plex situation arising from Krishna's dual character. Krishna is God,
yet he is also man. Being a man, it is normally as a man that he is
regarded. Yet from time to time particular individuals sense his Godhead
and then he is no longer man but God himself. Even those, however, who
view him as God do so only for brief periods of time and hence the
situation is constantly arising in which Krishna is one moment honoured as
God and then a moment later is treated as a man. And it is this situation
which now recurs.

As we have already seen in the epic, part of the custom at imperial
sacrifices was to offer presents to distinguished guests, and according to
the epic the person chosen to receive the first present was Krishna
himself. The _Purana_ changes this by substituting gods for guests.
Yudhisthira is uncertain who should be worshipped first. 'Who is the great
lord of the gods,' he asks, 'to whom we should bow our heads?' To this a
Pandava gives a clear answer. Krishna, he says, is god of gods. 'No one
understands his nature. He is lord of Brahma, Siva and Indra. It is he who
creates, preserves and destroys. His work is endless. He is the unseen and
imperishable. He descends upon the earth continually for the sake of his
worshippers and assuming mortal form appears and acts like a mortal. He
sits in our houses and calls us 'brothers.' We are deluded by his power
and consider him a brother. Yet never have we seen one as great as him.'
He speaks in fact as one who, knowing Krishna, has seen, for the moment,
the god beyond the man. His vision is shared by the others present.
Krishna is therefore placed on a throne and before the vast concourse of
rajas, Yudhisthira worships him.

Among the guests, however, is one raja to whom the vision is denied. He is
Sisupala, Krishna's rival for the hand of Rukmini, and since Rukmini's
abduction, his deadly enemy. Krishna's elevation as a god is more than he
can stomach and he utters an angry protest. Krishna, he says, is not god
at all. He is a mere cowherd's son of low caste who has debased himself by
eating the leavings of the cowherds' children and has even been the lover
of the cowgirls. As a child he was an arrant pilferer, stealing milk and
butter from every house, while as a youth he has trifled with other men's
wives. He has also slighted Indra. Krishna quietly listens to this
outburst. Then, deeming Sisupala's enmity to have reached its furthest
limit, he allows his patience to