Everything about Krishna totally explained
» This article is about the Hindu deity. For other meanings, see Krishna (disambiguation).
Krishna (कृष्ण in
Devanagari, in
IAST, in classical
Sanskrit) is a
deity worshiped across many traditions of
Hinduism.
Krishna is often described as having the appearance of a dark-skinned man during his earthly incarnation, often depicted as a young cowherd boy playing a
flute (as in the
Bhagavata Purana) or a youthful prince giving philosophical direction and guidance (as in the
Bhagavad Gita).
Krishna and the stories associated with him appear across a broad spectrum of Hindu
philosophical and theological traditions. Though they sometimes differ in details reflecting the concerns of a particular tradition, some core features are shared by all. These include a divine incarnation, a pastoral childhood and youth, and life as a heroic warrior and teacher.
The worship of Krishna in Hinduism is part of
Vaishnavism, which regards
Vishnu as the Supreme God and venerates his associated
avatars, their consorts, and related saints and teachers. However the exact relationship between Krishna and Vishnu is complex and diverse. All Vaisnava traditions recognize Krishna as an avatar of Vishnu; others identify Krishna with Vishnu; while traditions, such as,
Gaudiya Vaishnavism,
Vallabha Sampradaya and the
Nimbarka Sampradaya, also regard Krishna as the
svayam bhagavan, original form of God, or the Lord Himself.
Etymology and names
The
Sanskrit word has the literal meaning of "black", "dark" or "dark-blue", and is used as a name to describe someone with dark skin. Krishna is often depicted in
murtis as black, and is generally shown in paintings with blue skin.
Krishna is also known by various
other names, epithets and titles, which reflect his many associations and attributes. Among the most common of these are those that relate to his role as the deity of cattle herders -
Govinda, herder of cattle, or
Gopala, protector of cattle. Some of the distinct names may be regionally important; for instance,
Jaganatha, or lord of the world, in eastern India.
Some Hindu traditions often ascribe varying interpretations and power to the names. For instance, commentators on
Vishnu sahasranama offers detailed explanations of a thousand names of Vishnu, that also can apply to Krishna.
The
Mahabharata's Udyoga-parva (Mbh 5.71.4) divides into elements and, (a verbal root meaning "to plough, drag") being taken as expressing "being; earth" and being taken as expressing "bliss".
In the of the
Vallabha sampradaya, the syllables of the name
Krishna are assigned the power to destroy sin relating to material, self and divine causes.
Adi Sankara's commentary makes Krishna is the 57th name of Vishnu, interpreting the Mbh 5.71.4 as "existence of knowledge and bliss."
Mbh 5.71.4 is also quoted in
Chaitanya Charitamrita, and
Prabhupada in his commentary on the latter translates the as "attractive existence". Based on this,
ISKCON often gives the name as meaning "all-attractive one". Brahma Vaivarta Purana also refers to Krishna as the supreme lord and Radha as her eternal companion. This Purana also clearly states that Vishnu also orginates from Krishna.
Iconography
Krishna may be depicted as a black or dark-skinned young man, particularly in
murtis. In other, especially in modern pictorial representations he's usually shown with a blue skin, like many other deities of Hinduism.
A common depiction shows him as a boy or young man in a characteristic relaxed pose, playing the flute. In these scenes which are set at
Vrindavana, he's often shown with cattle, emphasising his position as herdsman, or with the
gopis.
The scenes on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, notably where he addresses
Arjuna in the
Bhagavad Gita are also another common subject. Here, he's shown as a man, often shown with typical god-like characteristics of Hindu religious art; such as multiple arms or heads, denoting power, and with attributes of Vishnu, such as the
chakra.
Representations in temples often show Krishna as a man standing in an upright, formal pose. He may be alone, or with various associated figures; his brother
Balabhadra (also known as
Balarama) and sister
Subhadra or with his main queens
Rukmini and
Satyabhama.
In many cases he's depicted with his gopi-consort
Radha and this image is representative of a number of traditions. For example
Manipuri Vaishnavas don't worship Krishna alone, but as
Radha Krishna. This is also a feature of
Rudra Sampradaya
and the school of
Nimbarka, as well as that of
Swaminarayan faith. Caitanyaites celebrate one of the self manifested Deities established by
Gopala Bhatta Goswami as called
Radharamana, and it isn't surprising that Radharamana is seen as not only Krishna but also as
Radha Krishna.
Literary sources
» See also: Krishna in Mahābhārata'
The earliest text to explicitly provide detailed descriptions of Krishna as a personality is the
Mahābhārata which depicts Krishna as an incarnation of
Vishnu who is central to many of the main stories of the epic. The eighteen chapters of the sixth book (
Bhishma Parva) that constitute the
Bhagavad Gita contain the advice of Krishna to
Arjuna, on the battlefield. Krishna is already an adult in the epic, although there are allusions to his earlier exploits. The
Harivamsa, a later appendix to this epic, contains the earliest detailed version of Krishna's childhood and youth.
Virtually every one of the later
Puranas tells Krishna's life-story or some highlights from it. The
Mahābhārata and the
Harivamsa are considered
sacred by Hindus. Two
Puranas, the
Bhagavata Purana and the
Vishnu Purana, that contain the most elaborate telling of Krishna’s story and teachings are the most theologically venerated by the
Gaudiya Vaishnava schools. Roughly one quarter of the
Bhagavata Purana is spent extolling his
life and
philosophy.
Satha-patha-brahmana and
Aitareya-Aranyaka, associate Krishna with his Vrishni origins.
Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar attempted to show that "the very same Krishna" made an appearance in earlier texts, e.g as the
drapsa ... krishna "black drop" of
RV 8.96.13.
Life
This summary is based on details from the
Mahābhārata, the
Harivamsa, the
Bhagavata Purana and the
Vishnu Purana. The scenes from the narrative are set in north India, mostly in the present states of
Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar,
Haryana,
Delhi and
Gujarat.
Birth
Traditional belief based on scriptural details and
astrological calculations gives the date of Krishna's birth, known as
Janmashtami, as either 18th or 21st July
3228 BCE.
Krishna was of 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 closely linked clans of
Vrishni,
Andhaka, and
Bhoja. They are generally known as
Yadavas after their
eponymous ancestor
Yadu, and sometimes as
Surasenas after another famed ancestor. Vasudeva and Devaki belonged to these clans. The king
Kamsa, 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'd locked the couple into a prison cell, planning to kill all of Devaki's children at their birth. After killing the first six children, and Devaki's apparent miscarriage of the seventh, 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, Mahavana. 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).
The place believed by worshippers to mark Krishna's birth is now known as
Krishnajanmabhoomi, where a temple is raised in his honour.
Gaudiya Vaishnava scholars identify the form of Krishna who appeared in
Mathura as
Vasudeva Krishna of the first quadrupal expansion. In this form Krishna appeared before Vasudeva and Devaki without a natural birth, fully grown, with four arms and full paraphernalia.
Childhood and youth
Nanda was the head of a community of cow-herders, and he settled in
Vrindavana. The stories of Krishna's childhood and youth here include that of his life with, and his protection of, the local people. Kamsa learnt about the child's escape and kept sending various demons (such as
Aghasura) to put an end to him. The demons were defeated at the hands of Krishna and his brother Balarama. Some of the most popular exploits of Krishna center around these adventures, such as the lifting of
Govardhana hill and his play with the
gopis of the village, including
Radha. The stories of his play with the gopis became known as the
Rasa lila and were romanticised in the poetry of
Jayadeva, author of the
Gita Govinda.
The prince
Krishna as a young man returned to
Mathura, and overthrew and killed his uncle Kamsa. Krishna re-installed Kamsa's father, Ugrasena, as the king of the Yadavas. He himself became a leading prince at the court. In this period he became a friend of Arjuna and the other Pandava princes of the
Kuru kingdom, who were his cousins, on the other side of the
Yamuna. Later, he took his Yadava subjects to the city of
Dwaraka (in modern
Gujarat). He married
Rukmini, daughter of King Bhishmaka of
Vidarbha.
According to some texts, Krishna had 16,108 wives, of which eight were chief - including
Rukmini,
Satyabhama and
Jambavati. Krishna also married 16,100 maidens who were being held in captivity by
Narakasura, to save their honor. Krishna killed him 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'd 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.
The Kurukshetra war and the Bhagavad Gita
Pandavas and
Kauravas. Once battle seemed inevitable, Krishna offered both sides to choose between having either his army or simply himself, but on the condition that he personally wouldn't raise any weapons. Arjuna on behalf of the Pandavas chose to have Krishna on their side, and Duryodhana chose to have Krishna's army on the side of the Kauravas. At the time of the great battle, Krishna thus acted as Arjuna's charioteer. The
Bhagavad Gita is the advice given to Arjuna by Krishna on the battlefield just prior to the start of the fighting.
Later life
Following the war Krishna lived at Dwaraka for thirty-six years. Then at a festival, a fight broke out between the Yadavas who exterminated each other. His elder brother
Balarama then gave up his body using
Yoga. Krishna retired into the forest and sat under a tree in meditation. A hunter mistook his partly visible foot for a deer and shot an
arrow wounding him mortally. According to the Mahābhārata, Krishna's death was caused by a curse by
Gandhari. Her bitter anger after witnessing the death of her sons caused her to utter this curse, because she believed that Krishna didn't do enough to stop the war when he'd the full capability to do so. Upon learning of the curse, Krishna smiled and accepted it, stating that his duty was to fight for, and protect, the righteous people, not to prevent the war.
According to
Puranic sources, Krishna's death marks the end of
Dvapara Yuga and the start of
Kali Yuga, which is dated to
February 17/
18,
3102 BCE.
Early historical references
One of the earliest recorded instances of a Krishna who could potentially be identified with the deity can be found in the
Chandogya Upanishad, where he's mentioned as the son of Devaki, and to whom Ghora Angirasa was a teacher. The Upansihads, namely and, specifically regard Krishna as a god and associate him with Vishnu. At some stage during the Vedic period, Vasudeva and Krishna became one deity, and by the time of composition of the redaction of
Mahabharata that survives till today, Krishna (Vasudeva) was generally acknowledged as an
avatar of Vishnu and often as the Supreme God. due to the regions mentioned by Megasthenes as well as similarities between some of the herioc acts of the two. Megasthenes also mentions that his daughter Pandaia ruled in south India. The south indeed had the kingdom of the
Pandyas with the capital at Madhura (
Madurai), which some researchers have claimed to relate to the kingdom of the
Pandavas, and the city of
Mathura.
The
Greco-Bactrian ruler
Agathocles issued coins bearing the images of Krishna and Balarama in around 180-165 BCE. Brahmi inscription on the Mora stone slab, now in the Mathura Museum.
Many inscriptions and references to worship of Krishna can be found from the early centuries of the
Common Era.
The Bhakti tradition
Bhakti, meaning devotion, isn't confined to any one deity. Krishna is currently an important and popular focus of the
devotional and
ecstatic aspects of Hindu religion, particularly among the
Vaishnava sects.
Devotees of Krishna subscribe to the concept of
lila, meaning 'divine play', as the central principle of the
universe. The
lilas of Krishna, with their expressions of personal love that transcend the boundaries of formal reverence, serve as a counterpoint to the
lilas of another avatar of Vishnu:
Rama, "He of the straight and narrow path of
maryada, or rules and regulations." This is largely due to the evangelistic
Hare Krishna movement, the largest part of which is the
International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). The movement was founded by
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who was instructed by his
guru,
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, to write about Krishna in the
English language and to share the Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy with people in the Western world.
Western academic study
Vaishnava theology has been a subject of study for many devotees, philosophers and scholars within
India for centuries. in the Ghatapandita Jataka as a prince and legendary conqueror and king of India. In the Buddhist version, Krishna is called
Vasudeva,
Kanha and
Keshava, and
Balarama is his younger brother, Baladeva. These details match that of the story given in the
Bhagavata Purana. Vasudeva, along with his nine other brothers (each son a powerful wrestler) and one elder sister (Anjana) capture all of
Jambudvipa (many consider this to be India) after beheading their evil uncle, King
Kamsa, and later all other kings of Jambudvipa with his
Sudarshana Chakra. Much of the story involving the defeat of
Kamsa follows the story given in the Bhagavata Purana.
As depicted in the
Mahābhārata, all of the sons are eventually killed due to a curse of sage Kanhadīpayana (
Veda Vyasa, also known as Krishna Dwaipayana). Krishna himself is eventually speared by a hunter in the foot by mistake, leaving the sole survivor of their family being their sister, Añjanadevī of whom no further mention is made.
Since Jataka tales are given from the perspective of
Buddha's previous lives (as well as the previous lives of many of Buddha's followers), Krishna appears as one of the lives of
Sariputra, one of Buddha's foremost disciples and the "Dhammasenapati" or "Chief General of the Dharma" and is usually shown being Buddha's "right hand man" in Buddhist art and iconography. The
Bodhisattva, is born in this tale as one of his youngest brothers named Ghatapandita, and saves Krishna from the grief of losing his son.
Abrahamic religions
Bahá'í Faith
Bahá'ís believe that Krishna was a "
Manifestation of God," or one in a line of prophets who have revealed the Word of God progressively for a gradually maturing humanity. In this way, Krishna shares an exalted station with
Abraham,
Moses,
Buddha,
Zoroaster,
Jesus,
Muhammad, the
Báb, and the founder of the
Bahá'í Faith,
Bahá'u'lláh.
Ahmadiyya Islam
Members of the
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community believe Krishna to be a great prophet of God as described by their founder,
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad:
» Let it be clear that Lord Krishna, according to what has been revealed to me, was such a truly great man that it's hard to find his like among the rishis and avatars of the Hindus. He was an avatar (for example a prophet) of his time upon whom the Holy Spirit would descend from God. He was from God, victorious and prosperous. He cleansed the land of the Arya from sin and was in fact the prophet of his age whose teaching was later corrupted in numerous ways. He was full of love for God, a friend of virtue and an enemy of evil.
Other
Krishna worship or reverence has been adopted by several
new religious movements since the 19th century, and he's sometimes a member of an eclectic pantheon in
occult texts, along with
Greek,
Buddhist,
Biblical and even historical figures. For instance,
Édouard Schuré, an influential figure in
perennial philosophy and occult movements, considered Krishna a
Great Initiate; while
Theosophists regard him as one of the
Masters, a spiritual teacher for humanity. Krishna was canonized by
Aleister Crowley and is
recognized as a saint in the
Gnostic Mass of
Ordo Templi Orientis.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Krishna'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://krishna.totallyexplained.com">Krishna Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
