Act I
Scene 1
(Mathura)

(Cowherds Krishna, Nanda, Upananda, etc.)

Krishna – Baba, I will not be able to forget your love and affection through entire length of my mortal life.

Nanda – Gopal, what are you saying? Where is Balai? Why are you tarrying now? Come on, let’s go to Braja. Your mother is almost dying from the pangs of separation.

Krishna – Baba, please persuade my mother this time; I don’t think I can accompany you at this juncture.

Nanda – Why can’t you come? What’s the matter? Come on, hurry up, and don’t delay any longer.

Krishna – I will come after making all the arrangements here. I’ll serve the parents for a few days and then come.

Nanda – Parents? Where have these new set of parents cropped up from? I can’t understand what you’re saying.

(Enter Akrura)

Akrura – Brother Nanda, you do not know… Vasudeva is Krishna’s father.

Nanda – What are you taking about, brother? I am unable to comprehend this.

Akrura – A wonderful mystery is hidden about the birth of your Krishna. Krishna was born in Kamsa’s prison. To protect him, Vasudeva went to Gokula overnight. He placed the baby Krishna with Yashoda who was asleep, and in his place, he brought back Yashoda’s new-born daughter. This is the baby girl who Kamsa knocked on the stone. Breathing her last, the girl said, “Your real enemy, who will be the cause of your death, is already born in some place. Do not kill other babies in vain.”

Nanda – What are you saying? Gopal is my support for old age; he is the walking-stick that will see me through my blurry blind days of senescence. Why do you want to conspire and take him away? Gopal! Gopal! You are my Gopal! Come into my arms! Let me just hold you to my chest and run far away.

(Clasping Krishna to his bosom, he breaks into tears)

Krishna – Baba! Baba! Please calm down! I will come, I will come to Vrindavana again. Please cajole my mother so that she doesn’t cry for me.

Nanda – Gopal! Oh Gopal! What are you saying? Have you been so blinded by the splendour of the city that you have forgotten everything? How is it that you’ve started talking like these people?

Krishna – Baba, Baba! I can never forget your love and affection in my life. I will come back.

Nanda – What has happened Gopal? What are you saying? Gopal, Gopal! My Gopal, how have you become theirs? You were born in Gokula eleven years ago on Bhadra Krishna Ashtami. I saw you immediately in the lying-in delivery chamber as soon as you were born, so how did you suddenly become Vasudeva’s son? My head is all muddled now. Am I dreaming or am I awake? I’m at complete loss. These people want to take away my Gopal from me. Gopal! Gopal! My Gopal! To you – I ask you directly, you tell me, who is your father? Tell me the truth.

Krishna – Baba, you are the father, but Vasudeva has given a birth to me and I am born from the womb of Devaki.

Nanda – What are you saying? How did you know that Vasudeva is your father?

Akrura – Brother Nanda! Don’t think of Krishna as an ordinary child, He is God incarnate.

Nanda – Get lost! Calling my Gopal as God will bring him bad luck. This is inauspicious. Gopal, Gopal, my Gopal, my blue ruby!

Akrura – Brother, if Krishna himself was not a God, how could he have killed Putana, Bakasura and Aghasura in his infancy? How could he crush the hauteur of Kaliya, the serpent? Is it possible in any way for a seven-year-old boy to hold Govardhan Mountain aloft upon one hand like an umbrella?

Nanda – I have not understood anything nor am I able to understand! I feel hysterical. Gopal, Gopal, Oh my Gopal! What is happening? Am I seeing a nightmare? What? My Gopal isn’t mine? What is this mystery? Who can unravel this for me? Who should I approach for enlightening me?

(Enter Vasudeva)

Nanda – Brother Vasudeva! You have come at the right moment, that’s really wonderful. Speak up, brother! Am I awake or not? Why are these people speaking such untoward and ridiculous things? You are a great man pledged to truthful speech. Tell me, who does Gopal belong to?

Vasudeva – Nanda! Gopal is yours. You have brought up my Krishna and Balarama like your own sons. I will not be able to repay this debt of yours in any way in my life.

Nanda – You too? You say the same thing? Gopal is your son? How is this possible? I can’t understand anything.

Vasudeva – Brother, Krishna is not an ordinary man, God himself has incarnated in my house to slay the demons like Kamsa etc.

Nanda – Don’t say that brother! Don’t call my Gopal a God. This will be inauspicious for Gopal. What is this mystery? You must tell me the truth.

Vasudeva – Brother, both Devaki and I were prisoners in Kamsa’s prison. Suddenly a very bright light spread in the prison! We saw that the dense darkness of that prison has been dispelled by the light emanating from the body of this four-armed Krishna. We witnessed that our hands and feet have been freed from the chains and both of us were praising him in great awe. Devaki beseeched him to take the form of a child and immediately he assumed the form of an infant. With his command, I reached Gokula with him on my chest. Due to the illusion created by him at that time, Yashoda and all the people of Gokula were asleep, and a new-born girl was playing next to Yashoda. Therefore, I put him in the place of the little girl, and I took her back to the prison in Mathura. Even at the time of my arrival, all the guards were unconscious, cast in slumber, by his illusion. As soon as I approached the closed door with the little girl clasped to my bosom, the gate sprung open automatically, and as soon as we went inside, the doors closed once again. The guards also woke up just at that moment. Everyone knows what happened after that. This is the secret of Krishna’s birth. I have narrated it truthfully.

Nanda – What an impossible thing?! I can’t understand anything. My Gopal is your son, so was he not born from Yashoda’s womb?

Vasudeva – No brother! He is the unborn one. He has not sprung from the womb, he has simply manifested. Okay, now let me share another mysterious thing. Have you ever heard of his umbilical cord being severed? That is, have you any report of a nurse-midwife cutting his umbilical cord? Have you ever heard of anything like that?

Nanda – No brother! I haven’t heard that.

Vasudeva – He has appeared in the form of a son through sheer grace! This is all some great bungle; I seem to have forgotten everything. Ah, listen! Do you know that Sage Garg is the priest of the Yadu lineage? Hope you’re aware of that at least?

Nanda – Of course, I know that.

Vasudeva – How did that Sage Garga come to name your sons? I had personally sent them to name these two brothers. And one more thing – there was a portent that the son of Devaki’s eighth womb will kill Kamsa, didn’t you hear that? Krishna is my son, his killing Kamsa is proof enough.

Nanda – What should I do? What should I say? I can’t understand anything. Gopal, Gopal, my Gopal, come let me hold you close to my heart. Son! Clasping you to my bosom, I want to run away from here.

Krishna – Baba, Baba! Why are you so sad, I will come back for sure!

Nanda – O Gopal! Oh my Gopal! You are the soul of my life, how can I return to Braja with a lifeless body, leaving you here? With what words will I console that panic-stricken and delirious Yashoda? She can’t bear to keep you out of sight even for a moment. She never wanted to send you. I was the one who brought you with a promise of returning in three days. What answer will I give to those maids of Braja, who hold you dearer than their own lives? Don’t you remember their cries when they clung to the wheels of the chariot in which you left? Oh Gopal! Gopal dear! How did you become so cruel? Gopal, oh my Gopal! (Starts crying)

Krishna – Baba, why do you cry? Please calm down. As you can see, the affairs of the state have fallen into complete disarray since King Kamsa was killed. Let me attend to these exigencies. Once I settle everything here, I will come to you all. Don’t you know I can’t live without my mother?

Nanda – Oh Gopal dear! How cruel have you become? Have you forgotten everything? Don’t you remember your favourite cows Shyamali and Dhauli? Vrindavana, Yamuna, Pulin, the Kadamba tree – sitting under whose shade you would play the flute, and hearing your flute, the young and the old of Braja would come running, the cows and their calves would run towards the Kadamba tree after hearing your flute. Oh, Oh Gopal! Oh dear, how could you completely forget all those things? How are you asking me to go back alone? No, I will never go back alone leaving you.

Krishna – Baba, very soon I will settle things here and I’d be with you….

Nanda – Gopal, my precious Gopal! I never disbelieve in your words, but I do not know why, today my mind says that your words are incredulous, I remain unconvinced. I feel you’ll never come to Braja again. You have completely abandoned us. Gopal! Oh Gopal!

Krishna – No Baba, no. I tell you the truth, I will definitely come. You kindly return.

Nanda – Oh! How can I leave you and go back? Gopal! When your mother sees me coming alone, she will at once fall down to the ground in great grief and die. Oh Gopal, are you not afraid of matricide? Oh my dear Gopal! How did you become so cruel? Who made you so heartless? Could you please explain that to me? You tell me, if I reach Vrindavana alone, what will your female companions say when they see me coming alone? What will happen to them, can you give this a thought? Oh dear, these girls love you since childhood. Numerous are the sports and dalliances they have indulged in with you? They hold you dearer than their lives. Gopal! Speak up, you heartless one! How can you forget the affection of those troubled hapless damsels of Braja? Gopal, Gopal dear! (Starts crying)

Vasudeva – Brother Nanda, be patient. Gopal is yours. At this moment, the state is in a chaos, anarchy and lawlessness prevails. It is necessary to put this in order. That’s why Krishna cannot go with you now.

Nanda – Brother Vasudeva, you only tell me what to do! What can I say? Tell me how can I leave Gopal here, and return lifeless to Vrindavana? On seeing me alone, Yashoda would go overboard, fall to the ground in shock and simply die, there is no doubt about it. Gopal, Gopal! My Gopal!

Krishna – Baba, believe me. I assure you, neither my mother nor the maidens of Braja will die from my separation. Be calm and return to Braja.

Nanda – Gopal! Gopal! How do I go back alone? (Cries)

(Enter Balarama)

Balarama – Greetings Baba, why are you crying?

Nanda – Oh Baladau! What do I do, Gopal is now talking about not going to Vrindavana. Oh Balai! What’s happening to my Gopal?

Balarama – Baba, please don’t cry. From the very outset you’ve been a witness to the fact that the people of Mathura were suffering due to the atrocities of uncle Kamsa. Uncle Kamsa had taken grandfather Ugrasen prisoner and he had started ruling on his own, but Krishna killed Kamsa. Since there is no ruler in the state at this moment, someone needs to take charge. We will leave from here after making satisfactory arrangements in all respects.

Nanda – (embraces Balarama) Oh Baladau! Won’t you come too? What will I do then? Oh Kanhai, Oh my Balai! (Cries)

Balarama – Baba, calm down, don’t cry.

Nanda – Oh Balai! Oh Kanhai dear! What should I do? Where do I go? What a plight I am in? I am completely desolate! I have no one in the world anymore. (Cries)

Krishna – Baba, Baba, get a hold of yourself. I will definitely come.

Upananda – Nanda, after seeing the extraordinary pastimes of Krishna I have already told you that that this boy is not an ordinary child. If he was a normal child, how could he have been so powerful right from his childhood? This is God almighty, we had already realized this.

Nanda – Dada, don’t call my Gopal a God!

Upananda – Brother, whatever work Krishna is doing, it cannot be done by any normal human being. Why only me, everyone has seen his wonderful deeds, and everyone calls him God, and they will continue to do so.

Nanda – Gopal dearest! Oh, my Gopal. What should I do? Where do I go? Oh Gopal, what have you done? You are everything to me. I have lost everything by losing you. What to do? Gopal, my Gopal! Gopal, my Gopal! (Starts crying)

(Krishna and Balarama cling to Nanda)

Both – Calm down Baba, we will come. There will be no delay. Please don’t cry now.

Vasudeva – Brother Nanda! You are intelligent. You’re exceptional. It doesn’t suit you to be so impatient. Let’s talk about their return later. For now, just come with me to the inner chambers.

(He holds Nanda’s hand and takes him. Everyone leaves together)