Lord Krishna

Lord Krishna according to various Hindu traditions, is the eighth avatar of Vishnu. In the Bhagavad Gita, he is seen as the Supreme Person and the highest God. Thus, according to traditions such as Gaudiya Vaishnavism, he is the origin of all other incarnations.

Krishna and the stories associated with him appear across the 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 warrior and teacher. The immense popularity of Krishna in India also meant that various non-Hindu religions that originated in India had their own versions of him.

The term Krishna in Sanskrit has the literal meaning of "black" or "dark one", and this refers to his complexion.
In murtis (statues) and pictorial representations, he is often shown as dark skinned. For instance, Jagannatha, Krishna as Lord of the World, at Puri is shown with his brother and sister, the latter two being shown with a distinctly lighter complexion.
The name is sometimes said to mean bluish black, rather than simply black, and sometimes his complexion is described to be "that of a storm cloud".

The life of Krishna

This summary is based on details from the Mahabharata, the Harivamsa, the Bhagavata Purana and the Vishnu Purana.

The incarnation

These texts explain the reason for the incarnation. In the words of the Bhagavata Purana:

"Lord Brahma informed the demigods: Before we submitted our petition to the Lord, He was already aware of the distress on earth. Consequently, for as long as the Lord moves on earth to diminish its burden by His own potency in the form of time, all of you demigods should appear through plenary portions as sons and grandsons in the family of the Yadus." - Bhagavata Purana 10.1.22

Birth

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 Yadavs 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 had the couple cast into prison where he planned to kill all of Devaki's children at birth. After killing the first six children, and Devaki's apparent miscarriage of the seventh, Krishna took birth. As his life was in danger he was smuggled out to be raised by his foster parents Yasoda and Nanda in Gokula, Mahavana. Two of his siblings also survived, Balarama (Devaki's seventh child, transferred to the womb of Rohini, Vasudeva's first wife) and Subhadra (daughter of Vasudeva and Devaki born much later than Balarama and Krishna).

The prison believed by worshippers to mark Krishna's birth is now known as Krishnajanmabhoomi, where a temple is raised in his honour.

Boyhood and youth

Nanda was the head of a community of cow-herders and moved to Vrindavana. The stories of his 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 and his play with the gopis of the village, including Radha, which later became known as the Rasa lila.

Krishna the prince

Krishna as a young man returned to Mathura, and overthrew and killed his uncle Kamsa. It was due to Kamsa's attempts at preventing the prophecy that led to it coming true, hence it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. 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 takes his Yadava subjects to the city of Dwaraka (in modern Gujarat). He married Rukmini, daughter of KingBhishmaka of Vidarbha. In total, Krishna had 16,108 wives, including Satyabhama and Jambavati.

The Kurukshetra war and the Bhagavad-gita

Krishna was cousin to both sides in the war between the Pandavas and Kauravas. He asked the sides to choose between his army and himself. The Kauravas picked the army and he sided with the Pandavas. He agreed to be the charioteer for Arjuna in the great battle. The Bhagavad Gita is the advice given to Arjuna by Krishna before the start of the battle.

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. The clan now mostly destroyed, his elder brother Balarama too gave up his body using Yoga. It is described that Ananta Shesha emerged from Balarama's mouth as he disappeared. 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. It is said that the death of Krishna was attributed to a curse by Ghandari, the mother of the Kaurava clan. Her bitter anger after witnessing the death of her one hundred sons caused her to utter this curse. Her belief was that Krishna, who was God incarnate, did not do enough to stop the violence and destruction. Upon learning of the curse, according to lore, Krishna smiled and accepted it, stating that his duty was to fight for the righteous side, not to prevent the war.

The Mahabharata (Mausala Parva) says: (The hunter) ...Regarding himself an offender, and filled with fear, he touched the feet of Keshava. The high-souled one comforted him and then ascended upwards, filling the entire sky with splendour. ...the illustrious Narayana of fierce energy, the Creator and Destroyer of all, that preceptor of Yoga, filling Heaven with his splendour, reached his own inconceivable region.

The Matsya Purana says that Krishna was eighty-nine years old when the battle was fought. Thereafter Pandavas ruled for a period of thirty-six years, their rule was in the beginning of the Kali Yuga. It further says that the Kali Yuga began on the day Duryodhana was felled to ground by Bhima.