288
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 10, Ch. 12]
Unknown to them, it was actually Aghāsura, a demon who had appeared as a python. Kṛṣṇa, knowing this, wanted to forbid His associates to enter the demon's mouth.
TEXT 26
तावत् प्रविष्टास्त्वसुरोदरान्तरं परं न गीर्णाः शिशवः सवत्साः । प्रतीक्षमाणेन बकारिवेशनं हतस्वकान्तसरणेन रक्षसा ॥२६॥
tāvat praviṣṭās tv asurodarāntaram param na gīrṇāḥ śiśavaḥ sa-vatsāḥ pratikṣamāṇena bakāri-veśanam hata-sva-kānta-smaraṇena rakṣasā
tāvat —in the meantime;  praviṣṭāḥ —all entered;  tu —indeed;  asura-udara-antaram —within the belly of the great demon;  param —but;  na gīrṇāḥ —they were not swallowed;  śiśavaḥ —all the boys;  sa-vatsāḥ —along with their calves;  pratikṣamāṇena —who was just waiting for;  baka-ari —of the enemy of Bakāsura;  veśanam —the entering;  hata-sva-kānta-smaraṇena —the  asura  was thinking of his own dead relatives, who would not be satisfied unless Kṛṣṇa were dead;  rakṣasā —by the demon.
TRANSLATION
In the meantime, while Kṛṣṇa was considering how to stop them, all the cowherd boys entered the mouth of the demon. The demon, however, did not swallow them, for he was thinking of his own relatives who had been killed by Kṛṣṇa and was just waiting for Kṛṣṇa to enter his mouth.
TEXT 27
तान् वीक्ष्य कृष्णः सकलाभयप्रदो ह्यनन्यनाथान् स्वकरादवच्युतान् । दीनांश्च मृत्योर्जठराग्निघासान् घृणार्दितो दिष्टकृतेन विस्मितः ॥२७॥