Lord Kṛṣṇa (Krishna), the “Dark One,” is perhaps the most important avatar (see Avatars of Viṣṇu) of the god Viṣṇu (see Viṣṇu), or Hari. The mythology of Kṛṣṇa is among the richest in Hinduism (see Hinduism). There are various versions of each part of the man-god's history as recorded in the Mahābhārata (see Mahābhārata), particularly in the section called the Bhagavadgītā (see Bhagavadgītā), in the Harivaṃśa, and the Viṣṇu and Bhāgavata Purāṇas (see Purāṇas). At times, as, for instance, in the running narrative of the Mahābhārata, Kṛṣṇa seems to be more the ideal warrior king than an avatar, but at other times, as when he miraculously saves Draupadī (see Draupadī) from shame during the famous attempt on the part of the Kauravas (see Kauravas) to disrobe her and as when he lectures the hero Arjuna (see Arjuna) in the Bhagavadgītā, he is very much the god, the container within himself of the whole universe. What follows is one composite version of the myth of Kṛṣṇa.
Both Kṛṣṇa and his older brother Balarāma (see Balarāma) are miraculously conceived in Devakī (see Devakī) through the agency of Viṣṇu with the help of the Goddess (see Devī) as Māyā (see Māyā) or “holy illusion or illusion”. Devakī's husband and Balaāma's and Kṛṣṇa's surrogate father is Vasudeva (see Vasudeva). The wicked King Kaṃsa (see Kaṃsa), fearing a prophecy of his own murder at the hands of a child of his cousin Devakī, commands that her children be killed at birth. To save Balarama, the Goddess removes the embryo from Devakī and places it in Vasudeva's other wife, Rohinī. Kṛṣṇa is born to Devakī, but at birth, to protect him from King Kaṃsa, he is exchanged with a child of Yaśodā, the wife of the cowherd Nanda (see Nanda). This child, a girl born at the same time as Kṛṣṇa, is an incarnation of the Goddess, who, when she is murdered by Kaṃsa, thus serves as the necessary Hindu “sacrifice” (see Māyā) for the birth of something positive, in this case the greatest of the avatars of Viṣṇu. Both Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa are “adopted” for their protection by Nanda and are raised along the river Yamunā among the cowherds.
As a very young child, Kṛṣṇa performs miraculous feats and defeats demons (see Asuras). On one occasion when his adopted mother looks into his mouth she is astounded to see the whole universe there. Kṛṣṇa is especially dear to the women cowherds, the gopīs (see Gopīs). Always something of a trickster, Kṛṣṇa teases them. In one story he steals their clothes while they are bathing in the river and convinces them to leave the water with their hands held together over their heads, signifying worship and supplication. The gopīs here embody deliverance that comes from the worship of Lord Kṛṣṇa. One of the gopīs, Rādhā, becomes his lover, a prime symbol of Kṛṣṇa devotion. The erotic delight in Kṛṣṇa as a representation of total devotion and joy is contained in the Gītāgovinda (see
In adulthood Kṛṣṇa returns to his homeland of Mathurā and kills Kaṃsa. He also becomes involved in the war between the Pāṇḍavas (see Pāṇḍavas) and Kauravas depicted in the Mahābhārata, serving as the hero Arjuna's charioteer and mentor. His lesson as expressed to Arjuna is in the Bhagavadgītā segment of the epic. Arjuna declares his reluctance to carry on a war of needless slaughter of friends and relatives, but Kṛṣṇa reminds him that as a warrior his only proper commitment is to dharma (see Dharma), proper action or duty according to his warrior caste. To worry about the effects of action based on dharma would be wrong. Kṛṣṇa-Viṣṇu goes on to reveal to Arjuna the proper means of achieving oneness with Brahman (see Brahman).
Just after the war, Kṛṣṇa dies, as he had predicted he would, when, in a position of meditation, he is struck in the heel by a hunter's arrow. He ascends in death to the heavens and is greeted by the gods.
