One day while Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma and their cowherd friends were tending the cows in the Vṛndāvana forest, the demon Pralamba entered their midst. He had assumed the form of a cowherd boy with the intention of kidnapping Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. Since Lord Kṛṣṇa sees everything, He understood who the demon was. Still, the Lord pretended to accept the demon as a friend—while at the same time considering how to kill him.
Kṛṣṇa then assembled the cowherd boys and divided them into two even teams. After the cowherd boys had chosen Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma as the leaders of the two teams, the boys began to play various games involving carriers and passengers. In these games the winners would climb up on the backs of the losers, who would have to carry them. Thus carrying and being carried by one another, and at the same time tending the cows, the boys went to a banyan tree known as Bhāndiraka. When Sridama, Vrsabha, and the other members of Lord Balarāma's party were victorious in these games, Kṛṣṇa and His followers had to carry them. Thus Kṛṣṇa had to carry Sridāmā, Bhadrasena had to carry Vrsabha, and Pralamba had to carry Balarāma.
Considering Lord Kṛṣṇa invincible, the demon Pralamba quickly carried Balarāma far beyond the spot where he was supposed to put his passenger down. As the great demon carried Balarāma, the Lord became as heavy as massive Mount Sumeru, and Pralamba had to slow down. He then resumed his actual form—an effulgent body that was covered with golden ornaments and that resembled a cloud flashing with lightning and carrying the moon.
When Lord Balarāma saw the gigantic body of the demon as he moved swiftly in the sky—with his blazing eyes, fiery hair, terrible teeth reaching toward his scowling brows, and an amazing effulgence generated by his armlets, crown, and earrings-the Lord seemed to become a little frightened. Remem- bering the actual situation, the fearless Balarāma understood that the demon was trying to kidnap Him and take Him away from His companions. The Lord then became furious and struck the demon's head with His hard fist, just as Indra, the King of the demigods, strikes a mountain with his thunderbolt weapon. Thus smashed by Balarāma's fist, Pralamba's head immediately cracked open. The demon vomited blood from his mouth and lost all consciousness, and then with a great noise he fell lifeless to the ground, like a mountain devastated by Indra.
The cowherd boys were most astonished to see how the powerful Balarāma had killed the demon Pralamba, and they exclaimed, "Excellent! Excellent!" They offered Balarāma profuse benedictions and then glorified Him. Their minds overwhelmed with ecstatic love, they embraced Him as if He had returned from the dead.