Sri Krishna dancing on Kalinga serpent (Image by Gautam Beera)
A couple of days ago, my sister told me about the Kalinga creature (though I think that, at the time, she referred to it as "Kalima"). Since I'm always interested in mythical beings and foreign folklore, I decided to dig a little bit on that subject.
According to Hindu legends, Kalinga is the king of serpents. Kalinga had seven heads and lived with his army of snakes in a tree growing by the river Yamuna. At night he would come out and cause devastation with his horde. But then Krishna climbed the tree and dived into the river with such intense heat radiating from his body that the tree burnt. The furious Kalinga encircled Krishna with his army, but Krishna was able to defeat Kalinga by dancing on his seven heads draining the snakes power. With their leader defeated, the snakes fled to the ocean and Krishna as a result promised that the giant bird creature, named Garuda, would not prey upon them in future.
According to Hindu legends, Kalinga is the king of serpents. Kalinga had seven heads and lived with his army of snakes in a tree growing by the river Yamuna. At night he would come out and cause devastation with his horde. But then Krishna climbed the tree and dived into the river with such intense heat radiating from his body that the tree burnt. The furious Kalinga encircled Krishna with his army, but Krishna was able to defeat Kalinga by dancing on his seven heads draining the snakes power. With their leader defeated, the snakes fled to the ocean and Krishna as a result promised that the giant bird creature, named Garuda, would not prey upon them in future.
~Ally
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