Krishna

Krishna
God of Protection, Compassion, Tenderness, and Love,[1] Lord of Yogis[2][3]
The Supreme Being (Krishnaism-Vaishnavism)
Member of Dashavatara
Krishna lifting Govardhan Hill; folio from the Harivamsa (Mughal, c. 1590).
Other namesAchyuta, Damodara, Gopala, Gopinath, Govinda, Keshava, Madhava, Radha Ramana, Vāsudeva
Devanagariकृष्ण
Sanskrit transliterationKṛṣṇa
Affiliation
Abode
Mantra
Weapon
  • Sudarshana Chakra
  • Kaumodaki
BattlesKurukshetra War (Mahabharata)
DayWednesday
MountGaruda
Texts
GenderMale
Festivals
Genealogy
Avatar birthMathura, Surasena (present-day Uttar Pradesh, India)[5]
Avatar endBhalka, Saurashtra (present-day Veraval, Gujarat, India)[6]
Parents
  • Devaki (mother)
  • Vasudeva (father)
  • Yashoda (foster-mother)
  • Nanda (foster-father)
  • Rohini and the other wives of Vasudeva (step-mothers)
Siblings
  • Balarama (elder brother)
  • Subhadra (half-sister)
  • other children of Vasudeva
Consorts
  • Radha
  • Rukmini
  • Satyabhama
  • Jambavati
  • other 5 chief queens
  • 16,000 – 16,100 Junior queens[10]
[note 2]
Children
  • Pradyumna
  • Samba and other children[7]
[note 1]
DynastyYaduvamsha – Chandravamsha
Dashavatara Sequence
PredecessorRama
SuccessorBuddha

Krishna (/ˈkrɪʃnə/;[12] Sanskrit: कृष्ण, IAST: Kṛṣṇa Sanskrit: [ˈkr̩ʂɳɐ] ⓘ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God in his own right.[13] He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love;[14][1] and is widely revered among Hindu divinities.[15] Krishna's birthday is celebrated every year by Hindus on Krishna Janmashtami according to the lunisolar Hindu calendar, which falls in late August or early September of the Gregorian calendar.[16][17][18]

The anecdotes and narratives of Krishna's life are generally titled as Krishna Līlā. He is a central figure in the Mahabharata, the Bhagavata Purana, the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, and the Bhagavad Gita, and is mentioned in many Hindu philosophical, theological, and mythological texts.[19] They portray him in various perspectives: as a god-child, a prankster, a model lover, a divine hero, and the universal supreme being.[20] His iconography reflects these legends and shows him in different stages of his life, such as an infant eating butter, a young boy playing a flute, a handsome youth with Radha or surrounded by female devotees, or a friendly charioteer giving counsel to Arjuna.[21]

The name and synonyms of Krishna have been traced to 1st millennium BCE literature and cults.[22] In some sub-traditions, like Krishnaism, Krishna is worshipped as the Supreme God and Svayam Bhagavan (God Himself). These sub-traditions arose in the context of the medieval era Bhakti movement.[23][24] Krishna-related literature has inspired numerous performance arts such as Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Odissi, and Manipuri dance.[25][26] He is a pan-Hindu god, but is particularly revered in some locations, such as Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh,[27] Dwarka and Junagadh in Gujarat; the Jagannatha aspect in Odisha, Mayapur in West Bengal;[23][28][29] in the form of Vithoba in Pandharpur, Maharashtra, Shrinathji at Nathdwara in Rajasthan,[23][30] Udupi Krishna in Karnataka,[31] Parthasarathy in Tamil Nadu, Aranmula and Guruvayoorappan (Guruvayoor) in Kerala.[32]

Since the 1960s, the worship of Krishna has also spread to the Western world, largely due to the work of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).[33]

  1. ^ a b Bryant & Ekstrand 2004, pp. 20–25, quote: "Three Dimensions of Krishna's Divinity (...) divine majesty and supremacy, (...) divine tenderness and intimacy, (...) compassion and protection., (..., p. 24) Krishna as the God of Love".
  2. ^ Swami Sivananda (1964). Sri Krishna. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. p. 4.
  3. ^ "Krishna the Yogeshwara". The Hindu. 12 September 2014.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference KK was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Raychaudhuri 1972, p. 124
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference eck380 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Naravane, Vishwanath S. (1987). A Companion to Indian Mythology: Hindu, Buddhist & Jaina. Thinker's Library, Technical Publishing House.
  8. ^ Mani 1975, p. 426-27 "Ten sons were born to each of the eight chief wives—from Rukmiṇī to Lakṣmaṇā—of Kṛṣṇa. Names of the chief among those eighty sons are given below....".
  9. ^ Sinha, Purnendu Narayana (1950). A Study of the Bhagavata Purana: Or, Esoteric Hinduism. Library of Alexandria. ISBN 978-1-4655-2506-2. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  10. ^ a b John Stratton Hawley, Donna Marie Wulff (1982). The Divine Consort: Rādhā and the Goddesses of India. Motilal Banarsidass Publisher. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-89581-102-8.
  11. ^ Bryant 2007, p. 443.
  12. ^ "Krishna". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
  13. ^ "Krishna". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 26 June 2023.
  14. ^ Ben-Ami Scharfstein (1993). Ineffability: The Failure of Words in Philosophy and Religion. State University of New York Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-7914-1347-0.
  15. ^ Freda Matchett (2001). Krishna, Lord Or Avatara?. Psychology Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-0-7007-1281-6.
  16. ^ "Krishna". World History Encyclopedia.
  17. ^ "Krishna Janmashtami". International Society for Krishna Consciousness. 26 May 2022.
  18. ^ James G. Lochtefeld (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M. The Rosen Publishing Group. pp. 314–315. ISBN 978-0-8239-3179-8.
  19. ^ Richard Thompson, Ph.D. (December 1994). "Reflections on the Relation Between Religion and Modern Rationalism". Archived from the original on 4 January 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2008.
  20. ^ Mahony, W. K. (1987). "Perspectives on Krsna's Various Personalities". History of Religions. 26 (3): 333–335. doi:10.1086/463085. ISSN 0018-2710. JSTOR 1062381. S2CID 164194548. Quote: "Krsna's various appearances as a divine hero, alluring god child, cosmic prankster, perfect lover, and universal supreme being (...)".
  21. ^ Knott 2000, pp. 15, 36, 56
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference Cultofgopal was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ a b c Hardy 1987, pp. 387–392.
  24. ^ Ravi Gupta and Kenneth Valpey (2013), The Bhagavata Purana, Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0231149990, pp. 185–200
  25. ^ Bryant 2007, p. 118.
  26. ^ ML Varadpande (1987), History of Indian Theatre, Vol 1, Abhinav, ISBN 978-8170172215, pp. 98–99
  27. ^ Hawley 2020.
  28. ^ Miśra 2005.
  29. ^ J. Gordon Melton (2011). Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations. ABC-Clio. pp. 330–331. ISBN 978-1-59884-205-0.
  30. ^ Cynthia Packert (2010). The Art of Loving Krishna: Ornamentation and Devotion. Indiana University Press. pp. 5, 70–71, 181–187. ISBN 978-0-253-22198-8.
  31. ^ Bryant 2007, p. 3.
  32. ^ Lavanya Vemsani (2016). Krishna in History, Thought, and Culture. ABC-CLIO. pp. 112–113. ISBN 978-1-61069-211-3.
  33. ^ Selengut, Charles (1996). "Charisma and Religious Innovation: Prabhupada and the Founding of ISKCON". ISKCON Communications Journal. 4 (2). Archived from the original on 10 July 2012.


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