Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami
From the book “Sri Vraja-maṇḍala-parikramā”:
Pūtanā disguised herself as a mother, smeared her breasts with deadly poison, and came to this place in Nanda-bhavana. Directly in front of Yaśodā and Rohiṇī, she was able to very easily pick up sleeping baby Kṛṣṇa from the cradle, put Him on her lap and begin to breast-feed Him. Kṛṣṇa sucked out the deadly poison together with her life, thus liberating her from the body of a rākṣasī. He then gave her the position of a dhātrī, a nurse or foster-mother, in Goloka.
In a previous life, Pūtanā was Ratnamālā, the daughter of Bali Mahārāja. When, in the palace of her father, she beheld the beauty of Lord Vāmanadeva, she desired to have a son just like Him. But when Vāmanadeva took away everything from Bali Mahārāja and bound him with a rope of snakes (nāgapāśa), she began to cry. She thought, “I would kill such a cruel son by feeding him breast milk mixed with poison.” Knowing her desire, Lord Vāmanadeva gave her this boon, saying, “Evam astu – so be it.” Śrī Kṛṣṇa therefore killed her in that form and gave Pūtanā her proper identity as a nurse.
Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
The word ‘udhara-sthala’ means ‘the place (sthala) where Putana was liberated (udhara)’. This is the site where the witch Putana was killed by baby Krishna and received liberation. In her previous life, Putana had been the sister of Bali Maharaja whose name was Ratnamala. When Lord Vamanadeva appeared before Bali Maharaja in the form of a young and handsome little brahmachari, to beg alms from King Bali Maharaja, Ratnamala was overcome with motherly affection and desired to cuddle Vamanadeva in her arms and feed him with her breast milk. But when Vamanadeva arrested her brother Bali and bound him with ropes like a common criminal, Ratnamala became furious with Vamanadeva. At that moment, Ratnamala’s mind changed and instead of wanting to give Vamanadeva milk from her breasts, she instead wanted to smear her breasts with poison and kill Him. Although she was born in the dynasty of demons, Ratnamala was the grandaughter of the great devotee Prahlada Maharaja. Understanding her mind, Vamanadeva decided to nurture Ratnamala’s spark of devotion and fulfill her maternal desire to feed Him breast milk, and thus in her next life she took birth as Putana.
The witch Putana was a friend and servant of King Kamsa and had been ordered to go to Gokula and administer poison to every new-born baby in the village, just to be certain that the eighth child born of Devaki, who Kamsa suspected might be living incognito in the area, would also be killed. Going from house to house administering poison to every newborn child, the witch Putana soon arrived in the courtyard of Nanda’s palace. By her mystic power she was able to disguise her hideous witch-like form and had assumed the appearance of a very beautiful young woman. When she entered the house, all the ladies present including mother Yashoda and Rohini Devi, were struck with wonder at the exquisite beauty of the visitor and thought that she must be a noble lady or even a goddess, who had come to have darshana of their darling little Krishna.
The witch Putana then placed baby Krishna on her lap and uncovering her breasts, offered her milk to Krishna. Unknown to mother Yashoda and the other ladies, Putana’s breasts were smeared with a deadly poison. When Putana pushed her poisonous nipple into Krishna’s mouth, He accepted it as motherly affection, but at the same time He knew that she had already killed many innocent babies and that her intention was also to kill Him. As baby Krishna sucked the milk from Putana’s breast, he also sucked out her very life air. Suddenly feeling the excruciating pain of death, Putana began screaming loudly and tried to stop Krishna from sucking her breast, but it was too late. As Putana was dying, she assumed her real form as a gigantic and grotesque looking witch. It is described that as Putana was falling to the ground, her body expanded up to twelve miles long with her head reaching as far as the village of Kaccheri, on the other side of the Yamuna near Bahulavana. It has also been said that as she was falling, Krishna caused her to fall outside of Gokula so that none of the residents would get hurt. Because Putana had offered her breast milk to Krishna, by His inconceivable mercy, He accepted it as motherly affection and Putana was awarded the liberation of salokya-mukti and became one of Krishna’s mothers (nurse) in her next life. According to Vedic tradition every human being has seven mothers: Dhatri – the nurse who cares for new-born (wet-nurse), Adau-mata – the real mother from whose body one takes birth, Guru-patni – the wife of one’s guru or teacher, Brahmani – the wife of a brahmana or priest, Raja-patnika – the wife of the king, Dhenu – the cow is also a mother because she provides milk, Prithvi – the earth, or land where one is born is also a mother.
