Synopsis of Krishna in History and Legend

Submitted by Kumar Ayeshwar Reang

 Topic : The Divinity of Sri Krishna
India is a sacred land. It is a land of culture, a land of worship, a land of millions
of temples; a land of spiritual thought and practice, a land of yoga and meditation. India is the land of
Sri Rama, Sri Krishna, and Bhagavad-gita—a land where one comes to search for the Absolute
Truth. Still today, millions of people will assemble to bathe in the holy Ganges, and to celebrate Sri
Krishna Janmasthami. Millions will come to hear discourses on Bhagavad-gita or Srimad-
Bhagavatam. The spark of Vedic culture is still flickering in the hearts of people here. It is a special
privilege to be born in this holy land, a divine opportunity to grow and live with God.

The concepts of the life and teachings of Krishna have probably exerted a more profound influenced
on the shaping of Indian art, literature, religion and philosophy than any other single idea. A student
of history, who is at the same time an humble devotee of Krishna by heredity, environment and
conviction, makes an attempt here to trace the development of the ideas relating to Krishna from the
days of the Chandogya Upanishad to the present time.

The whole tradition of Indian culture regards Krishna as a Yadava, a Kshatriya prince, who had to
spend his early life at Vraja amongst the Gopas for the sake of security against the hostility of
Kamsa. The narrations of events relating to the various events in the life of Krishna are described in
the Mahabharata, the Harivamsa, the Puranas, Bhagavad-Gita, and Srimad-Bhagavatam.

The earliest mention of Krishna is to be found in the Chandogya Upanisad (III, 17.6). In this
Upanishad Krishna was addressed as Achyuta, the infallible. In the Gita (I.21, 11.42, 18.73) we find
this term being used thrice time for Krishna. If Krishna was regarded as Achyuta in the days of
Chandogya Upanishad, He must have flourished earlier than the date of its composition. However,
there is considerable difference of opinion regarding the period in which Krishna flourished.

Regarding Krishna, Bhisma in the Mahabharata (II.35.18) describes Him as a master of the Vedas
and the Vedangas. In the Puranas, Krishna was regarded as Vasudeva, which means the God who is
immanent in the universe and the universe is immanent in Him. The Vishnu Purana mentioned that
when Krishna returned to His abode, then the Kali age commenced. And it also mentioned that as
long as the earth was touched by His sacred feet, the Kali age could not affect it. This is affirmed by
the Vayu (), Matsya (), Brahmanda (), Brahma (), and the Bhagavata Purana ().
The Mahabharata distinctly states at several places that Krishna left this world 36 years after the
Mahabharata War. Aryabhat wrote at the fag end of the fifth century A.D. that the Kali era
commenced in 3102 B.C. When the Kali-yuga set in, the world was enveloped in darkness of
ignorance, to dispel which, the Bhagavata Purana arose like the sun.

The evidence of the Puranas cannot be lightly set aside because a class of people called Suta,
Pauranika and Vyasa kept up these records from generation to generation with considerable care.
Their descendants still bear the surname Pauranika in Maharastra and Gujarat and Vyasa in Northern
India.

The Maitreyi Upanisad states that Yajur, Sama, Atharvaveda, Itihasa and Purana---all these are the
breath of the all-pervasive Brahman. Thus according to Indian cultural tradition the Purana is as
worthy of respectful hearing as the Vedas and Itihasa.

Heliodorus, the Greek ambassador of Antialkidas to King Kasiputra Bhagabhadra, who became a
convert to Bhagavatism erected the famous Besnagar (near Bhilsa in the former Gwalior State in the
M. P.) a Garuda column in the first half of the second century B.C. The inscription on this column
describes Vasudeva as Devadeva the greatest of gods. In the same site has been found a column
which had a makara on its head. This shows that Pradyumna, the son of Krsna, was also worshipped
there, because, the former being identified as an incarnation of Kama had crocodile as his symbol.

The next important inscription comes from Nanaghat, which is situated in the Western Ghat, half-
way between Poona and Nasik. It has been assigned to the end of the second century B.C. or early
first century B.C. In it Sankarsana and Vasudeva have been invoked along with Dharma, Indra and
the guardians of the four cardinal points, Yama, Varuna, Kuvera and Vasava. This inscription is
remarkable because it mentions the names of Vedic gods along with Vasudeva and Sankarsana. This
shows that in the second century B.C. Vasudeva and Sankarsana were not considered as mythical
persons.

An inscription belonging to the first century B.C. comes from Mora, a village situated to the west of
Mathura city, at a distance of 7 miles. It records the worship of five great heroes of the Vrsni branch
of the Yadava tribe - Bhagavatam vrsninam pancaviranam pratimah. The inscription clearly
mentions that it was written during the time of Sodasa, son of Mahaksatrapa Ranjuvula.” J. N.
Banerjea identifies the five heroes on the basis of the evidence of the Vayu Purana (97.1-2) as
Vasudeva, Sankarsana, his elder brother, Pradyumna, his eldest son, Samba, his son by Jambavati
and Aniruddha, the son of Pradyumna.

Another inscription of the time of Mahaksatrapa Sodasa is preserved in the Mathura museum (No.
367). It is incised in Sanskrit on a lintel of a Krishna temple, which according to V. S. Agrawala, is
the earliest reference to a temple of Bhagavana Vasudeva at Mathura.

Krishna is famous as the Yadava belonging to the family of Yadu as Rama is famous as Raghava, the
descendant of Raghu. In the Drona-parvam of Mahabharata it is said that in the line of Yadu there
was born Devamidha, whose son was Sura, whose son was Vasudeva and his son was Vasudeva
Krishna. In the Anusasanaparvan a more elaborate genealogy is given as follows : Yadu-Krostu -
Vrjinvan – Rishadgu Citraratha and in Citraratha’s line were born Sura-Vasudeva and Vasudeva
Krishna. According to the Matsya Purana, there was intervened 32 generations between Citraratha
and Sura. The Mahabharata omitted these probably for two reasons. The first was that it was the
business of the Purana to relate, genealogical lines and the Mahabharata being an Itihasa could
remain silent over them. The other reason was that the Mahabharata was primarily concerned with
the Kuru family and not with the Yadavas.

In the Bhagavad-Gita, the word Krishna, all attractive occurs five times, Hrisikesa, lord of the senses,
five times and addressed as Acyuta, infallible, three times. These appellations indicate that Krishna
was identified with the Supreme.

The whole trend of the B.G. is to show that Krishna is the Supreme God. Even before the Lord’s
Transfiguration as described in Chapter XI, Arjuna says ; “I hold as true, all this that thou sayest to
me, O Kesava; neither the Gods nor the demons, O Lord, know thy manifestation. Verily Thou
Thyself knowest Thyself by Thyself, O Supreme Person; the Source of beings, the Lord of Creatures,
the God of gods, the Lord of the world.” [B.G. X.14-15]

The Bhagavad-Gita has got many passages in common with the Isa, Katha, Mundaka and the
Svetasvatara Upanisads. The B.G. therefore, may be taken to be the product of the same age in which
these Upanisads were composed. According to Dr. Radhakrishnan [Radhakrishnan—Indian
Philosophy, I. p. 524.] the famous verse of the B.G (IX.26), facts go to show that Krishna was
worshipped as the Supreme in the period of the composition of the Isa, Katha, Mundaka Upanisads.
Sri Aurobindo also hints at the interpretation. He writes: “The historical Krishna, no doubt, existed.
We meet the name first in the Chhandogya Upanisad where all we can gather about him is that He
was well known in spiritual tradition as a knower of the Brahman, so well known indeed is His
personality and the circumstances of His life that it was sufficient to refer to Him by the name of the
mother as Krsna, son of Devaki, for all to understand who was meant.” [Sri Aurobindo—Essays on
the Gita, (Arya Publisher, Calcutta, 2nd ed. 1962), pp. 19-20.]

The Harivamsa (II.4.24) speaks of the divine form of Krishna at the time of his birth. The Visnu
Purana (V.3.8), Bhagavata (X.3.9) and Padma Purana (245.36) state that Krishna was born with four
arms.

According to the Bhagavata Purana, Sri Krishna spent the first eleven years of His life amidst the
cowherds at Vraja, hidden from public eyes. Some of the incidents of the early life of Krishna are
mentioned in the Mahabharata like the killing of Putana when He was ten days old (Mbh, II.38.4),
turning down the cart (Mbh, II.38.8), the holding of Govardhana for a week (Mbh, II.38.9).

The Visnu Purana (V.37.18), Bhagavata Purana (XI.6.26) states that Krishna lived in this world for
more than one hundred years. The fullest description of the early life of Krishna is to be found in the
Bhagavata-Purana.