PLATE FOURTEEN
One day all the boys, including Krṣṇa and Balarāma, brought their respective groups of calves to a reservoir of water to drink. First the animals drank, and then the boys drank also. Right by the reservoir the boys saw a gigantic body resembling a mountain peak broken and struck down by a thunderbolt. The boys were afraid even to see such a huge living being. The great creature was actually a demon in the form of a duck with a very sharp beak. His name was Bakāsura, and having come to the reservoir, he immediately swallowed Krṣṇa. When Balarāma and the other boys saw that Krṣṇa had been devoured by the gigantic duck, they became almost unconscious, like senses without life. ( pp. 254–56 )