Krishna
कृष्ण
Kṛṣṇa
Form: Purna avatara — the complete incarnation, in whom every divine attribute is present
Purpose
To uphold dharma at the close of Dvapara Yuga, to slay the asura kings led by Kamsa and Jarasandha, to teach the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, and to inaugurate the path of unconditional bhakti.
Demon / threat
Kamsa of Mathura, Jarasandha of Magadha, Shishupala, Narakasura, and the Kaurava adharma led by Duryodhana
Weapons
- • Sudarshana Chakra
- • Kaumodaki gada
- • Panchajanya shankha
- • Sharanga bow
Consort
Rukmini, Satyabhama, and eight queens at Dwarka; Radha as eternal beloved at Vrindavan
Associated tirthas
- • Mathura (birthplace)
- • Vrindavan (childhood)
- • Govardhan
- • Dwarka
- • Kurukshetra (Gita)
- • Jagannath Puri
- • Udupi
Story
Born to Devaki and Vasudeva in a Mathura prison at midnight on Janmashtami, Krishna was smuggled to Gokul where he was raised as the son of Nanda and Yashoda. His childhood lila in Vrindavan — stealing butter, dancing with the gopis, lifting Mount Govardhan — is the textual centre of north-Indian bhakti. As a youth he returned to Mathura, slew his uncle Kamsa, established his kingdom at Dwarka, and at the close of Dvapara Yuga stood at Kurukshetra as Arjuna's charioteer and spoke the seven-hundred-verse Bhagavad Gita, the most important single discourse in living Hindu thought. Vaishnava tradition regards him not as one avatara among many but as svayam bhagavan — God himself.
Key teaching
Surrender every action, every fruit, every relationship to me — sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam sharanam vraja. Bhakti is the highest yoga.
Principal scripture
Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavata Purana (especially books 10–11), Mahabharata, Harivamsa
Modern relevance
The Bhagavad Gita is the single most widely-read Hindu text in modern times. Janmashtami, Holi (Krishna lila), and the Jagannath Rath Yatra are pan-Indian festivals. ISKCON has carried Krishna-bhakti to every continent.