Lord Krishna

The name Krishna means 'dark' or 'all-attractive', and his complexion is described as the deep blue of a rain cloud. In the Dashavatara he is the eighth avatar of Vishnu. The Bhagavata Purana goes further, declaring 'krishnas tu bhagavan svayam', Krishna is the Lord himself, and Gaudiya, Pushtimarga and Nimbarka Vaishnavas worship him as the source of all avatars.

Few deities are loved in so many ways. Devotees relate to him as a child (Bal Gopal or Laddu Gopal), a friend (as with Sudama and Arjuna), a beloved (Radha and the gopis), a king and a teacher. His names reflect this: Govinda and Gopala (protector of cows), Makhan Chor (butter thief), Murali Manohar (charming flute player), Banke Bihari, Dwarkadhish (lord of Dwarka), Parthasarathi (Arjuna's charioteer) and Yogeshwara (lord of yoga).

Historians see the Krishna of tradition as bringing together the hero Vasudeva-Krishna of the Mahabharata and the cowherd god of the Braj country. Worship of Vasudeva is already attested in the 2nd century BCE by the Heliodorus pillar at Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, set up by a Greek ambassador who called himself a devotee (bhagavata) of Vasudeva. Book 10 of the Bhagavata Purana, which tells of his childhood and youth, makes up about a quarter of that text.

Krishna's images range from a crawling baby with a laddoo in his hand to the four-armed Lord who shows Arjuna his cosmic form. The most familiar features are these.

Birth at midnight. The tyrant Kamsa of Mathura, warned that the eighth child of his sister Devaki would kill him, imprisoned her with her husband Vasudeva. Krishna was born at midnight in the prison. The Bhagavata Purana tells how the guards fell asleep, the doors opened, and Vasudeva carried the baby across the flooded Yamuna to Gokul, where Nanda and Yashoda raised him.

Childhood in Braj. As a child Krishna killed the demoness Putana, stole butter, and showed Yashoda the whole universe in his mouth. He subdued the serpent Kaliya, who was poisoning the Yamuna, by dancing on its hoods. When he persuaded the people of Braj to worship Govardhan hill instead of Indra, Indra sent a deluge; Krishna lifted Govardhan on one finger and sheltered everyone beneath it for seven days (Bhagavata Purana, Book 10). His rasa lila with the gopis on autumn moonlit nights is understood by devotees as the soul's union with God. Radha, his beloved, is celebrated above all in Jayadeva's 12th-century Gita Govinda and later Vaishnava poetry.

Mathura and Dwarka. Krishna returned to Mathura and killed Kamsa, freeing his parents. Later he led the Yadavas to the western coast and founded Dwarka, where he married Rukmini and other queens. His childhood friend Sudama, a poor brahmin, came to him with only a handful of flattened rice and went home to find his hut turned into a palace.

The Bhagavad Gita. In the Mahabharata, Krishna became the charioteer of his friend Arjuna. On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, when Arjuna lost heart at the thought of fighting his own kin, Krishna taught him the Bhagavad Gita, 700 verses in 18 chapters in the Bhishma Parva, on duty without attachment to results, the immortal Self, and devotion. He also revealed his cosmic form (vishvarupa). Earlier he had saved Draupadi's honour when she was humiliated in the Kaurava court.

The Mausala Parva of the Mahabharata tells how, after the Yadavas destroyed themselves, Krishna was struck by the hunter Jara's arrow at Prabhasa and returned to his eternal abode.

Krishna's birth parents are Devaki and Vasudeva, and his foster parents Yashoda and Nanda of Gokul. His elder brother is Balarama, the ploughbearer, and his sister Subhadra married Arjuna; at Puri the three are worshipped together as Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra. Radha is his eternal beloved in devotional tradition, and his principal queens include Rukmini and Satyabhama. His companions are the gopas and gopis of Braj, Sudama, Uddhava, and the Pandavas, especially Arjuna. Garuda, Vishnu's vahana, also serves Krishna, though in Braj he is usually shown on foot among his cows.

In many homes Krishna is worshipped as Laddu Gopal, a small image of the child Krishna who is bathed, dressed, fed and put to rest each day with the care given to a child. Offerings include makhan-mishri (butter and sugar candy), milk sweets, panchamrit, fruits and tulsi leaves, without which no bhog is complete; on special days temples offer chhappan bhog, fifty-six dishes. Peacock feathers, yellow clothes and flutes decorate his shrine. Ekadashi fasts and the month of Kartik are especially dear to his devotees.

The chanting of his names is central. The Hare Krishna maha-mantra, given in the Kali-Santarana Upanishad, is sung in kirtan worldwide, and 'Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya' is a widely used japa mantra. Devotees read the Bhagavad Gita and the tenth book of the Bhagavata Purana, and sing the poems of Surdas, Mirabai and Narsinh Mehta. The Gita itself assures that even the simplest offering made with love is accepted.

Krishna Janmashtami falls on the eighth day of the dark fortnight (Krishna Ashtami) of Bhadrapada (August-September) in the purnimanta calendar, which is Shravana in the amanta calendar. Devotees fast and celebrate his birth at midnight, especially in Mathura, Vrindavan and Dwarka. In Maharashtra the next day is Dahi Handi or Gopalkala, when human pyramids break pots of curd hung high above the street.

Holi is celebrated with special joy in Braj, including the Lathmar Holi of Barsana and Nandgaon. Govardhan Puja and Annakut, the day after Diwali, recall the lifting of Govardhan. Radhashtami honours Radha, Sharad Purnima recalls the rasa lila, Jhulan Yatra swings the divine couple in Shravan, and Gita Jayanti on Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi marks the day the Gita was spoken. The Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath at Puri, on Ashadha Shukla Dwitiya, is among the largest festivals in India.

In Braj, the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura, Banke Bihari and the many temples of Vrindavan, and the Govardhan parikrama draw millions. The Dwarkadhish temple at Dwarka in Gujarat is one of the Char Dham, and Dwarka is one of the seven holy cities (sapta puri). Jagannath Puri in Odisha, Shrinathji at Nathdwara in Rajasthan (the centre of Pushtimarga), Guruvayur in Kerala, the Udupi Sri Krishna Matha founded by Madhvacharya in Karnataka, Vitthala at Pandharpur, Parthasarathy at Triplicane in Chennai and Govind Dev ji in Jaipur are among his best-known shrines. ISKCON temples have carried Krishna worship around the world since the 1960s.

The Bhagavad Gita is one of the most influential texts in Hindu thought. It brings together karma yoga (action without attachment to its fruits), jnana yoga (knowledge of the imperishable Self) and bhakti yoga (loving devotion), and ends with Krishna's call to surrender to him. Every major Vedanta teacher, including Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva, wrote a commentary on it.

Several sampradayas centre on Krishna. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Bengal and Odisha (15th-16th century) taught ecstatic sankirtan and the love of Radha and Krishna; his Gaudiya tradition was carried worldwide by ISKCON, founded in 1966 by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Vallabhacharya founded the Pushtimarga, the 'path of grace', worshipping Krishna as Shrinathji. The Nimbarka sampradaya worships Radha and Krishna together, and the Madhva tradition worships Krishna at Udupi. Poet-saints such as Surdas, Mirabai, Narsinh Mehta and the Varkari saints made Krishna bhakti the language of the people. Krishna is also honoured by Smarta, Shaiva and Shakta households, and his Gita is read by seekers of every background.