SB 10.16.5
viprusmata visadormi-
marutenabhimarsitah
mriyante tira-ga yasya
praninah sthira-jangamah
Translation:
The wind blowing over that deadly lake carried droplets of water to the shore. Simply by coming in contact with that poisonous breeze, all vegetation and creatures on the shore died.
Purport:
The word sthira, “unmoving creatures,” refers to various types of vegetation including trees, and jangama refers to moving creatures such as animals, reptiles, birds and insects. Srila Sridhara Svami has quoted a further description of this lake from the Sri Hari-vamsa (Visnu-parva 11.42, 11.44 and 11.46):
dirgham yojana-vistaram
dustaram tridasair api
gambhiram aksobhya-jalam
niskampam iva sagaram
duhkhopasarpam tiresu
sa-sarpair vipulair bilaih
visarani-bhavasyagner
dhumena parivestitam
trnesv api patatsv apsu
jvalantam iva tejasa
samantad yojanam sagram
tiresv api durasadam
“The lake was quite wide eight miles across at some points and even the demigods could not cross over it. The water in the lake was very deep and, like the immovable depths of the ocean, could not be agitated. Approaching the lake was difficult, for its shores were covered with holes in which serpents lived. All around the lake was a fog generated by the fire of the serpents’ poison, and this powerful fire would at once burn up every blade of grass that happened to fall into the water. For a distance of eight miles from the lake, the atmosphere was most unpleasant.”
Srila Sanatana Gosvami states that by the mystical science of jala-stambha, making solid items out of water, Kaliya had built his own city within the lake.