Why is Shri Krishna called “Damodar”?

Like the Leelas of Shri Krishna, his names are also infinite. One of them is the name “Damodar”, which he got because of a leela shown in his childhood.

This name is also special because this time he used his Maya not on the demon but on his mother only.

Once in Gokul, Mother Yashoda was churning milk and extracting butter. At the same time Shri Krishna came there and started insisting on drinking milk.

Mother Yashoda used to forget everything after seeing his beautiful face. She left all work and started breastfeeding Shri Krishna. She forgot that she had kept the milk on the stove to heat.

While feeding him milk, he suddenly remembered that the milk kept on the stove must have boiled. Thinking this, she left Shri Krishna there and ran to the kitchen.

On the other hand, Shri Krishna became very angry. He could not tolerate anyone coming between mother and son. In that anger, he broke all the jars of butter lying there and started eating the butter lovingly.

On the other hand, when Mother Yashoda came back, she saw that the whole house was full of butter. Everywhere you looked, you could see butter falling.

Now it was Yashoda Maiya’s turn to get angry. Thinking that he had worked hard the whole day to get the butter and Shri Krishna had ruined all his hard work, he became very angry.

Then what was left She picked up a stick and ran to hit Shri Krishna. Lord Krishna, the lord of the three worlds, ran to escape from them.

All the gods were watching his leela in heaven. Mother was elder and Shri Krishna was younger, yet she could not catch him.

Who could catch them without the will of God? At last she got tired and sat down on the same ground.

When Shri Krishna saw that the leela had become too much and the mother was tired, he himself reached her. He lovingly wiped mother’s sweat.

But due to so much hard work, Yashoda’s anger increased further. He quickly caught hold of Kanhaiya.

This will be called the Lord’s leela that he thought that he had caught Kanha. Little did she know that no one could capture her without her will.

What punishment should we give them now? They thought of tying Krishna to this mortar and completing all the household work. But can anyone tie Shri Krishna?

Another one of his leela started. Yashoda picked up a rope and when she tried to tie it to Shri Krishna, the rope was two fingers shorter than his stomach.

He attached the second rope to the first rope but again the rope was two fingers short.

Now Yashoda started adding ropes one after the other but every time the rope fell two fingers short.

Mother kept getting irritated and Shri Krishna kept laughing. His leela continued like this for a long time.

Shri Krishna neither wanted to be tied nor was he tied. At last Yashoda again became tired and exhausted but the rope remained two fingers short for Shri Krishna.

Now Kanha saw that mother was tired. His affection was aroused and he finally tied himself up. Yashoda heaved a sigh of relief and started doing household work.

Shri Krishna thought that since mother is busy in performing her duties, I should fulfill my own duties.

They reached the courtyard dragging the mortar. There were two huge Arjun trees growing there, which were actually two Gandharvas named Nalkuber and Manigriva, who had become trees due to the curse of Narad ji.

Narad ji had said that when Shri Krishna incarnates, he will save them.

Today finally his turn for salvation came. Shri Krishna walked on his knees and passed between the trees but the mortar got stuck.

Kanhaiya applied a little force to move forward and both the trees were uprooted and fell down. Due to this, Nalkuber and Manigriva were freed from the curse and stood before them.

Shri Krishna blessed him and he reached his abode.

On the other hand, the earth shook due to the falling of trees. Mother Yashoda, fearing some evil, runs into the courtyard and sees that both the trees have fallen and Kanhaiya is playing among them.

His life came back to life. She ran and immediately untied Kanhaiya’s rope and freed him. Another leela of Shri Krishna came to an end.

In Sanskrit, rope is called “Daam” and stomach is called “Udar”. For this reason, due to being tied by the stomach with a rope, Shri Krishna got the name “Damodar”.

We find another story on this subject in Bhavishya Purana. Once Radha ji was sitting in the garden waiting for Shri Krishna.

There was a lot of delay in Shri Krishna’s arrival due to which Radha’s anxiety increased a lot. Well, after a long time Shri Krishna came.

Radha was sitting in anger. Thinking that Shri Krishna might go away soon, they tied him with a rope of vines.

After tying them he asked them the reason for the delay. Then Shri Krishna told that due to Kartik festival today, Yashoda Maiya did not allow him to come without worship, that is why he got late.

Hearing this, Radha ji felt very remorseful. He immediately untied his rope and apologized.

Then Shri Krishna laughingly said, “Why apologize? I am already bound by your love.”

Hearing this, Radha ji became very happy and because of tying him to the stomach (abdomen) with a rope (daam), she addressed Shri Krishna by the name “Damodar”.

Since then, one name of Shri Krishna was Damodar.
Jai Shri Damodar.