Markandeya’s Vision of Bala Mukunda

Govinda Damodara Stotram

Of the numerous adorable Shri Krishna stotras, the one beginning with करारविन्देन (kararabindena) is among my favourite songs. The soulful rendition of this prayer by Pandit Jasraj instils in me a sense of profound bliss.

Link: https://youtu.be/tpB0lyPwUs4?si=WnBraeEYnkmgmw5T

Madhavi Madhukar Jha has also sang it very well.

Link: https://youtu.be/pZ-7s9P2KC8?si=vOETSHWn5HsNIkq7

What is special about this stotra? Just consider the opening stanza. A veritable visual feast. The devotee reciting the prayer mentally visualises Bala Mukunda – Lord Vishnu/Krishna as an infant – with enchanting, mesmerising 3-D graphic details.

Here is the text:

करारविन्देन पदारविन्दं
मुखारविन्दे विनिवेशयन्तम् ।
वटस्य पत्रस्य पुटे शयानं
बालं मुकुन्दं मनसा स्मरामि ॥

English:
“I visualise in my mind the infant Mukunda, lying within the concave of a banyan leaf, who with His lotus-hands holds His lotus-feet placing them into His lotus-mouth.”

Markandeya’s Vision

Why is Bala Mukunda lying on a banyan leaf? Who placed him there? The story is narrated in Shrimad Bhagavata Purana (ŚB 12.9.22-34).

Sage Markandeya is one of the immortals. At the end of a kalpa, pralaya (deluge) flood devoured all creation. Markandeya roamed the fathomless, dark ocean for millions of years after which he beheld on a tiny island a banyan tree with an infant lying on a sparkling leaf of a north-eastern branch of the tree. (Is that why the north-east direction is considered most auspicious?)

What was the infant doing? He had grabbed his foot with his hands, thrust it into his mouth, and was happily sucking it.

(Wikimedia: Cosmic Narayana as the Infant Krishna (Vijayanagra period) - Banyan leaf on which he floats missing; 15^th century bronze, Karnataka.)

Awed by this amazing sight, the sage bowed in reverence. The infant smiled, and gently breathed in drawing into his being the sage who beheld there the entire universe including his own hermitage. The infant exhaled to return the sage to the created world. As the sage approached to embrace the infant God, He vanished. God had granted the sage, owing to his piety and penance, a brief glimpse of Maya – the inscrutable mystery of creation and destruction.

Why does the infant God suck his toe? Because an infant maps his mouth, and readies it for sucking mother’s breast. Even Vishnu, when he chooses to be born a human, is subject to the mundane, mortal path of growth.

Mukunda

An epithet for Vishnu/Krishna, the word has  several connotations. Muku is mukti or liberation, da is to bestow; thus, Mukunda is the Lord who bestows liberation.

Who composed this stotra?

The authorship of Govinda Damodara Stotra (GDS) is attributed to Bilvamaṅgalacarya - poet-saint of South India who is better known for his masterpiece Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta. The dating for Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta is broadly placed between the 9th and 15th centuries CE.

GDS is a long stotra with 71 verses; with गोविन्द दामोदर माधवेति (Gobinda Damodara Madhaveti) as the dhuva pada, the recurring primal pada. However, the kararabindena verse is not part of GDS. Why, then, do several singers begin the prayer with this opening stanza? Maybe, because it is a powerful and memorable invocation by the devotee. The stanza is possibly composed by a later author and appended to Bilvamangala’s GDS. The cinematic details are surely drawn upon Veda Vyasa’s narrative in Shrimad Bhagavata of Markandeya’s vision of the infant God. Incidentally, in that episode Vyasa mentions neither Krishna, Rama, or even Vishnu; but only Bhagavan.

Govinda, Dāmodara, and Mādhava: Meaning & Significance

These three names are among the most beloved epithets of Śrī Krishna / Vishnu, each carrying layers of meaning rooted in Vedic, Puranic, and Bhakti traditions.

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1. Govinda (गोविन्द)

Etymology:

• Go = cow, earth, senses, Vedas, speech.
• Vinda = finder, protector, knower, master.

Meanings:

1.   Protector of cows – Krishna as Gopāla, caring for cows in Vṛndāvana.

2.   Lord of the earth – He who upholds and nourishes the earth (Bhū-devi is also called Go).

3.   Knower of the Vedas – He who reveals the knowledge of the Vedas (since go also means Veda).

4.   Master of the senses – He who controls all the senses (indriyas).

5.   In the Viṣṇu Sahasranāma, Govinda is explained as “the One who gives joy to the cows, earth, and Vedas.”

The name evokes Krishna as the cowherd boy of Vṛndāvana—joyful, playful, yet the sustainer of the world.

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2. Dāmodara (दामोदर)

Etymology:

• Dāma = rope (or bond).
• Udara = belly.

Meanings:

1.   One whose belly was bound with a rope – Krishna tied by Mother Yaśodā during the butter-stealing pastime (Dāmodara-līlā in Bhāgavata Purāṇa, 10.9).

2.   He who is bound by the devotees’ love – the rope symbolizes bhakti, stronger than His omnipotence.

3.   Cosmic belly – some commentators say udara refers to the universe (contained within His belly at pralaya).

4.   In philosophical texts, Dāmodara also implies “one who is self-restrained and bound by dharma.”

This name melts hearts because it shows the all-powerful Lord willingly subdued by the affection of His devotee mother.

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3. Mādhava (माधव)

Etymology:
Several derivations exist:

• From Madhu (spring, honey, also a clan name) + ava (descendant, lord).
• From Lakṣmī (Mā or Mādhavī) + dhava (husband, consort).
• From Madhu (sweetness, bliss).

Meanings:

1.   Husband of Mā (Lakṣmī) – the Lord as Vishnu, consort of Goddess Lakṣmī.

2.   Descendant of the Madhu dynasty – Krishna was born in the Yadu dynasty, connected to the Madhu lineage.

3.   Lord of springtime – Madhu also means spring; hence Mādhava is He who brings freshness and beauty like spring.

4.   The sweet one – embodiment of bliss and delight, like honey (madhu).

5.   Knower of knowledge (vidyā) – in Vedic glosses, Mādhava is “master of knowledge” since madhu-vidyā refers to Upanishadic wisdom.

Mādhava brings to mind the sweetness of Krishna’s form, His eternal bond with Lakṣmī, and His charm as the youthful spring-like God of Vṛndāvana.

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Devotional Visualisation

When devotees chant “Govinda Dāmodara Mādhaveti”, they are not just reciting names, but visualising:

• Krishna the playful cowherd (Govinda),
• Krishna the bound child in loving surrender (Dāmodara),
• Krishna the sweet Lord of Lakṣmī and spring (Mādhava).

Together, these names span His roles as protector, beloved child, and divine consort — painting a complete picture of His divinity in intimate, accessible ways.

Krishna: A Source Book – Edited by Edwin F. Bryant

After reading my blog, Dr. K.K. Chakravarty recommended this book - a collection of 22 essays by eminent scholars. I found it in archive.org and began reading. Here is an excerpt:

“The earliest archaeological evidence of Krishna as a divine being is the Besnagar, or Heliodorus column in Besnagar, northwest Madhya Pradesh, dated to around 100 B.C.E. The inscription is particularly noteworthy because it reveals that a foreigner had been converted to the Krishna religion by this period— Heliodorus was a Greek. The column, dedicated to Garuda, the eagle carrier of Vishnu and of Krishna, bears an inscription in which Heliodorus calls himself a bhagavata (devotee of Vasudeva Krishna).”

Besnagar is the ancient name of Vidisha, a district town in M.P.

Link for the book: https://archive.org/details/bryant-e.-krishna-a-sourcebook/mode/1up?view=theater

Resources & References

·      Sanskritdocuments.org

·      Vedabase.io

·      Stotra Ratnavali – Gita Press, Gorakhpur

·      Sanskrit-English Dictionary – V.S. Apte

·      ChatGPT, Copilot, You Tube

·        Link for my previous blog How to attain Krishna: https://www.pkdash.in/2024/08/krishna.html

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