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Krishna

Krishna (/ˈkrɪʃnə/;[12] Sanskrit: कृष्ण IAST: Kṛṣṇa [ˈkr̩ʂɳɐ]) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right.[13] He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love;[14][1] and is one of the most popular and widely revered among Indian divinities.[15] Krishna's birthday is celebrated every year by Hindus on Krishna Janmashtami according to the lunisolar Hindu calendar, which falls in late August or early September of the Gregorian calendar.[16][17]

Krishna
God of Protection, Compassion, Tenderness, and Love;[1] Yogeshvara – Lord of Yoga or Yogis;[2][3] Parabrahman, Svayam Bhagavan (Krishnaism-Vaishnavism)
Member of Dashavatara
Statue of Krishna at the Sri Mariamman Temple, Singapore.
Devanagariकृष्ण
Sanskrit transliterationKṛṣṇa
Affiliation
Abode
MantraHare Krishna
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
Weapon
BattlesKurukshetra War
MountGaruda
Texts
Festivals
Personal information
Born
Mathura, Surasena (present-day Uttar Pradesh, India)[6]
Died
Bhalka, Saurashtra (present-day Veraval, Gujarat, India)[7]
Parents
Siblings
Consorts[note 2]
Children
[note 1]
DynastyYaduvamsha-Chandravamsha
Dashavatara Sequence
PredecessorRama
SuccessorBuddha

The anecdotes and narratives of Krishna's life are generally titled as Krishna Leela. He is a central character in the Mahabharata, the Bhagavata Purana, the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, and the Bhagavad Gita, and is mentioned in many Hindu philosophical, theological, and mythological texts.[18] They portray him in various perspectives: as a god-child, a prankster, a model lover, a divine hero, and the universal supreme being.[19] His iconography reflects these legends, and shows him in different stages of his life, such as an infant eating butter, a young boy playing a flute, a young boy with Radha or surrounded by female devotees; or a friendly charioteer giving counsel to Arjuna.[20]

The name and synonyms of Krishna have been traced to 1st millennium BCE literature and cults.[21] In some sub-traditions, Krishna is worshipped as Svayam Bhagavan (the Supreme God), and it is sometimes known as Krishnaism. These sub-traditions arose in the context of the medieval era Bhakti movement.[22][23] Krishna-related literature has inspired numerous performance arts such as Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Odissi, and Manipuri dance.[24][25] He is a pan-Hindu god, but is particularly revered in some locations, such as Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh,[26] Dwarka and Junagadh in Gujarat; the Jagannatha aspect in Odisha, Mayapur in West Bengal;[22][27][28] in the form of Vithoba in Pandharpur, Maharashtra, Shrinathji at Nathdwara in Rajasthan,[22][29] Udupi Krishna in Karnataka,[30] Parthasarathy in Tamil Nadu and in Aranmula, Kerala, and Guruvayoorappan in Guruvayoor in Kerala.[31] Since the 1960s, the worship of Krishna has also spread to the Western world and to Africa, largely due to the work of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).[32]

Names and epithets

The name "Krishna" originates from the Sanskrit word Kṛṣṇa, which is primarily an adjective meaning "black", "dark", "dark blue" or “the all attractive”.[33] The waning moon is called Krishna Paksha, relating to the adjective meaning "darkening".[33] The name is also interpreted sometimes as "all-attractive".[34]

As a name of Vishnu, Krishna is listed as the 57th name in the Vishnu Sahasranama. Based on his name, Krishna is often depicted in idols as black- or blue-skinned. Krishna is also known by various other names, epithets, and titles that reflect his many associations and attributes. Among the most common names are Mohan "enchanter"; Govinda "chief herdsman",[35] Keev "prankster", and Gopala "Protector of the 'Go'", which means "soul" or "the cows".[36][37] Some names for Krishna hold regional importance; Jagannatha, found in the Puri Hindu temple, is a popular incarnation in Odisha state and nearby regions of eastern India.[38][39][40]

Krishna may also be referred to as Vāsudeva-Krishna, Murlidhar, or Chakradhar. The honorary title "Sri" (also spelled "Shri") is often used before the name of Krishna.

Names in different states of India

Krishna is commonly worshipped as:

  1. Kanhaiyya/Bankey Bihari/Thakurji: Uttar Pradesh
  2. Jagannath: Odisha
  3. Vithoba: Maharashtra
  4. Shrinathji: Rajasthan
  5. Guruvayoorappan/Kannan: Kerala
  6. Dwarakadheesh/Ranchhod: Gujarat
  7. Parthasarathy/Kannan: Tamil Nadu

Historical and literary sources

The tradition of Krishna appears to be an amalgamation of several independent deities of ancient India, the earliest to be attested being Vāsudeva.[41] Vāsudeva was a hero-god of the tribe of the Vrishnis, belonging to the Vrishni heroes, whose worship is attested from the 5th-6th century BCE in the writings of Pāṇini, and from the 2nd century BCE in epigraphy with the Heliodorus pillar.[41] At one point in time, it is thought that the tribe of the Vrishnis fused with the tribe of the Yadavas, whose own hero-god was named Krishna.[41] Vāsudeva and Krishna fused to become a single deity, which appears in the Mahabharata, and they started to be identified with Vishnu in the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita.[41] Around the 4th century CE, another tradition, the cult of Gopala-Krishna, the protector of cattle, was also absorbed into the Krishna tradition.[41]

Early epigraphic sources

Depiction in coinage (2nd century BCE)

 
Vāsudeva-Krishna, on a coin of Agathocles of Bactria, c. 180 BCE.[42][43] This is "the earliest unambiguous image" of the deity.[44]

Around 180 BCE, the Indo-Greek king Agathocles issued some coinage bearing images of deities that are now interpreted as being related to Vaisnava imagery in India.[45][46] The deities displayed on the coins appear to be Saṃkarṣaṇa-Balarama with attributes consisting of the Gada mace and the plow, and Vāsudeva-Krishna with attributes of the Shankha (conch) and the Sudarshana Chakra wheel.[45][47] According to Bopearachchi, the headdress on top of the deity is actually a misrepresentation of a shaft with a half-moon parasol on top (chattra).[45]

Inscriptions

 
Heliodorus Pillar in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, erected about 120 BCE. The inscription states that Heliodorus is a Bhagvatena, and a couplet in the inscription closely paraphrases a Sanskrit verse from the Mahabharata.[48][49]

The Heliodorus Pillar, a stone pillar with a Brahmi script inscription, was discovered by colonial era archaeologists in Besnagar (Vidisha, central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh). Based on the internal evidence of the inscription, it has been dated to between 125 and 100 BCE and is now known after Heliodorus – an Indo-Greek who served as an ambassador of the Greek king Antialcidas to a regional Indian king, Kasiputra Bhagabhadra.[45][48] The Heliodorus pillar inscription is a private religious dedication of Heliodorus to "Vāsudeva", an early deity and another name for Krishna in the Indian tradition. It states that the column was constructed by "the Bhagavata Heliodorus" and that it is a "Garuda pillar" (both are Vishnu-Krishna-related terms). Additionally, the inscription includes a Krishna-related verse from chapter 11.7 of the Mahabharata stating that the path to immortality and heaven is to correctly live a life of three virtues: self-temperance (damah), generosity (cagah or tyaga), and vigilance (apramadah).[48][50][51] The Heliodorus pillar site was fully excavated by archaeologists in the 1960s. The effort revealed the brick foundations of a much larger ancient elliptical temple complex with a sanctum, mandapas, and seven additional pillars.[52][53] The Heliodorus pillar inscriptions and the temple are among the earliest known evidence of Krishna-Vasudeva devotion and Vaishnavism in ancient India.[54][45][55]

 
Balarama and Krishna with their attributes at Chilas. The Kharoshthi inscription nearby reads Rama [kri]ṣa. 1st century CE.[44]

The Heliodorus inscription is not isolated evidence. The Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions, all located in the state of Rajasthan and dated by modern methodology to the 1st century BCE, mention Saṃkarṣaṇa and Vāsudeva, also mention that the structure was built for their worship in association with the supreme deity Narayana. These four inscriptions are notable for being some of the oldest-known Sanskrit inscriptions.[56]

A Mora stone slab found at the Mathura-Vrindavan archaeological site in Uttar Pradesh, held now in the Mathura Museum, has a Brahmi inscription. It is dated to the 1st century CE and mentions the five Vrishni heroes, otherwise known as Saṃkarṣaṇa, Vāsudeva, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, and Samba.[57][58][59]

The inscriptional record for Vāsudeva starts in the 2nd century BCE with the coinage of Agathocles and the Heliodorus pillar, but the name of Krishna appears rather later in epigraphy. At the Chilas II archaeological site dated to the first half of the 1st-century CE in northwest Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border, are engraved two males, along with many Buddhist images nearby. The larger of the two males held a plough and club in his two hands. The artwork also has an inscription with it in Kharosthi script, which has been deciphered by scholars as Rama-Krsna, and interpreted as an ancient depiction of the two brothers, Balarama and Krishna.[60][61]

The first known depiction of the life of Krishna himself comes relatively late, with a relief found in Mathura, and dated to the 1st-2nd century CE.[62] This fragment seems to show Vasudeva, Krishna's father, carrying baby Krishna in a basket across the Yamuna.[62] The relief shows at one end a seven-hooded Naga crossing a river, where a makara crocodile is thrashing around, and at the other end a person seemingly holding a basket over his head.[62]

Literary sources

Mahabharata

 
Krishna advising Pandavas

The earliest text containing detailed descriptions of Krishna as a personality is the epic Mahabharata, which depicts Krishna as an incarnation of Vishnu.[63] 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 Arjuna on the battlefield. The Harivamsa, a later appendix to the Mahabharata, contains a detailed version of Krishna's childhood and youth.[64]

Other sources

 
Krishna is celebrated in the Vaishnava tradition in various stages of his life.

The Chandogya Upanishad, estimated to have been composed sometime between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE, has been another source of speculation regarding Krishna in ancient India. The verse (III.xvii.6) mentions Krishna in Krishnaya Devakiputraya as a student of the sage Ghor' of the Angirasa family. Ghora is identified with Neminatha, the twenty-second tirthankara in Jainism, by some scholars.[65] This phrase, which means "To Krishna the son of Devaki", has been mentioned by scholars such as Max Müller[66] as a potential source of fables and Vedic lore about Krishna in the Mahabharata and other ancient literature – only potential because this verse could have been interpolated into the text,[66] or the Krishna Devakiputra, could be different from the deity Krishna.[67] These doubts are supported by the fact that the much later age Sandilya Bhakti Sutras, a treatise on Krishna,[68] cites later age compilations such as the Narayana Upanishad but never cites this verse of the Chandogya Upanishad. Other scholars disagree that the Krishna mentioned along with Devaki in the ancient Upanishad is unrelated to the later Hindu god of the Bhagavad Gita fame. For example, Archer states that the coincidence of the two names appearing together in the same Upanishad verse cannot be dismissed easily.[69]

Yāska's Nirukta, an etymological dictionary published around the 6th century BCE, contains a reference to the Shyamantaka jewel in the possession of Akrura, a motif from the well-known Puranic story about Krishna.[70] Shatapatha Brahmana and Aitareya-Aranyaka associate Krishna with his Vrishni origins.[71]

In Ashṭādhyāyī, authored by the ancient grammarian Pāṇini (probably belonged to the 5th or 6th century BCE), Vāsudeva and Arjuna, as recipients of worship, are referred to together in the same sutra.[72][73][74]

 
Bala Krishna dancing, 14th century CE Chola sculpture, Tamil Nadu, in the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

Megasthenes, a Greek ethnographer and an ambassador of Seleucus I to the court of Chandragupta Maurya towards the end of 4th century BCE, made reference to Herakles in his famous work Indica. This text is now lost to history, but was quoted in secondary literature by later Greeks such as Arrian, Diodorus, and Strabo.[75] According to these texts, Megasthenes mentioned that the Sourasenoi tribe of India, who worshipped Herakles, had two major cities named Methora and Kleisobora, and a navigable river named the Jobares. According to Edwin Bryant, a professor of Indian religions known for his publications on Krishna, "there is little doubt that the Sourasenoi refers to the Shurasenas, a branch of the Yadu dynasty to which Krishna belonged".[75] The word Herakles, states Bryant, is likely a Greek phonetic equivalent of Hari-Krishna, as is Methora of Mathura, Kleisobora of Krishnapura, and the Jobares of Jamuna. Later, when Alexander the Great launched his campaign in the northwest Indian subcontinent, his associates recalled that the soldiers of Porus were carrying an image of Herakles.[75]

The Buddhist Pali canon and the Ghata-Jâtaka (No.  454) polemically mention the devotees of Vâsudeva and Baladeva. These texts have many peculiarities and may be a garbled and confused version of the Krishna legends.[76] The texts of Jainism mention these tales as well, also with many peculiarities and different versions, in their legends about Tirthankaras. This inclusion of Krishna-related legends in ancient Buddhist and Jaina literature suggests that Krishna theology was existent and important in the religious landscape observed by non-Hindu traditions of ancient India.[77][78]

The ancient Sanskrit grammarian Patanjali in his Mahabhashya makes several references to Krishna and his associates found in later Indian texts. In his commentary on Pāṇini's verse 3.1.26, he also uses the word Kamsavadha or the "killing of Kamsa", an important part of the legends surrounding Krishna.[75][79]

Puranas

Many Puranas, mostly compiled during the Gupta period (4–5th century CE),[80] tell Krishna's life story or some highlights from it. Two Puranas, the Bhagavata Purana and the Vishnu Purana, contain the most elaborate telling of Krishna's story,[81] but the life stories of Krishna in these and other texts vary, and contain significant inconsistencies.[82][83] The Bhagavata Purana consists of twelve books subdivided into 332 chapters, with a cumulative total of between 16,000 and 18,000 verses depending on the version.[84][85] The tenth book of the text, which contains about 4,000 verses (~25%) and is dedicated to legends about Krishna, has been the most popular and widely studied part of this text.[86][87]

Iconography

 
Krishna with cows, herdsmen, and Gopis.

Krishna is represented in the Indian traditions in many ways, but with some common features.[88] His iconography typically depicts him with black, dark, or blue skin, like Vishnu.[89] However, ancient and medieval reliefs and stone-based arts depict him in the natural color of the material out of which he is formed, both in India and in southeast Asia.[90][91] In some texts, his skin is poetically described as the color of Jambul (Jamun, a purple-colored fruit).[92]

Krishna is often depicted wearing a peacock-feather wreath or crown, and playing the bansuri (Indian flute).[93][94] In this form, he is usually shown standing with one leg bent in front of the other in the Tribhanga posture. He is sometimes accompanied by cows or a calf, which symbolise the divine herdsman Govinda. Alternatively, he is shown as a romantic young boy with the gopis (milkmaids), often making music or playing pranks.[95]

 
Krishna lifting Govardhana at Bharat Kala Bhavan, recovered from a Muslim graveyard in Varanasi. It is dated to the Gupta Empire era (4th/6th century CE).[96]

In other icons, he is a part of battlefield scenes of the epic Mahabharata. He is shown as a charioteer, notably when he is addressing the Pandava prince Arjuna character, symbolically reflecting the events that led to the Bhagavad Gita – a scripture of Hinduism. In these popular depictions, Krishna appears in the front as the charioteer, either as a counsel listening to Arjuna or as the driver of the chariot while Arjuna aims his arrows in the battlefield of Kurukshetra.[97][98]

Alternate icons of Krishna show him as a baby (Bala Krishna, the child Krishna), a toddler crawling on his hands and knees, a dancing child, or an innocent-looking child playfully stealing or consuming butter (Makkan Chor),[99] holding Laddu in his hand (Laddu Gopal)[100][101] or as a cosmic infant sucking his toe while floating on a banyan leaf during the Pralaya (the cosmic dissolution) observed by sage Markandeya.[102] Regional variations in the iconography of Krishna are seen in his different forms, such as Jaganatha in Odisha, Vithoba in Maharashtra,[103] Shrinathji in Rajasthan[104] and Guruvayoorappan in Kerala.[105]

Guidelines for the preparation of Krishna icons in design and architecture are described in medieval-era Sanskrit texts on Hindu temple arts such as Vaikhanasa agama, Vishnu dharmottara, Brihat samhita, and Agni Purana.[106] Similarly, early medieval-era Tamil texts also contain guidelines for sculpting Krishna and Rukmini. Several statues made according to these guidelines are in the collections of the Government Museum, Chennai.[107]

Krishna iconography forms an important element in the figural sculpture on 17th–19th century terracotta temples of Bengal. In many temples, the stories of Krishna are depicted on a long series of narrow panels along the base of the facade. In other temples, the important Krishnalila episodes are depicted on large brick panels above the entrance arches or on the walls surrounding the entrance.[108]

Life and legends

This summary is a mythological account, based on literary details from the Mahābhārata, the Harivamsa, the Bhagavata Purana, and the Vishnu Purana. The scenes from the narrative are set in ancient India, mostly in the present states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, and Gujarat. The legends about Krishna's life are called Krishna charitas (IAST: Kṛṣṇacaritas).[109]

Birth

 
Baby Krishna on a swing, depicted with his foster parents Nanda and Yashoda.

In the Krishna Charitas, Krishna is born to Devaki and her husband, Vasudeva, of the Yadava clan in Mathura.[110] Devaki's brother is a tyrant named Kamsa. At Devaki's wedding, according to Puranic legends, Kamsa is told by fortune tellers that a child of Devaki would kill him. Sometimes, it is depicted as an akashvani announcing Kamsa's death. Kamsa arranges to kill all of Devaki's children. When Krishna is born, Vasudeva secretly carries the infant Krishna away across the Yamuna, and exchanges him with Yashoda's daughter. When Kamsa tries to kill the newborn, the exchanged baby appears as the Hindu goddess Yogamaya, warning him that his death has arrived in his kingdom, and then disappears, according to the legends in the Puranas. Krishna grows up with Nanda and his wife, Yashoda, near modern-day Mathura.[111][112][113] Two of Krishna's siblings also survive, namely Balarama and Subhadra, according to these legends.[114] The day of the birth of Krishna is celebrated as Krishna Janmashtami.

Childhood and youth

The legends of Krishna's childhood and youth describe him as a cow-herder, a mischievous boy whose pranks earn him the nickname Makhan Chor (butter thief), and a protector who steals the hearts of the people in both Gokul and Vrindavana. The texts state, for example, that Krishna lifts the Govardhana hill to protect the inhabitants of Vrindavana from devastating rains and floods.[115]

 
Krishna and Balarama Studying with the Brahman Sandipani (Bhagavata Purana, 1525-1550 CE print).

Other legends describe him as an enchanter and playful lover of the gopis (milkmaids) of Vrindavana, especially Radha. These metaphor-filled love stories are known as the Rasa lila and were romanticized in the poetry of Jayadeva, author of the Gita Govinda. They are also central to the development of the Krishna bhakti traditions worshiping Radha Krishna.[116]

Krishna's childhood illustrates the Hindu concept of Lila, playing for fun and enjoyment and not for sport or gain. His interaction with the gopis at the rasa dance or Rasa-lila is an example. Krishna plays his flute and the gopis come immediately, from whatever they were doing, to the banks of the Yamuna River and join him in singing and dancing. Even those who could not physically be there join him through meditation. He is the spiritual essence and the love-eternal in existence, the gopis metaphorically represent the prakṛti matter and the impermanent body.[117]: 256 

This Lila is a constant theme in the legends of Krishna's childhood and youth. Even when he is battling with a serpent to protect others, he is described in Hindu texts as if he were playing a game.[117]: 255  This quality of playfulness in Krishna is celebrated during festivals as Rasa-Lila and Janmashtami, where Hindus in some regions such as Maharashtra playfully mimic his legends, such as by making human gymnastic pyramids to break open handis (clay pots) hung high in the air to "steal" butter or buttermilk, spilling it all over the group.[117]: 253–261 

Adulthood

 
Krishna with his consorts Rukmini and Satyabhama and his mount Garuda, Tamil Nadu, India, late 12th–13th century[118]

Krishna legends then describe his return to Mathura. He overthrows and kills the tyrant king, his uncle Kamsa/Kansa after quelling several assassination attempts by Kamsa. He reinstates Kamsa's father, Ugrasena as the king of the Yadavas and becomes a leading prince at the court.[119] In one version of the Krishna story, as narrated by Shanta Rao, Krishna after Kamsa's death leads the Yadavas to the newly built city of Dwaraka. Thereafter Pandavas rise. Krishna befriends Arjuna and the other Pandava princes of the Kuru kingdom. Krishna plays a key role in the Mahabharata.[120]

The Bhagavata Purana describes eight wives of Krishna that appear in sequence as (Rukmini, Satyabhama, Jambavati, Kalindi, Mitravinda, Nagnajiti (also called Satya), Bhadra and Lakshmana (also called Madra).[121] According to Dennis Hudson, this is a metaphor where each of the eight wives signifies a different aspect of him.[122] According to George Williams, Vaishnava texts mention all Gopis as wives of Krishna, but this is spiritual symbolism of devotional relationship and Krishna's complete loving devotion to each and everyone devoted to him.[123]

In Krishna-related Hindu traditions, he is most commonly seen with Radha. All of his wives and his lover Radha are considered in the Hindu tradition to be the avatars of the goddess Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu.[124][11] Gopis are considered as Lakshmi's or Radha's manifestations.[11][125]

Kurukshetra War and Bhagavad Gita

According to the epic poem Mahabharata, Krishna becomes Arjuna's charioteer for the Kurukshetra War, but on the condition that he personally will not raise any weapon. Upon arrival at the battlefield and seeing that the enemies are his family, his grandfather, and his cousins and loved ones, Arjuna is moved and says his heart will not allow him to fight and kill others. He would rather renounce the kingdom and put down his Gandiva (Arjuna's bow). Krishna then advises him about the nature of life, ethics, and morality when one is faced with a war between good and evil, the impermanence of matter, the permanence of the soul and the good, duties and responsibilities, the nature of true peace and bliss and the different types of yoga to reach this state of bliss and inner liberation. This conversation between Krishna and Arjuna is presented as a discourse called the Bhagavad Gita.[126][127][128]

Death and ascension

It is stated in the Indian texts that the legendary Kurukshetra War led to the death of all the hundred sons of Gandhari. After Duryodhana's death, Krishna visits Gandhari to offer his condolences when Gandhari and Dhritarashtra visited Kurukshetra, as stated in Stree Parva. Feeling that Krishna deliberately did not put an end to the war, in a fit of rage and sorrow, Gandhari said, "Thou were indifferent to the Kurus and the Pandavas whilst they slew each other. Therefore, O Govinda, thou shalt be the slayer of thy own kinsmen!" According to the Mahabharata, a fight breaks out at a festival among the Yadavas, who end up killing each other. Mistaking the sleeping Krishna for a deer, a hunter named Jara shoots an arrow towards Krishna's foot that fatally injures him. Krishna forgives Jara and dies.[129][7][130] The pilgrimage (tirtha) site of Bhalka in Gujarat marks the location where Krishna is believed to have died. It is also known as Dehotsarga, states Diana L. Eck, a term that literally means the place where Krishna "gave up his body".[7] The Bhagavata Purana in Book 11, Chapter 31 states that after his death, Krishna returned to his transcendent abode directly because of his yogic concentration. Waiting gods such as Brahma and Indra were unable to trace the path Krishna took to leave his human incarnation and return to his abode.[131][132]

Versions and interpretations

 
 
 
Krishna iconography appears in many versions across India. For example (left to right): Srinath, Jagannath, Vithoba.

There are numerous versions of Krishna's life story, of which three are most studied: the Harivamsa, the Bhagavata Purana, and the Vishnu Purana.[133] They share the basic storyline but vary significantly in their specifics, details, and styles.[134] The most original composition, the Harivamsa is told in a realistic style that describes Krishna's life as a poor herder but weaves in poetic and allusive fantasy. It ends on a triumphal note, not with the death of Krishna.[135] Differing in some details, the fifth book of the Vishnu Purana moves away from Harivamsa realism and embeds Krishna in mystical terms and eulogies.[136] The Vishnu Purana manuscripts exist in many versions.[137]

The tenth and eleventh books of the Bhagavata Purana are widely considered to be a poetic masterpiece, full of imagination and metaphors, with no relation to the realism of pastoral life found in the Harivamsa. Krishna's life is presented as a cosmic play (Lila), where his youth is set as a princely life with his foster father Nanda portrayed as a king.[138] Krishna's life is closer to that of a human being in Harivamsa, but is a symbolic universe in the Bhagavata Purana, where Krishna is within the universe and beyond it, as well as the universe itself, always.[139] The Bhagavata Purana manuscripts also exist in many versions, in numerous Indian languages.[140][86]

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is considered as the incarnation of Krishna in Gaudiya Vaishnavism and by the ISKCON community.[141][142][143]

Proposed datings

 
14th-century fresco of Radha Krishna in Udaipur, Rajasthan

The date of Krishna's birth is celebrated every year as Janmashtami.[144][page needed]

According to Guy Beck, "most scholars of Hinduism and Indian history accept the historicity of Krishna – that he was a real male person, whether human or divine, who lived on Indian soil by at least 1000 BCE and interacted with many other historical persons within the cycles of the epic and puranic histories." Yet, Beck also notes that there is an "enormous number of contradictions and discrepancies surrounding the chronology of Krishna's life as depicted in the Sanskrit canon".[145]

According to mythologies in the Jain tradition, Krishna was a cousin of Neminatha.[146] Neminatha is believed in the Jain tradition to have been born 84,000 years before the 9th-century BCE Parshvanatha, the twenty-third tirthankara.[147]

Philosophy and theology

 
12th-century art depicting Krishna playing flute with gathered living beings at Hoysaleswara temple, Karnataka

A wide range of theological and philosophical ideas are presented through Krishna in Hindu texts. The teachings of the Bhagavad Gita can be considered, according to Friedhelm Hardy, as the first Krishnaite system of theology.[22]

Ramanuja, a Hindu theologian and philosopher whose works were influential in Bhakti movement,[148] presented him in terms of qualified monism, or nondualism (namely Vishishtadvaita school).[149] Madhvacharya, a philosopher whose works led to the founding of Haridasa tradition of Vaishnavism,[150] presented Krishna in the framework of dualism (Dvaita).[151] Bhedabheda – a group of schools, which teaches that the individual self is both different and not different from the ultimate reality – predates the positions of monism and dualism. Among medieval Bhedabheda thinkers are Nimbarkacharya, who founded the Kumara Sampradaya (Dvaitadvaita philosophical school),[152] as well as Jiva Goswami, a saint from Gaudiya Vaishnava school,[153] described Krishna theology in terms of Bhakti yoga and Achintya Bheda Abheda.[154] Krishna theology is presented in a pure monism (advaita, called shuddhadvaita) framework by Vallabha Acharya, who was the founder of Pushti sect of vaishnavism.[155][156] Madhusudana Sarasvati, an India philosopher,[157] presented Krishna theology in nondualism-monism framework (Advaita Vedanta), while Adi Shankara, who is credited for unifying and establishing the main currents of thought in Hinduism,[158][159][160] mentioned Krishna in his early eighth-century discussions on Panchayatana puja.[161]

The Bhagavata Purana, a popular text on Krishna considered to be like scripture in Assam, synthesizes an Advaita, Samkhya, and Yoga framework for Krishna but one that proceeds through loving devotion to Krishna. [162][163][164] Bryant describes the synthesis of ideas in Bhagavata Purana as,

The philosophy of the Bhagavata is a mixture of Vedanta terminology, Samkhyan metaphysics, and devotionalized Yoga praxis. (...) The tenth book promotes Krishna as the highest absolute personal aspect of godhead – the personality behind the term Ishvara and the ultimate aspect of Brahman.

— Edwin Bryant, Krishna: A Sourcebook[4]

While Sheridan and Pintchman both affirm Bryant's view, the latter adds that the Vedantic view emphasized in the Bhagavata is non-dualist with a difference. In conventional nondual Vedanta, all reality is interconnected and one, the Bhagavata posits that the reality is interconnected and plural.[165][166]

Across the various theologies and philosophies, the common theme presents Krishna as the essence and symbol of divine love, with human life and love as a reflection of the divine. The longing and love-filled legends of Krishna and the gopis, his playful pranks as a baby,[167] as well as his later dialogues with other characters, are philosophically treated as metaphors for the human longing for the divine and for meaning, and the play between the universals and the human soul.[168][169][170] Krishna's lila is a theology of love-play. According to John Koller, "love is presented not simply as a means to salvation, it is the highest life". Human love is God's love.[171]

Other texts that include Krishna such as the Bhagavad Gita have attracted numerous bhasya (commentaries) in the Hindu traditions.[172] Though only a part of the Hindu epic Mahabharata, it has functioned as an independent spiritual guide. It allegorically raises through Krishna and Arjuna the ethical and moral dilemmas of human life, then presents a spectrum of answers, weighing in on the ideological questions on human freedoms, choices, and responsibilities towards self and towards others.[172][173] This Krishna dialogue has attracted numerous interpretations, from being a metaphor of inner human struggle teaching non-violence, to being a metaphor of outer human struggle teaching a rejection of quietism to persecution.[172][173][174]

Influence

Vaishnavism

The worship of Krishna is part of Vaishnavism, a major tradition within Hinduism. Krishna is considered a full avatar of Vishnu, or one with Vishnu himself.[175] However, the exact relationship between Krishna and Vishnu is complex and diverse,[176] with Krishna of Krishnaite sampradayas considered an independent deity and supreme.[22][177] Vaishnavas accept many incarnations of Vishnu, but Krishna is particularly important. Their theologies are generally centered either on Vishnu or an avatar such as Krishna as supreme. The terms Krishnaism and Vishnuism have sometimes been used to distinguish the two, the former implying that Krishna is the transcendent Supreme Being. [178] Some scholars, as Friedhelm Hardy, do not define Krishnaism as a sub-order or offshoot of Vaishnavism, considering it a parallel and no less ancient current of Hinduism.[22]

All Vaishnava traditions recognise Krishna as the eighth avatar of Vishnu; others identify Krishna with Vishnu, while Krishnaite traditions such as Gaudiya Vaishnavism,[179][180] Ekasarana Dharma, Mahanam Sampraday, Nimbarka Sampradaya and the Vallabha Sampradaya regard Krishna as the Svayam Bhagavan, the original form of Lord or the same as the concept of Brahman in Hinduism.[5][181][182][183][184] Gitagovinda of Jayadeva considers Krishna to be the supreme lord while the ten incarnations are his forms. Swaminarayan, the founder of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya, also worshipped Krishna as God himself. "Greater Krishnaism" corresponds to the second and dominant phase of Vaishnavism, revolving around the cults of the Vasudeva, Krishna, and Gopala of the late Vedic period.[185] Today the faith has a significant following outside of India as well.[186]

Early traditions

The deity Krishna-Vasudeva (kṛṣṇa vāsudeva "Krishna, the son of Vasudeva Anakadundubhi") is historically one of the earliest forms of worship in Krishnaism and Vaishnavism.[21][70] It is believed to be a significant tradition of the early history of Krishna religion in antiquity.[187] Thereafter, there was an amalgamation of various similar traditions. These include ancient Bhagavatism, the cult of Gopala, of "Krishna Govinda" (cow-finding Krishna), of Balakrishna (baby Krishna) and of "Krishna Gopivallabha[188]" (Krishna the lover).[189][190] According to Andre Couture, the Harivamsa contributed to the synthesis of various characters as aspects of Krishna.[191]

Already in the early Middle Ages, the Jagannathism (a.k.a. Odia Vaishnavism) was origined as the cult of the god Jagannath (lit.''Lord of the Universe'') – an abstract form of Krishna.[192] Jagannathism was a regional temple-centered version of Krishnaism,[22] where Lord Jagannath is understood as a principal god, Purushottama and Para Brahman, but can also be regarded as a non-sectarian syncretic Vaishnavite and all-Hindu cult.[193] According to the Vishnudharma Purana (c. 4th century), Krishna is woshipped in the form of Purushottama in Odia (Odisha).[194] The notable Jagannath temple in Puri, Odisha became particularly significant within the tradition since about 800 CE.[195]

Bhakti tradition

 
Krishna has been a major part of the Bhakti movement. One of the key devotees was Meera (pictured).

The use of the term bhakti, meaning devotion, is not confined to any one deity. However, Krishna is an important and popular focus of the devotionalism tradition within Hinduism, particularly among the Vaishnava Krishnaite sects.[179][196] Devotees of Krishna subscribe to the concept of lila, meaning 'divine play', as the central principle of the universe. It is a form of bhakti yoga, one of three types of yoga discussed by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita.[180][197][198]

Indian subcontinent

The bhakti movements devoted to Krishna became prominent in southern India in the 7th to 9th centuries CE. The earliest works included those of the Alvar saints of Tamil Nadu.[199] A major collection of their works is the Divya Prabandham. 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.[200][201][202]

The movement originated in South India during the 7th century CE, spreading northwards from Tamil Nadu through Karnataka and Maharashtra; by the 15th century, it was established in Bengal and northern India.[203] Early Krishnaite Bhakti pioneers included Nimbarkacharya (12th or 13th century CE),[152][204][note 3] but most emerged later, including Vallabhacharya (15th century CE) and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. They started their own schools, namely Nimbarka Sampradaya, Vallabha Sampradaya, and Gaudiya Vaishnavism, with Krishna and Radha as the supreme gods. In addition, since the 15th century, flourished Tantric variety of Krishnaism, Vaishnava-Sahajiya, is linked to the Bengali poet Chandidas.[205]

In the Deccan, particularly in Maharashtra, saint poets of the Warkari sect such as Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Janabai, Eknath, and Tukaram promoted the worship of Vithoba,[103] a local form of Krishna, from between the 13th to 18th century.[19] Before the Warkari tradition, Krishna devotion became well established in Maharashtra due to the rise of the Mahanubhava Sampradaya founded by Sarvajna Chakradhara.[206] The Pranami Sampradaya emerged in the 17th century in Gujarat, based on the Krishna-focussed syncretist Hindu-Islamic teachings of Devchandra Maharaj and his famous successor, Mahamati Prannath.[207] 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 called Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu.[196]

In South India, the acharyas of the Sri Sampradaya have written reverently about Krishna in most of their works, including the Thiruppavai by Andal[208] and Gopala Vimshati by Vedanta Desika.[209]

Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala states have many major Krishna temples, and Janmashtami is one of the widely celebrated festivals in South India.[210]

Outside Asia

 
Krishna (left) with Radha at Bhaktivedanta Manor, Watford, England

By 1965, the Krishna-bhakti movement had spread outside India after Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (as instructed by his guru, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura) travelled from his homeland in West Bengal to New York City. A year later, in 1966, after gaining many followers, he was able to form the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement. The purpose of this movement was to write about Krishna in English and to share the Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy with people in the Western world by spreading the teachings of the saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. In the biographies of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the mantra he received when he was given diksha or initiation in Gaya was the six-word verse of the Kali-Santarana Upanishad, namely "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare; Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare". In the Gaudiya tradition, it is the maha-mantra, or great mantra, about Krishna bhakti.[211][212] Its chanting was known as hari-nama sankirtana.[213]

The maha-mantra gained the attention of George Harrison and John Lennon of The Beatles fame,[214] and Harrison produced a 1969 recording of the mantra by devotees from the London Radha Krishna Temple.[215] Titled "Hare Krishna Mantra", the song reached the top twenty on the UK music charts and was also successful in West Germany and Czechoslovakia.[214][216] The mantra of the Upanishad thus helped bring Bhaktivedanta and ISKCON ideas about Krishna into the West.[214] ISCKON has built many Krishna temples in the West, as well as other locations such as South Africa.[217]

Southeast Asia

 
Krishna lifts "Govardhan" mountain, a 7th-century artwork from a Da Nang, Vietnam, archaeological site[218][219]

Krishna is found in Southeast Asian history and art, but to a far lesser extent than Shiva, Durga, Nandi, Agastya, and Buddha. In temples (candi) of the archaeological sites in hilly volcanic Java, Indonesia, temple reliefs do not portray his pastoral life or his role as the erotic lover, nor do the historic Javanese Hindu texts.[220] Rather, either his childhood or the life as a king and Arjuna's companion have been more favored. The most elaborate temple arts of Krishna is found in a series of Krsnayana reliefs in the Prambanan Hindu temple complex near Yogyakarta. These are dated to the 9th century CE.[220][221][222] Krishna remained a part of the Javanese cultural and theological fabric through the 14th century, as evidenced by the 14th-century Penataran reliefs along with those of the Hindu god Rama in east Java, before Islam replaced Buddhism and Hinduism on the island.[223]

The medieval era arts of Vietnam and Cambodia feature Krishna. The earliest surviving sculptures and reliefs are from the 6th and 7th centuries, and these include Vaishnavism iconography.[218] According to John Guy, the curator and director of Southeast Asian arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Krishna Govardhana art from 6th/7th-century Vietnam at Danang, and 7th-century Cambodia at Phnom Da cave in Angkor Borei, are some of the most sophisticated of this era.[218]

Krishna's iconography has also been found in Thailand, along with those of Surya and Vishnu. For example, a large number of sculptures and icons have been found in the Si Thep and Klangnai sites in the Phetchabun region of northern Thailand. These are dated to about the 7th and 8th centuries, from both the Funan and Zhenla period archaeological sites.[224]

Performance arts

 
 
The Krishna legends in the Bhagavata Purana have inspired many performance arts repertoire, such as Kathak, Kuchipudi (left) and Odissi.[23][25] The Rasa Lila where Krishna plays with the gopis in Manipuri dance style (right)

Indian dance and music theatre traces its origins and techniques to the ancient Sama Veda and Natyasastra texts.[225][226] The stories enacted and the numerous choreographic themes are inspired by the mythologies and legends in Hindu texts, including Krishna-related literature such as Harivamsa and Bhagavata Purana.[227]

The Krishna stories have played a key role in the history of Indian theatre, music, and dance, particularly through the tradition of Rasaleela. These are dramatic enactments of Krishna's childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. One common scene involves Krishna playing flute in Rasa Leela, only to be heard by certain gopis (cowherd maidens), which is theologically supposed to represent divine call only heard by certain enlightened beings.[228] Some of the text's legends have inspired secondary theatre literature such as the eroticism in Gita Govinda.[229]

Krishna-related literature such as the Bhagavata Purana accords a metaphysical significance to the performances and treats them as a religious ritual, infusing daily life with spiritual meaning, thus representing a good, honest, happy life. Similarly, Krishna-inspired performances aim to cleanse the hearts of faithful actors and listeners. Singing, dancing, and performing any part of Krishna Lila is an act of remembering the dharma in the text, as a form of para bhakti (supreme devotion). To remember Krishna at any time and in any art, asserts the text, is to worship the good and the divine.[230]

Classical dance styles such as Kathak, Odissi, Manipuri, Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam in particular are known for their Krishna-related performances.[231] Krisnattam (Krishnattam) traces its origins to Krishna legends, and is linked to another major classical Indian dance form called Kathakali.[232] Bryant summarizes the influence of Krishna stories in the Bhagavata Purana as, "[it] has inspired more derivative literature, poetry, drama, dance, theatre and art than any other text in the history of Sanskrit literature, with the possible exception of the Ramayana.[24][233]

The Palliyodam, a type of large built and used by Aranmula Parthasarathy Temple in Kerala for the annual water processions of Uthrattathi Jalamela and Valla Sadhya has the legend that it was designed by Lord Krishna and were made to look like Sheshanaga, the serpent on which Lord Vishnu rests.[234]

Temples

Krishna outside of Hinduism

Jainism

The Jainism tradition lists 63 Śalākāpuruṣa or notable figures which, amongst others, includes the twenty-four Tirthankaras (spiritual teachers) and nine sets of triads. One of these triads is Krishna as the Vasudeva, Balarama as the Baladeva, and Jarasandha as the Prati-Vasudeva. In each age of the Jain cyclic time is born a Vasudeva with an elder brother termed the Baladeva. Between the triads, Baladeva upholds the principle of non-violence, a central idea of Jainism. The villain is the Prati-vasudeva, who attempts to destroy the world. To save the world, Vasudeva-Krishna has to forsake the non-violence principle and kill the Prati-Vasudeva.[235] The stories of these triads can be found in the Harivamsa Purana (8th century CE) of Jinasena (not be confused with its namesake, the addendum to Mahābhārata) and the Trishashti-shalakapurusha-charita of Hemachandra.[236][237]

The story of Krishna's life in the Puranas of Jainism follows the same general outline as those in the Hindu texts, but in details, they are very different: they include Jain Tirthankaras as characters in the story, and generally are polemically critical of Krishna, unlike the versions found in the Mahabharata, the Bhagavata Purana, and the Vishnu Purana.[238] For example, Krishna loses battles in the Jain versions, and his gopis and his clan of Yadavas die in a fire created by an ascetic named Dvaipayana. Similarly, after dying from the hunter Jara's arrow, the Jaina texts state Krishna goes to the third hell in Jain cosmology, while his brother is said to go to the sixth heaven.[239]

Vimalasuri is attributed to be the author of the Jain version of the Harivamsa Purana, but no manuscripts have been found that confirm this. It is likely that later Jain scholars, probably Jinasena of the 8th century, wrote a complete version of Krishna legends in the Jain tradition and credited it to the ancient Vimalasuri.[240] Partial and older versions of the Krishna story are available in Jain literature, such as in the Antagata Dasao of the Svetambara Agama tradition.[240]

In other Jain texts, Krishna is stated to be a cousin of the twenty-second Tirthankara, Neminatha. The Jain texts state that Neminatha taught Krishna all the wisdom that he later gave to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita. According to Jeffery D. Long, a professor of religion known for his publications on Jainism, this connection between Krishna and Neminatha has been a historic reason for Jains to accept, read, and cite the Bhagavad Gita as a spiritually important text, celebrate Krishna-related festivals, and intermingle with Hindus as spiritual cousins.[241]

Buddhism

 
Depiction of Krishna playing the flute in a temple constructed in 752 CE 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.[242] The Vidhurapandita Jataka mentions Madhura (Sanskrit: Mathura), the Ghata Jataka mentions Kamsa, Devagabbha (Sk: Devaki), Upasagara or Vasudeva, Govaddhana (Sk: Govardhana), Baladeva (Balarama), and Kanha or Kesava (Sk: Krishna, Keshava).[243][244]

Like the Jaina versions of the Krishna legends, the Buddhist versions such as one in Ghata Jataka follow the general outline of the story,[245] but are different from the Hindu versions as well.[243][77] For example, the Buddhist legend describes Devagabbha (Devaki) to have been isolated in a palace built upon a pole after she is born, so no future husband could reach her. Krishna's father similarly is described as a powerful king, but who meets up with Devagabbha anyway, and to whom Kamsa gives away his sister Devagabbha in marriage. The siblings of Krishna are not killed by Kamsa, though he tries. In the Buddhist version of the legend, all of Krishna's siblings grow to maturity.[246]

Krishna and his siblings' capital becomes Dvaravati. The Arjuna and Krishna interaction is missing in the Jataka version. A new legend is included, wherein Krishna laments in uncontrollable sorrow when his son dies, and a Ghatapandita feigns madness to teach Krishna a lesson.[247] The Jataka tale also includes internecine destruction among his siblings after they all get drunk. Krishna also dies in the Buddhist legend by the hand of a hunter named Jara, but while he is traveling to a frontier city. Mistaking Krishna for a pig, Jara throws a spear that fatally pierces his feet, causing Krishna great pain and then his death.[246]

At the end of this Ghata-Jataka discourse, the Buddhist text declares that Sariputta, one of the revered disciples of the Buddha in the Buddhist tradition, was incarnated as Krishna in his previous life to learn lessons on grief from the Buddha in his prior rebirth:

Then he [Master] declared the Truths and identified the Birth: "At that time, Ananda was Rohineyya, Sariputta was Vasudeva [Krishna], the followers of the Buddha were the other persons, and I myself was Ghatapandita."

— Jataka Tale No. 454, Translator: W. H. D. Rouse[248]

While the Buddhist Jataka texts co-opt Krishna-Vasudeva and make him a student of the Buddha in his previous life,[248] the Hindu texts co-opt the Buddha and make him an avatar of Vishnu.[249][250] In Chinese Buddhism, Taoism and Chinese folk religion, the figure of Krishna has been amalgamated and merged with that of Nalakuvara to influence the formation of the god Nezha, who has taken on iconographic characteristics of Krishna such as being presented as a divine god-child and slaying a nāga in his youth.[251][252]

Other

 
Infant Krishna with Mother Yashoda

Krishna is mentioned as "Krishna Avtar" in the Chaubis Avtar, a composition in Dasam Granth traditionally and historically attributed to Sikh Guru Gobind Singh.[253]

Within the Sikh-derived 19th-century Radha Soami movement, the followers of its founder Shiv Dayal Singh used to consider him the Living Master and incarnation of God (Lord Krishna/Vishnu).[note 4]

Baháʼís believe that Krishna was a "Manifestation of God", 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, the Báb, and the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, Bahá'u'lláh.[255][256]

Ahmadiyya, a 20th-century Islamic movement, consider Krishna as one of their ancient prophets.[257][258][259] Ghulam Ahmad stated that he was himself a prophet in the likeness of prophets such as Krishna, Jesus, and Muhammad,[260] who had come to earth as a latter-day reviver of religion and morality.

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.[261] 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 along with Buddha.[262][263]

Krishna was canonised by Aleister Crowley and is recognised as a saint of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica in the Gnostic Mass of Ordo Templi Orientis.[264][265]

Explanatory notes

  1. ^ The number of Krishna's children varies from one interpretation to another. According to some scriptures like the Bhagavata Purana, Krishna had 10 children from each of his wives (16,008 wives and 160,080 children)[9]
  2. ^ Radha is seen as Krishna's lover-consort. On the other hand, Rukmini and others are married to him. Krishna had eight chief wives, who were referred to as the Ashtabharya. The regional texts vary in the identity of Krishna's wife (consort), some presenting it as Rukmini, some as Radha, all gopis, and some identifying all to be different aspects or manifestation of Devi Lakshmi.[10][11]
  3. ^ "The first Kṛṣṇaite sampradāya was developed by Nimbārka."[22]
  4. ^ "Various branches of Radhasoami have argued about the incarnationalism of Satguru (Lane, 1981). Guru Maharaj Ji has accepted it and identifies with Krishna and other incarnations of Vishnu."[254]

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b Bryant & Ekstrand 2004, pp. 20–25, quote: "Three Dimensions of Krishna's Divinity (...) divine majesty and supremacy, (...) divine tenderness and intimacy, (...) compassion and protection., (..., p. 24) Krishna as the God of Love".
  2. ^ Swami Sivananda (1964). Sri Krishna. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. p. 4.
  3. ^ "Krishna the Yogeshwara". The Hindu. 12 September 2014.
  4. ^ a b Bryant 2007, p. 114.
  5. ^ a b K. Klostermaier (1997). The Charles Strong Trust Lectures, 1972–1984. Crotty, Robert B. Brill Academic Pub. p. 109. ISBN 978-90-04-07863-5. (...) After attaining to fame eternal, he again took up his real nature as Brahman. The most important among Visnu's avataras is undoubtedly Krsna, the black one, also called Syama. For his worshippers he is not an avatara in the usual sense, but Svayam Bhagavan, the Lord himself.
  6. ^ Raychaudhuri 1972, p. 124
  7. ^ a b c Diana L. Eck (2012). India: A Sacred Geography. Harmony. pp. 380–381. ISBN 978-0-385-53190-0., Quote: "Krishna was shot through the foot, hand, and heart by the single arrow of a hunter named Jara. Krishna was reclining there, so they say, and Jara mistook his reddish foot for a deer and released his arrow. There Krishna died."
  8. ^ Naravane, Vishwanath S. (1987). A Companion to Indian Mythology: Hindu, Buddhist & Jaina. Thinker's Library, Technical Publishing House.
  9. ^ Sinha, Purnendu Narayana (1950). A Study of the Bhagavata Purana: Or, Esoteric Hinduism. Library of Alexandria. ISBN 978-1-4655-2506-2.
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  11. ^ a b c Bryant 2007, p. 443.
  12. ^ "Krishna". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
  13. ^ "Krishna". Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
  14. ^ Ben-Ami Scharfstein (1993). Ineffability: The Failure of Words in Philosophy and Religion. State University of New York Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-7914-1347-0.
  15. ^ Freda Matchett (2001). Krishna, Lord Or Avatara?. Psychology Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-0-7007-1281-6.
  16. ^ "Krishna". World History Encyclopedia.
  17. ^ James G. Lochtefeld (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M. The Rosen Publishing Group. pp. 314–315. ISBN 978-0-8239-3179-8.
  18. ^ Richard Thompson, Ph.D. (December 1994). . Archived from the original on 4 January 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2008.
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  20. ^ Knott 2000, pp. 15, 36, 56
  21. ^ a b Hein, Norvin (1986). "A Revolution in Kṛṣṇaism: The Cult of Gopāla". History of Religions. 25 (4): 296–317. doi:10.1086/463051. JSTOR 1062622. S2CID 162049250.
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  23. ^ a b Ravi Gupta and Kenneth Valpey (2013), The Bhagavata Purana, Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0231149990, pp. 185–200
  24. ^ a b Bryant 2007, p. 118.
  25. ^ a b ML Varadpande (1987), History of Indian Theatre, Vol 1, Abhinav, ISBN 978-8170172215, pp. 98–99
  26. ^ Hawley 2020.
  27. ^ Miśra 2005.
  28. ^ J. Gordon Melton (2011). Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations. ABC-Clio. pp. 330–331. ISBN 978-1-59884-205-0.
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  40. ^ For the historic Jagannath temple in Ranchi, Jharkhand see: Francis Bradley Bradley-Birt (1989). Chota Nagpur, a Little-known Province of the Empire. Asian Educational Services (Orig: 1903). pp. 61–64. ISBN 978-81-206-1287-7.
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  46. ^ Audouin, Rémy, and Paul Bernard, "Trésor de monnaies indiennes et indo-grecques d'Aï Khanoum (Afghanistan). II. Les monnaies indo-grecques." Revue numismatique 6, no. 16 (1974), pp. 6–41 (in French).
  47. ^ Nilakanth Purushottam Joshi, Iconography of Balarāma, Abhinav Publications, 1979, p. 22
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  264. ^ Crowley associated Krishna with Roman god Dionysus and Magickal formulae IAO, AUM and INRI. See Crowley, Aleister (1991). Liber Aleph. Weiser Books. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-87728-729-2. and Crowley, Aleister (1980). The Book of Lies. Red Wheels. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-0-87728-516-8.
  265. ^ Apiryon, Tau; Apiryon (1995). Mystery of Mystery: A Primer of Thelemic Ecclesiastical Gnosticism. Berkeley: Red Flame. ISBN 978-0-9712376-1-2.

General and cited ources

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  • Bryant, Edwin F.; Ekstrand, Maria (2004). The Hare Krishna Movement: The Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-50843-8.
  • Bryant, Edwin F. (2004). Krishna: the beautiful legend of God. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-044799-6.
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  • Hawley, John Stratton (2020). Krishna's Playground: Vrindavan in the 21st Century. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0190123987.
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  • Toffin, Gérard (2012). "The Power of Boundaries: Transnational Links among Krishna Pranamis of India and Nepal". In John Zavos; et al. (eds.). Public Hinduisms. New Delhi: Sage Publ. India. pp. 249–254. ISBN 978-81-321-1696-7.
  • Valpey, Kenneth R. (2006). Attending Kṛṣṇa's image: Caitanya Vaiṣṇava mūrti-sevā as devotional truth. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-38394-3.
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Further reading

  • Brown, Sara Black (2014). "Krishna, Christians, and Colors: The Socially Binding Influence of Kirtan Singing at a Utah Hare Krishna Festiva". Ethnomusicology. 58 (3): 454–480. doi:10.5406/ethnomusicology.58.3.0454. JSTOR 10.5406/ethnomusicology.58.3.0454.
  • Case, Margaret H. (2000). Seeing Krishna: The Religious World of a Brahman Family in Vrindavan. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513010-3.
  • Crooke, W. (March 1900). "The Legends of Krishna". Folklore. 11 (1): 1–42. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1900.9720517. JSTOR 1253142.
  • Hudson, Dennis (1980). "Bathing in Krishna: A Study in Vaiṣṇava Hindu Theology". The Harvard Theological Review. 73 (3/4): 539–566. doi:10.1017/S0017816000002315. JSTOR 1509739. S2CID 162804501.

External links

krishna, this, article, about, hindu, deity, other, uses, disambiguation, krsna, redirects, here, other, uses, krsna, disambiguation, kanhaiya, redirects, here, 1959, bollywood, film, kanhaiya, film, sanskrit, iast, kṛṣṇa, ˈkr, ʂɳɐ, major, deity, hinduism, wor. This article is about the Hindu deity For other uses see Krishna disambiguation Krsna redirects here For other uses see Krsna disambiguation Kanhaiya redirects here For the 1959 Bollywood film see Kanhaiya film Krishna ˈ k r ɪ ʃ n e 12 Sanskrit क ष ण IAST Kṛṣṇa ˈkr ʂɳɐ is a major deity in Hinduism He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right 13 He is the god of protection compassion tenderness and love 14 1 and is one of the most popular and widely revered among Indian divinities 15 Krishna s birthday is celebrated every year by Hindus on Krishna Janmashtami according to the lunisolar Hindu calendar which falls in late August or early September of the Gregorian calendar 16 17 KrishnaGod of Protection Compassion Tenderness and Love 1 Yogeshvara Lord of Yoga or Yogis 2 3 Parabrahman Svayam Bhagavan Krishnaism Vaishnavism Member of DashavataraStatue of Krishna at the Sri Mariamman Temple Singapore Devanagariक ष णSanskrit transliterationKṛṣṇaAffiliationSvayam BhagavanBrahman Krishnaism Vaishnavism Avatar of VishnuDashavataraRadha Krishna 4 5 AbodeGolokaVrindavanGokulDvarakaMantraHare Krishna Om Namo Bhagavate VasudevayaWeaponSudarshana ChakraKaumodakiBattlesKurukshetra WarMountGarudaTextsBhagavata PuranaGarga SamhitaHarivamsaVishnu PuranaMahabharata Bhagavad Gita Brahma Vaivarta PuranaFestivalsKrishna JanmashtamiHoliGopastamiGovardhan PujaKartik PurnimaSharad PurnimaLathmar HoliPersonal informationBornMathura Surasena present day Uttar Pradesh India 6 DiedBhalka Saurashtra present day Veraval Gujarat India 7 ParentsDevaki mother Vasudeva father Yashoda foster mother Nanda foster father SiblingsBalarama brother Subhadra sister Yogamaya cousin ConsortsRadhaRukminiSatyabhamaKalindiJambavati16 000 16 100 Junior queens 10 note 2 ChildrenPradyumnaSambaBhanu and various other children 8 note 1 DynastyYaduvamsha ChandravamshaDashavatara SequencePredecessorRamaSuccessorBuddhaThe anecdotes and narratives of Krishna s life are generally titled as Krishna Leela He is a central character in the Mahabharata the Bhagavata Purana the Brahma Vaivarta Purana and the Bhagavad Gita and is mentioned in many Hindu philosophical theological and mythological texts 18 They portray him in various perspectives as a god child a prankster a model lover a divine hero and the universal supreme being 19 His iconography reflects these legends and shows him in different stages of his life such as an infant eating butter a young boy playing a flute a young boy with Radha or surrounded by female devotees or a friendly charioteer giving counsel to Arjuna 20 The name and synonyms of Krishna have been traced to 1st millennium BCE literature and cults 21 In some sub traditions Krishna is worshipped as Svayam Bhagavan the Supreme God and it is sometimes known as Krishnaism These sub traditions arose in the context of the medieval era Bhakti movement 22 23 Krishna related literature has inspired numerous performance arts such as Bharatanatyam Kathakali Kuchipudi Odissi and Manipuri dance 24 25 He is a pan Hindu god but is particularly revered in some locations such as Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh 26 Dwarka and Junagadh in Gujarat the Jagannatha aspect in Odisha Mayapur in West Bengal 22 27 28 in the form of Vithoba in Pandharpur Maharashtra Shrinathji at Nathdwara in Rajasthan 22 29 Udupi Krishna in Karnataka 30 Parthasarathy in Tamil Nadu and in Aranmula Kerala and Guruvayoorappan in Guruvayoor in Kerala 31 Since the 1960s the worship of Krishna has also spread to the Western world and to Africa largely due to the work of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness ISKCON 32 Contents 1 Names and epithets 1 1 Names in different states of India 2 Historical and literary sources 2 1 Early epigraphic sources 2 1 1 Depiction in coinage 2nd century BCE 2 1 2 Inscriptions 2 2 Literary sources 2 2 1 Mahabharata 2 2 2 Other sources 2 2 3 Puranas 3 Iconography 4 Life and legends 4 1 Birth 4 2 Childhood and youth 4 3 Adulthood 4 4 Kurukshetra War and Bhagavad Gita 4 5 Death and ascension 4 6 Versions and interpretations 5 Proposed datings 6 Philosophy and theology 7 Influence 7 1 Vaishnavism 7 2 Bhakti tradition 7 2 1 Indian subcontinent 7 2 2 Outside Asia 7 3 Southeast Asia 8 Performance arts 9 Temples 10 Krishna outside of Hinduism 10 1 Jainism 10 2 Buddhism 10 3 Other 11 Explanatory notes 12 References 12 1 Citations 12 2 General and cited ources 13 Further reading 14 External linksNames and epithetsMain article List of titles and names of Krishna The name Krishna originates from the Sanskrit word Kṛṣṇa which is primarily an adjective meaning black dark dark blue or the all attractive 33 The waning moon is called Krishna Paksha relating to the adjective meaning darkening 33 The name is also interpreted sometimes as all attractive 34 As a name of Vishnu Krishna is listed as the 57th name in the Vishnu Sahasranama Based on his name Krishna is often depicted in idols as black or blue skinned Krishna is also known by various other names epithets and titles that reflect his many associations and attributes Among the most common names are Mohan enchanter Govinda chief herdsman 35 Keev prankster and Gopala Protector of the Go which means soul or the cows 36 37 Some names for Krishna hold regional importance Jagannatha found in the Puri Hindu temple is a popular incarnation in Odisha state and nearby regions of eastern India 38 39 40 Krishna may also be referred to as Vasudeva Krishna Murlidhar or Chakradhar The honorary title Sri also spelled Shri is often used before the name of Krishna Names in different states of India Krishna is commonly worshipped as Kanhaiyya Bankey Bihari Thakurji Uttar Pradesh Jagannath Odisha Vithoba Maharashtra Shrinathji Rajasthan Guruvayoorappan Kannan Kerala Dwarakadheesh Ranchhod Gujarat Parthasarathy Kannan Tamil NaduHistorical and literary sourcesThe tradition of Krishna appears to be an amalgamation of several independent deities of ancient India the earliest to be attested being Vasudeva 41 Vasudeva was a hero god of the tribe of the Vrishnis belonging to the Vrishni heroes whose worship is attested from the 5th 6th century BCE in the writings of Paṇini and from the 2nd century BCE in epigraphy with the Heliodorus pillar 41 At one point in time it is thought that the tribe of the Vrishnis fused with the tribe of the Yadavas whose own hero god was named Krishna 41 Vasudeva and Krishna fused to become a single deity which appears in the Mahabharata and they started to be identified with Vishnu in the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita 41 Around the 4th century CE another tradition the cult of Gopala Krishna the protector of cattle was also absorbed into the Krishna tradition 41 Early epigraphic sources Main article Vasudeva Krishna Depiction in coinage 2nd century BCE Vasudeva Krishna on a coin of Agathocles of Bactria c 180 BCE 42 43 This is the earliest unambiguous image of the deity 44 Around 180 BCE the Indo Greek king Agathocles issued some coinage bearing images of deities that are now interpreted as being related to Vaisnava imagery in India 45 46 The deities displayed on the coins appear to be Saṃkarṣaṇa Balarama with attributes consisting of the Gada mace and the plow and Vasudeva Krishna with attributes of the Shankha conch and the Sudarshana Chakra wheel 45 47 According to Bopearachchi the headdress on top of the deity is actually a misrepresentation of a shaft with a half moon parasol on top chattra 45 Inscriptions Heliodorus Pillar in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh erected about 120 BCE The inscription states that Heliodorus is a Bhagvatena and a couplet in the inscription closely paraphrases a Sanskrit verse from the Mahabharata 48 49 The Heliodorus Pillar a stone pillar with a Brahmi script inscription was discovered by colonial era archaeologists in Besnagar Vidisha central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh Based on the internal evidence of the inscription it has been dated to between 125 and 100 BCE and is now known after Heliodorus an Indo Greek who served as an ambassador of the Greek king Antialcidas to a regional Indian king Kasiputra Bhagabhadra 45 48 The Heliodorus pillar inscription is a private religious dedication of Heliodorus to Vasudeva an early deity and another name for Krishna in the Indian tradition It states that the column was constructed by the Bhagavata Heliodorus and that it is a Garuda pillar both are Vishnu Krishna related terms Additionally the inscription includes a Krishna related verse from chapter 11 7 of the Mahabharata stating that the path to immortality and heaven is to correctly live a life of three virtues self temperance damah generosity cagah or tyaga and vigilance apramadah 48 50 51 The Heliodorus pillar site was fully excavated by archaeologists in the 1960s The effort revealed the brick foundations of a much larger ancient elliptical temple complex with a sanctum mandapas and seven additional pillars 52 53 The Heliodorus pillar inscriptions and the temple are among the earliest known evidence of Krishna Vasudeva devotion and Vaishnavism in ancient India 54 45 55 Balarama and Krishna with their attributes at Chilas The Kharoshthi inscription nearby reads Rama kri ṣa 1st century CE 44 The Heliodorus inscription is not isolated evidence The Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions all located in the state of Rajasthan and dated by modern methodology to the 1st century BCE mention Saṃkarṣaṇa and Vasudeva also mention that the structure was built for their worship in association with the supreme deity Narayana These four inscriptions are notable for being some of the oldest known Sanskrit inscriptions 56 A Mora stone slab found at the Mathura Vrindavan archaeological site in Uttar Pradesh held now in the Mathura Museum has a Brahmi inscription It is dated to the 1st century CE and mentions the five Vrishni heroes otherwise known as Saṃkarṣaṇa Vasudeva Pradyumna Aniruddha and Samba 57 58 59 The inscriptional record for Vasudeva starts in the 2nd century BCE with the coinage of Agathocles and the Heliodorus pillar but the name of Krishna appears rather later in epigraphy At the Chilas II archaeological site dated to the first half of the 1st century CE in northwest Pakistan near the Afghanistan border are engraved two males along with many Buddhist images nearby The larger of the two males held a plough and club in his two hands The artwork also has an inscription with it in Kharosthi script which has been deciphered by scholars as Rama Krsna and interpreted as an ancient depiction of the two brothers Balarama and Krishna 60 61 The first known depiction of the life of Krishna himself comes relatively late with a relief found in Mathura and dated to the 1st 2nd century CE 62 This fragment seems to show Vasudeva Krishna s father carrying baby Krishna in a basket across the Yamuna 62 The relief shows at one end a seven hooded Naga crossing a river where a makara crocodile is thrashing around and at the other end a person seemingly holding a basket over his head 62 Literary sources Mahabharata See also Krishna in the Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita Krishna advising Pandavas The earliest text containing detailed descriptions of Krishna as a personality is the epic Mahabharata which depicts Krishna as an incarnation of Vishnu 63 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 Arjuna on the battlefield The Harivamsa a later appendix to the Mahabharata contains a detailed version of Krishna s childhood and youth 64 Other sources Krishna is celebrated in the Vaishnava tradition in various stages of his life The Chandogya Upanishad estimated to have been composed sometime between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE has been another source of speculation regarding Krishna in ancient India The verse III xvii 6 mentions Krishna in Krishnaya Devakiputraya as a student of the sage Ghor of the Angirasa family Ghora is identified with Neminatha the twenty second tirthankara in Jainism by some scholars 65 This phrase which means To Krishna the son of Devaki has been mentioned by scholars such as Max Muller 66 as a potential source of fables and Vedic lore about Krishna in the Mahabharata and other ancient literature only potential because this verse could have been interpolated into the text 66 or the Krishna Devakiputra could be different from the deity Krishna 67 These doubts are supported by the fact that the much later age Sandilya Bhakti Sutras a treatise on Krishna 68 cites later age compilations such as the Narayana Upanishad but never cites this verse of the Chandogya Upanishad Other scholars disagree that the Krishna mentioned along with Devaki in the ancient Upanishad is unrelated to the later Hindu god of the Bhagavad Gita fame For example Archer states that the coincidence of the two names appearing together in the same Upanishad verse cannot be dismissed easily 69 Yaska s Nirukta an etymological dictionary published around the 6th century BCE contains a reference to the Shyamantaka jewel in the possession of Akrura a motif from the well known Puranic story about Krishna 70 Shatapatha Brahmana and Aitareya Aranyaka associate Krishna with his Vrishni origins 71 In Ashṭadhyayi authored by the ancient grammarian Paṇini probably belonged to the 5th or 6th century BCE Vasudeva and Arjuna as recipients of worship are referred to together in the same sutra 72 73 74 Bala Krishna dancing 14th century CE Chola sculpture Tamil Nadu in the Honolulu Academy of Arts Megasthenes a Greek ethnographer and an ambassador of Seleucus I to the court of Chandragupta Maurya towards the end of 4th century BCE made reference to Herakles in his famous work Indica This text is now lost to history but was quoted in secondary literature by later Greeks such as Arrian Diodorus and Strabo 75 According to these texts Megasthenes mentioned that the Sourasenoi tribe of India who worshipped Herakles had two major cities named Methora and Kleisobora and a navigable river named the Jobares According to Edwin Bryant a professor of Indian religions known for his publications on Krishna there is little doubt that the Sourasenoi refers to the Shurasenas a branch of the Yadu dynasty to which Krishna belonged 75 The word Herakles states Bryant is likely a Greek phonetic equivalent of Hari Krishna as is Methora of Mathura Kleisobora of Krishnapura and the Jobares of Jamuna Later when Alexander the Great launched his campaign in the northwest Indian subcontinent his associates recalled that the soldiers of Porus were carrying an image of Herakles 75 The Buddhist Pali canon and the Ghata Jataka No 454 polemically mention the devotees of Vasudeva and Baladeva These texts have many peculiarities and may be a garbled and confused version of the Krishna legends 76 The texts of Jainism mention these tales as well also with many peculiarities and different versions in their legends about Tirthankaras This inclusion of Krishna related legends in ancient Buddhist and Jaina literature suggests that Krishna theology was existent and important in the religious landscape observed by non Hindu traditions of ancient India 77 78 The ancient Sanskrit grammarian Patanjali in his Mahabhashya makes several references to Krishna and his associates found in later Indian texts In his commentary on Paṇini s verse 3 1 26 he also uses the word Kamsavadha or the killing of Kamsa an important part of the legends surrounding Krishna 75 79 Puranas Many Puranas mostly compiled during the Gupta period 4 5th century CE 80 tell Krishna s life story or some highlights from it Two Puranas the Bhagavata Purana and the Vishnu Purana contain the most elaborate telling of Krishna s story 81 but the life stories of Krishna in these and other texts vary and contain significant inconsistencies 82 83 The Bhagavata Purana consists of twelve books subdivided into 332 chapters with a cumulative total of between 16 000 and 18 000 verses depending on the version 84 85 The tenth book of the text which contains about 4 000 verses 25 and is dedicated to legends about Krishna has been the most popular and widely studied part of this text 86 87 Iconography Krishna with cows herdsmen and Gopis Krishna is represented in the Indian traditions in many ways but with some common features 88 His iconography typically depicts him with black dark or blue skin like Vishnu 89 However ancient and medieval reliefs and stone based arts depict him in the natural color of the material out of which he is formed both in India and in southeast Asia 90 91 In some texts his skin is poetically described as the color of Jambul Jamun a purple colored fruit 92 Krishna is often depicted wearing a peacock feather wreath or crown and playing the bansuri Indian flute 93 94 In this form he is usually shown standing with one leg bent in front of the other in the Tribhanga posture He is sometimes accompanied by cows or a calf which symbolise the divine herdsman Govinda Alternatively he is shown as a romantic young boy with the gopis milkmaids often making music or playing pranks 95 Krishna lifting Govardhana at Bharat Kala Bhavan recovered from a Muslim graveyard in Varanasi It is dated to the Gupta Empire era 4th 6th century CE 96 In other icons he is a part of battlefield scenes of the epic Mahabharata He is shown as a charioteer notably when he is addressing the Pandava prince Arjuna character symbolically reflecting the events that led to the Bhagavad Gita a scripture of Hinduism In these popular depictions Krishna appears in the front as the charioteer either as a counsel listening to Arjuna or as the driver of the chariot while Arjuna aims his arrows in the battlefield of Kurukshetra 97 98 Alternate icons of Krishna show him as a baby Bala Krishna the child Krishna a toddler crawling on his hands and knees a dancing child or an innocent looking child playfully stealing or consuming butter Makkan Chor 99 holding Laddu in his hand Laddu Gopal 100 101 or as a cosmic infant sucking his toe while floating on a banyan leaf during the Pralaya the cosmic dissolution observed by sage Markandeya 102 Regional variations in the iconography of Krishna are seen in his different forms such as Jaganatha in Odisha Vithoba in Maharashtra 103 Shrinathji in Rajasthan 104 and Guruvayoorappan in Kerala 105 Guidelines for the preparation of Krishna icons in design and architecture are described in medieval era Sanskrit texts on Hindu temple arts such as Vaikhanasa agama Vishnu dharmottara Brihat samhita and Agni Purana 106 Similarly early medieval era Tamil texts also contain guidelines for sculpting Krishna and Rukmini Several statues made according to these guidelines are in the collections of the Government Museum Chennai 107 Krishna iconography forms an important element in the figural sculpture on 17th 19th century terracotta temples of Bengal In many temples the stories of Krishna are depicted on a long series of narrow panels along the base of the facade In other temples the important Krishnalila episodes are depicted on large brick panels above the entrance arches or on the walls surrounding the entrance 108 Life and legendsThis summary is a mythological account based on literary details from the Mahabharata the Harivamsa the Bhagavata Purana and the Vishnu Purana The scenes from the narrative are set in ancient India mostly in the present states of Uttar Pradesh Bihar Rajasthan Haryana Delhi and Gujarat The legends about Krishna s life are called Krishna charitas IAST Kṛṣṇacaritas 109 Birth Baby Krishna on a swing depicted with his foster parents Nanda and Yashoda In the Krishna Charitas Krishna is born to Devaki and her husband Vasudeva of the Yadava clan in Mathura 110 Devaki s brother is a tyrant named Kamsa At Devaki s wedding according to Puranic legends Kamsa is told by fortune tellers that a child of Devaki would kill him Sometimes it is depicted as an akashvani announcing Kamsa s death Kamsa arranges to kill all of Devaki s children When Krishna is born Vasudeva secretly carries the infant Krishna away across the Yamuna and exchanges him with Yashoda s daughter When Kamsa tries to kill the newborn the exchanged baby appears as the Hindu goddess Yogamaya warning him that his death has arrived in his kingdom and then disappears according to the legends in the Puranas Krishna grows up with Nanda and his wife Yashoda near modern day Mathura 111 112 113 Two of Krishna s siblings also survive namely Balarama and Subhadra according to these legends 114 The day of the birth of Krishna is celebrated as Krishna Janmashtami Childhood and youth The legends of Krishna s childhood and youth describe him as a cow herder a mischievous boy whose pranks earn him the nickname Makhan Chor butter thief and a protector who steals the hearts of the people in both Gokul and Vrindavana The texts state for example that Krishna lifts the Govardhana hill to protect the inhabitants of Vrindavana from devastating rains and floods 115 Krishna and Balarama Studying with the Brahman Sandipani Bhagavata Purana 1525 1550 CE print Other legends describe him as an enchanter and playful lover of the gopis milkmaids of Vrindavana especially Radha These metaphor filled love stories are known as the Rasa lila and were romanticized in the poetry of Jayadeva author of the Gita Govinda They are also central to the development of the Krishna bhakti traditions worshiping Radha Krishna 116 Krishna s childhood illustrates the Hindu concept of Lila playing for fun and enjoyment and not for sport or gain His interaction with the gopis at the rasa dance or Rasa lila is an example Krishna plays his flute and the gopis come immediately from whatever they were doing to the banks of the Yamuna River and join him in singing and dancing Even those who could not physically be there join him through meditation He is the spiritual essence and the love eternal in existence the gopis metaphorically represent the prakṛti matter and the impermanent body 117 256 This Lila is a constant theme in the legends of Krishna s childhood and youth Even when he is battling with a serpent to protect others he is described in Hindu texts as if he were playing a game 117 255 This quality of playfulness in Krishna is celebrated during festivals as Rasa Lila and Janmashtami where Hindus in some regions such as Maharashtra playfully mimic his legends such as by making human gymnastic pyramids to break open handis clay pots hung high in the air to steal butter or buttermilk spilling it all over the group 117 253 261 Adulthood Krishna with his consorts Rukmini and Satyabhama and his mount Garuda Tamil Nadu India late 12th 13th century 118 Krishna legends then describe his return to Mathura He overthrows and kills the tyrant king his uncle Kamsa Kansa after quelling several assassination attempts by Kamsa He reinstates Kamsa s father Ugrasena as the king of the Yadavas and becomes a leading prince at the court 119 In one version of the Krishna story as narrated by Shanta Rao Krishna after Kamsa s death leads the Yadavas to the newly built city of Dwaraka Thereafter Pandavas rise Krishna befriends Arjuna and the other Pandava princes of the Kuru kingdom Krishna plays a key role in the Mahabharata 120 The Bhagavata Purana describes eight wives of Krishna that appear in sequence as Rukmini Satyabhama Jambavati Kalindi Mitravinda Nagnajiti also called Satya Bhadra and Lakshmana also called Madra 121 According to Dennis Hudson this is a metaphor where each of the eight wives signifies a different aspect of him 122 According to George Williams Vaishnava texts mention all Gopis as wives of Krishna but this is spiritual symbolism of devotional relationship and Krishna s complete loving devotion to each and everyone devoted to him 123 In Krishna related Hindu traditions he is most commonly seen with Radha All of his wives and his lover Radha are considered in the Hindu tradition to be the avatars of the goddess Lakshmi the consort of Vishnu 124 11 Gopis are considered as Lakshmi s or Radha s manifestations 11 125 Kurukshetra War and Bhagavad Gita Main articles Kurukshetra War and Bhagavad Gita According to the epic poem Mahabharata Krishna becomes Arjuna s charioteer for the Kurukshetra War but on the condition that he personally will not raise any weapon Upon arrival at the battlefield and seeing that the enemies are his family his grandfather and his cousins and loved ones Arjuna is moved and says his heart will not allow him to fight and kill others He would rather renounce the kingdom and put down his Gandiva Arjuna s bow Krishna then advises him about the nature of life ethics and morality when one is faced with a war between good and evil the impermanence of matter the permanence of the soul and the good duties and responsibilities the nature of true peace and bliss and the different types of yoga to reach this state of bliss and inner liberation This conversation between Krishna and Arjuna is presented as a discourse called the Bhagavad Gita 126 127 128 Death and ascension Main article Mausala Parva It is stated in the Indian texts that the legendary Kurukshetra War led to the death of all the hundred sons of Gandhari After Duryodhana s death Krishna visits Gandhari to offer his condolences when Gandhari and Dhritarashtra visited Kurukshetra as stated in Stree Parva Feeling that Krishna deliberately did not put an end to the war in a fit of rage and sorrow Gandhari said Thou were indifferent to the Kurus and the Pandavas whilst they slew each other Therefore O Govinda thou shalt be the slayer of thy own kinsmen According to the Mahabharata a fight breaks out at a festival among the Yadavas who end up killing each other Mistaking the sleeping Krishna for a deer a hunter named Jara shoots an arrow towards Krishna s foot that fatally injures him Krishna forgives Jara and dies 129 7 130 The pilgrimage tirtha site of Bhalka in Gujarat marks the location where Krishna is believed to have died It is also known as Dehotsarga states Diana L Eck a term that literally means the place where Krishna gave up his body 7 The Bhagavata Purana in Book 11 Chapter 31 states that after his death Krishna returned to his transcendent abode directly because of his yogic concentration Waiting gods such as Brahma and Indra were unable to trace the path Krishna took to leave his human incarnation and return to his abode 131 132 Versions and interpretations Krishna iconography appears in many versions across India For example left to right Srinath Jagannath Vithoba There are numerous versions of Krishna s life story of which three are most studied the Harivamsa the Bhagavata Purana and the Vishnu Purana 133 They share the basic storyline but vary significantly in their specifics details and styles 134 The most original composition the Harivamsa is told in a realistic style that describes Krishna s life as a poor herder but weaves in poetic and allusive fantasy It ends on a triumphal note not with the death of Krishna 135 Differing in some details the fifth book of the Vishnu Purana moves away from Harivamsa realism and embeds Krishna in mystical terms and eulogies 136 The Vishnu Purana manuscripts exist in many versions 137 The tenth and eleventh books of the Bhagavata Purana are widely considered to be a poetic masterpiece full of imagination and metaphors with no relation to the realism of pastoral life found in the Harivamsa Krishna s life is presented as a cosmic play Lila where his youth is set as a princely life with his foster father Nanda portrayed as a king 138 Krishna s life is closer to that of a human being in Harivamsa but is a symbolic universe in the Bhagavata Purana where Krishna is within the universe and beyond it as well as the universe itself always 139 The Bhagavata Purana manuscripts also exist in many versions in numerous Indian languages 140 86 Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is considered as the incarnation of Krishna in Gaudiya Vaishnavism and by the ISKCON community 141 142 143 Proposed datingsSee also Vedic Puranic chronology and History of Hinduism 14th century fresco of Radha Krishna in Udaipur Rajasthan The date of Krishna s birth is celebrated every year as Janmashtami 144 page needed According to Guy Beck most scholars of Hinduism and Indian history accept the historicity of Krishna that he was a real male person whether human or divine who lived on Indian soil by at least 1000 BCE and interacted with many other historical persons within the cycles of the epic and puranic histories Yet Beck also notes that there is an enormous number of contradictions and discrepancies surrounding the chronology of Krishna s life as depicted in the Sanskrit canon 145 According to mythologies in the Jain tradition Krishna was a cousin of Neminatha 146 Neminatha is believed in the Jain tradition to have been born 84 000 years before the 9th century BCE Parshvanatha the twenty third tirthankara 147 Philosophy and theology 12th century art depicting Krishna playing flute with gathered living beings at Hoysaleswara temple Karnataka A wide range of theological and philosophical ideas are presented through Krishna in Hindu texts The teachings of the Bhagavad Gita can be considered according to Friedhelm Hardy as the first Krishnaite system of theology 22 Ramanuja a Hindu theologian and philosopher whose works were influential in Bhakti movement 148 presented him in terms of qualified monism or nondualism namely Vishishtadvaita school 149 Madhvacharya a philosopher whose works led to the founding of Haridasa tradition of Vaishnavism 150 presented Krishna in the framework of dualism Dvaita 151 Bhedabheda a group of schools which teaches that the individual self is both different and not different from the ultimate reality predates the positions of monism and dualism Among medieval Bhedabheda thinkers are Nimbarkacharya who founded the Kumara Sampradaya Dvaitadvaita philosophical school 152 as well as Jiva Goswami a saint from Gaudiya Vaishnava school 153 described Krishna theology in terms of Bhakti yoga and Achintya Bheda Abheda 154 Krishna theology is presented in a pure monism advaita called shuddhadvaita framework by Vallabha Acharya who was the founder of Pushti sect of vaishnavism 155 156 Madhusudana Sarasvati an India philosopher 157 presented Krishna theology in nondualism monism framework Advaita Vedanta while Adi Shankara who is credited for unifying and establishing the main currents of thought in Hinduism 158 159 160 mentioned Krishna in his early eighth century discussions on Panchayatana puja 161 The Bhagavata Purana a popular text on Krishna considered to be like scripture in Assam synthesizes an Advaita Samkhya and Yoga framework for Krishna but one that proceeds through loving devotion to Krishna 162 163 164 Bryant describes the synthesis of ideas in Bhagavata Purana as The philosophy of the Bhagavata is a mixture of Vedanta terminology Samkhyan metaphysics and devotionalized Yoga praxis The tenth book promotes Krishna as the highest absolute personal aspect of godhead the personality behind the term Ishvara and the ultimate aspect of Brahman Edwin Bryant Krishna A Sourcebook 4 While Sheridan and Pintchman both affirm Bryant s view the latter adds that the Vedantic view emphasized in the Bhagavata is non dualist with a difference In conventional nondual Vedanta all reality is interconnected and one the Bhagavata posits that the reality is interconnected and plural 165 166 Across the various theologies and philosophies the common theme presents Krishna as the essence and symbol of divine love with human life and love as a reflection of the divine The longing and love filled legends of Krishna and the gopis his playful pranks as a baby 167 as well as his later dialogues with other characters are philosophically treated as metaphors for the human longing for the divine and for meaning and the play between the universals and the human soul 168 169 170 Krishna s lila is a theology of love play According to John Koller love is presented not simply as a means to salvation it is the highest life Human love is God s love 171 Other texts that include Krishna such as the Bhagavad Gita have attracted numerous bhasya commentaries in the Hindu traditions 172 Though only a part of the Hindu epic Mahabharata it has functioned as an independent spiritual guide It allegorically raises through Krishna and Arjuna the ethical and moral dilemmas of human life then presents a spectrum of answers weighing in on the ideological questions on human freedoms choices and responsibilities towards self and towards others 172 173 This Krishna dialogue has attracted numerous interpretations from being a metaphor of inner human struggle teaching non violence to being a metaphor of outer human struggle teaching a rejection of quietism to persecution 172 173 174 InfluenceVaishnavism Main articles Vaishnavism and Krishnaism The worship of Krishna is part of Vaishnavism a major tradition within Hinduism Krishna is considered a full avatar of Vishnu or one with Vishnu himself 175 However the exact relationship between Krishna and Vishnu is complex and diverse 176 with Krishna of Krishnaite sampradayas considered an independent deity and supreme 22 177 Vaishnavas accept many incarnations of Vishnu but Krishna is particularly important Their theologies are generally centered either on Vishnu or an avatar such as Krishna as supreme The terms Krishnaism and Vishnuism have sometimes been used to distinguish the two the former implying that Krishna is the transcendent Supreme Being 178 Some scholars as Friedhelm Hardy do not define Krishnaism as a sub order or offshoot of Vaishnavism considering it a parallel and no less ancient current of Hinduism 22 All Vaishnava traditions recognise Krishna as the eighth avatar of Vishnu others identify Krishna with Vishnu while Krishnaite traditions such as Gaudiya Vaishnavism 179 180 Ekasarana Dharma Mahanam Sampraday Nimbarka Sampradaya and the Vallabha Sampradaya regard Krishna as the Svayam Bhagavan the original form of Lord or the same as the concept of Brahman in Hinduism 5 181 182 183 184 Gitagovinda of Jayadeva considers Krishna to be the supreme lord while the ten incarnations are his forms Swaminarayan the founder of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya also worshipped Krishna as God himself Greater Krishnaism corresponds to the second and dominant phase of Vaishnavism revolving around the cults of the Vasudeva Krishna and Gopala of the late Vedic period 185 Today the faith has a significant following outside of India as well 186 Early traditionsThe deity Krishna Vasudeva kṛṣṇa vasudeva Krishna the son of Vasudeva Anakadundubhi is historically one of the earliest forms of worship in Krishnaism and Vaishnavism 21 70 It is believed to be a significant tradition of the early history of Krishna religion in antiquity 187 Thereafter there was an amalgamation of various similar traditions These include ancient Bhagavatism the cult of Gopala of Krishna Govinda cow finding Krishna of Balakrishna baby Krishna and of Krishna Gopivallabha 188 Krishna the lover 189 190 According to Andre Couture the Harivamsa contributed to the synthesis of various characters as aspects of Krishna 191 Already in the early Middle Ages the Jagannathism a k a Odia Vaishnavism was origined as the cult of the god Jagannath lit Lord of the Universe an abstract form of Krishna 192 Jagannathism was a regional temple centered version of Krishnaism 22 where Lord Jagannath is understood as a principal god Purushottama and Para Brahman but can also be regarded as a non sectarian syncretic Vaishnavite and all Hindu cult 193 According to the Vishnudharma Purana c 4th century Krishna is woshipped in the form of Purushottama in Odia Odisha 194 The notable Jagannath temple in Puri Odisha became particularly significant within the tradition since about 800 CE 195 Bhakti tradition Main articles Bhakti movement and Bhakti yoga Krishna has been a major part of the Bhakti movement One of the key devotees was Meera pictured The use of the term bhakti meaning devotion is not confined to any one deity However Krishna is an important and popular focus of the devotionalism tradition within Hinduism particularly among the Vaishnava Krishnaite sects 179 196 Devotees of Krishna subscribe to the concept of lila meaning divine play as the central principle of the universe It is a form of bhakti yoga one of three types of yoga discussed by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita 180 197 198 Indian subcontinent The bhakti movements devoted to Krishna became prominent in southern India in the 7th to 9th centuries CE The earliest works included those of the Alvar saints of Tamil Nadu 199 A major collection of their works is the Divya Prabandham 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 200 201 202 The movement originated in South India during the 7th century CE spreading northwards from Tamil Nadu through Karnataka and Maharashtra by the 15th century it was established in Bengal and northern India 203 Early Krishnaite Bhakti pioneers included Nimbarkacharya 12th or 13th century CE 152 204 note 3 but most emerged later including Vallabhacharya 15th century CE and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu They started their own schools namely Nimbarka Sampradaya Vallabha Sampradaya and Gaudiya Vaishnavism with Krishna and Radha as the supreme gods In addition since the 15th century flourished Tantric variety of Krishnaism Vaishnava Sahajiya is linked to the Bengali poet Chandidas 205 In the Deccan particularly in Maharashtra saint poets of the Warkari sect such as Dnyaneshwar Namdev Janabai Eknath and Tukaram promoted the worship of Vithoba 103 a local form of Krishna from between the 13th to 18th century 19 Before the Warkari tradition Krishna devotion became well established in Maharashtra due to the rise of the Mahanubhava Sampradaya founded by Sarvajna Chakradhara 206 The Pranami Sampradaya emerged in the 17th century in Gujarat based on the Krishna focussed syncretist Hindu Islamic teachings of Devchandra Maharaj and his famous successor Mahamati Prannath 207 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 called Bhakti rasamrita sindhu 196 In South India the acharyas of the Sri Sampradaya have written reverently about Krishna in most of their works including the Thiruppavai by Andal 208 and Gopala Vimshati by Vedanta Desika 209 Tamil Nadu Karnataka Andhra Pradesh and Kerala states have many major Krishna temples and Janmashtami is one of the widely celebrated festivals in South India 210 Outside Asia Krishna left with Radha at Bhaktivedanta Manor Watford England By 1965 the Krishna bhakti movement had spread outside India after Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada as instructed by his guru Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura travelled from his homeland in West Bengal to New York City A year later in 1966 after gaining many followers he was able to form the International Society for Krishna Consciousness ISKCON popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement The purpose of this movement was to write about Krishna in English and to share the Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy with people in the Western world by spreading the teachings of the saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu In the biographies of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu the mantra he received when he was given diksha or initiation in Gaya was the six word verse of the Kali Santarana Upanishad namely Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare In the Gaudiya tradition it is the maha mantra or great mantra about Krishna bhakti 211 212 Its chanting was known as hari nama sankirtana 213 The maha mantra gained the attention of George Harrison and John Lennon of The Beatles fame 214 and Harrison produced a 1969 recording of the mantra by devotees from the London Radha Krishna Temple 215 Titled Hare Krishna Mantra the song reached the top twenty on the UK music charts and was also successful in West Germany and Czechoslovakia 214 216 The mantra of the Upanishad thus helped bring Bhaktivedanta and ISKCON ideas about Krishna into the West 214 ISCKON has built many Krishna temples in the West as well as other locations such as South Africa 217 Southeast Asia Krishna lifts Govardhan mountain a 7th century artwork from a Da Nang Vietnam archaeological site 218 219 Krishna is found in Southeast Asian history and art but to a far lesser extent than Shiva Durga Nandi Agastya and Buddha In temples candi of the archaeological sites in hilly volcanic Java Indonesia temple reliefs do not portray his pastoral life or his role as the erotic lover nor do the historic Javanese Hindu texts 220 Rather either his childhood or the life as a king and Arjuna s companion have been more favored The most elaborate temple arts of Krishna is found in a series of Krsnayana reliefs in the Prambanan Hindu temple complex near Yogyakarta These are dated to the 9th century CE 220 221 222 Krishna remained a part of the Javanese cultural and theological fabric through the 14th century as evidenced by the 14th century Penataran reliefs along with those of the Hindu god Rama in east Java before Islam replaced Buddhism and Hinduism on the island 223 The medieval era arts of Vietnam and Cambodia feature Krishna The earliest surviving sculptures and reliefs are from the 6th and 7th centuries and these include Vaishnavism iconography 218 According to John Guy the curator and director of Southeast Asian arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art the Krishna Govardhana art from 6th 7th century Vietnam at Danang and 7th century Cambodia at Phnom Da cave in Angkor Borei are some of the most sophisticated of this era 218 Krishna s iconography has also been found in Thailand along with those of Surya and Vishnu For example a large number of sculptures and icons have been found in the Si Thep and Klangnai sites in the Phetchabun region of northern Thailand These are dated to about the 7th and 8th centuries from both the Funan and Zhenla period archaeological sites 224 Performance arts The Krishna legends in the Bhagavata Purana have inspired many performance arts repertoire such as Kathak Kuchipudi left and Odissi 23 25 The Rasa Lila where Krishna plays with the gopis in Manipuri dance style right Indian dance and music theatre traces its origins and techniques to the ancient Sama Veda and Natyasastra texts 225 226 The stories enacted and the numerous choreographic themes are inspired by the mythologies and legends in Hindu texts including Krishna related literature such as Harivamsa and Bhagavata Purana 227 The Krishna stories have played a key role in the history of Indian theatre music and dance particularly through the tradition of Rasaleela These are dramatic enactments of Krishna s childhood adolescence and adulthood One common scene involves Krishna playing flute in Rasa Leela only to be heard by certain gopis cowherd maidens which is theologically supposed to represent divine call only heard by certain enlightened beings 228 Some of the text s legends have inspired secondary theatre literature such as the eroticism in Gita Govinda 229 Krishna related literature such as the Bhagavata Purana accords a metaphysical significance to the performances and treats them as a religious ritual infusing daily life with spiritual meaning thus representing a good honest happy life Similarly Krishna inspired performances aim to cleanse the hearts of faithful actors and listeners Singing dancing and performing any part of Krishna Lila is an act of remembering the dharma in the text as a form of para bhakti supreme devotion To remember Krishna at any time and in any art asserts the text is to worship the good and the divine 230 Classical dance styles such as Kathak Odissi Manipuri Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam in particular are known for their Krishna related performances 231 Krisnattam Krishnattam traces its origins to Krishna legends and is linked to another major classical Indian dance form called Kathakali 232 Bryant summarizes the influence of Krishna stories in the Bhagavata Purana as it has inspired more derivative literature poetry drama dance theatre and art than any other text in the history of Sanskrit literature with the possible exception of the Ramayana 24 233 The Palliyodam a type of large built and used by Aranmula Parthasarathy Temple in Kerala for the annual water processions of Uthrattathi Jalamela and Valla Sadhya has the legend that it was designed by Lord Krishna and were made to look like Sheshanaga the serpent on which Lord Vishnu rests 234 TemplesBankey Bihari Temple Radha Raman Temple Jagannath Temple Puri Dwarkadhish Temple Dwarka Vithoba Temple Pandarpur Shrinathji Temple Nathdwara Guruvayur Temple Kerala Radha Vallabh Temple Vrindavan Udupi Sri Krishna Matha Prem Mandir Vrindavan Krishna Balaram Mandir Ranchodrai Temple Dakor Radha Damodar Temple Junagadh Radha Damodar Temple Vrindavan Govind Dev Ji Temple Jaipur Shree Govindajee Temple Imphal Madan Mohan Temple Karauli Radha Madan Mohan Temple Vrindavan Dwarkadheesh temple Mathura Radha Madhab Temple Bishnupur Krishna Janmasthan Temple Complex Mathura Kantajew Temple Bangladesh Swaminarayan Temples Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Dholera Gopinathji Dev Mandir ISKCON Temples ISKCON Temple Banglore ISKCON Temple Pune ISKCON Temple Delhi Iskcon Prabartak Sri Krishna Temple Vrindavan Chandrodara Mandir ISKCON Temple Chennai Rajagopalaswamy Temple Mannargudi Parthasarathy Temple ChennaiKrishna outside of Hinduism Radha Krishna Jainism The Jainism tradition lists 63 Salakapuruṣa or notable figures which amongst others includes the twenty four Tirthankaras spiritual teachers and nine sets of triads One of these triads is Krishna as the Vasudeva Balarama as the Baladeva and Jarasandha as the Prati Vasudeva In each age of the Jain cyclic time is born a Vasudeva with an elder brother termed the Baladeva Between the triads Baladeva upholds the principle of non violence a central idea of Jainism The villain is the Prati vasudeva who attempts to destroy the world To save the world Vasudeva Krishna has to forsake the non violence principle and kill the Prati Vasudeva 235 The stories of these triads can be found in the Harivamsa Purana 8th century CE of Jinasena not be confused with its namesake the addendum to Mahabharata and the Trishashti shalakapurusha charita of Hemachandra 236 237 The story of Krishna s life in the Puranas of Jainism follows the same general outline as those in the Hindu texts but in details they are very different they include Jain Tirthankaras as characters in the story and generally are polemically critical of Krishna unlike the versions found in the Mahabharata the Bhagavata Purana and the Vishnu Purana 238 For example Krishna loses battles in the Jain versions and his gopis and his clan of Yadavas die in a fire created by an ascetic named Dvaipayana Similarly after dying from the hunter Jara s arrow the Jaina texts state Krishna goes to the third hell in Jain cosmology while his brother is said to go to the sixth heaven 239 Vimalasuri is attributed to be the author of the Jain version of the Harivamsa Purana but no manuscripts have been found that confirm this It is likely that later Jain scholars probably Jinasena of the 8th century wrote a complete version of Krishna legends in the Jain tradition and credited it to the ancient Vimalasuri 240 Partial and older versions of the Krishna story are available in Jain literature such as in the Antagata Dasao of the Svetambara Agama tradition 240 In other Jain texts Krishna is stated to be a cousin of the twenty second Tirthankara Neminatha The Jain texts state that Neminatha taught Krishna all the wisdom that he later gave to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita According to Jeffery D Long a professor of religion known for his publications on Jainism this connection between Krishna and Neminatha has been a historic reason for Jains to accept read and cite the Bhagavad Gita as a spiritually important text celebrate Krishna related festivals and intermingle with Hindus as spiritual cousins 241 Buddhism Depiction of Krishna playing the flute in a temple constructed in 752 CE 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 242 The Vidhurapandita Jataka mentions Madhura Sanskrit Mathura the Ghata Jataka mentions Kamsa Devagabbha Sk Devaki Upasagara or Vasudeva Govaddhana Sk Govardhana Baladeva Balarama and Kanha or Kesava Sk Krishna Keshava 243 244 Like the Jaina versions of the Krishna legends the Buddhist versions such as one in Ghata Jataka follow the general outline of the story 245 but are different from the Hindu versions as well 243 77 For example the Buddhist legend describes Devagabbha Devaki to have been isolated in a palace built upon a pole after she is born so no future husband could reach her Krishna s father similarly is described as a powerful king but who meets up with Devagabbha anyway and to whom Kamsa gives away his sister Devagabbha in marriage The siblings of Krishna are not killed by Kamsa though he tries In the Buddhist version of the legend all of Krishna s siblings grow to maturity 246 Krishna and his siblings capital becomes Dvaravati The Arjuna and Krishna interaction is missing in the Jataka version A new legend is included wherein Krishna laments in uncontrollable sorrow when his son dies and a Ghatapandita feigns madness to teach Krishna a lesson 247 The Jataka tale also includes internecine destruction among his siblings after they all get drunk Krishna also dies in the Buddhist legend by the hand of a hunter named Jara but while he is traveling to a frontier city Mistaking Krishna for a pig Jara throws a spear that fatally pierces his feet causing Krishna great pain and then his death 246 At the end of this Ghata Jataka discourse the Buddhist text declares that Sariputta one of the revered disciples of the Buddha in the Buddhist tradition was incarnated as Krishna in his previous life to learn lessons on grief from the Buddha in his prior rebirth Then he Master declared the Truths and identified the Birth At that time Ananda was Rohineyya Sariputta was Vasudeva Krishna the followers of the Buddha were the other persons and I myself was Ghatapandita Jataka Tale No 454 Translator W H D Rouse 248 While the Buddhist Jataka texts co opt Krishna Vasudeva and make him a student of the Buddha in his previous life 248 the Hindu texts co opt the Buddha and make him an avatar of Vishnu 249 250 In Chinese Buddhism Taoism and Chinese folk religion the figure of Krishna has been amalgamated and merged with that of Nalakuvara to influence the formation of the god Nezha who has taken on iconographic characteristics of Krishna such as being presented as a divine god child and slaying a naga in his youth 251 252 Other Infant Krishna with Mother Yashoda Krishna is mentioned as Krishna Avtar in the Chaubis Avtar a composition in Dasam Granth traditionally and historically attributed to Sikh Guru Gobind Singh 253 Within the Sikh derived 19th century Radha Soami movement the followers of its founder Shiv Dayal Singh used to consider him the Living Master and incarnation of God Lord Krishna Vishnu note 4 Bahaʼis believe that Krishna was a Manifestation of God 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 the Bab and the founder of the Bahaʼi Faith Baha u llah 255 256 Ahmadiyya a 20th century Islamic movement consider Krishna as one of their ancient prophets 257 258 259 Ghulam Ahmad stated that he was himself a prophet in the likeness of prophets such as Krishna Jesus and Muhammad 260 who had come to earth as a latter day reviver of religion and morality 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 261 For instance Edouard Schure 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 along with Buddha 262 263 Krishna was canonised by Aleister Crowley and is recognised as a saint of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica in the Gnostic Mass of Ordo Templi Orientis 264 265 Explanatory notes The number of Krishna s children varies from one interpretation to another According to some scriptures like the Bhagavata Purana Krishna had 10 children from each of his wives 16 008 wives and 160 080 children 9 Radha is seen as Krishna s lover consort On the other hand Rukmini and others are married to him Krishna had eight chief wives who were referred to as the Ashtabharya The regional texts vary in the identity of Krishna s wife consort some presenting it as Rukmini some as Radha all gopis and some identifying all to be different aspects or manifestation of Devi Lakshmi 10 11 The first Kṛṣṇaite sampradaya was developed by Nimbarka 22 Various branches of Radhasoami have argued about the incarnationalism of Satguru Lane 1981 Guru Maharaj Ji has accepted it and identifies with Krishna and other incarnations of Vishnu 254 ReferencesCitations a b Bryant amp Ekstrand 2004 pp 20 25 quote Three Dimensions of Krishna s Divinity divine majesty and supremacy divine tenderness and intimacy compassion and protection p 24 Krishna as the God of Love Swami Sivananda 1964 Sri Krishna Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan p 4 Krishna the Yogeshwara The Hindu 12 September 2014 a b Bryant 2007 p 114 a b K Klostermaier 1997 The Charles Strong Trust Lectures 1972 1984 Crotty Robert B Brill Academic Pub p 109 ISBN 978 90 04 07863 5 After attaining to fame eternal he again took up his real nature as Brahman The most important among Visnu s avataras is undoubtedly Krsna the black one also called Syama For his worshippers he is not an avatara in the usual sense but Svayam Bhagavan the Lord himself Raychaudhuri 1972 p 124harvnb error no target CITEREFRaychaudhuri1972 help a b c Diana L Eck 2012 India A Sacred Geography Harmony pp 380 381 ISBN 978 0 385 53190 0 Quote Krishna was shot through the foot hand and heart by the single arrow of a hunter named Jara Krishna was reclining there so they say and Jara mistook his reddish foot for a deer and released his arrow There Krishna died Naravane Vishwanath S 1987 A Companion to Indian Mythology Hindu Buddhist amp Jaina Thinker s Library Technical Publishing House Sinha Purnendu Narayana 1950 A Study of the Bhagavata Purana Or Esoteric Hinduism Library of Alexandria ISBN 978 1 4655 2506 2 a b John Stratton Hawley Donna Marie Wulff 1982 The Divine Consort Radha and the Goddesses of India Motilal Banarsidass Publisher p 12 ISBN 978 0 89581 102 8 a b c Bryant 2007 p 443 Krishna Random House Webster s Unabridged Dictionary Krishna Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Ben Ami Scharfstein 1993 Ineffability The Failure of Words in Philosophy and Religion State University of New York Press p 166 ISBN 978 0 7914 1347 0 Freda Matchett 2001 Krishna Lord Or Avatara Psychology Press p 199 ISBN 978 0 7007 1281 6 Krishna World History Encyclopedia James G Lochtefeld 2002 The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism A M The Rosen Publishing Group pp 314 315 ISBN 978 0 8239 3179 8 Richard Thompson Ph D December 1994 Reflections on the Relation Between Religion and Modern Rationalism Archived from the original on 4 January 2011 Retrieved 12 April 2008 a b Mahony W K 1987 Perspectives on Krsna s Various Personalities History of Religions 26 3 333 335 doi 10 1086 463085 JSTOR 1062381 S2CID 164194548 Quote Krsna s various appearances as a divine hero alluring god child cosmic prankster perfect lover and universal supreme being Knott 2000 pp 15 36 56 a b Hein Norvin 1986 A Revolution in Kṛṣṇaism The Cult of Gopala History of Religions 25 4 296 317 doi 10 1086 463051 JSTOR 1062622 S2CID 162049250 a b c d e f g h Hardy 1987 pp 387 392 a b Ravi Gupta and Kenneth Valpey 2013 The Bhagavata Purana Columbia University Press ISBN 978 0231149990 pp 185 200 a b Bryant 2007 p 118 a b ML Varadpande 1987 History of Indian Theatre Vol 1 Abhinav ISBN 978 8170172215 pp 98 99 Hawley 2020 Misra 2005 J Gordon Melton 2011 Religious Celebrations An Encyclopedia of Holidays Festivals Solemn Observances and Spiritual Commemorations ABC Clio pp 330 331 ISBN 978 1 59884 205 0 Cynthia Packert 2010 The Art of Loving Krishna Ornamentation and Devotion Indiana University Press pp 5 70 71 181 187 ISBN 978 0 253 22198 8 Bryant 2007 p 3 Lavanya Vemsani 2016 Krishna in History Thought and Culture ABC CLIO pp 112 113 ISBN 978 1 61069 211 3 Selengut Charles 1996 Charisma and Religious Innovation Prabhupada and the Founding of ISKCON ISKCON Communications Journal 4 2 Archived from the original on 10 July 2012 a b Monier Williams Sanskrit English Dictionary 2008 revision Archived 18 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine Apte Sanskrit English Dictionary Archived 16 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine Bryant 2007 p 382 Monier Monier Williams Go vinda Sanskrit English Dictionary and Etymology Oxford University Press p 336 3rd column Bryant 2007 p 17 Hiltebeitel Alf 2001 Rethinking the Mahabharata a reader s guide to the education of the dharma king Chicago University of Chicago Press pp 251 253 256 259 ISBN 978 0 226 34054 8 B M Misra 2007 Orissa Shri Krishna Jagannatha the Mushali parva from Sarala s Mahabharata Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 514891 6 Bryant 2007 p 139 For the historic Jagannath temple in Ranchi Jharkhand see Francis Bradley Bradley Birt 1989 Chota Nagpur a Little known Province of the Empire Asian Educational Services Orig 1903 pp 61 64 ISBN 978 81 206 1287 7 a b c d e Flood 1996 pp 119 120 Singh Upinder 2008 A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India From the Stone Age to the 12th Century Pearson Education India pp 436 438 ISBN 978 81 317 1120 0 Osmund Bopearachchi Emergence of Viṣṇu and Siva Images in India Numismatic and Sculptural Evidence 2016 a b Srinivasan Doris 1997 Many Heads Arms and Eyes Origin Meaning and Form of Multiplicity in Indian Art Brill p 215 ISBN 978 90 04 10758 8 a b c d e Osmund Bopearachchi 2016 Emergence of Viṣṇu and Siva Images in India Numismatic and Sculptural Evidence Audouin Remy and Paul Bernard Tresor de monnaies indiennes et indo grecques d Ai Khanoum Afghanistan II Les monnaies indo grecques Revue numismatique 6 no 16 1974 pp 6 41 in French Nilakanth Purushottam Joshi Iconography of Balarama Abhinav Publications 1979 p 22 a b c F R Allchin George Erdosy 1995 The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia The Emergence of Cities and States Cambridge University Press pp 309 310 ISBN 978 0 521 37695 2 L A Waddell 1914 Besnagar Pillar Inscription B Re Interpreted The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland Cambridge University Press pp 1031 1037 Richard Salomon 1998 Indian Epigraphy A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit Prakrit and the other Indo Aryan Languages Oxford University Press pp 265 267 ISBN 978 0 19 535666 3 Benjamin Preciado Solis 1984 The Kṛṣṇa Cycle in the Puraṇas Themes and Motifs in a Heroic Saga Motilal Banarsidass p 34 ISBN 978 0 89581 226 1 Khare 1967 Irwin 1974 pp 169 176 with Figure 2 and 3 Susan V Mishra amp Himanshu P Ray 2017 p 5 Burjor Avari 2016 India The Ancient Past A History of the Indian Subcontinent from C 7000 BCE to CE 1200 Routledge pp 165 167 ISBN 978 1 317 23673 3 Richard Salomon 1998 Indian Epigraphy A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit Prakrit and the Other Indo Aryan Languages Oxford University Press pp 86 87 ISBN 978 0 19 509984 3 Manohar Laxman Varadpande 1982 Krishna Theatre in India Abhinav Publications pp 6 7 ISBN 978 81 7017 151 5 Barnett Lionel David 1922 Hindu Gods and Heroes Studies in the History of the Religion of India J Murray p 93 Puri B N 1968 India in the Time of Patanjali Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan p 51 The coins of Rajuvula have been recovered from the Sultanpur District the Brahmi inscription on the Mora stone slab now in the Mathura Museum Doris Srinivasan 1997 Many Heads Arms and Eyes Origin Meaning and Form of Multiplicity in Indian Art Broll Academic pp 214 215 with footnotes ISBN 90 04 10758 4 Jason Neelis 2010 Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks Mobility and Exchange Within and Beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia Btill Academic pp 271 272 ISBN 978 90 04 18159 5 a b c Bhattacharya Sunil Kumar 1996 Krishna cult in Indian Art M D Publications Pvt Ltd p 27 ISBN 978 81 7533 001 6 Wendy Doniger 2008 Britannica Mahabharata encyclopedia Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Retrieved 13 October 2008 Maurice Winternitz 1981 History of Indian Literature Vol 1 Delhi Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 978 0836408010 pp 426 431 Natubhai Shah 2004 p 23 a b Max Muller Chandogya Upanishad 3 16 3 17 The Upanishads Part I Oxford University Press pp 50 53 with footnotes Edwin Bryant and Maria Ekstrand 2004 The Hare Krishna Movement Columbia University Press ISBN 978 0231122566 pp 33 34 with note 3 Sandilya Bhakti Sutra SS Rishi Translator Sree Gaudia Math Madras WG Archer 2004 The Loves of Krishna in Indian Painting and Poetry Dover ISBN 978 0486433714 p 5 a b Bryant 2007 p 4 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 1 Archived 17 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine Paṇ IV 3 98 Vasudevarjunabhyam vun See Bhandarkar Vaishnavism and Saivism p 3 and J R A S 1910 p 168 Sutra 95 just above appears to point to bhakti faith or devotion felt for this Vasudeva Sunil Kumar Bhattacharya Krishna cult in Indian Art 1996 M D Publications Pvt Ltd ISBN 81 7533 001 5 p 1 a b c d Bryant 2007 p 5 Bryant 2007 pp 5 6 a b Bryant 2007 p 6 Hemacandra Abhidhanacintamani Ed Boehtlingk and Rien p 128 and Barnett s translation of the Antagada Dasao pp 13 15 67 82 Gopal Madan 1990 K S Gautam ed India through the ages Publication Division Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Government of India p 73 Flood 1996 pp 110 111 Elkman S M Gosvami J 1986 Jiva Gosvamin s Tattvasandarbha A Study on the Philosophical and Sectarian Development of the Gaudiya Vaisnava Movement Motilal Banarsidass Rocher 1986 pp 18 49 53 245 249 Gregory Bailey 2003 Arvind Sharma ed The Study of Hinduism University of South Carolina Press pp 141 142 ISBN 978 1 57003 449 7 Barbara Holdrege 2015 Bhakti and Embodiment Routledge ISBN 978 0415670708 pp 109 110 Richard Thompson 2007 The Cosmology of the Bhagavata Purana Mysteries of the Sacred Universe Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 978 8120819191 a b Bryant 2007 p 112 Matchett 2001 pp 127 137 Archer 2004 The Krishna of Painting T Richard Blurton 1993 Hindu Art Harvard University Press pp 133 134 ISBN 978 0 674 39189 5 Guy John 2014 Lost Kingdoms Hindu Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia Metropolitan Museum of Art pp 222 223 ISBN 978 1 58839 524 5 a Cooler Richard M 1978 Sculpture Kingship and the Triad of Phnom Da Artibus Asiae 40 1 29 40 doi 10 2307 3249812 JSTOR 3249812 b Bertrand Porte 2006 La statue de Kṛṣṇa Govardhana du Phnom Da du Musee National de Phnom Penh UDAYA Journal of Khmer Studies Volume 7 pp 199 205 Vishvanatha Cakravarti Thakura 2011 Sarartha darsini Bhanu Swami ed Sri Vaikunta Enterprises p 790 ISBN 978 81 89564 13 1 The Encyclopedia Americana s l Grolier 1988 p 589 ISBN 978 0 7172 0119 8 Benton William 1974 The New Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica p 885 ISBN 978 0 85229 290 7 Harle J C 1994 The art and architecture of the Indian subcontinent New Haven Conn Yale University Press p 410 ISBN 978 0 300 06217 5 figure 327 Manaku Radha s messenger describing Krishna standing with the cow girls gopi from Basohli Diana L Eck 1982 Banaras City of Light Columbia University Press pp 66 67 ISBN 978 0 231 11447 9 Ariel Glucklich 2008 The Strides of Vishnu Hindu Culture in Historical Perspective Oxford University Press p 106 ISBN 978 0 19 971825 2 T A Gopinatha Rao 1993 Elements of Hindu iconography Motilal Banarsidass pp 210 212 ISBN 978 81 208 0878 2 John Stratton Hawley 2014 Krishna The Butter Thief Princeton University Press pp 3 8 ISBN 978 1 4008 5540 7 Hoiberg Dale Ramchandani Indu 2000 Students Britannica India Popular Prakashan p 251 ISBN 978 0 85229 760 5 Satsvarupa dasa Goswami 1998 The Qualities of Sri Krsna GNPress p 152 ISBN 978 0 911233 64 3 Stuart Cary Welch 1985 India Art and Culture 1300 1900 Metropolitan Museum of Art p 58 ISBN 978 0 03 006114 1 a b Vithoba 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 Kelkar Ashok R 2001 1992 Sri Vitthal Ek Mahasamanvay Marathi by R C Dhere Encyclopaedia of Indian literature Vol 5 Sahitya Akademi p 4179 ISBN 978 8126012213 Retrieved 20 September 2008 and Mokashi Digambar Balkrishna Engblom Philip C 1987 Palkhi a pilgrimage to Pandharpur translated from the Marathi book Palakhi by Philip C Engblom Albany State University of New York Press p 35 ISBN 978 0 88706 461 6 Tryna Lyons 2004 The Artists of Nathdwara The Practice of Painting in Rajasthan Indiana University Press pp 16 22 ISBN 978 0 253 34417 5 Kunissery Ramakrishnier Vaidyanathan 1992 Sri Krishna the Lord of Guruvayur Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan pp 2 5 T A Gopinatha Rao 1993 Elements of Hindu iconography Motilal Banarsidass pp 201 204 ISBN 978 81 208 0878 2 T A Gopinatha Rao 1993 Elements of Hindu iconography Motilal Banarsidass pp 204 208 ISBN 978 81 208 0878 2 Amit Guha Krishnalila in Terracotta Temples Matchett 2001 p 145 The Poems of Suradasa Abhinav publications 1999 ISBN 978 8170173694 Yashoda and Krishna Metmuseum org 10 October 2011 Archived from the original on 13 October 2008 Retrieved 23 October 2011 Sanghi Ashwin 2012 The Krishna key Chennai Westland p Key7 ISBN 978 9381626689 Retrieved 9 June 2016 Lok Nath Soni 2000 The Cattle and the Stick An Ethnographic Profile of the Raut of Chhattisgarh Anthropological Survey of India Government of India Ministry of Tourism and Culture Department of Culture Delhi Anthropological Survey of India Government of India Ministry of Tourism and Culture Department of Culture 2000 Original from the University of Michigan p 16 ISBN 978 8185579573 Bryant 2007 pp 124 130 224 Lynne Gibson 1999 Merriam Webster s Encyclopedia of World Religions Merriam Webster p 503 Schweig G M 2005 Dance of divine love The Rasa Lila of Krishna from the Bhagavata Purana India s classic sacred love story Princeton University Press Princeton NJ Oxford ISBN 978 0 691 11446 0 a b c Largen Kristin Johnston 2011 God at Play Seeing God Through the Lens of the Young Krishna India Wiley Blackwell ISBN 978 1608330188 OCLC 1030901369 Krishna Rajamannar with His Wives Rukmini and Satyabhama and His Mount Garuda LACMA Collections collections lacma org Archived from the original on 16 July 2014 Retrieved 23 September 2014 Bryant 2007 p 290 Rao Shanta Rameshwar 2005 Krishna New Delhi Orient Longman p 108 ISBN 978 8125026969 D Dennis Hudson 2008 The Body of God An Emperor s Palace for Krishna in Eighth Century Kanchipuram An Emperor s Palace for Krishna in Eighth Century Kanchipuram Oxford University Press pp 263 264 ISBN 978 0 19 970902 1 Retrieved 28 March 2013 D Dennis Hudson 2008 The Body of God An Emperor s Palace for Krishna in Eighth Century Kanchipuram An Emperor s Palace for Krishna in Eighth Century Kanchipuram Oxford University Press pp 102 103 263 273 ISBN 978 0 19 970902 1 Retrieved 28 March 2013 George Mason Williams 2008 Handbook of Hindu Mythology Oxford University Press pp 188 222 ISBN 978 0 19 533261 2 Retrieved 10 March 2013 Rosen 2006 p 136 John Stratton Hawley Donna Marie Wulff 1982 The Divine Consort Radha and the Goddesses of India Motilal Banarsidass Publisher p 12 ISBN 978 0 89581 102 8 Quote The regional texts vary in the identity of Krishna s wife consort some presenting it as Rukmini some as Radha some as Svaminiji some adding all gopis and some identifying all to be different aspects or manifestation of one Devi Lakshmi Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita by Robert N Minor in Bryant 2007 pp 77 79 Jeaneane D Fowler 2012 The Bhagavad Gita A Text and Commentary for Students Sussex Academic Press pp 1 7 ISBN 978 1 84519 520 5 Eknath Easwaran 2007 The Bhagavad Gita Classics of Indian Spirituality Nilgiri Press pp 21 59 ISBN 978 1 58638 019 9 Bryant 2007 p 148 Mani Vettam 1975 Puranic Encyclopaedia A Comprehensive Dictionary With Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature Delhi Motilal Banarsidass p 429 ISBN 978 0 8426 0822 0 Edwin Bryant 2003 Krishna The Beautiful Legend of God Srimad Bhagavata Purana Penguin pp 417 418 ISBN 978 0 14 191337 7 Largen Kristin Johnston 2011 Baby Krishna Infant Christ A Comparative Theology of Salvation Orbis Books p 44 ISBN 978 1 60833 018 8 Matchett 2001 pp 9 14 145 149 Benjamin Preciado Solis 1984 The Kṛṣṇa Cycle in the Puraṇas Themes and Motifs in a Heroic Saga Motilal Banarsidass p 40 ISBN 978 0 89581 226 1 Quote Within a period of four or five centuries around the start of the common era we encounter our major sources of information all in different versions The Mahabharata the Harivamsa the Visnu Purana the Ghata Jataka and the Bala Carita all appear between the first and the fifth century AD and each of them represents a tradition of a Krsna cycle different from the others Matchett 2001 pp 44 49 63 64 145 Matchett 2001 pp 89 104 146 Rocher 1986 pp 18 245 249 Matchett 2001 pp 108 115 146 147 Matchett 2001 pp 145 149 Rocher 1986 pp 138 149 Gaura Purnima Mahotsava By International Society for Krishna Consciousness ISKCON City Guwahati Sentinelassam 18 March 2019 Retrieved 30 January 2020 Alfred Ford on mission to fund biggest temple City Hyderabad Telanganatoday 14 October 2019 Retrieved 30 January 2020 Benjamin E Zeller 2010 Prophets and Protons New York University Press ISBN 978 0814797211 pp 77 79 Knott 2000 Beck Guy 2012 Alternative Krishnas Regional And Vernacular Variations on a Hindu Deity Suny Press pp 4 5 ISBN 978 0 7914 8341 1 Sangave 2001 p 104 Zimmer 1953 p 226 Hermann Kulke Dietmar Rothermund 2004 A History of India Routledge p 149 ISBN 978 0 415 32920 0 Bryant 2007 pp 329 334 Francis X Clooney Sharma B N Krishnamurti 2000 A History of the Dvaita School of Vedanta and Its Literature Motilal Banarsidass pp 514 516 ISBN 978 8120815759 Bryant 2007 pp 358 365 Deepak Sarma a b Ramnarace 2014 Tripurari Swami The Life of Sri Jiva Goswami Harmonist Archived from the original on 24 March 2013 Bryant 2007 pp 373 378 Satyanarayana Dasa Jindel Rajendra 1976 Culture of a Sacred Town A Sociological Study of Nathdwara Popular Prakashan pp 34 37 ISBN 978 8171540402 Bryant 2007 pp 479 480 Richard Barz William R Pinch 1996 Soldier Monks and Militant Sadhus In David Ludden ed Contesting the Nation University of Pennsylvania Press pp 148 150 ISBN 978 0 8122 1585 4 Johannes de Kruijf and Ajaya Sahoo 2014 Indian Transnationalism Online New Perspectives on Diaspora ISBN 978 1 4724 1913 2 p 105 Quote In other words according to Adi Shankara s argument the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta stood over and above all other forms of Hinduism and encapsulated them This then united Hinduism Another of Adi Shankara s important undertakings which contributed to the unification of Hinduism was his founding of a number of monastic centers Shankara Student s Encyclopaedia Britannica India 2000 Volume 4 Encyclopaedia Britannica UK Publishing ISBN 978 0 85229 760 5 p 379 Quote Shankaracharya philosopher and theologian most renowned exponent of the Advaita Vedanta school of philosophy from whose doctrines the main currents of modern Indian thought are derived David Crystal 2004 The Penguin Encyclopedia Penguin Books p 1353 Quote Shankara is the most famous exponent of Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy and the source of the main currents of modern Hindu thought Christophe Jaffrelot 1998 The Hindu Nationalist Movement in India Columbia University Press ISBN 978 0 231 10335 0 p 2 Quote The main current of Hinduism if not the only one which became formalized in a way that approximates to an ecclesiastical structure was that of Shankara Bryant 2007 pp 313 318 Lance Nelson Sheridan 1986 pp 1 2 17 25 Kumar Das 2006 pp 172 173 Brown 1983 pp 553 557 Tracy Pintchman 1994 The rise of the Goddess in the Hindu Tradition State University of New York Press ISBN 978 0791421123 pp 132 134 Sheridan 1986 pp 17 21 John Stratton Hawley 2014 Krishna The Butter Thief Princeton University Press pp 10 170 ISBN 978 1 4008 5540 7 Krishna Hindu Deity Encyclopaedia Britannica 2015 John M Koller 2016 The Indian Way An Introduction to the Philosophies amp Religions of India Routledge pp 210 215 ISBN 978 1 315 50740 8 Vaudeville Ch 1962 Evolution of Love Symbolism in Bhagavatism Journal of the American Oriental Society 82 1 31 40 doi 10 2307 595976 JSTOR 595976 John M Koller 2016 The Indian Way An Introduction to the Philosophies amp Religions of India Routledge p 210 ISBN 978 1 315 50740 8 a b c Juan Mascaro 1962 The Bhagavad Gita Penguin pp xxvi xxviii ISBN 978 0 14 044918 1 a b Georg Feuerstein Brenda Feuerstein 2011 The Bhagavad Gita A New Translation Shambhala Publications pp ix xi ISBN 978 1 59030 893 6 Nicholas F Gier 2004 The Virtue of Nonviolence From Gautama to Gandhi State University of New York Press pp 36 40 ISBN 978 0 7914 5949 2 John Dowson 2003 Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion Geography History and Literature Kessinger Publishing p 361 ISBN 978 0 7661 7589 1 See Beck Guy Introduction in Beck 2005 pp 1 18 Knott 2000 p 55 Flood 1996 p 117 a b See McDaniel June Folk Vaishnavism and Ṭhakur Pancayat Life and status among village Krishna statues in Beck 2005 p 39 a b Kennedy M T 1925 The Chaitanya Movement A Study of the Vaishnavism of Bengal H Milford Oxford university press Indian Philosophy amp Culture Volume 20 Institute of Oriental Philosophy Vrindavan India Institute of Oriental Philosophy Vaishnava Research Institute contributors The Institute 1975 p 148 On the touch stone of this definition of the final and positive characteristic of Sri Krsna as the Highest Divinity as Svayam rupa Bhagavan a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint others link Delmonico N The History Of Indic Monotheism And Modern Chaitanya Vaishnavism in Bryant amp Ekstrand 2004 De S K 1960 Bengal s contribution to Sanskrit literature amp studies in Bengal Vaisnavism KL Mukhopadhyaya p 113 The Bengal School identifies the Bhagavat with Krishna depicted in the Shrimad Bhagavata and presents him as its highest personal God Bryant 2007 p 381 Vaishnava encyclopedia Division of Religion and Philosophy University of Cumbria Archived from the original on 12 February 2012 Retrieved 13 October 2008 University of Cumbria website Retrieved 21 May 2008 Graham M Schweig 2005 Dance of Divine Love The Rڄasa Lڄilڄa of Krishna from the Bhڄagavata Purڄa na India s classic sacred love story Princeton N J Princeton University Press Front Matter ISBN 978 0 691 11446 0 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 Gopala Understanding the Essence of Krishna as a Cowherd Isha Sadhguru 5 August 2014 Retrieved 30 June 2021 Klostermaier Klaus K 2005 A Survey of Hinduism State University of New York Press 3 edition pp 203 204 ISBN 978 0 7914 7081 7 Present day Krishna worship is an amalgam of various elements According to historical testimonies Krishna Vasudeva worship already flourished in and around Mathura several centuries before Christ A second important element is the cult of Krishna Govinda Still later is the worship of Bala Krishna the Child Krishna a quite prominent feature of modern Krishnaism The last element seems to have been Krishna Gopijanavallabha Krishna the lover of the Gopis among whom Radha occupies a special position In some books Krishna is presented as the founder and first teacher of the Bhagavata religion Basham A L May 1968 Review Krishna Myths Rites and Attitudes by Milton Singer Daniel H H Ingalls The Journal of Asian Studies 27 3 667 670 doi 10 2307 2051211 JSTOR 2051211 S2CID 161458918 Couture Andre 2006 The emergence of a group of four characters Vasudeva Samkarsana Pradyumna and Aniruddha in the Harivamsa points for consideration Journal of Indian Philosophy 34 6 571 585 doi 10 1007 s10781 006 9009 x S2CID 170133349 Eschmann Kulke amp Tripathi 1978 Hardy 1987 pp 387 392 Starza 1993 Misra 2005 chapter 9 Jagannathism Misra 2005 p 97 chapter 9 Jagannathism Starza 1993 p 76 Bryant 2007 pp 139 141 a b Klostermaier K 1974 The Bhaktirasamrtasindhubindu of Visvanatha Cakravartin Journal of the American Oriental Society 94 1 96 107 doi 10 2307 599733 JSTOR 599733 Jacobsen Knut A ed 2005 Theory And Practice of Yoga Essays in Honour of Gerald James Larson Brill Academic Publishers p 351 ISBN 978 90 04 14757 7 Christopher Key Chapple Editor and Winthrop Sargeant Translator The Bhagavad Gita Twenty fifth Anniversary Edition State University of New York Press ISBN 978 1438428420 pp 302 303 318 Vaudeville C 1962 Evolution of Love Symbolism in Bhagavatism Journal of the American Oriental Society 82 1 31 40 doi 10 2307 595976 JSTOR 595976 Bowen Paul 1998 Themes and issues in Hinduism London Cassell pp 64 65 ISBN 978 0 304 33851 1 Radhakrisnasarma C 1975 Landmarks in Telugu Literature A Short Survey of Telugu Literature Lakshminarayana Granthamala Sisir Kumar Das 2005 A History of Indian Literature 500 1399 From Courtly to the Popular Sahitya Akademi p 49 ISBN 978 81 260 2171 0 Schomer amp McLeod 1987 pp 1 2 Nimbarka Encyclopaedia Britannica Basu 1932 The religious system of the Mahanubhava sect by Anne Feldhaus Manohar publications Delhi 1983 Toffin 2012 pp 249 254 Thiruppavai Ibiblio Retrieved 24 May 2013 Desika Vedanta Gopala Vimshati Ibiblio Sripedia Retrieved 23 May 2013 Jaganathan Maithily 2005 Sri Krishna Jayanti South Indian Hindu festivals and traditions 1st ed New Delhi Abhinav Publication pp 104 105 ISBN 978 81 7017 415 8 Bryant 2013 p 42 sfn error no target CITEREFBryant2013 help Alanna Kaivalya 2014 Sacred Sound Discovering the Myth and Meaning of Mantra and Kirtan New World ISBN 978 1608682430 pp 153 154 Srila Prabhupada He Built a House in which the whole world can live in peace Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami Bhaktivedanta Book Trust 1984 ISBN 0 89213 133 0 p xv a b c Charles Brooks 1989 The Hare Krishnas in India Princeton University Press ISBN 978 8120809390 pp 83 85 Peter Lavezzoli 2006 The Dawn of Indian Music in the West Continuum ISBN 0 8264 2819 3 p 195 Peter Clarke 2005 Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements Routledge ISBN 978 0415267076 p 308 Quote There they captured the imagination of The Beatles particularly George Harrison who helped them produce a chart topping record of the Hare Krishna mantra 1969 and Brian A Hatcher 2015 Hinduism in the Modern World Routledge pp 118 119 ISBN 978 1 135 04631 6 a b c John Guy 2014 Lost Kingdoms Hindu Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia Metropolitan Museum of Art pp 17 146 148 ISBN 978 1 58839 524 5 Anne Valerie Schweyer Paisarn Piemmettawat 2011 Viet Nam ancien histoire arts archeologie Editions Olizane p 388 ISBN 978 2 88086 396 8 a b Marijke J Klokke 2000 pp 19 23 Subhadradis Diskul M C Jean Boisselier 1997 Natasha Eilenberg Robert L Brown eds Living a life in accord with Dhamma papers in honor of professor Jean Boisselier on his eightieth birthday Silpakorn University pp 191 204 Triguṇa Mpu Suwito Santoso 1986 Krĕṣṇayana The Krĕṣṇa Legend in Indonesia IAIC OCLC 15488486 Marijke J Klokke 2000 pp 19 23 for reliefs details see 24 41 John Guy Pierre Baptiste Lawrence Becker et al 2014 Lost Kingdoms Hindu Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia Yale University Press pp 222 223 ISBN 978 0 300 20437 7 Beck 1993 pp 107 108 PV Kane History of Sanskrit Poetics Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 978 8120802742 2015 Reprint pp 10 41 Varadpande 1987 pp 92 94 Vemsani Lavanya 2016 Music and Krishna Krishna in history thought and culture California ABC Clio LLC pp 179 180 ISBN 978 1 61069 210 6 Graham Schweig 2007 Encyclopedia of Love in World Religions Editor Yudit Kornberg Greenberg Volume 1 ISBN 978 1851099801 pp 247 249 Varadpande 1987 pp 95 97 Varadpande 1987 p 98 Zarrilli P B 2000 Kathakali Dance Drama Where Gods and Demons Come to Play Routledge p 246 Archer 2004 Explained What is a Palliyodam and why a Kerala actor was arrested for photoshoot on it thenewsminute Retrieved 13 September 2021 Jaini P S 1993 Jaina Puranas A Puranic Counter Tradition ISBN 978 0 7914 1381 4 Upinder Singh 2016 p 26 See Jerome H Bauer Hero of Wonders Hero in Deeds Vasudeva Krishna in Jaina Cosmohistory in Beck 2005 pp 167 169 Cort J E 1993 Wendy Doniger ed An Overview of the Jaina Puranas in Purana Perennis pp 220 233 ISBN 978 1 4384 0136 2 Helmuth von Glasenapp 1999 Jainism An Indian Religion of Salvation Motilal Banarsidass pp 316 318 ISBN 978 81 208 1376 2 a b Cort J E 1993 Wendy Doniger ed An Overview of the Jaina Puranas in Purana Perennis p 191 ISBN 978 1 4384 0136 2 Jeffery D Long 2009 Jainism An Introduction I B Tauris p 42 ISBN 978 1 84511 625 5 Andhakavenhu Puttaa www vipassana info Retrieved 15 June 2008 a b Law B C 1941 India as Described in Early Texts of Buddhism and Jainism Luzac pp 99 101 Jaiswal S 1974 Historical Evolution of the Ram Legend Social Scientist 21 3 4 89 97 doi 10 2307 3517633 JSTOR 3517633 G P Malalasekera 2003 Dictionary of Pali Proper Names Asian Educational Services p 439 ISBN 978 81 206 1823 7 a b H T Francis E J Thomas 1916 Jataka Tales Cambridge University Press Reprinted 2014 pp 314 324 ISBN 978 1 107 41851 6 Gunapala Piyasena Malalasekera 2007 Dictionary of Pali Proper Names A Dh Motilal Banarsidass pp 825 826 ISBN 978 81 208 3021 9 a b E B Cowell WHD Rouse 1901 The Jataka Or Stories of the Buddha s Former Births Cambridge University Press p 57 Daniel E Bassuk 1987 Incarnation in Hinduism and Christianity The Myth of the God Man Palgrave Macmillan p 40 ISBN 978 1 349 08642 9 Edward Geoffrey Parrinder 1997 Avatar and Incarnation The Divine in Human Form in the World s Religions Oxford Oneworld pp 19 24 35 38 75 78 130 133 ISBN 978 1 85168 130 3 Shahar Meir 2015 Oedipal god the Chinese Nezha and his Indian origins Honolulu ISBN 978 0 8248 4760 9 OCLC 899138008 Shen Xuezheng Li Jingwen Zhang Yunzhuo Liu Shanshan Hong Jangsun Lee Jongyoon 31 March 2020 Devil or God Image Transformation of Chinese Mythology Character Nezha 1927 2019 Cartoon and Animation Studies 58 159 200 doi 10 7230 KOSCAS 2020 58 159 ISSN 1738 009X S2CID 219661006 info sikh com Diese Website steht zum Verkauf Informationen zum Thema info sikh ww1 info sikh com DuPertuis Lucy 1986 How People Recognize Charisma The Case of Darshan in Radhasoami and Divine Light Mission Sociological Analysis Oxford University Press 47 2 111 124 doi 10 2307 3711456 JSTOR 3711456 Smith Peter 2000 Manifestations of God A concise encyclopedia of the Baha i Faith Oxford Oneworld Publications p 231 ISBN 978 1 85168 184 6 Esslemont J E 1980 Baha u llah and the New Era 5th ed Wilmette Illinois Bahaʼi Publishing Trust p 2 ISBN 978 0 87743 160 2 Siddiq amp Ahmad 1995 Enforced Apostasy Zaheeruddin v State and the Official Persecution of the Ahmadiyya Community in Pakistan Law amp Inequality Volume 14 pp 275 324 Minahan James 2012 Ethnic groups of South Asia and the Pacific An Encyclopedia Santa Barbara California ABC CLIO pp 6 8 ISBN 978 1 59884 659 1 Burhani A N 2013 Treating minorities with fatwas a study of the Ahmadiyya community in Indonesia Contemporary Islam Volume 8 Issue 3 pp 285 301 Cormack Margaret 2013 Muslims and Others in Sacred Space Oxford University Press pp 104 105 Harvey D A 2003 Beyond Enlightenment Occultism Politics and Culture in France from the Old Regime to the Fin de Siecle The Historian 65 3 665 694 doi 10 1111 1540 6563 00035 S2CID 143606373 Schure Edouard 1992 Great Initiates A Study of the Secret History of Religions Garber Communications ISBN 978 0 89345 228 5 See for example Hanegraaff Wouter J 1996 New Age Religion and Western Culture Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought Brill Publishers p 390 ISBN 978 90 04 10696 3 Hammer Olav 2004 Claiming Knowledge Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age Brill Publishers pp 62 174 ISBN 978 90 04 13638 0 and Ellwood Robert S 1986 Theosophy A Modern Expression of the Wisdom of the Ages Quest Books p 139 ISBN 978 0 8356 0607 3 Crowley associated Krishna with Roman god Dionysus and Magickal formulae IAO AUM and INRI See Crowley Aleister 1991 Liber Aleph Weiser Books p 71 ISBN 978 0 87728 729 2 and Crowley Aleister 1980 The Book of Lies Red Wheels pp 24 25 ISBN 978 0 87728 516 8 Apiryon Tau Apiryon 1995 Mystery of Mystery A Primer of Thelemic Ecclesiastical Gnosticism Berkeley Red Flame ISBN 978 0 9712376 1 2 General and cited ources Archer W G 2004 1957 The Loves of Krishna in Indian Painting and Poetry Mineola NY Dover Publ ISBN 0 486 43371 4 Basu M M 1932 The Post Caitanya Sahajiya Cult of Bengal Calcutta University of Calcutta Press Beck Guy L 1993 Sonic Theology Hinduism and Sacred Sound Studies in Comparative Religion Columbia SC University of South Carolina Press ISBN 0872498557 Beck Guy L ed 2005 Alternative Krishnas Regional and Vernacular Variations on a Hindu Deity Albany NY SUNY Press ISBN 978 0 7914 6415 1 Brown C Mackenzie 1983 The Origin and Transmission of the Two Bhagavata Puraṇas A Canonical and Theological Dilemma Journal of the American Academy of Religion 51 4 551 567 doi 10 1093 jaarel li 4 551 JSTOR 1462581 Bryant Edwin F Ekstrand Maria 2004 The Hare Krishna Movement The Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant New York Columbia University Press ISBN 978 0 231 50843 8 Bryant Edwin F 2004 Krishna the beautiful legend of God Penguin ISBN 978 0 14 044799 6 Bryant Edwin F 2007 Krishna A Sourcebook Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 514891 6 Dimmitt Cornelia van Buitenen J A B 2012 Classical Hindu Mythology A Reader in the Sanskrit Puranas Temple University Press 1st Edition 1977 ISBN 978 1 4399 0464 0 Doniger Wendy 1993 Purana Perennis Reciprocity and Transformation in Hindu and Jaina Texts SUNY Press ISBN 978 0 7914 1381 4 Eschmann Anncharlott Kulke Hermann Tripathi Gaya Charan eds 1978 Rev ed 2014 The Cult of Jagannath and the regional tradition of Orissa South Asian Studies 8 New Delhi Manohar ISBN 978 8173046179 Flood Galvin D 1996 An Introduction to Hinduism Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 43878 0 Gaurangapada Swami Sixty four qualities of Sri Krishna Nitaaiveda Nitaiiveda Archived from the original on 30 August 2013 Retrieved 24 May 2013 Goswami S D 1995 The Qualities of Sri Krsna GNPress ISBN 978 0 911233 64 3 Archived from the original on 18 May 2015 Hardy Friedhelm E 1987 Kṛṣṇaism In Mircea Eliade ed The Encyclopedia of Religion Vol 8 New York MacMillan pp 387 392 ISBN 978 0 02897 135 3 via Encyclopedia com Hardy Friedhelm E 1981 Viraha Bhakti The Early Development of Kṛṣṇa Devotion in South India Oxford University South Asian Studies Series New York Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 564916 8 Hawley John Stratton 2020 Krishna s Playground Vrindavan in the 21st Century New York Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0190123987 Irwin John 1974 The Heliodorus Pillar at Besanagar Puratattva Archaeological Society of India co published Art and Archaeology Research Papers USA 8 166 176 Khare M D 1967 Discovery of a Vishnu temple near the Heliodorus pillar Besnagar Dist Vidisha MP Lalit Kala 13 21 27 JSTOR 44138838 Khare M D 1975 The Heliodorus Pillar A Fresh Appraisal A Rejoinder Proceedings of the Indian History Congress 36 92 97 JSTOR 44138838 Misra Narayan 2005 Durga Nandan Mishra ed Annals and Antiquities of the Temple of Jagannatha New Delhi Sarup amp Sons ISBN 81 7625 747 8 Shah Natubhai 2004 First published in 1998 Jainism The World of Conquerors vol I Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 978 81 208 1938 2 Singh Upinder 2016 A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India From the Stone Age to the 12th Century Pearson Education ISBN 978 93 325 6996 6 The Mahabharata of Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli published between 1883 and 1896 The Vishnu Purana translated by H H Wilson 1840 The Srimad Bhagavatam translated by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada 1988 copyright Bhaktivedanta Book Trust Knott Kim 2000 Hinduism A Very Short Introduction Oxford University Press p 160 ISBN 978 0 19 285387 5 The Jataka or Stories of the Buddha s Former Births edited by E B Cowell 1895 Matchett Freda 2001 Kṛṣṇa Lord or Avatara Routledge ISBN 978 0 7007 1281 6 Sangave Vilas Adinath 2001 Facets of Jainology Selected Research Papers on Jain Society Religion and Culture Mumbai Popular Prakashan ISBN 978 81 7154 839 2 Susan V Mishra Himanshu P Ray 2017 The Archaeology of Sacred Spaces Routledge ISBN 978 1 138 67920 7 Garuda Pillar of Besnagar Archaeological Survey of India Annual Report 1908 1909 Calcutta Superintendent of Government Printing 1912 129 Marijke J Klokke 2000 Narrative Sculpture and Literary Traditions in South and Southeast Asia Brill ISBN 978 90 04 11865 2 Kumar Das Sisir 2006 A history of Indian literature 500 1399 Sahitya Akademi ISBN 978 81 260 2171 0 Ramnarace Vijay 2014 Radha Kṛṣṇa s Vedantic Debut Chronology amp Rationalisation in the Nimbarka Sampradaya PDF PhD thesis University of Edinburgh Archived PDF from the original on 9 October 2022 Rocher Ludo 1986 The Puranas Otto Harrassowitz Verlag ISBN 978 3 447 02522 5 Rosen Steven 2006 Essential Hinduism New York Praeger ISBN 978 0 275 99006 0 Schomer Karine McLeod W H eds 1987 The Sants Studies in a Devotional Tradition of India Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 978 8120802773 Sheridan Daniel 1986 The Advaitic Theism of the Bhagavata Puraṇa Columbia Mo South Asia Books ISBN 978 81 208 0179 0 Starza O M 1993 The Jagannatha Temple at Puri Its Architecture Art and Cult Studies in South Asian culture 15 Leiden New York Koln Brill ISBN 90 04 09673 6 Sutton Nicholas 2000 Religious doctrines in the Mahabharata Motilal Banarsidass Publ p 477 ISBN 978 81 208 1700 5 Toffin Gerard 2012 The Power of Boundaries Transnational Links among Krishna Pranamis of India and Nepal In John Zavos et al eds Public Hinduisms New Delhi Sage Publ India pp 249 254 ISBN 978 81 321 1696 7 Valpey Kenneth R 2006 Attending Kṛṣṇa s image Caitanya Vaiṣṇava murti seva as devotional truth New York Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 38394 3 History of Indian Theatre By M L Varadpande Chapter Theatre of Krishna pp 231 94 Published 1991 Abhinav Publications ISBN 81 7017 278 0 Varadpande Manohar Laxman 1987 History of Indian theatre Vol 3 Abhinav Publications ISBN 978 81 7017 221 5 Zimmer Heinrich 1953 1952 Campbell Joseph ed Philosophies Of India London Routledge amp Kegan Paul Ltd ISBN 978 81 208 0739 6Further readingBrown Sara Black 2014 Krishna Christians and Colors The Socially Binding Influence of Kirtan Singing at a Utah Hare Krishna Festiva Ethnomusicology 58 3 454 480 doi 10 5406 ethnomusicology 58 3 0454 JSTOR 10 5406 ethnomusicology 58 3 0454 Case Margaret H 2000 Seeing Krishna The Religious World of a Brahman Family in Vrindavan New York Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 513010 3 Crooke W March 1900 The Legends of Krishna Folklore 11 1 1 42 doi 10 1080 0015587X 1900 9720517 JSTOR 1253142 Hudson Dennis 1980 Bathing in Krishna A Study in Vaiṣṇava Hindu Theology The Harvard Theological Review 73 3 4 539 566 doi 10 1017 S0017816000002315 JSTOR 1509739 S2CID 162804501 External linksKrishna at Wikipedia s sister projects Media from Commons Quotations from Wikiquote Texts from Wikisource Data from Wikidata Portals Hinduism India Religion Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Krishna amp oldid 1129426977, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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