The Plan Before Birth
When Vishnu decided to incarnate as Krishna, he arranged that Yogamaya — his cosmic illusion-power — would be born simultaneously to Nanda and Yashoda in Vrindavana.
The night Krishna was born in Mathura's prison, Vasudeva carried the baby across the Yamuna and placed him in Yashoda's arms. He took her sleeping infant daughter and carried her back to Mathura.
Kamsa's Blow
When Kamsa learned that a child had been born, he came to the prison. He saw the infant girl. He had killed every male child. The prophecy said a *child* of Devaki would kill him — he would take no chances.
He seized the girl and dashed her against a stone.
She flew upward out of his hands and rose into the sky — blazing, with eight arms, laughing.
She said to Kamsa: "The one who will kill you is already born. You cannot touch him."
She disappeared.
The Mountain Goddess
She went to the Vindhya mountains and remained there as Vindhyavasini — the goddess who dwells in the Vindhyas. Her temple at Vindhyachal, near Varanasi, is one of the great pilgrimage sites of North India.
She is worshipped as one of the forms of Mahakali — the dark, fierce goddess who guards the threshold between the human world and the divine. As Yogamaya she was the instrument of Vishnu's plan; as Vindhyavasini she remains the guardian of the mountains and the protector of her devotees.