One day the Gopa boys went over to a tank to quench their thirst. They saw a huge monster in the form of a Baka (crane). It rushed forth and swallowed Krishna. Krishna caused a burning in its throat and the Asura threw him out. It made a second attack and Krishna held the two beaks and parted them asunder as if they were blades of grass, And the Asura died. AGHA OR THE SERPENT. *SKANDHA X. CHAP. 12.* One day Krishna was playing with the boys in the forest. Agha, the youngest born of Putanâ and Baka, the Asura whom even the Devas, rendered immortal by _Amrita_, dreaded, burning with a spirit of revenge at the death of his brother and sister, thought of killing Krishna and all his attendants. He stretched himself forth as a huge serpent, spreading over one yojana, the extremities of his open mouth touching the clouds and the earth. The Gopa boys took the Asura to be the goddess of Vrindâvana. "Or if it really be a serpent opening its mouth to kill us, it will instantly be killed like the Asura Vaka." So with their eyes fixed on Krishna they clapped their hands and with a smile entered the mouth of the serpent, even before Krishna had time to warn them. The Asura still waited with its mouth open for Krishna. Krishna thought how he could kill the serpent and at the same time save his companions. On reflection, he himself entered the mouth of the serpent and stretched himself and his comrades. The Asura lost breath and breathed his last. A shining spirit emerged from the Asura body and entered the body of Krishna. Krishna gave fresh life to his comrades by his Amrita bearing looks. Krishna killed Agha in his fifth year, but the Gopa boys who witnessed the act said, when Krishna entered his sixth year, that the act was done that very day. "How could that be?" enquired Parikshit. Suka explained this with reference to the following story. BRAHMA AND KRISHNA. *SKANDHA X. CHAP. 13-14.* When the Asura Agha was killed, Krishna went with his companions to the river bank and said: —