According to myth, Vishnu desired to punish the wicked King Kamsa (pronounced KUHM-suh) of Mathura (pronounced MUHT-oo-ruh), and so sent Krishna to do so as the son of Vasudeva (pronounced VAH-soo-dev) and Kamsa’s sister Devaki (pronounced DEE-vuh-kee). Kamsa heard through a prophecy—or prediction—that he would be killed by the eighth child of Devaki. As a result, Kamsa vowed to kill the child. However, when Devaki gave birth to Krishna, her eighth child, the god Vishnu helped switch him with the newborn child of a cowherd and his wife. This couple raised Krishna as their own son.
After the evil Kamsa discovered that Krishna was alive, he sent demons to destroy the child. Krishna managed to overcome them all. He put an end to the ogress Putana (pronounced poo-TAH-nah) by sucking the life out of her and caused a cart to crush the monstrous flying demon named Saktasura (pronounced sahk-tuh-SOO-ruh). He also destroyed
Trinavarta (pronounced tree-nuh-VAR-tuh), a whirlwind demon, by smashing it against a rock.
Krishna grew up as a cowherd, and often amused himself by playing pranks on people. He also enjoyed teasing the daughters of the other cowherds and had many romantic adventures. A popular myth describes how he stole the clothes of cowgirls who were bathing in a river, and he refused to return them until each girl came out of the river with their hands clasped in prayer. The cowgirls liked Krishna just as much; Krishna multiplied his hands when he danced with them so each girl would be able to hold his hand. A girl named Radha was his particular favorite, although he had many lovers.
Several myths reveal the supernatural strength of Krishna. In one popular story, Krishna persuades a group of cowherds from worshipping the god Indra by explaining that they should instead worship the mountain that provides them and their herds with food and drink. He then declared himself to be the mountain, which angered Indra. Indra sent a week-long rainstorm as punishment, but Krishna held the mountain over his head to prevent the storm from doing any damage to the people.
Krishna became a hero renowned for ridding the area of monsters and demons, including the evil snake Kaliya. King Kamsa continued his attempts to kill Krishna by luring him and his brother Balarama (pronounced bah-luh-RAH-mah) to Mathura to a wrestling contest. As the brothers entered the city, Kamsa released a wild elephant to trample them. Krishna killed the beast. Next Kamsa sent his champion wrestlers to fight the brothers, but Krishna and Balarama defeated them all. Finally, Kamsa ordered his demons to kill Krishna’s real parents, Vasudeva and Devaki. Before this could take place, however, Krishna killed Kamsa, thus fulfilling the prophecy made years before.
After killing Kamsa, Krishna led his tribe, the Yadavas (pronounced YAH-duh-vuhz), to the fortress city of Dvaraka (pronounced DWAR-kuh). He settled there and married a beautiful princess named Rukmini (pronounced ruk-MIN-ee). He later took other wives as well.
The climax of Krishna’s long struggle against the forces of evil came with the great war called the Kurukshetra. The war was between two families: the noble Pandavas (pronounced PAHN-duh-vuhz) and their evil cousins the Kauravas (pronounced KOW-ruh-vuhz). Krishna served as the charioteer of Arjuna (pronounced AHR-juh-nuh), one of the Pandava leaders. Although he took no part in the fighting, Krishna gave advice to Arjuna, and the Pandavas eventually defeated the Kauravas and rid the world of much evil. The conversations between Krishna and Arjuna are found in a section of the Mahabharata called the Bhagavad Gita.
After the war, Krishna returned to Dvaraka. One day while he sat in the forest, a hunter mistook him for a deer and shot an arrow at him. The arrow pierced Krishna’s heel, his only vulnerable spot. After Krishna died, his spirit ascended to Goloka, a heavenly paradise, and his sacred city of Dvaraka sank beneath the ocean.
World History
