Lord Krishna

Krishna is carried by his father Vasudev across river Yamuna to Gokul from Mathura. Traditional belief based on scriptural details and astrological calculations gives the date of Krishna's birth, known as Janmashtami, as either 18 or 21 July 3228 BCE. Krishna belonged to the royal family of Mathura, and was the eighth son born to the princess Devaki, and her husband Vasudeva. Mathura was the capital of the Yadavas (also called the Surasenas), to which Krishna's parents Vasudeva and Devaki belonged. The king Kansa, Devaki's brother, had ascended the throne by imprisoning his father, King Ugrasena. Afraid of a prophecy that predicted his death at the hands of Devaki's eighth son, he had locked the couple into a prison cell. After killing the first six children, and Devaki's apparent miscarriage of the seventh, being transferred to Rohini as Balarama, Krishna took birth.

Since Vasudeva believed Krishna's life was in danger, Krishna was secretly taken out of the prison cell to be raised by his foster parents, Yasoda and Nanda in Gokul. Two of his other siblings also survived, Balarama (Devaki's seventh child, transferred to the womb of Rohini, Vasudeva's first wife) and Subhadra (daughter of Vasudeva and Rohini, born much later than Balarama and Krishna).

Childhood and Youth

Nanda was the head of a community of cow-herders. The stories of Krishna's childhood and youth tell of his mischievous pranks as “Makhan Chor” (butter thief), his foiling of attempts to take his life, and his role as a protector of the people of Vrindavana. Krishna is said to have killed the demons like Putana, sent by Kansa for Krishna's life. He tamed the serpent Kaliya, who previously poisoned the waters of Yamuna river, thus leading to the death of the cowherds. In Hindu art, Krishna is often depicted dancing on the multi-hooded Kaliya. Krishna is believed to have lifted the Govardhana hill and defeated Indra, the kings of the devas and rain to protect native people of Goverdhan from prosecution by Indra and prevent the devastation of the pasture land of Govardhan. In the view of some, the spiritual movement started by Krishna had something in it which went against the orthodox forms of worship of the Vedic gods such as Indra.

The stories of his play with the gopis (milkmaids) of Vrindavana became known as the “Rasa lila” and were romanticised in the poetry of Jayadev, author of the Gita Govinda. These became important as part of the development of the Krishna bhakti traditions worshiping Radha Krishna.

Krishna "The Prince"

On his return to Mathura as a young man, Krishna overthrew and killed his uncle (Mama) Kansa after avoiding several assassination attempts from Kansa's followers. He reinstated Kansa's father, Ugrasena, as the king of the Yadavas and became a leading prince at the court. During this period, he became a friend of Arjuna and the other Pandava princes of the Kuru kingdom, who were his cousinsLater, he took his Yadava subjects to the city of Dwaraka (Gujarat) and established his own kingdom there.

Krishna married Rukmini, the princess of Vidarbha, by abducting her from her wedding. According to some texts, Krishna had 16,108 wives, of which eight were chief including Rukmini, Satyabhama, Jambavati; Krishna subsequently married 16,100 maidens who were being held in captivity by demon Narakasura, to save their honor. Krishna killed the demon and released them all. According to strict social custom of the time all of the captive women were degraded, and would be unable to marry, as they had been under the control of Narakasura, however Krishna decided to marry them to reinstate their status in the society. In Vaishnava traditions, Krishna's wives are believed to be forms of the goddess Lakshmi consort of Vishnu or special souls attained this qualification after many lifetimes of austerity, while his primary queen Satyabhama, is an expansion of Radha.

Kurukshetra War and The Bhagavat Gita

Krishna was a cousin of the Pandavas, one of the two parties in the Kurukshetra War of the Mahabharat. Once battle seemed inevitable, Krishna offered both sides the opportunity to choose between having either his army or simply himself alone, but on the condition that he personally would not raise any weapon. Arjuna, on behalf of the Pandavas, chose to have Krishna on their side, and Duryodhana, chief of the Kauravas, chose Krishna's army. At the time of the great battle, Krishna acted as Arjuna's charioteer, since it was a position that did not require the wielding of weapons. Krishna displays his Vishvarupa (Universal Form) to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.

Upon arriving at the battlefield, and seeing that the enemies he would soon fight against were people close to him prior to the battle, Arjuna becomes doubtful about fighting. Krishna then advises him about the battle, with the conversation soon extending into a discourse which was later compiled as the Bhagavad Gita.