we should accept his/her apology. Accepting one’s fault is a big thing. To be able to forgive is as good a quality, if not more. What do you think?
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