SB 10.16.6 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

तं चण्डवेगविषवीर्यमवेक्ष्य तेन दुष्टां नदीं च खलसंयमनावतार: । कृष्ण: कदम्बमधिरुह्य ततोऽतितुङ्ग- मास्फोट्य गाढरशनो न्यपतद् विषोदे ॥ ६ ॥

Verse text

taṁ caṇḍa-vega-viṣa-vīryam avekṣya tena duṣṭāṁ nadīṁ ca khala-saṁyamanāvatāraḥ kṛṣṇaḥ kadambam adhiruhya tato ’ti-tuṅgam āsphoṭya gāḍha-raśano nyapatad viṣode

Synonyms

tam — him, Kāliya ; caṇḍa — vega — of fearsome power ; viṣa — the poison ; vīryam — whose strength ; avekṣya — seeing ; tena — by him ; duṣṭām — contaminated ; nadīm — the river ; ca — and ; khala — the envious demons ; saṁyamana — for subduing ; avatāraḥ — whose descent from the spiritual world ; kṛṣṇaḥ — Lord Kṛṣṇa ; kadambam — a kadamba tree ; adhiruhya — climbing up on ; tataḥ — from it ; ati — tuṅgam — very high ; āsphoṭya — slapping His arms ; gāḍha — raśanaḥ — tying His belt firmly ; nyapatat — He jumped ; viṣa — ude — into the poisoned water .

Translation

Lord Kṛṣṇa saw how the Kāliya serpent had polluted the Yamunā River with his terribly powerful poison. Since Kṛṣṇa had descended from the spiritual world specifically to subdue envious demons, the Lord immediately climbed to the top of a very high kadamba tree and prepared Himself for battle. He tightened His belt, slapped His arms and then jumped into the poisonous water.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Lord Kṛṣṇa saw how the Kāliya serpent had polluted the Yamunā River with his terribly powerful poison. Since Kṛṣṇa had descended from the spiritual world specifically to subdue envious demons, the Lord immediately climbed to the top of a very high kadamba tree and prepared Himself for battle. He tightened His belt, slapped His arms and then jumped into the poisonous water. KB 10.16.6 Lord Kṛṣṇa saw the effect of the great serpent’s poison: the whole river that ran before Vṛndāvana was now deadly. Kṛṣṇa, who advented Himself just to kill all undesirable elements in the world, immediately climbed up into a big kadamba tree on the bank of the Yamunā. The kadamba is a tree bearing round yellow flowers that is generally seen only in the Vṛndāvana area. After climbing to the top of the tree, He tightened His belt cloth and, slapping His arms just like a wrestler, jumped into the midst of the poisonous lake. The kadamba tree from which Kṛṣṇa jumped was the only tree there which was not dead. Some commentators say that due to being touched by the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, the tree immediately became alive. In some other Purāṇas it is stated that Garuḍa, the eternal carrier of Viṣṇu, knew that Kṛṣṇa would take this action in the future, and so he put some nectar on this tree to preserve it.

Purport

According to the ācāryas, Lord Kṛṣṇa also tied back the locks of His hair as He prepared to do battle with Kāliya.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Only the kadamba tree remained unaffected by the poison of Kaliya, because according to the puranas, Garuda sat in this tree when taking nectar. It remained there to get the blessing of the touch of Krsna’s lotus feet in the future.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Seeing the power of the poison with no remedy (caṇḍa) and spreading quickly, and the river contaminated by Kāliya, Kṛṣṇa climbed to the top of a kadamba tree. This is understood from Hari-vaṁśa. He tied up his hair, ornaments etc. Hari-vaṁśa says he bound his waist band tightly. He jumped into the water because he had appeared from his own planet (including within him all other avatāras such as Matsya who can swim) to defeat the wicked (khala-saṁyamanāvatāraḥ)--to defeat Kāliya. Why did the kadamba tree remain on the bank when everything else died? Since it was Kṛṣṇa’s tree, it was similar to him: kadambaḥ krṣṇa-vṛkṣo hi kāḷiya-hrada-samīpagaḥ tasmad eko ‘na śuṣko sau viṣa-hāra-karaḥ parān The kadamba tree near the Kāliya Lake was Kṛṣṇa’s tree. Therefore it alone did not wither away since it could remove the poison from others. One should understand that Kṛṣṇa kept this tree at this place of his pastimes. It should be understood from the statement in Hari-vaṁśa that other tress nearby did not die because of the kadamba.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

Seeing the power of the poison with no remedy (caṇḍa) and spreading quickly, and the river contaminated by Kāliya, Kṛṣṇa climbed to the top of a kadamba tree. This is understood from Hari-vaṁśa. He tied up his hair, ornaments etc. Hari-vaṁśa says he bound his waist band tightly. He jumped into the water because he had appeared from his own planet (including within him all other avatāras such as Matsya who can swim) to defeat the wicked (khala-saṁyamanāvatāraḥ)--to defeat Kāliya. Why did the kadamba tree remain on the bank when everything else died? Since it was Kṛṣṇa’s tree, it was similar to him: kadambaḥ krṣṇa-vṛkṣo hi kāḷiya-hrada-samīpagaḥ tasmad eko ‘na śuṣko sau viṣa-hāra-karaḥ parān The kadamba tree near the Kāliya Lake was Kṛṣṇa’s tree. Therefore it alone did not wither away since it could remove the poison from others. One should understand that Kṛṣṇa kept this tree at this place of his pastimes. It should be understood from the statement in Hari-vaṁśa that other tress nearby did not die because of the kadamba.