Krishna and Balarama were born to Vasudeva and Devaki in Kamsa's prison. Krishna was spirited across the Yamuna to safety that same night, while Balarama's embryo had already been transferred by Yogamaya from Devaki's womb to Rohini's.
Nanda and Yashoda raised Krishna as their own in Vrindavan, never knowing his true parentage. When Yashoda peered into the child's mouth to check for dirt, she saw the entire cosmos spinning within — and then Vishnu's maya made her forget.
Rukmini, incarnation of Lakshmi, is Krishna's principal queen at Dwarka — he abducted her at her own plea to save her from marriage to Shishupala. Their son Pradyumna, born as Kamadeva reincarnate, continued the Yadava line.
Radha is Krishna's eternal beloved in Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. Their love in Vrindavan, celebrated in Jayadeva's Gita Govinda, represents the supreme expression of divine love (prema).
⚠ The Brahma Vaivarta Purana describes a formal marriage between Radha and Krishna, while the Gita Govinda and most devotional poetry present their love as parakiya (extra-marital), with Radha married to another.
Krishna won Satyabhama's hand after recovering the Syamantaka gem and clearing himself of the murder of Prasena. She rode with him to battle Narakasura and accompanied him to heaven to steal the Parijata tree for her garden.
Krishna is Vishnu's eighth avatar, born in Mathura to destroy the tyrant Kamsa. He revealed the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra and guided the Pandavas to victory.
Agni, consumed by hunger, beseeched Arjuna and Krishna for aid in devouring the Khandava forest, and together they held off Indra's storms and the forest's defenders until every tree and creature was consumed.
Krishna took no weapons at Kurukshetra but chose instead to drive Arjuna's chariot, and when the warrior's resolve shattered between the two armies, Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita from that chariot seat, revealing the path of dharma that turned trembling into terrible purpose.
Krishna guided the Pandavas throughout the war. He signaled to Bhima to strike Duryodhana's thighs during their duel and defended Bhima against Balarama's curse.
Krishna was Draupadi's sakha — her divine friend and protector throughout the Mahabharata. When the Kauravas tried to strip her in court, he miraculously extended her sari endlessly, and he remained her unfailing advocate from exile through war.
Krishna pledged himself unarmed as Arjuna's charioteer and counseled the Pandavas through every crisis — from the failed peace embassy to Hastinapura through the eighteen days of war at Kurukshetra, where he revealed the Bhagavad Gita on the battlefield.
Krishna served as Yudhishthira's principal advisor throughout the Mahabharata. He counseled the Pandava king on war strategy and dharmic dilemmas, guiding the Pandavas to victory at Kurukshetra.
Ashwatthama launched the Brahmastra at the unborn Pandava heir after the war. Krishna intervened, cursing Ashwatthama to wander immortally and reviving the child Parikshit in Uttara's womb.
Duryodhana rejected Krishna's peace embassy before Kurukshetra and attempted to bind him in chains, provoking Krishna to reveal his cosmic form. Krishna guided the Pandavas to victory against Duryodhana's forces.
Kamsa imprisoned his cousin Devaki and her husband Vasudeva, murdering their newborns one by one to prevent the prophecy that her eighth son would destroy him. Krishna, that eighth son, was smuggled to safety at birth and grew up in hiding before returning to Mathura to fulfill the prophecy.
Krishna killed his uncle Kamsa in Mathura's wrestling arena, dragging him from his throne and slaying him barehanded, fulfilling the prophecy that Devaki's eighth son would be Kamsa's destroyer.
Krishna and Satyabhama flew to Pragjyotisha on Garuda and slew the demon king Narakasura, who had imprisoned sixteen thousand captive women and stolen Aditi's earrings from heaven.
The infant Krishna killed the demoness Putana by draining her life-force as she attempted to poison him with her breast milk. Kamsa had sent Putana to destroy the child.
At Yudhishthira's Rajasuya sacrifice, Shishupala hurled a hundred insults at Krishna — the limit Krishna had once promised his aunt to endure. At the hundred-and-first, the Sudarshana Chakra left Krishna's hand and took Shishupala's head.
Krishna ruled Dwarka as its king after leaving Mathura. The golden city, built on an island in the western sea, was submerged after the Yadava clan's destruction and Krishna's departure.
Krishna is the eighth avatar of the Dashavatara, the most complete and celebrated descent of Vishnu — born in full divine glory to destroy Kamsa and guide humanity through the Bhagavad Gita's revelation of dharma.
Krishna stormed Svarga and uprooted the Parijata tree to fulfill Satyabhama's wish, battling Indra's forces before carrying the divine tree back to Dvaraka.
Rukmini was to be married to Shishupala at her brother Rukmi's arrangement, but she secretly dispatched a brahmin with a letter to Krishna, begging him to carry her away. Krishna arrived at the temple of Ambika where Rukmini was praying, swept her onto his chariot, and fought off the assembled kings who pursued them.
When Krishna was born in Kamsa's prison, he revealed his four-armed Vishnu form to Devaki and Vasudeva, then shrank to an ordinary infant so Vasudeva could carry him across the flooding Yamuna to Gokula.
Krishna charged at Bhishma with a chariot wheel at Kurukshetra, nearly breaking his vow not to bear arms, when Bhishma was devastating the Pandava army. Bhishma welcomed the prospect of dying at Krishna's hands.
Durga as Yogamaya assisted Krishna's birth by being born simultaneously as Yashoda's daughter and swapped with the infant Krishna. When Kamsa tried to kill her, she revealed her divine form as the eight-armed Goddess and warned him that his destroyer had already been born.
After the Yadavas destroyed themselves in drunken fratricidal violence at Prabhasa and Krishna departed from the world, the ocean rose and swallowed Dwarka whole — the golden city vanishing beneath the waves as if it had never existed.
Krishna humbled Indra by lifting Mount Govardhan to shelter the villagers of Vrindavan from Indra's wrathful rainstorm.
The boy Krishna leapt into the Yamuna and danced atop the many-hooded serpent Kaliya, forcing the poisonous Naga to submit and banishing him from the river whose waters he had blackened with venom.
Krishna revealed to Karna before the war that he was Kunti's firstborn and rightful heir to the Pandava throne. Karna refused to switch sides, choosing loyalty to Duryodhana over his blood claim.
Krishna delivered the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, serving as his charioteer during the great war.
Krishna obtained Panchajanya from the body of the sea-demon Panchajana, whom he slew in the ocean depths while searching for his guru Sandipani's son, and sounded the conch before the Battle of Kurukshetra to shatter the courage of the Kauravas.
When Shishupala hurled his hundredth insult at the Rajasuya sacrifice, Krishna released the Sudarshana Chakra without a word — the blazing discus beheaded the Chedi king mid-sentence and returned to Krishna's hand.
Yashoda tried to bind the butter-thieving child Krishna to a heavy mortar, but each length of rope fell two fingers short no matter how much she added. Seeing her exhaustion and devotion, Krishna at last allowed the rope to hold — the supreme god bound by a mortal mother's love.
We use cookies to understand how you use our site and improve your experience. Learn more