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Krishna, probably the most important of the ten incarnations of Vishnu,
is believed to be Vishnu himself by the Vaisnavas. From his early life
given in the Harivansa, Vishnu Purana, bhagavat Purana and other Puranas
we know that he was the son of Vasudeva of the Yadav clan then living in
Mathura. Vasudev's wife Devaki was a cousin of Kansa, the most dreaded
king of Mathura. The high sage Narada, a roving seer of extraordinary
insight into times past, present, and future, had pro-phesied that
Devaki's eighth son would kill Kansa. He, therefore, im-prisoned Vasudeva
and Devaki, and killed the children born to them. The seventh child,
Balaram was, however, miraculously saved. Vasudeva slipped out of the
prison with Devaki's eighth son, born one midnight, and exchanged him
with the newly-born daughter of Yasoda, wife of Nand, the chief of the
cowherds who were camping across the Yamuna. Next morning when Kansa
found that Devaki had given birth to a daughter, he killed the infant
who was actually Devi or Yogamaya. She went up the sky and informed
Kansa that the person who would kill him was born and being brought
up at another place. Kansa found out where Krishna was and sent many
demons to kill him, but Krishna overcame them all. He grew up among
the cowherd boys and girls, his loves and dalliances with the latter
being the subject of a vast literature in later years. Among the cowherd
maiden, Radha was no doubt his favorite.
The Vishnupuran describes Kaliya as a snake with many heads living in
a pool of water near Vrindaban. As he had poisoned the pool with his
potent venom and killed many of Krishna’s friends, the cowherds and
their flocks, he rushed to their aid, revived them and danced on one
of the snake's many heads. When Kaliya's friends and relatives begged
for Krishna’s mercy, the snake was spared to become one of Krishna’s
votaries. The same Purana relates the story of Krishna asking the
cowherds to start the worship of the Govardhana, a low hill in the
Mathura district, and stop adoring Indra (Indra-yagna). This had
en-raged Indra who bade the clouds rain incessantly on the area.
Krishna then held up the Govardhana and gave shelter to the cowherds
and their cattle under the hill. Indra retired baffled. "Although
many of the stories about him concern his super-human deeds," observes
A.G. Mitchell, "he also revealed a marked human capacity for drinking,
flirting and amo-rous escapades . . . . Perhaps the most popular of
these stories are about his skill as a flute-player. This adds
considerably to the pastoral character of many of the Krishna
stories. . . . On hearing the music of Krishna’s flute, peacocks dance
and other animals stand still and worship him with their glances. . . ."
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