Devalok
Legend · 2 tellings · Pan-India, South India

The seven bulls (Krishna, Satya and Nappinnai)

A king will give his daughter only to the man who tames his seven savage bulls; Krishna takes seven forms and ropes them all. The Bhagavata names the bride Satya of Kosala; the Tamils call her Nappinnai, a cowherd girl, and keep the bull-taming at Pongal.

Who is in it

Places: Kosala, Ayarpadi · Texts: Bhagavata Purana, Thiruppavai, Silappatikaram

The story, beat by beat

  1. Nagnajit vows to give his daughter to the tamer of his seven bulls.
  2. Princes are gored and carried home.
  3. Krishna comes; Satya prays to have him.
  4. He takes seven forms and ropes all seven bulls by the nose.
  5. The Tamil songs give the bride as Nappinnai and the bull-taming as the cowherds' custom.

courage marriage cattle festival

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Primary text (translation)

Bhagavata Purana 10.58

Pan-India · sa Vaishnava 🪔 Pongal

Nagnajit, king of Kosala, keeps seven fierce bulls and vows his daughter Satya to whoever tames them; many princes are maimed. Krishna comes to Kosala and is welcomed; Satya prays for him as husband. Krishna divides himself into seven, ropes each bull through the nose and drags them out like toys. The king gives Satya with a vast dowry; rival princes attack on the road and Arjuna drives them off. Satya later tells the story to Draupadi.

Bhagavata Purana 10.58 and 10.83, Krishna's marriage to Satya (English translation, Vedabase)

Primary text (translation)

The Tamil telling: Nappinnai

South India · ta Vaishnava 🪔 Pongal

In the Alvar songs the bride is Nappinnai, a cowherd girl, daughter of Yashoda's brother. Nammalvar sings of Krishna who tamed the seven bulls at once for Pinnai; commentators make the bulls the reborn sons of Kalanemi. Andal's Thiruppavai wakes Nappinnai in three verses. The Silappatikaram's Aychiyar Kuravai has seven cowherd girls dance in a ring, each promised to the tamer of a bull, the dance Krishna and Balarama danced with Nappinnai.

What is different here:

A cowherd girl, not a princess; the bull-taming is a custom of the Tamil cowherds.

Nappinnai in the Alvar songs and the Silappatikaram (Tiruvaymoli 2.5.7, Wisdom Library; Thiruppavai 18 to 20; Aychiyar Kuravai, oldtamilpoetry.com; Tamil Wikipedia)

Sources: Bhagavata Purana 10.58 and 10.83, Krishna's marriage to Satya (English translation, Vedabase); Nappinnai in the Alvar songs and the Silappatikaram (Tiruvaymoli 2.5.7, Wisdom Library; Thiruppavai 18 to 20; Aychiyar Kuravai, oldtamilpoetry.com; Tamil Wikipedia)

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