Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami
From the book “Sri Vraja-mandala-parikrama”:
Khecarī-gaon is two miles west of Mathurā, and one mile north- east of Śāntanu-kuṇḍa. Khecarī refers to the rākṣasī Pūtanā, a demoness who roamed the sky. Kaṁsa knew about her power and adopted her as his sister. On his request, the impure Pūtanā, who could transform herself into many forms and who used to drink the blood and eat the flesh of small children, came in the guise of a beautiful mother to the house of Nanda Mahārāja to kill Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Although her breasts were smeared with a deadly poison, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the ocean of causeless mercy, sucked out her life along with the poison, and bestowed upon her a position equal to a nursemaid in the transcendental world. Khecarī-gaon is the place of residence of the rākṣasī Pūtanā.
Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
The word ‘khechari’ means a particular type of ‘evil witch’, who drinks the blood of humans and feasts on the flesh of small children. Such witches also possess mystic powers whereby they can fly in the sky at will. It is believed by some researchers that Putana was born here at Khechari and also lived in this village. However, local panditas strongly disagree with this and say that Putana was actually born at Mathura, and it was only her dead body that fell here after she was killed by Krishna. There is no actual scriptural evidence to support the theory that Putana was born here or lived in the village of Khechari.
Putana was the sister of the brothers Bakasura and Agashura, and like them was a devoted servant of King Kamsa. One day, the witch Putana was ordered by Kamsa to kill all the new-born babies in Vrindavana, just to make sure that the eighth child of Devaki, who Kamsa believed was still alive, would also be killed. By her mystic powers, Putana was able to disguise herself as a very beautiful woman and after smearing deadly poison on her nipples, she went about killing innumerable babies by feeding them milk from her poisoned breasts. Eventually she arrived at the courtyard of Nanda Baba’s house in Gokula where baby Krishna was lying on His cot. As she appeared very beautiful and looked highly exalted almost like a goddess, none of the ladies in the house including Yashoda, Rohini, or the nurses objected when Putana stepped forward to offer her breast milk to baby Krishna. Picking up Krishna and placing Him in her lap, Putana pushed her poisoned nipple into Krishna’s mouth.
Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, even if He appears on earth in the form of a small baby. Being the Supersoul of all living entities, He could perfectly understand the situation, and knowing that this evil witch had already poisoned scores of new-born babies, Krishna suddenly became very angry and while sucking the milk from Putana’s breast, sucked out her very life air. Screaming loudly and writhing in pain, Putana the witch immediately fell down dead. As Putana was falling, her body suddenly changed back into its original demoniac form and immediately expanded up to a distance of twelve miles, with her head reaching as far as Khechari village. It is also said that as the gigantic witch was falling down, Krishna caused her to fall outside of Gokula so that the village would not be destroyed and nobody would get hurt.
There is a small kunda on the outskirts of Khechari village known as Putana-kunda, where the body of Putana is said to have been burned. The presence of this kunda gives credence to the claim by the local panditas of the village that Putana was not born here, but after being killed by Krishna, she was burned at this place. The Shrimad-Bhagavatam also says that Putana’s body was burned by the Vrajavasis after her death. Because she had been slain by Krishna, she was purified of her sins and awarded liberation, the sweet aroma from her burning body spread in all directions.
