Description
Krishna (कृष्ण, literally “black, dark, dark blue”; Sanskrit for 'all-attractive') is one of the most widely worshipped deities in Hinduism. As such, Krishna is the main character in the Mahabharata, Srimad Bhagavatam, and the Bhagavad Gita, among other places. In many Hindu traditions, Krishna is regarded as an incarnation of Vishnu; in others, as the Supreme Personality or highest manifestation of God-energies, God himself. According to Vedic tradition, Krishna was born 5,000 years ago in Mathura, the then capital of the kingdom of Shurasena (in present-day Uttar Pradesh) in the country of Bharat-Varsa (present-day India). He was the eighth child of Princess Devaki and her husband Vasudeva. Krishna is said to have been born on a stormy night in the month of Shravan (August/September), on the eighth day after the full moon at midnight (Janmashtami) in a prison cell, and to have spent his youth in Vrindavan (then a village, now a city). The demonic King Kamsa, Devaki's brother, wanted to destroy all eight children she would bear. According to the latest predictions of his personal astrologer, his evil and selfish reign would soon come to an end. His sister Devaki would, in her eighth childbirth, give birth to none other than Lord Vishnu himself. This would put an end to the series of years of terror that countless citizens and saints had suffered. Kamsa therefore tried to kill this eighth child as well, just as he had killed all of Devaki's previous children. However, Krishna's father Vasudeva miraculously escaped with the newborn boy before the king learned of it, and exchanged the child for the newborn daughter of Yashoda and Nanda in the land of Gokula. When King Kamsa finally received news of the eighth child's birth, he attempted to kill it, but just as he reached for the newborn, the girl flew out of his hands and transformed into the goddess Yogamaya. Hovering in the air, she informed him that his death was already inevitable due to the arrival of her brother, the Supreme Being himself. Kamsa then resolved to do everything in his power to find and kill this child.
