The Birth of the Enchanting God, Krishna!!

Ideally, this post should have come in later, when I post stories of the Ten Avatars of Lord Vishnu. But, here it comes before all, the birth of my favorite and enchanting little God!!

Lord Krishna, the Tenth Avatar of Lord Vishnu, is synonymous with beauty & love. The Hindu scriptures would be incomplete without a mention about this Avatar of Lord Vishnu, since The Bhagavad Gita, Holy Book of the Hindus, was given to us by Lord Krishna. 

The Birth of Krishna

Ugrasena, the king of Mathura, had a brother by name, Devaka. Ugrasena had a son by name Kamsa and Devaka was blessed with a daughter, Devaki. From his childhood, Kamsa had an inherent affection towards Devaki, his beloved younger sister.

When Devaki got married to Vasudeva, Kamsa was almost in tears, for his beloved sister was leaving them and moving to her in-laws' place. He volunteered to ride the chariot and drive them home, even though he was the crown prince of the state. As he drove away from Mathura, a celestial voice from above called out to Kamsa and exclaimed that the eighth child born of Devaki & Vasudeva would kill him.

The enraged Kamsa got down from his chariot and dragged Devaki onto the ground. He drew his sword out to kill her. Vasudeva fell at Kamsa’s feet and begged him to leave them alone. Kamsa did not relent on any amount of cajoling and in a bid to save his wife’s life, Vasudeva made a promise to Kamsa that he would hand over all the children that his wife gave birth to. Sensing that this would serve the purpose of saving his own life, Kamsa agreed to leave Devaki free.

A year passed and Devaki gave birth to their first child. Though a joyous occasion, Vasudeva & Devaki  were filled with grief, since they knew they had to keep up their word and hand over their child to Kamsa. With a heavy heart, Vasudeva carried his child to Kamsa. Surprised at Vasudeva’s commitment to keep his word, Kamsa thought to himself that it was only the eighth child that was going to kill him. He thought he could afford to leave the first seven children alive, since Vasudeva was also true to his word. He sent back Vasudeva with his child, saying it was enough if he brought the eighth child to him. Overjoyed by the re-birth his child had obtained, Vasudeva returned to his wife with the child. But their joy was not to last for long.

During one of his conversations with a sage, Kamsa came to know that a birth of a child was not determined by whether the child was born or not. Even an embryo that is formed within the mother’s womb but dies before birth is to be accounted as a child for the mother. He also explained that sometimes even the mother would not know that such an embryo was formed and died if it happened in very early stages.

On hearing this, Kamsa was taken aback since he would have to kill whichever child Devaki gave birth to. He immediately rode to Devaki’s place and demanded that their child be given to him. In spite of Devaki and Vasudeva resisting his demand, he snatched the child away and killed him. Kamsa also went to the extent of ordering his sister and brother-in-law to be chained in a prison cell so that he could catch hold of each child she delivered.

Years passed, and each time a child was born, Kamsa would be notified by the prison guards. He would snatch the baby from its parents and kill it immediately. Seven such children were killed by the wicked Kamsa and he began waiting for the eighth child.

The eighth child was none other than Lord Vishnu who had taken his avatar as Lord Krishna to vanquish all evil on earth. On the night of his birth, the skies thundered and there was a heavy downpour of rains. As soon as the child was born, a voice was heard from the Lord Himself, instructing Vasudeva to secretly take the baby to Gokulam and leave him in the house of Nandagopa, the chief of the Yadava clan in Gokulam. He also instructed Vasudeva to bring back the baby that was born in Nandagopa’s house around the same time.

As advised, Vasudeva escaped from the prison cell and carried the baby in a basket to Gokulam. The rains lashed and the eternal snake, Vasuki, came over to give protection to the divine baby. Soon after Vasudeva reached Gokulam, he headed towards Nandagopa’s house and laid the baby beside Yashodha, Nandagopa's wife, who had just delivered a baby girl. Vasudeva returned back to the prison carrying the baby girl and placed it near Devaki.

As soon as Kamsa was notified that Devaki had given birth to her eighth child, he hurried to the prison cell. As he drew his sword to kill the baby girl, it slipped off from his hand and in the air, the baby girl stood incarnated as Goddess Durga. She had taken birth as Yogamaya, the baby girl born to Yashodha and Nandagopa. She laughed at Kamsa and told him that his enemy was already safe in another house and it was no use trying to kill her. Saying this, she vanished into thin air.

Kamsa was infuriated at the thought that his enemy had escaped his clutches; he was determined to catch hold of the baby and kill him as soon as possible to save his own life. But far from all this commotion, little baby Krishna lay deeply asleep, safe and sound.

The Hindu tradition celebrates his birthday as "Gokulashtami" or "Janmashtami".

Vasudeva Sutam Devam, Kansa Chaanuuramardanam
Devakii Paramaanandam Krishhnam Vande Jagad Gurum

Meaning: Krishna, the Supreme Lord, the Son of Devaki and Vasudeva,  slayer of Kamsa and Chanur. May we bow to Him and be blessed with the God’s grace.