page_title: Putana
section_title: Symbolism
hierarchical_section_title: Putana / Legend / Symbolism
caption_attribution_description: English: Putana suckling baby Krishna
context_page_description: In Hinduism, Pūtanā is a rakshasi, who was killed by the infant-god Krishna. Putana disguises as a young, beautiful woman and tries to kill the god by breast-feeding poisoned milk; however Krishna sucks her milk as well as her life via her breasts. Putana is also considered as a foster-mother of Krishna as she breast-fed him. By offering her milk, Putana had performed "the supreme act of maternal devotion", in the shadow of her evil motives. The myth is told and retold in Hindu scriptures and some Indian books, which portray her variously as an evil hag or a demoness who surrendered herself to Krishna, though she initially came with evil motives.
  Putana is interpreted as an infantile disease or bird, symbolizing danger to an infant or desire respectively, and even as a symbolic bad mother. She is included in a group of malevolent Hindu mother goddesses called the Matrikas and also in the group of Yoginis and Grahinis. Ancient Indian medical texts prescribe her worship to protect children from diseases. A group of multiple Putanas is mentioned in ancient Indian texts.
context_section_description: One theory interprets Putana as being the first foe faced by Krishna (further numerous demons are sent by Kamsa to kill Krishna) or as the first obstacle of possessive maternal instinct faced by yogis. The legend assures a devotee liberation if they treat god as their own son. Another theory interprets Putana as an infantile disease that Krishna survived, which can be cured by forcefully suckling the child affected. Further, the theory relates to Krishna's later life when he fights a demon called Jvara (fever).
  In the Vishnu Purana, it is explicitly stated that Putana should work in the dark, symbolizing the lack of illumination of knowledge. Her ear-rings are described not as radiant, but as quivering, signifying her unstable nature. Agrawal equates Putana to Varuna, the Vedic god of darkness and chaos in the water. As Varuna pollutes life-giving water, Putana mixed her breast milk with poison. Thus, Putana stands for death and darkness. O'Flaherty says:
  The myth of Pūtanā is significant not merely for the image it presents ... but for the intensity with which the image is depicted and the frequency with which the myth itself is told in India.
   
  Kakar further adds:
  The secret fantasy of poisoned milk, of nourishment that kills, originates early in life when the decisive separation between child and mother takes place. The elevation of this fantasy,..., to the status of myth for a whole culture indicates the intensity of (this) inner conflict... in the Indian setting. 
  According to Kakar, Putana may represent a dangerous schizophrenic mother, who has trapped her child in an emotional net, of which he cannot let go. He interprets Krishna clinging to Putana's breast as not only the infant's excitement and anger, but also a form of "incestuous intercourse", as in the killing of other maternal demons. By killing the "bad mother", the son kills "sexually ravenous maternal images in his psyche", leaving the protective images unhurt, and thus emerges as an adult, drawing boundaries between her and him.
caption: Bronze of Putana as a beautiful maiden feeding Krishna, while simultaneously depicted dead on the ground as a demoness.
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