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Krishna (/ˈkrɪʃnə/;[13] 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.[14] He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love;[15][1] and is widely revered among Hindu divinities.[16] 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.[17][18][19]
The anecdotes and narratives of Krishna's life are generally titled as Krishna Līlā. He is a central figure 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.[20] They portray him in various perspectives: as a god-child, a prankster, a model lover, a divine hero, and the universal supreme being.[21] 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.[22]
The name and synonyms of Krishna have been traced to 1st millennium BCE literature and cults.[23] In some sub-traditions, like Krishnaism, Krishna is worshipped as the Supreme God and Svayam Bhagavan (God Himself). These sub-traditions arose in the context of the medieval era Bhakti movement.[24][25] Krishna-related literature has inspired numerous performance arts such as Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Odissi, and Manipuri dance.[26][27] He is a pan-Hindu god, but is particularly revered in some locations, such as Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh,[28] Dwarka and Junagadh in Gujarat; the Jagannatha aspect in Odisha, Mayapur in West Bengal;[24][29][30] in the form of Vithoba in Pandharpur, Maharashtra, Shrinathji at Nathdwara in Rajasthan,[24][31] Udupi Krishna in Karnataka,[32] Parthasarathy in Tamil Nadu and in Aranmula, Kerala, and Guruvayoorappan in Guruvayoor in Kerala.[33] 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).[34]
The name "Krishna" originates from the Sanskrit word Kṛṣṇa, which is primarily an adjective meaning "black", "dark", or "dark blue".[35] The waning moon is called Krishna Paksha, relating to the adjective meaning "darkening".[35]
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",[36] Keev "prankster", and Gopala "Protector of the 'Go'", which means "soul" or "the cows".[37][38] 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.[39][40][41]
Around 180 BCE, the Indo-Greek king Agathocles issued some coinage (discovered in Ai-Khanoum, Afghanistan) bearing images of deities that are now interpreted as being related to Vaisnava imagery in India.[46][47] 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.[46][48] According to Bopearachchi, the headdress of the deity is actually a misrepresentation of a shaft with a half-moon parasol on top (chattra).[46]
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.[57]
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.[58][59][60]
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.[61][62]
The earliest text containing detailed descriptions of Krishna as a personality is the epic Mahabharata, which depicts Krishna as an incarnation of Vishnu.[64] 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.
During the ancient times that the Bhagavad Gita was composed in, Krishna was widely seen as an avatar of Vishnu rather than an individual deity, yet he was immensely powerful and almost everything in the universe other than Vishnu was "somehow present in the body of Krishna".[65] Krishna had "no beginning or end", "fill[ed] space", and every god but Vishnu was seen as ultimately him, including Brahma, "storm gods, sun gods, bright gods", light gods, "and gods of ritual."[65] Other forces also existed in his body, such as "hordes of varied creatures" that included "celestial serpents."[65] He is also "the essence of humanity."[65]
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.[72] Shatapatha Brahmana and Aitareya-Aranyaka associate Krishna with his Vrishni origins.[73]
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.[74][75][76]
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.[77] 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".[77] 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.[77]
The Buddhist Pali canon and the Ghata-Jtaka (No. 454) polemically mention the devotees of Vsudeva and Baladeva. These texts have many peculiarities and may be a garbled and confused version of the Krishna legends.[78] 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.[79][80]
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.[77][81]
Krishna is represented in the Indian traditions in many ways, but with some common features.[89] His iconography typically depicts him with black, dark, or blue skin, like Vishnu.[90] 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.[91][92] In some texts, his skin is poetically described as the color of Jambul (Jamun, a purple-colored fruit).[93]
Krishna is often depicted wearing a peacock-feather wreath or crown, and playing the bansuri (Indian flute).[94][95] 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.[96]
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),[100] holding Laddu in his hand (Laddu Gopal)[101][102] or as a cosmic infant sucking his toe while floating on a banyan leaf during the Pralaya (the cosmic dissolution) observed by sage Markandeya.[103] Regional variations in the iconography of Krishna are seen in his different forms, such as Jaganatha in Odisha, Vithoba in Maharashtra,[104] Shrinathji in Rajasthan[105] and Guruvayoorappan in Kerala.[106]