Krishna

**Krishna** is the 8th Incarnation of lord Vishnu, he is the protector of universe. He was adopted by Yashoda and Nanda. He is actually the son of Devaki and Vasudeva. His birthday is celebrated as *Krishna Janmashtami*.

## History

### Birth

One day when, Devaki was married to Vasudeva, Devaki's brother, Kamsa gets a message from the skies telling that Devaki's 8th child will be the cause of Kamsa's death. Enraged,Kamsa locks Devaki and her husband into the dungeon. Many days later, Devaki gives birth to her 1st son, Kamsa who gets to know of this kills Devaki's child. This starts to happen regularly when Devaki gives birth to a baby.Finally, all the 7 sons of Devaki is killed! One day in a rainy night, the 8th son of Devaki is born, but they are worried if Kamsa would kill the 8th child too. So Vasudeva planned to approach his friend Nanda and exchange his baby with Nanda's, unfortunately, as they were chained and imprisoned, they couldn't do anything. Suddenly, the chain on Devaki's and Vasudeva's hand vanish, the guards fall asleep and dungeon door opens by itself. Vasudeva sneaks out of the kingdom and goes to Vrindavan, there he replaces Nanda's baby daughter with his son. After going back to the dungeon, baby wakes up and starts crying loud. Kamsa gets to know that Devaki gave birth to the 8th child and tries to kill it, however, the baby escapes from Kamsa's wrath and turns into goddess Durga. She warns him that the one who would cause his death is safe and sound in Vrindavan.

### In Vrindavan

A terified Kamsa starts to sends Demons to kill Krishna, but all of them are defeated by the mighty Krishna. Meanwhile, Krishna befriends a lot of cowherds in Vrindavan. However, Krishna befriends Radha, who is actually considered as the goddess of love. It is actually stated that Krishna loved Radha more than his wives. When Krishna was teenager, he had to return to Mathura in order to meet his real parents Devaki and Vasudeva. As a memory Krishna gives his flute to Radha. During his life in Vrindavan, he was loved by everybody. He was called *Makhan Chor* as he was known to steal the butter made by the Gopikas. Krishna always helped his friends and was always the favourite of his mother, Yashoda.

### In Mathura

In Mathura, he lives happily with his parents, brother Balarama whom he considers as a best friend. Many years later, Krishna marries Rukmini the younger Sister of Rukmi, Satya Bhama, the daughter of King Satrajit, Jambhavati, the daughter of Jambhavan. Here, he also meets the Pandavas and Kauravas. He also has a sister named Subhadra.

## Names and Epithets

*For More Krishna names, see Krishna/Names and titles.*
The word Krishna means Dark coloured in Sanskrit, 'Krishna' is the 57th name of Vishnu Sahasranama.

### Names in other states

Kanhaiyya/Bankey Bihari/Thakurji: Uttar Pradesh

Jagannath: Odisha

Vithoba: Maharashtra

Shrinathji: Rajasthan

Guruvayoorappan: Kerala

Dwarakadheesh/Ranchhod: Gujarat

Parthasarathy: Tamil Nadu

## Death

Krishna's transformation to god happens, one day krishna was resting in a forest, suddenly, a poisonous arrow pierces Krishna's toe. The bow was actually a hunter's bow who was trying to kill an animal. The Hunter thinks that he caught an animal and goes to the direction where the bow landed but he is very much horrified seing Krishna. The Hunter begs Krishna for forgiveness and asks Krishna to kill him. Krishna forgives the hunter saying that it is all because of Karma. Krishna was actually Rama in his last birth and the hunter was Vali, the brother of Sugriva, since, Vali banished Sugriva from Kishkindha, Sugriva seeks Rama's help and Rama kills Vali. The same way, the hunter kills Krishna though it wasn't done deliberately.

## Enemies of Krishna

### Kamsa

Kamsa is the king of Mathura, Kamsa feared that Krishna would kill him since he heard a the sound of Akashvani telling him that Krishna will be the one to kill him for his sins.

### Poundraka Vasudeva

Poundraka Vasudeva is a major enemy of Krishna because Vasudeva felt he was Krishna himself and the real Krishna is fake. He was fooled by his friends that Vasudeva means 'God'. He even mocked Krishna saying that he was fake. Krishna who was a calm and collected person orders a war where Krishna uses is Sudarshana Chakra and beheads Poundraka Vasudeva.

### Shishupala

Shishupala is actually Krishna's cousin. Since, Krishna blocked the way of Shishupala marrying Rukmini, Shishupala started hating Krishna. He even started insulting him in the public. Krishna uses his Sudarshana Chakra and beheaded Shishupala.