Ruchi's

Birth Legends of Lord Shree Krishna

Kans, the king of Mathura was a very cruel tyrant. His tyranny spared no one, even the sages had to bear the brunt of this.

Finally the gods could tolerate no more of it and in a dream Kans was told that his evil reign would be brought to an end by his sister Devaki's son who would kill him.

The cowardly tyrant immediately threw his sister Devaki and her husband Vasudev in prison so that he could kill all the sons born to Devaki.

In captivity Devaki bore six sons, each of them were killed by Kans. On the night of the birth of their seventh child, the prison guards fell into a deep sleep and the doors were unlocked.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Vasudev slipped out of the prison and whisked away the child safely to the neighbouring kingdom which was ruled by king Nand, across the Yamuna river.

At that time the Yamuna was in spate, but when the waters touched the feet of the Baby Sri-Krishna, the waters parted making a channel for Vasudev to pass.

Lord Krishna at Gokul : The generous king Nand gave away his new born daughter to Vasudev knowing fully well what will happen to his daughter. Next morning Kans completed his gruesome job by killing Nand's daughter unaware of the fact that his would-be avenger was still living.

At Gokul, under king Nand's protection, Krishna got the loving affection of Nand's Queen Yashoda whom Krishna looked upon as a mother. Days passed in fun and frolic, while the child-Krishna grew up. But one day rumours reached Kans that Devaki's son had somehow escaped his cluthes and was living in Gokul. Krishna is always shown with his flute (Bansuri). He is considered to be the Hindu God of Music and is the patron god of Indian musicians .The story of Lord Krishna reflects life in a pastoral (shepherds)society. Cattle was the principal means of subsistence. The activity of people revolves around tending cows, milking them, making curds, butter etc. Krishna himself has names displaying as Govinda and Gopala means cowherd.

His Heroic Deeds:

Among other things, he had killed the demoness named Putana who was send by Kans to kill him.

Krishna had sucked the poisoned milk from her breast as a result of that Krishna's originally fair skin turned dark.

The story of Srikrishna's life neatly explains away the reason for his dark complexion. The word Krishna itself means dark.

Krishna lifted Mount Govardhan to save the people of Gokul

He had lifted Mount Govardhan to save the people of Gokul from a storm. He also tamed Kalia, a giant snake that lived in the

Yamuna river and terrorised the people of Gokul. While still in his teens, Krishna came to Mathura where King Kans had organised a wrestling tournament.

Krishna participated in it and after defeating all the contestants, he challenged Kans to a wrestling bout.

The evil Kans's time was up: Krishna defeated him and killed him. The people of Mathura were relieved.

Another major event in Krishna's later life was that he functioned as an adviser to the Pandavas and during the Mahabharata war between the Pandavas and Kauravas he was Arjuna's (one of the five Pandava brothers) charioteer.