Damodara

(dama “rope” + udara “waist”) Epithet of
the god Krishna, given in memory of a
particular incident in his childhood. In
an effort to curb Krishna’s mischief by
restricting his movements, Krishna’s foster mother, Yashoda, uses a rope to tie
her toddling boy to the heavy stone
mortar used in grinding grain. The mortar’s weight is more than sufficient to
restrain any normal child, but for
Krishna it proves no hindrance, and he
proceeds to crawl about, dragging the
mortar after him. At one point the mortar becomes wedged between two trees
growing closely together, and Krishna
pulls so hard that the trees are uprooted.
After the trees fall to the ground, they
immediately disappear, and in their
place stand two young men. These are
sons of the god Kubera who have been
cursed to take the form of a tree until
Krishna comes to save them.