The Universe in Krishna's Mouth
ages 3-6
The children tell Yashoda that little Krishna has eaten mud. When she looks inside his mouth, she sees the whole universe, and then she forgets it all and simply hugs her little boy.
Written for Pujadeep and checked against the sources listed.
The story
One day Krishna was playing with his big brother Balarama and the other children of Gokul. Soon the children came running to Krishna's mother, Yashoda. "Krishna ate mud!" they said.
Yashoda took Krishna by the hand. "Did you eat mud, little one?" she asked. "Your friends saw you. Your brother saw you too."
"No, Mother, no mud," said Krishna. "They are telling fibs. Look in my mouth and see."
"All right, open wide," said Yashoda. Krishna opened his little mouth.
Yashoda looked inside. She did not see any mud. She saw the whole sky! She saw the sun, the moon and the stars. She saw mountains, rivers and oceans. She saw the wind and the fire, the earth and all its lands. She even saw Gokul, and herself standing in it.
Yashoda blinked. "Is this a dream?" she wondered. "Or is my little boy someone very great?" She folded her hands and bowed to the One who holds the whole world.
Then a soft, warm feeling filled her heart. She forgot what she had seen. She saw only her own little Krishna. She picked him up, sat him on her lap and loved him, just as before.
Families who tell this story often take from it that the One who holds everything also came to be held, as a child, in a mother's arms.
Something to do together
Lie on a blanket outside, or look out of a window together, and name everything you can see: sky, clouds, trees, birds, houses. Then ask each other what else Yashoda might have seen inside Krishna's mouth.
More stories
For grown-ups
The story ends above. Here, for grown-ups: how families tell it in other ways, and the books it comes from.
How the story differs, and where it comes from
How the story differs
The Bhagavata tells two moments like this. In one, baby Krishna yawns while feeding on Yashoda's lap, and she sees the whole world inside his mouth (Book 10, chapter 7). In the other, told here, he opens his mouth to show that he has not eaten mud (Book 10, chapter 8). Many retellings mix the two together. In Braj, near Mathura, pilgrims visit Brahmand Ghat on the Yamuna at Mahavan, where local tradition places this story; brahmanda means the whole universe.
Where the story comes from
- Bhagavata Purana, Book 10 (Dashama Skandha), chapter 8 (10.8.32–45 (the children say Krishna ate mud; Yashoda sees the universe in his mouth))
- Le Bhâgavata Purâna ou Histoire poétique de Krïchna, tome quatrième (Livre X, première partie), traduit par M. Hauvette-Besnault (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1884) (Livre X, chapitre VIII, stances 32–45, pp. 42–44 (leaves n64–n66))
- A Prose English Translation of Srimadbhagavatam, Books VII–XII bound in one, edited and published by Manmatha Nath Dutt (Calcutta: Elysium Press, 1895–96) (Book X, chapter VIII, p. 40 (leaf n45); the rest of the episode, p. 41, is missing from this scan)
Sources
- Le Bhâgavata Purâna ou Histoire poétique de Krïchna, tome quatrième (Livre X, première partie), traduit par M. Hauvette-Besnault (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1884) (Livre X, chapitre VIII, pp. 42–44 (leaves n64–n66))
- A Prose English Translation of Srimadbhagavatam, Books VII–XII bound in one, edited and published by Manmatha Nath Dutt (Calcutta: Elysium Press, 1895–96) (Book X, chapter VII, p. 36 (leaf n219), the yawning episode; chapter VIII, p. 40 (leaf n45))
- Mathurá: A District Memoir, by F. S. Growse, third edition, revised and abridged ([Allahabad]: North-Western Provinces and Oudh Government Press, 1883) (Maha-ban, the twenty-one tirthas, p. 280: Brahmand Ghat and its pilgrims' sand 'peras' recalling the earth in Krishna's mouth (the regional note))
Source and licence
- Our explanation
- Written for this site from the sources listed here, and checked against them. Free to quote with credit.
- Checked
- Checked against the sources listed, October 15, 2026.