  '''Krishna'''  (कृष्ण in Devanagari, ಕೃಷ್ಣ in kannada ''''  in IAST,  pronounced  literally &quot;dark, black, dark-blue&quot; * [ Monier Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (2008 revision)] * [ Apte Sanskrit-English Dictionary] ) is a central figure of Hinduism and is the central character of the Bhagavad Gita, along with Arjuna. He is an Avatar of Vishnu and considered in some monotheistic traditions as the Supreme Being. Krishna is identified as a historical individual who participated in the events of the Mahābhārata.  Krishna is often described as an infant or young boy playing a flute as in the Bhagavata Purana,  or as a youthful prince giving direction and guidance as in the Bhagavad Gita. The stories of  Krishna appear across a broad spectrum of Hindu philosophical and theological traditions. They portray him in various perspectives: a god-child, a prankster, a model lover, a  divine hero and the Supreme Being.  The principal scriptures discussing Krishna's story are the Mahabharata,  the Harivamsa,  the Bhagavata Purana  and the Vishnu Purana.    Worship of a deity or hero called Krishna, in the form of  ''Vasudeva'',  ''Bala Krishna'' or ''Gopala'', can be traced to as early as 4th century BC. Worship of Krishna as  ''svayam bhagavan'', or the Supreme Being, known as Krishnaism, arose in the Middle Ages in the context of the bhakti movement. From the 10th century AD,  Krishna became a favorite subject in performing arts and  regional traditions of devotion developed for forms of Krishna such as Venkateshwara in Andhra, Jagannatha  in Orissa,  Vithoba  in Maharashtra  and Shrinathji in Rajasthan. The Gaudiya Vaishnavism sect of Krishnaism was established in the 16th century, and since the 1960s  has also spread in the West, largely due to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.  ==Name and titles==  14th century Fresco of Krishna on interior wall City Palace, [[Udaipur]]  The Sanskrit word '''' is primarily an adjective meaning &quot;black&quot;,  &quot;dark&quot; or &quot;dark-blue&quot;., sometimes it is also translated as &quot;all attractive&quot;. It is cognate with Slavic čьrnъ &quot;black&quot;. As a feminine noun, '''' is used in the meaning &quot;night, blackness, darkness&quot; in the Rigveda, and as a demon or spirit of darkness in RV 4.16.13. As a proper noun, '''' occurs in RV 8.85.3 as the name of a poet. In the ''Lalitavistara Sutra'', Krishna is the chief of the black demons, the enemies of the Buddha.  As a name of Vishnu,  Krishna listed as the 57th name in the ''Vishnu Sahasranama''. Based on his name, Krishna is often depicted  in murtis as black or blue-skinned.  Krishna is also known by  various other names, epithets and titles, which reflect his many  associations and attributes. Among the most common names are ''Govinda'',  &quot;finder of cows&quot;, or ''Gopala'', &quot;protector of cows&quot;, which refer to  Krishna's childhood in Vraja. Some of the  distinct names may be regionally important; for instance, ''Jagannatha'' (literally &quot;Lord of the Universe&quot;), a  popular deity of Puri in eastern India. in   ==Iconography== Krishna with cows, herdsmen and [[Gopis, Pahari painting [Himalayan] from Smithsonian Institution]] Krishna is easily recognized by his representations. Though his  skin colour may be depicted as black or dark in some representations,  particularly in murtis,  in other images such as modern pictorial representations, Krishna is  usually shown with blue skin.  He is often shown wearing a yellow silk dhoti and peacock feather crown. Common  depictions show him as a little boy, or as a young man in a  characteristic relaxed pose, playing the flute.  In this form,  he usually stands with one leg bent in front of the other and raises a  flute to his lips, accompanied by cows, emphasizing his position as the  divine herdsman, ''Govinda'', or with the gopis (milkmaids). [[Bala Krishna dancing, sculpture from National Museum, New Delhi.]]  The scene on  the battlefield of Kurukshetra,  notably where he addresses Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, is another common subject for representation. In these depictions, he is shown as a man, often 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 or in his two-armed form as a charioteer.   A 800 BС cave paintings in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, North India, which show raiding horse-charioteers, one of whom is about to hurl such a wheel could potentially be identified as Krishna.D. D. Kosambi (1962), Myth and Reality: Studies in the Formation of Indian Culture, New Delhi, CHAPTER I: SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF THE BHAGAVAD-GITA, paragraph 1.16  Representations in temples often show Krishna as a  man standing in an upright, formal pose. He may be alone, or with  associated figures:  his brother Balarama  and sister Subhadra,  or his main queens Rukmini  and Satyabhama.  Often,  Krishna is pictured with his gopi-consort Radha. Manipuri Vaishnavas do not worship Krishna alone, but  as Radha Krishna,   a  combined image of Krishna and Radha. This is also a characteristic of  the schools RudraThe  penny cyclopædia [ed. by G. Long]. 1843, p.390 [  and Nimbarka sampradaya,Ramesh  M. Dave, K. K. A. Venkatachari, ''The Bhakta-bhagawan Relationship: Paramabhakta  Parmeshwara Sambandha''. Sya. Go  Mudgala, Bochasanvasi Shri Aksharpurushottama Sanstha, 1988.  p.74 as well as that of Swaminarayan faith. The traditions  celebrate Radha Ramana  murti,  who is viewed by Gaudiyas  as a form of Radha Krishna.  Krishna  is also depicted and worshipped as a small child (''Bala Krishna'',  the child Krishna), crawling on his  hands and knees or dancing, often with butter in his hand.   Regional variations in the iconography of Krishna are seen in his  different forms, such as Jaganatha  of Orissa,  Vithoba  of MaharashtraVithoba is not only viewed as a form of  Krishna. He is also by some considered that of Vishnu, Shiva and Gautama Buddha according to various traditions.  See:   and  and Shrinathji  in Rajasthan.  ==Literary sources==  [[Yashoda bathing the child Krishna.  (Western Indian illustrated Bhagavata Purana Manuscript)]]  The earliest text to explicitly provide detailed descriptions of Krishna as a personality is  the epic Mahābhārata  which depicts Krishna as an incarnation of Vishnu.   Krishna is central to many of the main stories of the epic. The eighteen  chapters of the sixth book (''Bhishma Parva'')  of the epic that constitute the ''Bhagavad Gita''  contain the advice of Krishna to the warrior-hero 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.  In early texts, such as Rig Veda, there are no references to  Krishna, however some, like Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar attempted to show that &quot;the very  same Krishna&quot; made an appearance, e.g. as the ''drapsa ... krishna''  &quot;black drop&quot; of RV 8.96.13. Sunil Kumar Bhattacharya ''Krishna-cult in Indian  Art''. 1996 M.D. Publications  Pvt. Ltd. ISBN 81-7533-001-5 p.126:  &quot;According to (D.R.Bhadarkar), the  word Krishna referred to in the expression 'Krishna-drapsah' in the  Rig- Veda,  denotes the very same Krishna&quot;. Some authors have also likened prehistoric depictions of deities to Krishna.  Chandogya Upanishad (3.17.6) Composed around 900BC-700BC  mentions Vasudeva Krishna  Matapariksha: An examination of religions, Volume 1  By John Muir][ The Religions of India Volume 1, Volume 1  By Edward Washburn Hopkins][ Indian Hist (Opt)  By Reddy]  Yāska's ''Nirukta'',  an etymological dictionary around 6th century BC, contains a  reference to the Shyamantaka jewel in the possession of Akrura, a motif from well known Puranic  story about Krishna. Shatapatha Brahmana and ''Aitareya-Aranyaka'',  associate Krishna with his Vrishni origins.Sunil  Kumar Bhattacharya ''Krishna-cult in Indian  Art''. 1996 M.D. Publications  Pvt. Ltd. ISBN 81-7533-001-5 p.128: Satha-patha-brahmana and Aitareya-Aranyaka with reference to first  chapter.  Pāṇini, the ancient grammarian and author of Asthadhyayi (probably belonged to 5th century or 6th century BC) mentions a character called Vāsudeva, son of Vasudeva, and also mentions Kaurava and Arjuna which testifies to Vasudeva Krishna, Arjuna and Kauravas being contemporaries.Pâṇ. IV. 3. 98, Vâsudevârjunâbhyâm vun. See Bhandarkar, Vaishnavism and Śaivism, p. 3 and J.R.A.S. 1910, p. 168. Sûtra 95, just above, appears to point to bhakti, faith or devotion, felt for this Vâsudeva.  Megasthenes (350 – 290 BC) a Greek ethnographer and an ambassador of Seleucus I to the court of Chandragupta Maurya mentioned about Herakles in his famous work Indica. Many scholars have suggested that the deity identified as Herakles was Krishna. According to Arrian, Diodorus, and Strabo, Megasthenes described an Indian tribe called Sourasenoi, who especially worshipped Herakles in their land, and this land had two cities, Methora and Kleisobora, and a navigable river, the Jobares. As was common in the ancient period, the Greeks sometimes described foreign gods in terms of their own divinities, and there is a little doubt that the Sourasenoi refers to the Shurasenas, a branch of the Yadu dynasty to which Krishna belonged; Herakles to Krishna, or Hari-Krishna: Mehtora to Mathura, where Krishna was born; Kleisobora to Krishnapura, meaning &quot;the city of Krishna&quot;; and the Jobares to the Yamuna, the famous river in the Krishna story. Quintus Curtius also mentions that when Alexander the Great confronted Porus, Porus's soldiers were carrying an image of Herakles in their vanguard.Krishna: a sourcebook, pp 5, Edwin Francis Bryant, Oxford University Press US, 2007   The name Kṛishṇa occurs in Buddhist writings in the form Kaṇha, phonetically equivalent to Kṛishṇa.III. i. 23, Ulâro so Kaṇho isi ahosi  The Ghata-Jâtaka (No. 454) gives an account of Kṛishṇa's childhood and subsequent exploits which in many points corresponds with the Brahmanic legends of his life and contains several familiar incidents and names, such as Vâsudeva, Baladeva, Kaṃsa. Yet it presents many peculiarities and is either an independent version or a misrepresentation of a popular story that had wandered far from its home. Jain tradition also shows that these tales were popular and were worked up into different forms, for the Jains have an elaborate system of ancient patriarchs which includes Vâsudevas and Baladevas. Kṛishṇa is the ninth of the Black Vâsudevas and is connected with Dvâravatî or Dvârakâ. He will become the twelfth tîrthankara of the next world-period and a similar position will be attained by Devakî, Rohinî, Baladeva and Javakumâra, all members of his family. This is a striking proof of the popularity of the Kṛishṇa legend outside the Brahmanic religion.Hemacandra Abhidhânacintâmani, Ed. Boehtlingk and Rien, p. 128, and Barnett's translation of the Antagada Dasāo, pp. 13-15 and 67-82.  According to Arthasastra of Kautilya (4th centuries CE) ''Vāsudeva'' was worshiped as supreme Deity in a strongly monotheistic format.  Around  150 BC, Patanjali  in his  ''Mahabhashya''  quotes a verse: &quot;May the might of  Krishna accompanied by Samkarshana increase!&quot; Other verses are  mentioned.  One verse speaks of &quot;Janardana with himself as fourth&quot;  (Krishna with three companions, the three possibly being Samkarshana,  Pradyumna, and Aniruddha). Another verse mentions musical instruments  being played at meetings in the temples of Rama (Balarama) and Kesava (Krishna). Patanjali  also describes dramatic and mimetic performances (Krishna-Kamsopacharam)  representing the killing of Kamsa by Vasudeva.  In the 1st century BC, there seems to be evidence for a worship of five Vrishni heroes (Balarama, Krishna, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Samba) for an inscription has been  found at Mora near Mathura, which apparently mentions a son of the great ''satrap'' Rajuvula, probably the ''satrap'' Sodasa, and an image of Vrishni,  &quot;probably Vasudeva, and of the &quot;Five Warriors&quot;. Brahmi  inscription on the Mora stone slab, now in the Mathura Museum.Page 51: The coins of Raj uvula  have been recovered from the Sultanpur District.. the Brahmi  inscription on the Mora stone slab, now in the Mathura  Museum,   Many Puranas tell Krishna's life-story or some  highlights from it. 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 Vaishnava  schools. Roughly one  quarter of the ''Bhagavata  Purana'' is spent extolling his life and philosophy.   ==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 18  or 21 July 3228 BCE and departed on 3102 BCE.See  horoscope number 1 in Arun K. Bansal's research  published in Outlook India, September 13, 2004. N.S. Rajaram  takes these dates at face value when he opines that &quot;We have therefore  overwhelming evidence showing that Krishna was a historical figure who  must have lived within a century on either side of that date, i.e., in  the 3200-3000  BC period&quot;. (  Krishna belonged to the Vrishni clan of Yadavas from Mathura, and was the eighth son born to the princess Devaki, and her husband Vasudeva. Mathura was the capital of  the Yadavas, to which Krishna's parents Vasudeva and Devaki belonged. The king Kansa, Devaki's brother,According to the Bhagavata and Vishnu  Puranas, but in some Puranas like Devi-Bhagavata-Purana, her paternal uncle. See the  Vishnu-Purana  Book V Chapter 1, translated by H. H. Wilson, (1840), the Srimad  Bhagavatam, translated by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, (1988)  copyright Bhaktivedanta Book Trust 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, Kansa had the couple locked into a prison cell. After Kansa killed the first six children, and Devaki's apparent miscarriage of the seventh (which was actually a secret transfer of the infant to Rohini as Balarama), Krishna was born.  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 [  Yashoda and Krishna] and Nanda, in Gokula. 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).  According to Bhagavata Purana  it is believed that Krishna was born without a sexual union, by &quot;mental  transmission&quot; from the mind of Vasudeva into the womb of Devaki. Hindus  believe that in that time, this type of union was possible for achieved  beings.[ In one story, Kansa sent an ogress named Putana to poison baby Krishna with her breast milk. She approached him and suckled him. Instead of her poisoning him, he sucked the life out of her, revealing her true form.  ===Childhood and  youth=== Krishna holding [[Govardhan hill as depected in Pahari painting]] Nanda was the head of a community of cow-herders,  and he settled in Vrindavana.  The stories of Krishna's childhood and youth tell how he became a cow  herder,Tripurari, Swami,  ''[  Gopastami]'', ''[  Sanga]'', 1999. his  mischievous pranks as ''Makhan  Chor'' (butter thief), his  foiling of attempts to take his life, and his role as a protector of the  people of Vrindavana.  Krishna is said to have killed the demons like Putana, sent by Kansa for Krishna's life. He tamed the serpent Kāliyā, who previously poisoned the  waters of Yamuna  river, thus leading to the death of the cowherds. In Hindu art, Krishna  is often depicted dancing on the multi-hooded Kāliyā.  Krishna is believed to  have lifted the Govardhana hill  and taught Indra,  the king of the devas and rain, a lesson to protect  native people of Vrindavana from persecution by Indra and prevent the  devastation of the pasture land of Govardhan. Indra had too much pride  and was angry when Lord Krishna advised the people of Vrindavana to take care  of their animals and their environment that provide them with all their  necessities, instead of worshipping Indra annually by spending their resources. In the view  of some, the spiritual movement started by Lord Krishna had something in it  which went against the orthodox forms of worship of the Vedic gods such as Indra. In other versions,Lord Krishna sensed that the rain came from a nearby hill, and advised that the people worshiped the hill instead of Indra. This made Indra furious, so he punished them by sending out a great storm. Lord Krishna then lifted the hill and held it over the people like an umbrella.  The  stories of his play with the gopis (milkmaids) of Vrindavana, especially Radha (daughter of Vrishbhanu, one of the original residents of Vrindavan) became  known as the ''Rasa lila'' and were romanticised in the poetry  of Jayadeva,  author of the Gita Govinda.  These became important as part of the development of the Krishna bhakti traditions worshiping Radha Krishna.  ===The prince=== Krishna with his two principal queens. (From left) [[Rukmini, Krishna, Satyabhama and his vahana Garuda.]]  On his return to Mathura as a  young man, Krishna overthrew and killed his maternal uncle, Kansa, after avoiding several  assassination attempts from Kansa's followers. He reinstated Kansa's father, Ugrasena,  as the king of the Yadavas and became a leading prince at the court.  During this period, he became a friend of Arjuna and the other Pandava princes of the Kuru kingdom, who were his cousins.  Later, he took his Yadava subjects to the city of Dwaraka (in modern Gujarat) and established his own kingdom  there.  Krishna  married Rukmini,  the Vidarbha princess,  by abducting her,at her request, from her proposed wedding with Shishupala. Krishna subsequently married 16,100 maidens who were held captive by demon Narakasura, to save their honour.Charudeva  Shastri, Suniti Kumar Chatterji(1974) [  Charudeva Shastri Felicitation Volume, p.  449]David L. Haberman, (2003) Motilal  Banarsidass,  [  The Bhaktirasamrtasindhu of Rupa Gosvamin,  p. 155], ISBN  812081861X of which eight were chief—collectively called the ''Ashta Bharya''—including Rukmini, Satyabhama, Jambavati, Kalindi, Mitravrinda, Nagnajiti, Bhadra and Lakshana. Krishna killed the demon 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 had been under the Narakasura's control. However  Krishna married them to reinstate their status in the society. This wedding with 16,100 abandoned daughters was more of a mass women rehabilitation. In Vaishnava  traditions, Krishna's wives are believed to be forms of the goddess Lakshmi—consort of Vishnu, or special souls who attained this qualification  after many lifetimes of austerity,  while his queen Satyabhama, is an expansion of Radha.  When Yudhisthira was assuming the title of emperor, he had invited all the great kings to the ceremony and while paying his respects to them, he started with Krishna because he considered Krishna to be the greatest of them all. While it was a unanimous feeling amongst most present at the ceremony that Krishna should get the first honours, his cousin Shishupala felt otherwise and started berating Krishna. Due to a vow given to Shishupal's mother, Krishna forgave a hundred verbal abuses by Shishupal, and upon the one hundred and first, he assumed his Virat (universal) form and killed Shishupal with his Chakra. It is said that the blind king Dhritarashtra also obtained divine vision during this time to be able to see the Lord's form. Essentially, Shishupal and Dantavakra were both re-incarnations of Lord Vishnu's gate-keepers Jaya and Vijaya, who were cursed to be born on Earth, to be delivered by the Lord back to Heaven.&gt;  ===Kurukshetra War and Bhagavad Gita===   Once  battle seemed inevitable, Krishna offered both sides the opportunity to  choose between having either his army called narayani sena or himself alone, but on the condition that he personally would not raise any weapon. Arjuna, on  behalf of the Pandavas, chose to have Krishna on their side, and Duryodhana,  Kaurava chief, chose Krishna's army. At the time of the great battle, Krishna acted as Arjuna's charioteer, since this position did not require the wielding of weapons.  Krishna displays his Vishvarupa  (Universal Form) to [[Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.]] Upon arrival at the battlefield, and seeing that the enemies are his family, his grandfather, his cousins and loved ones, Arjuna becomes doubtful about  fight. He lost all his hopes and put down his ''Gandiv''(Arjuna's bow).  Krishna then advises him about the battle, with the conversation soon extending into a discourse which was later compiled as the Bhagavad Gita.Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, by Robert N.  Minor in   Krishna had a profound effect on the Mahabharata war and its consequences.  He considered the Kurukshetra war as a last resort by voluntarily making himself as a messenger in order to establish peace between the Pandavas and Kauravas.  But, once these peace negotiations failed and was embarked into the war, then he became a ruthless strategist. During the war, upon becoming angry with Arjun for not fighting in true spirit against his ancestors, Krishna once picked up a carriage wheel and converted it to a Chakra (discus) to challenge Bhishma when the latter injured him. Upon seeing this, Bhishma dropped his weapons and asked Krishna to kill him. However, Arjuna apologized to Krishna, promising that he would fight with full dedication hereafter, and the battle continued. Krishna had directed Yudhisthira and Arjuna to return to Bhishma the boon of &quot;victory&quot; which he had given to Yudhisthira before the war commenced, since he himself was standing in their way to victory. Bhishma understood the message and told them the means through which he would drop his weapons—which was if a woman entered the battlefield. Next day, upon Krishna's directions, Shikhandi (Amba reborn) accompanied Arjuna to the battlefield and thus, Bhishma laid down his arms. This was a decisive moment in the war because Bhishma was the chief commander of the Kaurava army and the most formidable warrior on the battlefield. Krishna aided Arjuna in killing Jayadratha, who had held the other four Pandava brothers at bay while Arjuna's son Abhimanyu entered Drona's Chakravyuha formation—an effort in which he got killed by the simultaneous attack of eight Kaurava warriors. Krishna also caused the downfall of Drona, when he signalled Bhima to kill an elephant called Ashwatthama, the namesake of Drona's son. Pandavas started shouting that Ashwatthama was dead but Drona refused to believe them saying he would believe it only if he heard it from Yudhisthira. Krishna knew that Yudhisthira would never tell a lie, so he devised a clever ploy so that Yudhisthira wouldn't lie and at the same time Drona would be convinced of his son's death. On asked by Drona, Yudhisthira declared, &quot; Ashwatthama is dead. May be elephant, may be man&quot;. But as soon as Yudhisthira had uttered the first line, Pandava army on Krishna's direction broke into celebration with drums and conchs, in the din of which Drona could not hear the second part of the Yudhisthira's declaration and assumed that his son indeed was dead. Overcome with grief he laid down his arms, and on Krishna's instruction Dhrishtadyumna beheaded Drona.  When Arjuna was fighting Karna, the latter's chariot's wheels sank into the ground. While Karna was trying to take out the chariot from the grip of the Earth, Krishna reminded Arjuna how Karna and the other Kauravas had broken all rules of battle while simultaneously attacking and killing Abhimanyu, and he convinced Arjuna to do the same in revenge in order to kill Karna. During the final stage of the war, when Duryodhana was going to meet his mother Gandhari for taking her blessings which would convert all parts of his body on which her sight falls to steel, Krishna tricks him to wearing banana leaves to hide his groin. When Duryodhana meets Gandhari, her vision and blessings fall on his entire body except his groin and thighs, and she becomes unhappy about it because she was not able to convert his entire body to steel. When Duryodhana was in a mace-fight with Bhima, Bhima's blows had no effect on Duryodhana. Upon this, Krishna reminded Bhima of his vow to kill Duryodhana by hitting him on the thigh, and Bhima did the same to win the war despite it being against the rules of mace-fight (since Duryodhana had himself broken Dharma in all his past acts). Thus, Krishna's unparalleled strategy helped the Pandavas win the Mahabharata war by bringing the downfall of all the chief Kaurava warriors, without lifting any weapon. He also brought back to life Arjuna's grandson Parikshit, who had been attacked by a Brahmastra weapon from Ashwatthama while he was in his mother's womb. Parikshit became the Pandavas' successor.  === Family=== Krishna in [[Balinese Wayang form]] Krishna had a total of 16,108 wives, out of which eight were his princely wives and 16,100 were rescued from Narakasura, who had forcibly kept them in his harem, but all of them are considered to be incarnations of Goddess Lakshmi. Here are some famous sons of Lord Krishna.B. R. Kishore, Lord Krishna,page 47Francis Hamilton, Genealogies of the Hindus extracted from Sacred Texts, page 123, 145  The first son of Queen Rukmini was Pradyumna, and also born of her were Charudeshna, Sudeshna and the powerful Charudeha, along with Sucharu, Chharugupta, Bhadracaru, Charuchandra, Vicaru and Caru, the tenth. Pradyumna fathered the greatly powerful Aniruddha in the womb of Rukmavati, the daughter of Rukmi. This took place while they were living in the city of Bhojakata.  The ten sons of Satyabhama were Bhanu, Subhanu, Svarbhanu, Prabhanu, Bhanuman, Chandrabhanu, Brihadbhanu, Atibhanu (the eighth), Sribhanu and Pratibhanu.  Samba, Sumitra, Purujit, Satajit, Sahasrajit, Vijaya, Citraketu, Vasuman, Dravida and Kratu were the sons of Jambavati. These ten, headed by Samba, were their father's favorites.  The sons of Nagnajiti were Vira, Candra, Asvasena, Citragu, Vegavan, Vrisha, Ama, Sanku, Vasu and the opulent Kunti.  Sruta, Kavi, Vrisha, Vira, Subahu, Bhadra, Santi, Darsa and Purnamasa were sons of Kalindi. Her youngest son was Somaka.  Madra's sons were Praghosha, Gatravan, Simha, Bala, Prabala, Urdhaga, Mahasakti, Saha, Oja and Aparajita.  Mitravinda's sons were Vrika, Harsha, Anila, Gridhra, Vardhana, Unnada, Mahamsa, Pavana, Vahni and Kshudhi.  Sangramajit, Brihatsena, Sura, Praharana, Arijith, Jaya and Subhadra were the sons of Bhadra, together with Vama, Ayur and Satyaka.  Diptiman, Tamratapta and others were the sons of Lord Krishna and Rohini.  ===Later life=== At a festival, a fight broke out  between the Yadavs 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. While the Mahabharata narrates the story that a hunter named Jara mistook his partly visible left foot for a deer and shot an arrow wounding him mortally; while Krishna's soul ascended to heaven, his mortal body was cremated by Arjuna. It is also said that after the Pandavas had died. Krishna was reborn. The Abhiras, the very people who destroyed Dwaraka, brought Krishna back to life by making him their god. The End of an Epoch (2nd Edn) By Irawati Karmarkar Karve, Irawati Karve  According  to Puranic sources,The Bhagavata Purana (1.18.6), Vishnu Purana  (5.38.8), and Brahma Purana (212.8) state that the day Krishna left the  earth was the day that the Dvapara Yuga ended and the Kali Yuga  began. Krishna's disappearance marks the end of Dvapara Yuga  and the start of Kali Yuga,  which is dated to February 17/18, 3228 BCE.See: Matchett, Freda, ''&quot;The  Puranas&quot;'', p 139 and Yano,  Michio, ''&quot;Calendar,  astrology and astronomy&quot;'' in  Vaishnava  teachers such as Ramanujacharya  and Gaudiya Vaishnavas held the view that the body of Krishna is completely spiritual and never decays as this appears to be  the perspective of the Bhagavata Purana.  Krishna never appears to grow old or age at all in the historical  depictions of the Puranas  despite passing of several decades, but there are grounds for a debate  whether this indicates that he has no material body, since battles and  other descriptions of the Mahabhārata epic show clear indications that  he seems to be subject to the limitations of nature.Sutton (2000) pp.174-175  While battles apparently seem to indicate limitations, Mahabharatha  also shows in many places where Krishna is not subject to any  limitations as through episodes Duryodhana trying to arrest Krishna where his body burst into fire showing all creation within him.  Krishna is also explicitly described as without deterioration elsewhere. &quot;Knowest thou not  sinless Govinda, of terrible prowess and incapable of  deterioration?&quot;  ==Worship== ===Vaishnavism===  Rasa Lila'' in Manipuri dance style.]] The  worship of Krishna is part of Vaishnavism, which regards Vishnu as the Supreme God and venerates His associated  Avatars, their consorts, and related saints and teachers. Krishna is  especially looked upon as a full manifestation of Vishnu, and as one  with Vishnu himself. However the  exact relationship between Krishna and Vishnu is complex and diverse,See Beck, Guy, ''&quot;Introduction&quot;'' in   where Krishna is sometimes considered an independent deity, supreme in  his own right.  Out of many deities, Krishna is particularly important, and traditions of Vaishnava lines are generally centered either on Vishnu or on  Krishna, as supreme. The term Krishnaism has been used to describe the  sects of Krishna, reserving term &quot;Vaishnavism&quot; for sects focusing on  Vishnu in which Krishna is an Avatar, rather than as a transcendent Supreme Being.Flood (1996)  p. 117  All  Vaishnava traditions recognise Krishna as an avatar of Vishnu; others  identify Krishna with Vishnu; while traditions, such as Gaudiya Vaishnavism,See McDaniel, June, ''&quot;Folk Vaishnavism and :  Life and status among village Krishna statues&quot;''  in   Vallabha Sampradaya and the Nimbarka Sampradaya, regard  Krishna as the ''svayam bhagavan'', original form of God, or the Lord  himself.  &quot;On the touch-stone of this  definition of the final and positive characteristic of Sri Krsna as the  Highest Divinity as Svayam-rupa Bhagavan.&quot;Delmonico, N., ''The History Of  Indic Monotheism And Modern Chaitanya Vaishnavism''  in  p. 113: &quot;The Bengal School  identifies the Bhagavat with Krishna depicted in the Shrimad-Bhagavata and  presents him as its highest personal god.&quot;  Swaminarayan,  the founder of the Swaminarayan Sampraday also worshipped Krishna as God  himself. &quot;Greater Krishnaism&quot; corresponds to the second and dominant  phase of Vaishnavism, revolving around the cults of the Vasudeva, Krishna, and Gopala of late Vedic period.   [  Vaishnava] University of Cumbria website Retrieved on 5-21-2008  Today the faith has a significant following outside of India as well.  ===Early traditions=== An  image of [[Bala Krishna  displayed during Janmashtami  celebrations at a Swaminarayan Temple in London]] The deity ''Krishna-Vasudeva'' (''''  &quot;Krishna, the son of Vasudeva&quot;)   is historically one of the earliest forms of worship in Krishnaism  and Vaishnavism.: The Cult of Gopāla: History of  Religions, Vol. 25, No. 4 (May, 1986 ), pp. 296-317 |publisher=www.jstor.org |last=Hein |first=Norvin |jstor=1062622 }}  It is  believed to be a significant tradition of the early history of the  worship of Krishna in antiquity.Bhattacharya,  Gouriswar: ''Vanamala  of Vasudeva-Krsna-Visnu and  Sankarsana-Balarama''. In: Vanamala. Festschrift A.J.  Gail. Serta Adalberto Joanni Gail LXV. diem natalem celebranti ab amicis  collegis discipulis dedicata. This tradition is  considered as earliest to other traditions that led to amalgamation  at a later stage of the historical development. Other traditions are Bhagavatism  and the cult of Gopala,  that along with the cult of Bala Krishna form the basis of current  tradition of monotheistic religion of Krishna.    Some  early scholars would equate it with Bhagavatism,pp.540-42  and the founder of this religious tradition is believed to be Krishna,  who is the son of Vasudeva, thus his name is ''Vāsudeva'',  he is belonged to be historically part of the Satvata tribe, and  according to them his followers called themselves Bhagavatas and this  religion had formed by the 2nd century BC (the time of Patanjali), or as early as the 4th century  BC according to evidence in Megasthenes and in the Arthasastra  of Kautilya,  when ''Vāsudeva'' was worshiped as supreme deity in a  strongly monotheistic format, where the supreme being was perfect,  eternal and full of grace. In many sources outside of the cult,  devotee or bhakta  is defined as ''Vāsudevaka''. :p. 10:  &quot;[Panini's] term Vāsudevaka, explained by the second century B.C  commentator Patanjali, as referring to &quot;the follower of Vasudeva, God of  gods.&quot; The Harivamsa describes intricate relationships  between Krishna Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha that  would later form a Vaishnava  concept of primary quadrupled expansion, or avatar.   ===Bhakti tradition===  Bhakti,  meaning devotion, is not confined to any one deity. However Krishna is  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 actions of another avatar of Vishnu: Rama, &quot;He of the straight and narrow  path of ''maryada,'' or rules and regulations.&quot;  The bhakti movements devoted to Krishna became prominent in southern India  in the 7th to 9th centuries AD. The earliest works included those of the  Alvar  saints of the Tamil  country.  A major collection of their works is the ''Divya Prabandham''. The Alvar Andal's popular collection of songs Tiruppavai,  in which she conceives of herself as a gopi, is the most famous of the  oldest works in this genre.   Kulasekaraazhvaar's Mukundamala was another notable work of this  early stage.  ===Spread of the Krishna-bhakti movement=== [[Gita Govinda  by Jayadeva.]] The movement  spread rapidly from northern India into the south, with the Sanskrit poem ''Gita Govinda''  of Jayadeva  (12th century AD) becoming a landmark of devotional, Krishna-based  literature. It elaborated a part of the Krishna legend—his love for one particular gopi, called  Radha, a minor character in ''Bhagavata Purana'' but a major one in other texts like ''Brahma Vaivarta Purana''.  By the influence of ''Gita  Govinda'', Radha became  inseparable from devotion to Krishna.  While the learned sections of  the society well versed in Sanskrit could enjoy works like ''Gita Govinda'' or Bilvamangala's ''Krishna-Karnamritam'',  the masses sang the songs of the devotee-poets, who composed in the regional  languages of India. These songs expressing intense personal devotion  were written by devotees from all walks of life. The songs of Meera and Surdas became epitomes of Krishna-devotion in  north India.  Krishna (left) with the flute with  gopi-consort  Radha, [[Bhaktivedanta Manor, Watford, England]] These devotee-poets, like the Alvars before them, were  aligned to specific theological schools only loosely, if at all. But by  the 11th century AD, Vaishnava  Bhakti schools with elaborate theological frameworks around the worship  of Krishna were established in north India. Nimbarka (11th century AD), Vallabhacharya  (15th century AD) and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (16th century AD) were the  founders of the most influential schools. These schools, namely Nimbarka Sampradaya, Vallabha Sampradaya and Gaudiya Vaishnavism respectively, see Krishna as the  supreme god, rather than an avatar, as generally seen.  In the Deccan, particularly in Maharashtra,  saint poets of the Varkari  sect such as Dnyaneshwar,  Namdev,  Janabai,  Eknath  and Tukaram  promoted the worship of Vithoba, a local form of  Krishna, from the beginning of the 13th century until the late 18th  century. In southern  India, Purandara Dasa  and Kanakadasa  of Karnataka composed songs devoted to the Krishna image of Udupi. Rupa Goswami of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, has  compiled a comprehensive summary of bhakti named Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu.  ===In the West=== Since 1966, the Krishna-bhakti movement has also spread outside India. This is largely due to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement. The movement was founded by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who was instructed by his guru, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, to write about Krishna in English and to share the Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy with people in the Western world.''Srila Prabhupada - He Built a House in which the whole world can live, Satsvarupa dasa Goswami, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1983, ISBN 0-89213-133-0'' page xv  ==In the performing  arts== A [[Kathakali performer as Krishna.]]  While discussing the  origin of Indian theatre,  Horwitz talks about the mention of the Krishna story in Patanjali's Mahabhashya (c. 150 BC), where the episodes  of slaying of Kamsa (Kamsa Vadha) and &quot;Binding of the heaven storming  titan&quot; (Bali Bandha) are described.Varadpande  p.231 Bhasa's ''Balacharitam''  and ''Dutavakyam'' (c. 400 BC) are the only Sanskrit plays centered on Krishna written  by a major classical dramatist. The former dwells only on his childhood  exploits and the latter is a one-act play based on a single episode from  the ''Mahābhārata'' when Krishna tries to make peace  between the warring cousins.Varadpande  p.232-3  From the 10th century AD, with the growing bhakti movement,  Krishna became a favorite subject of the arts. The songs of the ''Gita Govinda'' became popular across India, and had  many imitations. The songs composed by the Bhakti poets added to the  repository of both folk and classical singing.  The classical Indian dances,  especially Odissi  and Manipuri,  draw heavily on the story. The 'Rasa lila' dances performed in Vrindavan shares elements with Kathak, and the Krisnattam, with some cycles, such as  Krishnattam, traditionally restricted to the Guruvayur temple, the precursor  of Kathakali. , which emerged as part of Bhakti tradition in Karnataka.]]  The Sattriya dance, founded by the Assamese Vaishnava saint Sankardeva, extols the virtues of Krishna.  Medieval Maharashtra  gave birth to a form of storytelling known as the ''Hari-Katha'', that told Vaishnava tales and  teachings through music, dance, and narrative sequences, and the story  of Krishna one of them. This tradition spread to Tamil Nadu and other southern states, and is  now popular in many places throughout India.  Narayana Tirtha's  (17th century AD) ''Krishna-Lila-Tarangini'' provided material for the musical  plays of the ''Bhagavata-Mela'' by telling the tale of Krishna from  birth until his marriage to Rukmini. Tyagaraja (18th century AD) wrote a similar  piece about Krishna called ''Nauka-Charitam''.  The narratives of Krishna from the Puranas are performed in Yakshagana,  a performance style native to Karnataka's coastal districts. Many movies  in all Indian languages have been made based on these stories. These are  of varying quality and usually add various songs, melodrama, and  special effects.  ==In other religions== ===Jainism===  The most exalted figures in  Jainism are the twenty-four Tirthankaras. Krishna, when he was incorporated  into the Jain  list of heroic figures presented a problem with his activities which  are not pacifist or non-violent. The concept of Baladeva, Vasudeva and Prati-Vasudeva was  used to solve it. The Jain list of sixty-three Shalakapurshas or notable figures  includes amongst others, the twenty-four Tirthankaras and nine sets of this  triad. One of these triads is Krishna as the Vasudeva, Balarama as the  Baladeva and Jarasandha as the Prati-Vasudeva. He was a cousin of the twenty-second  Tirthankara, Neminatha. The stories of these triads can be found in the ''Harivamsha'' of Jinasena (not be confused with its  namesake, the addendum to ''Mahābhārata'')  and the ''Trishashti-shalakapurusha-charita'' of Hemachandra.See Jerome H. Bauer ''&quot;&quot;Hero of Wonders,  Hero in Deeds: [  '''Vasudeva '''Krishna  in Jaina Cosmohistory] '' in   In  each age of the Jain cyclic time is born a Vasudeva with an elder  brother termed the Baladeva. The villain is the Prati-vasudeva.  Baladeva is the upholder of the Jain principle of non-violence.  However, Vasudeva has to forsake this principle to kill the Prati-Vasudeva and  save the world.    ===Buddhism=== Depiction  of Krishna playing flute in the temple constructed in AD 752 on the  order of Emperor Shomu; Todai-ji Temple, Great Buddha Hall in Nara, [[Japan]] The  story of Krishna occurs in the Jataka tales in Buddhism,   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 resemble 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  Kanhadipayana (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, Anjanadevi 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 &quot;Dhammasenapati&quot; or &quot;Chief General of the Dharma&quot; and  is usually shown being Buddha's &quot;right hand man&quot; in Buddhist art and  iconography.''[  The Turner of the Wheel]''.  The Life of Sariputta, compiled and translated from the Pali texts by  Nyanaponika Thera 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.  The 'divine boy' Krishna as an embodiment of wisdom and endearing  prankster is forming a part of worshipable pantheon in Japanese  Buddhism.    ===Bahá'í Faith=== Bahá'ís believe that Krishna was  a &quot;Manifestation of God&quot;, 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, Zoroaster, Buddha, Muhammad, Jesus Christ, the Báb,  and the founder of the Bahá'í Faith,  Bahá'u'lláh.  ===Ahmadiyya Islam=== Members of the Ahmadiyya Community  believe Krishna to be a great prophet of God as described by their  founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Ghulam Ahmad also claimed to be  the likeness of Krishna as a latter day reviver of religion and morality  whose mission was to reconcile man with God. Ahmadis  maintain that the term ''Avatar'' is synonymous with the term  'prophet' of the middle eastern religious tradition as God's  intervention with man; as God appoints a man as his vicegerent upon  earth. In ''Lecture  Sialkot'', Ghulam Ahmed wrote:  Let  it be clear that Raja Krishna, according to what has been revealed to  me, was such a truly great man that it is hard to find his like among  the Rishis and Avatars of the Hindus. He was an Avatar—i.e., 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 Aryas 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.  Krishna is also called Murli Dhar. The flute of Krishna means the flute of revealation and not the physical flute. Krishna lived like humans and he was a prophet  ===Other=== Krishna worship or reverence has  been adopted by several new religious movements since the 19th century, and he is  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 Krishna as an incarnation of Maitreya  (one of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom), the  most important spiritual teacher for humanity after Buddha.See for example: ,  , and   Krishna was canonized by Aleister Crowley and is recognized as a saint in the Gnostic Mass of Ordo Templi Orientis.Crowley associated Krishna with Roman god Dionysus and Magickal formulae  IAO, AUM  and INRI.  See  and   