Krishna, one of Hinduism’s most revered deities and a reincarnation of Lord Vishnu, is said to have held up a mountain to protect villagers and animals from the torrential rains sent by Indra, the King of gods. Krishna performed this superhuman feat when he was just seven years old.
When Krishna was just a small child, he asked his parents why they were preparing for a sacrificial ritual, or prayer ritual called a puja, to worship Indra. His father explained to Krishna that Indra was the patron deity of clouds and rain, and therefore Indra was responsible for providing water for the village to survive. It is Indra who is in charge as to whether the village will have a successful cultivation year for their crops. Every year, the Braj people perform this ritual of providing gifts to the demigod to make him happy so he will continue to provide rain when needed for the crops.
Krishna, however, disputed the idea of the puja stating that everyone is born with their respective ‘Karma’ and that God rewards those that perform action instead of those that do not. He believed they should worry about farming and protecting their cattle instead of performing a puja and conducting sacrifices. He convinced the villagers to celebrate Govardhan Hill instead of Indra because it is the hill that provides the soil on which the grass grows for the cows who make milk. The villagers agreed and decided not to have the puja.
This made Indra enraged that the villagers would listen to a child and celebrate the hill instead of him. He unleashed his anger with torrents of rain upon them as punishment causing devastating floods. The villagers asked Krishna for help. Krishna knew what he needed to do. With one hand, he held up Govardhan Hill like an umbrella for all the inhabitants and their cows to take cover.
Bemused by this, King Indra scaled back the clouds and returned the sky to blue. Krishna asked the villagers to return home and that there was nothing more to fear. Lord Indra’s pride was shattered. He asked Krishna for forgiveness realizing his true position behind Krishna and that Lord Krishna was his guru to his soul.
