Birth & Infancy
जन्म और शैशव
The Birth of Krishna in Mathura
श्रीकृष्ण जन्म
Krishna is born at midnight in a prison cell in Mathura, to Devaki and Vasudeva, while the tyrant king Kamsa waits to kill him. His very birth is a lesson that light enters the world at its darkest hour, and that goodness quietly finds a way through even when power is arrayed against it.
The Butter Thief and the Binding of Damodar
दामोदर लीला
The child Krishna steals butter from the homes of Gokul, and when Yashoda tries to tie him to a mortar to stop him, no rope is ever long enough — until she gives up trying to bind him by force and he lets himself be bound by her love. The story is a gentle picture of how the infinite yields not to control but to affection.
Krishna and Putana the Demoness
पूतना मोक्ष
A demoness sent by King Kamsa comes to Gokul disguised as a beautiful nurse, meaning to kill the infant Krishna — but the child sees through the disguise and, in taking what she offers, ends her power. Strikingly, because she approached in the form of a loving mother, the tradition says she received a mother's reward. The story is about how a false show cannot deceive the pure, and how even a wrong approach, if it wears the shape of love, is met with grace.
Yashoda Sees the Universe in Krishna's Mouth
मुख में विश्वरूप
When the other children complain that little Krishna has eaten dirt, his mother Yashoda opens his mouth to scold him — and instead sees the entire universe within it: all the worlds, the stars, the oceans, even herself holding him. Then, out of love, she forgets what she saw and simply hugs her child. The story is about the infinite hidden inside the ordinary, and about a love so intimate it can hold the divine as its own baby.
Krishna and the Cart and Whirlwind Demons
शकटासुर तृणावर्त
As an infant Krishna overturns a heavy cart possessed by a demon with a single kick, and later, when a whirlwind demon carries him high into the sky, he makes himself so impossibly heavy that the demon crashes to earth. The two episodes show danger arriving in infancy and being met effortlessly — the small and helpless-seeming child holding a power that no threat can lift or crush.
Vrindavan Pastimes
वृंदावन की लीलाएँ
Krishna Dances on Kaliya the Serpent
कालिय दमन
When a great venomous serpent poisons the Yamuna and endangers all of Vrindavan, the boy Krishna leaps into the river, is coiled by the serpent, and rises to dance upon its many hoods until it surrenders — and then, instead of destroying it, sends it away in peace. The story is about mastering a poison at its source, and tempering victory with mercy.
Krishna Lifts Govardhan Hill
गोवर्धन धारण
When Krishna persuades the people of Vrindavan to honour the hill and the land that actually feed them rather than perform a ritual out of fear, the rain-god Indra sends a devastating storm — and Krishna lifts the entire Govardhan hill on one finger as an umbrella for seven days, until pride bows to love. The story is about worshipping what truly sustains you, and about a shelter that asks for nothing in return.
Krishna and the Forest Demons of Vrindavan
अघासुर बकासुर वत्सासुर
As Krishna grows into a cowherd boy, a series of demons come to Vrindavan in the shapes of everyday creatures — a calf, a crane, a vast serpent that swallows the boys and their calves whole. Each time Krishna sees through the disguise and saves his friends, playing on through it all. The stories show danger hiding inside the familiar, and a protector who removes it without ever losing his joy.
The Vastra-haraṇa: Krishna and the Surrender of the Gopis
वस्त्र हरण
The young gopis of Vrindavan undertake a vow to win Krishna's favour, and one day he gently teaches them the vow's deepest meaning: that nothing can be truly hidden from the divine, and that the last covering to be surrendered is not cloth but the ego's insistence on holding something back. Read as scripture reads it, this is a story about total, unguarded surrender — approaching the divine with nothing concealed.
The Rāsa-līlā: Krishna's Divine Dance
रास लीला
On an autumn night, Krishna plays his flute and the gopis of Vrindavan leave everything to dance with him — and he multiplies himself so that each one dances with Krishna as her own, none left out. The most exalted of all his pastimes, the Rāsa-līlā is read by the tradition as the soul's love for the divine in its purest form: a love that asks for nothing back, and a divine that gives itself wholly to each heart that longs for it.
The Freed Forest and the Swallowed Fire
धेनुकासुर वध, दावाग्नि पान
A grove heavy with sweet fruit is kept off-limits by a fierce demon, until Krishna and his brother Balarama clear it and give the forest back to everyone. And when a wildfire traps the cowherds and their cattle, Krishna swallows the blaze whole and delivers them unharmed. Both are pictures of the divine opening what fear had locked away, and shielding the vulnerable from what would consume them.
Krishna and Keshi the Horse Demon
केशी वध
As Kamsa's fear grows, he sends his fiercest agents — a raging horse, a charging bull, a sky-demon who steals children away. Krishna meets each brute force calmly and turns its own violence against it. From slaying Keshi the horse he earns one of his names, Keshava. The stories show overwhelming aggression met not with matching fury but with steady, exact mastery.
Balarāma and Pralambāsura: The Demon on the Back
प्रलम्बासुर वध
A demon named Pralamba joins the cowherd boys' games disguised as one of them, planning to carry off Krishna or Balarāma when the game requires the losing side to give the winners a ride on their back. He gets Balarāma on his shoulders, then reveals his monstrous size and races away — but Balarāma, unshaken, brings down a single blow that ends him. The story is about spotting the deception that hides among your friends, and about how what looks like being carried can suddenly become being carried off.
Brahma Steals the Calves: Krishna Becomes Them All
ब्रह्म विमोहन लीला
Brahmā, the creator, tests Krishna by hiding away all the cowherd boys and calves grazing with him for a whole year. Krishna simply becomes each missing calf and each missing boy himself — indistinguishable from the originals, so that the mothers and cows love the substitutes even more deeply, never knowing. When Brahmā at last returns and sees what happened, he bows in wonder. The story is about the humbling of one who thought he could test the divine, and about the tender truth that whoever loves the world is quietly holding it in every form.
Krishna Frees Sudarśana the Gandharva-Serpent
सुदर्शन मुक्ति
On a pilgrimage with his family, Krishna finds his father Nanda seized in the night by a great serpent — a gandharva named Sudarśana who had been cursed into that form long ago for laughing at holy men. Krishna touches the serpent gently with his foot, and the curse falls away; the being emerges in his original beautiful shape, sings his gratitude, and departs. The story is about how, under a monstrous appearance, there is often a soul waiting to be freed, and how a single kind touch can undo what a curse held in place for ages.
Mathura
मथुरा
Akrūra's Journey and Vision of Krishna
अक्रूर दर्शन
Kamsa sends the noble Akrūra to bring Krishna and Balarama to Mathura, meaning to trap them — but Akrūra is a devotee who has longed all his life to see Krishna, and the journey becomes the fulfilment of his deepest wish. Bathing in the Yamuna on the way, he is given a vision of the divine. The story is about the longing heart finally beholding what it has always sought, even when the errand that carries it there was arranged by an enemy.
Krishna Enters Mathura: Kubjā and the Garland-Maker
कुब्जा उद्धार
Walking through Mathura for the first time, Krishna meets a humble garland-maker who joyfully offers him flowers, and a hunchbacked woman, Kubjā, who lovingly gives him sandalwood paste meant for the king — and he blesses the one with abundance and straightens the other's bent body. The story is about how love offered freely, from the lowest station, is answered with grace, and how the divine makes straight what life has left crooked.
Krishna Breaks the Great Bow and the Elephant
धनुर्भंग, कुवलयापीड वध
In Kamsa's own city, Krishna lifts and snaps in two the enormous bow that no ordinary man could bend, and at the arena gate he faces the war-elephant set to trample him and turns it aside. Each obstacle Kamsa places to stop him is broken through with ease. The story is about meeting the barriers set deliberately in your path — not with hesitation, but with a calm, decisive strength.
Krishna Slays Kamsa the Tyrant
कंस वध
In the wrestling arena where Kamsa has arranged his death, Krishna instead brings the tyrant down — defeating his champion wrestlers, dragging Kamsa from his high seat, and ending the reign of fear that had ruled Mathura for so long. Then he frees his imprisoned parents and restores the rightful king. The story is the fall of a tyranny built on cruelty and the prophecy it could never escape.
Krishna, Sāndīpani, and the Guru's Gift
गुरु दक्षिणा
Though he is the source of all knowledge, Krishna humbly becomes a student under the sage Sāndīpani, serving his teacher and mastering every art. When the time comes to give the guru his parting gift, Sāndīpani asks for his son, lost to death — and Krishna crosses even into the abode of death to bring the boy back. The story is about the debt we owe our teachers, and a gratitude that spares no effort to repay it.
Dwarka & Friendship
द्वारका और मैत्री
Krishna and Sudama: The Poor Friend's Rice
सुदामा चरित्र
Sudama, a poor brahmin and Krishna's childhood friend, is sent by his wife to seek help from Krishna, now king of Dwarka. He brings only a small bundle of beaten rice and is too shy to ask for anything — yet Krishna receives him with overflowing love, and Sudama returns to find his home transformed. The story is about a friendship that money cannot rank, and a giver who honours the gift, not its size.
Krishna Builds Dwarka and Outwits Jarāsandha
द्वारका निर्माण, रणछोड़
When the mighty king Jarāsandha attacks Mathura again and again to avenge Kamsa, Krishna chooses not endless war but the welfare of his people: he builds a new, unreachable city, Dwarka, in the sea, and moves everyone to safety. For leaving the battlefield he is even called Raṇchoḍ, 'the one who withdrew' — yet it is wisdom, not fear. The story is about protecting what matters over defending your pride, and winning the long game by refusing the wrong fight.
Krishna and Rukmiṇī: The Answered Letter
रुक्मिणी हरण
Princess Rukmiṇī loves Krishna and wishes to marry him, but her brother has pledged her against her will to another. On the eve of the forced wedding she sends Krishna a secret letter, entrusting him with her whole heart — and he comes, and carries her away to become his queen. The story is about a woman's own voice and choice, and about a heartfelt plea, sincerely made, being answered.
Krishna and the Syamantaka Jewel
स्यमन्तक मणि
When a priceless jewel goes missing and rumour blames Krishna for the theft, he does not merely protest his innocence — he sets out to find the true story, tracks the jewel through danger, and returns it to clear his name by proof rather than by words. The story is about answering a false accusation not with wounded denial but with the patient, honest work of uncovering the truth.
Krishna Frees the Sixteen Thousand Captives
नरकासुर वध
The demon-king Narakāsura seizes thousands of women and holds them captive, and Krishna, with his queen Satyabhāmā beside him, defeats him and sets them free. But the deeper act comes after the rescue: knowing that society would shun these women as disgraced, Krishna gives them his name, honour and a home — restoring not just their freedom but their dignity. The story is about liberation completed by the restoration of worth.
Krishna Slays Śiśupāla: The Limit of Forbearance
शिशुपाल वध
At a great royal assembly, the hostile king Śiśupāla pours insult after insult on Krishna, who bears them in silence — for he has vowed to pardon a hundred offences. But when the hundred are exhausted and the insults continue, Krishna acts, ending him. The story draws a careful line: forbearance is a virtue, but it is not infinite, and there is a point at which patience rightly gives way to a firm response.
Rukmiṇī's Letter to Krishna
रुक्मिणी सन्देश
About to be married against her will to a king she does not love, princess Rukmiṇī sends a single messenger with a private letter to Krishna, whom she has chosen in her heart. In it she names her situation with dignity, asks him to come for her, and tells him exactly when and how. Her letter is a quiet act of courage — the moment a person decides her own life will not be handed over. The story is about the clean strength of asking, honestly and once, for what you truly want.
Krishna, Kālayavana and the Sleeping King Mucukunda
कालयवन मुक्ति
Faced with a barbarian invader named Kālayavana who could not be defeated in open battle, Krishna runs — deliberately, calmly, and slowly enough that Kālayavana chases him all the way into a cave where an ancient king, Mucukunda, sleeps under a boon that anyone who wakes him will be burned to ashes by his glance. Krishna slips past into the shadows; Kālayavana kicks the sleeping king, and is gone in an instant. The story is about the wisdom of running when running is the winning move, and the deeper truth that no encounter with the divine is ever a wasted step.
Uṣā, Aniruddha and Krishna's War with Bāṇāsura
बाणासुर युद्ध
Princess Uṣā dreams of a young man she has never met and falls in love with him; her friend Citralekhā, skilled at drawing, identifies him from likenesses as Aniruddha, Krishna's grandson, and brings him to the palace by night. When Uṣā's father, the thousand-armed demon king Bāṇāsura, discovers the young couple, he imprisons Aniruddha — and Krishna comes with an army to bring his grandson home. The story is about young love recognised across a great distance, and the greater love of a family that comes for its own.
Pradyumna: Krishna's Son Stolen and Returned
प्रद्युम्न
Krishna and Rukmiṇī's newborn son is stolen from his cradle by a demon named Śambara, thrown into the sea, and swallowed by a great fish — from which he is eventually recovered by Māyāvatī, a woman living in the demon's house. She raises him in secret, tells him who he really is when he is grown, and helps him return to slay Śambara and reunite with his true parents. The story is about a child taken from where he belonged, kept alive by an unexpected kindness, and finding his way back to his own name.
Kurukshetra & the Gita
कुरुक्षेत्र और गीता
Krishna Teaches Arjuna the Bhagavad Gita
गीतोपदेश
On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, the warrior Arjuna is overcome by grief at the thought of fighting his own kinsmen and drops his bow. His friend and charioteer Krishna, instead of urging him on, teaches him — and that teaching becomes the Bhagavad Gita, the heart of the whole Krishna story: how to act rightly, without being crushed by fear or attachment, in the hardest moment of a life.
Krishna Protects Draupadī: The Endless Cloth
द्रौपदी वस्त्रहरण, चीर हरण
When Draupadī is dragged before a royal court to be humiliated and no one there — not her husbands, not the elders — comes to her defence, she gives up trying to save herself and calls out to Krishna with her whole heart. In that moment her protection becomes endless: however much cloth is pulled away, more appears without end, and she cannot be stripped of her dignity. The story is about the cry of the helpless being answered when every other help has failed, and the grace that arrives the instant we truly surrender.
Krishna and the Akṣaya-pātra: The Single Grain
अक्षय पात्र
During the Pāṇḍavas' exile, a great sage arrives with a hungry host of disciples just after Draupadī's magic vessel has emptied for the day, and there is nothing left to serve them. In desperation she calls on Krishna, who comes, finds a single clinging grain of rice in the empty pot, and eats it with satisfaction — and the whole host, wherever they are, is filled. The story is about the smallest sincere offering being enough, and the divine content with what is given from an honest, emptied hand.
Krishna's Peace Embassy and the Court Viśvarūpa
कृष्ण दूत
Before the great war, Krishna goes himself to the Kaurava court as a messenger of peace, asking only that the Pāṇḍavas be given five villages to avoid the slaughter of millions. When Duryodhana refuses even that and tries to seize him, Krishna reveals his cosmic form in the hall — showing that the war was not chosen by those who exhausted every path to peace. The story is about doing everything possible to avoid conflict before accepting it, and the dignity of the peacemaker who is refused.
Krishna as Arjuna's Charioteer
पार्थसारथि
When the war finally comes, Krishna — who could have won it single-handedly — vows to lift no weapon, and instead takes the reins of Arjuna's chariot as his charioteer. He steers, counsels and steadies his friend through the fiercest of the fighting, without striking a single blow himself. The story is about the quiet power of the one who guides rather than grabs the spotlight, and the greatness of choosing to steer another to victory instead of seizing it yourself.
Krishna Protects the Unborn Parikṣit
परीक्षित रक्षा
After the war, in a final act of vengeance, a warrior aims an unstoppable weapon at the one unborn child who is the last hope of the dynasty. Krishna enters the mother's womb and shields the infant from the blast, so that the line does not end in ashes. Born from that protection, the child is named Parikṣit. The story is about the future being guarded through the darkest hour, and hope preserved when everything else has been destroyed.
Bhīma Slays Jarāsandha: The Tyrant's End
जरासंध वध
The tyrant Jarāsandha holds a hundred kings in prison, waiting to be sacrificed, and no army can defeat him because he can rejoin his own body whenever it is split. Krishna, Bhīma and Arjuna walk into his hall in disguise, and Krishna quietly shows Bhīma how to end him — split the body and cast the halves in opposite directions, so the pieces cannot find each other. The story is about defeating an evil that regenerates itself, by understanding exactly how it holds together and separating the parts for good.
Devotion & Teachings
भक्ति और उपदेश
The Uddhava Gītā: Krishna's Last Teaching
उद्धव गीता
As his time on earth draws to a close, Krishna gives a final, tender teaching to his dear friend and devotee Uddhava — a companion to the Bhagavad Gita, spoken not on a battlefield but as a parting gift. Its heart is how to live free amid a changing world: through detachment, devotion, and seeing the one Self in all. The story is about the wisdom a friend leaves behind, and how to carry on with a steady heart after the one you love has gone.
Gāndhārī's Curse: Krishna Accepts the Grief
गांधारी शाप
After the war, walking the battlefield strewn with her hundred sons, the grieving mother Gāndhārī turns to Krishna — the one being who could have prevented the slaughter — and, in her sorrow, curses that his own clan will one day destroy itself and he too will die alone. Krishna quietly accepts the curse, folding his hands. The story is about the tender, terrible power of a grieving mother's word, and the greatness of a leader who does not defend himself against another's grief but bows to it.
Krishna's Departure from the World
श्रीकृष्ण प्रस्थान
When Krishna's work on earth is complete, he takes leave of the world with the same composure he lived with — sitting quietly under a tree in the forest at Prabhāsa, meditating, allowing his time to end in its own hour. His life closes not in fear or struggle, but in the same steadiness he taught to others. The story is about ending well: meeting one's own departure with peace, not resistance, and leaving behind a life whose closing note is as calm as its counsel.
Kṛṣṇa Devakīputra and Sage Ghora Āṅgirasa
कृष्णाय देवकीपुत्राय
In one brief line of the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, we meet a young Krishna, son of Devakī, being taught by the sage Ghora Āṅgirasa — and receiving from him a teaching that treats a whole human life as an inner offering. It is the earliest scriptural mention of Krishna by name, and the seed of the wisdom he would later give the world in the Bhagavad Gita. The story is about the depth of what a good teacher can pass on in a single moment, and the truth that ordinary life itself can be lived as a sacred offering.
The Bhramara Gītā: Uddhava's Message to the Gopīs
भ्रमर गीत
Krishna sends his friend and messenger Uddhava — a philosopher — to Vrindavan to console the gopīs, who have been longing for Krishna since he left. Uddhava, planning to teach them detachment and meditation, meets a love so vast and pure that his own philosophy is humbled. Rādhā's song to a passing black bee, mistaking it for Krishna's messenger, becomes one of the tenderest passages in the Bhāgavata. The story is about the moment a great mind discovers that the heart's love, when it is total, is a higher wisdom than any teaching.
✦ Authoritative sources ✦
Official sites of the scriptural traditions and publishing trusts behind the editions and commentaries cited on this page.
Gita Press, Gorakhpur
Publisher of the Hindi translation of the Bhagavad Gita by Swami Ramsukhdas cited on this site.
Gita Press →
The Divine Life Society (Swami Sivananda)
The Divine Life Society — institutional home of Swami Sivananda, whose English translation is cited on this site.
Divine Life Society →
Bhagavad Gita — Encyclopædia Britannica
Bhagavad Gita — Encyclopædia Britannica.
Britannica →