(Redirected from Lord Krishna)
:''This article is about the Hindu deity. For other meanings, see
Krishna (disambiguation).''
'Krishna' (कृष्ण in
Devanagari, '' in
IAST, pronounced in
Sanskrit) is a
deity worshipped across many traditions of
Hinduism. He is usually depicted as a young cowherd boy playing a
flute (such as in the
Bhagavata Purana) or a youthful prince giving philosophical direction (as in the
Bhagavad Gita).
Most commonly within Hinduism, Krishna is worshipped as an
avatar of
Vishnu, who is considered the Supreme
God by the
Vaishnava schools. Within
Gaudiya Vaishnavism Krishna is worshipped as the source of all other avatars (including Vishnu).
[1]
Krishna and the stories associated with him appear across a broad spectrum of Hindu
philosophical and theological traditions. Though they sometimes differ in details reflecting the concerns of a particular tradition, some core features are shared by all. These include a
divine incarnation, a pastoral childhood and youth, and life as a
heroic warrior and teacher.
Etymology
Main articles: List of titles and names of Krishna
The term Krishna in
Sanskrit has the literal meaning of "
black" or "dark", and is used as a name to describe someone with dark skin. The
Brahma Samhita describes Krishna's complexion as being "tinged with the hue of blue clouds",
[2] and he is often depicted in paintings with blue or dark-blue skin. In ''
murthis'', Krishna is more commonly portrayed as being dark skinned or black. For instance, the
Jagannatha (a name meaning: Krishna as 'Lord of the World'), deity at
Puri in
Orissa shows Krishna as being 'jet black' in colour alongside his brother
Balarama, and sister
Subhadra, the latter two having much lighter complexions.
The Gaudiya tradition explains the primary meaning of the name Krishna as being “all-attractive”. This is justified by an interpretation of a verse in the
Mahabharata, as given in the
Chaitanya Charitamrita.
[3]
Commentators on the
Vishnu sahasranama offer explanations on similar lines. According to
Adi Sankara's commentary, Krishna is the 57th name of Vishnu and means the "Existence of knowledge and Bliss."
Literary sources
Yashoda bathing the child Krishna. (Western Indian illustrated Bhagavata Purana Manuscript)
The earliest text to explicitly provide detailed descriptions of Krishna as a personality is the
Mahabharata which depicts Krishna as an incarnation of Vishnu who is central to many of the main stories of the epic. The eighteen chapters of the sixth book (''Bhishma Parva'') that constitute the ''
Bhagavad Gita'' contain the advice of Krishna to
Arjuna, on the battlefield. Krishna is already an adult in the epic, although there are allusions to his earlier exploits. The ''
Harivamsa'', a later appendix to this epic, contains the earliest detailed version of Krishna's childhood and youth.
Virtually every one of the later ''
Puranas'' tells Krishna's life-story or some highlights from it. The ''Mahabharata'' and the ''Harivamsa'' are considered
sacred by Hindus. The two ''Puranas'' (the ''
Bhagavata Purana'' and the ''
Vishnu Purana'') that contain the most elaborate telling of Krishna’s story and teachings are the most theologically venerated by the
Gaudiya Vaishnava schools. Roughly one quarter of the ''Bhagavata Purana'' (mostly in the tenth book) is spent extolling his
life and
philosophy.
:''See Also: ''
Krishna in Mahabharata'
The life of Krishna
This summary is based on details from the ''
Mahabharata'', the ''
Harivamsa'', the ''
Bhagavata Purana'' and the ''
Vishnu Purana''. The scenes from the narrative are set in north India, mostly in the present states of
Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar,
Haryana,
Delhi and
Gujarat. The quotations at the start and end of the summary set the theological framework in which the story is viewed.
The incarnation
These texts explain the reason for the incarnation. In the words of the ''Bhagavata Purana'':
"Lord Brahma informed the demigods: Before we submitted our petition to the Lord, He was already aware of the distress on earth. Consequently, for as long as the Lord moves on earth to diminish its burden by His own potency in the form of time, all of you demigods should appear through plenary portions as sons and grandsons in the family of the Yadus." -
Bhagavata Purana 10.1.22
The ''Mahabharata'' (Adi Parva, Adivansavatarana section) gives a similar account, although with slight variations in details.
Birth
Traditional belief based on scriptural details and
astrological calculations gives Krishna's birth date (
Janmashtami) as 19th or 21st July 3228 B.C.E.
[4]
Krishna was of the royal family of
Mathura, and was the eighth son born to the princess
Devaki, and her husband
Vasudeva.
Mathura was the capital of the closely linked clans of
Vrishni,
Andhaka, and
Bhoja. They are generally known as
Yadavs after their
eponymous ancestor
Yadu, and sometimes as
Surasenas after another famed ancestor. Vasudeva and Devaki belonged to these clans. The king
Kamsa, Devaki's brother, had ascended the throne by imprisoning his father, King
Ugrasena. Afraid of a
prophecy that predicted his death at the hands of Devaki's eighth son, he had the couple cast into prison where he planned to kill all of Devaki's children at birth. After killing the first six children, and Devaki's apparent miscarriage of the seventh, Krishna took birth. As his life was in danger he was smuggled out to be raised by his foster parents
Yasoda and
Nanda in
Gokul, Mahavana. Two of his siblings also survived,
Balarama (Devaki's seventh child, transferred to the womb of
Rohini, Vasudeva's first wife) and
Subhadra (daughter of Vasudeva and Rohini born much later than Balarama and Krishna).
The place believed by worshippers to mark Krishna's birth is now known as
Krishnajanmabhoomi, where a temple is raised in his honour.
Boyhood and youth
Nanda was the head of a community of cow-herders, and he settled in
Vrindavana. The stories of Krishna's childhood and youth here include that of his life with, and his protection of, the local people. Kamsa learnt about the child's escape and kept sending various demons (such as
Aghasura) to put an end to him. The demons were defeated at the hands of Krishna and his brother Balarama. Some of the most popular exploits of Krishna center around these adventures, such as the lifting of
Govardhan hill and his play with the ''
gopis'' of the village, including
Radha. The stories of his play with the gopis became known as the ''
Rasa lila'' and were romanticised in the poetry of
Jayadeva, author of the
Gita Govinda.
Krishna the prince
Krishna as a young man returned to
Mathura, and overthrew and killed his uncle Kamsa. Krishna re-installed Kamsa's father, Ugrasena, as the king of the Yadavas. He himself became a leading prince at the court. In this period he became a friend of Arjuna and the other Pandava princes of the
Kuru kingdom, who were his cousins, on the other side of the
Yamuna. Later, he took his Yadava subjects to the city of
Dwaraka (in modern
Gujarat). He married
Rukmini, daughter of King
Bhishmaka of
Vidarbha.
According to some texts, Krishna had 16,108 wives, of which eight were chief - including
Rukmini,
Satyabhama and
Jambavati. Krishna's other 16,100 wives were previously being held in captivity by
Narakasura, until Krishna killed him and released them all. According to strict social custom of the time all of the captive women would be unable to marry as they had been under the control of Narakasura, however Krishna happily took them all as his royal princesses. In Vaishnava traditions, Krishna's wives in Dwarka are believed to be expanded forms of the goddess
Lakshmi.
The Kurukshetra war and the Bhagavad-gita
Main articles: Kurukshetra war,
Bhagavad Gita
Krishna was cousin to both sides in the war between the
Pandavas and
Kauravas. He asked the sides to choose between his army and himself. The Kauravas picked the army and he sided with the Pandavas. He agreed to be the charioteer for Arjuna in the great battle. The ''Bhagavad Gita'' is the advice given to Arjuna by Krishna before the start of the battle.
Later life
Following the war Krishna lived at Dwaraka for thirty-six years. Then at a festival, a fight broke out between the Yadavas who exterminated each other. His elder brother
Balarama then gave up his body using
Yoga. Krishna retired into the forest and sat under a tree in meditation. A hunter mistook his partly visible foot for a deer and shot an
arrow wounding him mortally. According to the Mahabharata, the death of Krishna was due to a curse by
Gandhari. Her bitter anger after witnessing the death of her sons caused her to utter this curse, because Krishna did not do enough to stop the war. Upon learning of the curse, Krishna smiled and accepted it, stating that his duty was to fight for the righteous side, not to prevent the war.
According to references in the
Bhagavata Purana and
Bhagavad Gita it has been interpreted that Krishna died around 3100 BCE.
[5] This is based on the description of Krishna's leaving
Dwarka thirty-six years after the Battle of the
Mahabharata. The
Matsya Purana says that Krishna was eighty-nine years old when the battle was fought. Thereafter the
Pandavas ruled for a period of thirty-six years, their rule was in the beginning of the
Kali Yuga. It further says that the Kali Yuga began on the day
Duryodhana was felled to ground by
Bhima meaning that the year
2007 would equate to the year 5108 (or similar) of the current Kali Yuga.
[6]
Early historical references
One of the earliest recorded instances of a Krishna who could potentially be identified with the deity can be found in the ''
Chandogya Upanishad'' (ca.
900 BCE). However, classical Vedantic commentaries by
Sankara,
Madhva, and the tradition of
Ramanuja also do not interpret this Upanishadic statement as referring to "The" Krishna, reading it instead as referring to another sage of that name. The exact words that Ghora speaks are treated by some as praise of Krishna and others as a praise of the
Atman. The doctrine taught by Ghora matches closely with the philosophy of the
Bhagavad-gita and the name of the mother is the same as found in the later Krishna traditions.
Panini, ca.
5th century BCE, in his
Ashtadhyayi explains the word "Vāsudevaka" as a ''Bhakta'' (devotee) of Vāsudeva. This, along with the mention of
Arjuna in the same context, indicates that the
Vāsudeva here is Krishna.
In the
4th century BCE,
Megasthenes the Greek ambassador to the court of
Chandragupta Maurya says that the Sourasenoi (
Surasena), who lived in the region of Mathura worshipped
Herakles. This Herakles is usually identified with Krishna due to the regions mentioned by Megasthenes as well as similarities between some of the herioc acts of the two. Megasthenes also mentions that his daughter Pandaia ruled in south India. The south indeed had the kingdom of the
Pandyas with the capital at Madhura (
Madurai), the name similar to if not the same as Krishna's Mathura.
From 180-165 BCE, the Greek ruler
Agathocles issued coins with images of Vasudeva holding a ''
chakra''.
At
Ghosundi near
Udaipur, engraved about
150 BCE, is an inscription of a certain Bhagavata named Gajayana, son of Para-sari, stating that he erected in the Narayana-vata, or park of
Narayana, a stone chapel for the worship of the
Sankarshana and Vasudeva.
In the
1st century BCE,
Heliodorus from Greece erected the
Heliodorus pillar at
Besnagar near
Bhilsa with the inscription:
''This
Garuda-column of Vasudeva the god of gods was erected here by Heliodorus, a worshipper of the Lord
Bhagavata, the son of Diya Greek Dion and an inhabitant of
Taxila, who came as ambassador of the Greeks from the Great King Amtalikita [Greek Antialcidas] to King Kasiputra Bhagabhadra the saviour, who was flourishing in the fourteenth year of his reign .... (missing text)... three immortal steps . .... (missing text)...when practised, lead to heaven—self-control, charity, and diligence.''
Another 1st century BCE inscription from Mathura, records the building of a part of a sanctuary to Vasudeva by the great ''
satrap''
Sodasa.
The grammarian
Patanjali, who wrote his commentary the ''
Mahabhashya'' upon Panini's grammar about 150 BCE, quotes a verse to the following effect: ''May the might of Krishna accompanied by Samkarshana increase!''
One verse speaks of ''Janardana with himself as fourth'' (Krishna with three companions, the three possibly being Samkarshana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha). Another verse mentions musical instruments being played at meetings in the temples of Rama (
Balarama) and Kesava (Krishna). Patanjali also describes dramatic and mimetic performances (Krishna-Kamsopacharam) representing the killing of Kamsa by Vasudeva.
Also in the 1st century BCE, there seems to be evidence for a worship of five Vrishni heroes (Balarama, Krishna,
Pradyumna,
Aniruddha and
Samba) for an inscription has been found at
Mora near Mathura, which apparently mentions a son of the great ''satrap'' Raj Uvula, probably the ''satrap'' Sodasa, and an image of Vrishni, "probably Vasudeva, and of the "Five Warriors".
From the early centuries of the common era, the inscriptions and references to worship of Krishna become very numerous.
The Bhakti tradition
Main articles: Bhakti
'Bhakti', meaning devotion, is not confined to any one deity of
Hinduism. However Krishna has become an important and popular focus of the
devotional and
ecstatic aspects of Hindu religion, particularly among the
Vaishnava sects.
Devotees of Krishna subscribe to the concept of ''
lila'', (meaning 'divine play'), as the central principle of the
universe. The ''lilas'' of Krishna, with their expressions of personal love that transcend the boundaries of formal reverence, serve as a counterpoint to the ''lilas'' of another avatar of Vishnu:
Rama, "He of the straight and narrow path of ''maryada,'' or rules and regulations."
The ''bhakti'' movements devoted to Krishna became prominent in southern India in the 7th to 9th centuries CE. The earliest works included those of the
Alvar saints of the
Tamil country. A major collection of their works is the ''
Divya Prabandham''. The Alvar
Andal's popular collection of songs
Tiruppavai, in which she conceives of herself as a Gopi, is perhaps the oldest work of this genre.
Kulashekhara's
Mukundamala was another notable offering of this early stage.
Spread of the Krishna-bhakti movement
The movement spread rapidly from Northern India into the south, with the ''
Gita Govinda'' of
Jayadeva (
12th century CE) becoming a landmark of devotional, Krishna-based, literature. It elaborated a part of the story of Krishna, that of his love for one particular gopi, called
Radha, a minor character in the ''Bhagavata Purana'' but a major one in some others like the ''Bramhavaivarta-Purana''. The poem is in Sanskrit and soon became famous all across India. Radha henceforth became inseparable from devotion to Krishna.
While the learned sections of the society well versed in Sanskrit could enjoy works like ''Gita Govinda'' or
Bilvamangala's ''
Krishna-Karnamritam'', the masses sang the songs of the devotee-poets who composed in the regional languages of India. These songs expressing intense personal devotion were written by devotees from all walks of life. The songs of
Mirabai and
Surdas became epitomes of Krishna-devotion in north India.
These devotee-poets, like the Alvars before them, were aligned to specific theological schools only loosely, if at all. But by the
11th century CE,
Vaishnava Bhakti schools with elaborate theological frameworks around the worship of Krishna were established in north India.
Nimbarka (11th century CE),
Vallabhacharya (
15th century CE) and
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (
16th century CE) were the founders of the most influential of these schools. Chaitanya's tradition, called
Gaudiya Vaishnavism, sees Krishna as the supreme god, rather than as an avatar of Vishnu. Followers of Chaitanya and Vallabha maintain that he is himself an incarnation of Krishna.
In
Maharashtra and
Deccan area, saint poets like
Dnyaneshwar,
Namdev,
Janabai,
Eknath,
Tukaram, Bahinabai, Niloba nourished the Bhakti movement from the beginning of 13th century till late 18th century, by praising the Lord
Vitthal, also named as
Vithoba, Pandurang, Pandharinath - Krishna as lord of
Pandharpur.
In the south,
Purandara Dasa and
Kanakadasa of
Karnataka composed songs devoted to Krishna of
Udupi.
Krishna-bhakti in recent times
Since 1966 devotion to Krishna has spread from within India and is now practiced in many places around the globe, including
America,
Europe,
Africa,
Russia and
South America. This is largely due to the growth of the '
Hare Krishna' movement, the largest part of which is officially known as the
International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)
[7]. The driving force behind the change was the movement's founder,
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who was instructed by his
guru, Srila
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, to write about Krishna in the
English language and to share
Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy with people in the Western world.
[8]
Academic study of Krishna
Main articles: Krishnology
Vaishnava theology has been a subject of study for many devotees, philosophers and scholars within
India for centuries. In recent decades this study has also been taken on by a number of academic institutions in Europe, such as the
Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and
Bhaktivedanta College. The Vaishnava scholars instrumental in this western discourse include
Tamala Krishna Goswami,
Hridayananda dasa Goswami,
Graham Schweig,
Kenneth R. Valpey,
Ravindra Svarupa dasa,
Sivarama Swami,
Satyaraja Dasa, and
Guy Beck, among others.
Religious perspectives
Accounts of Krishna exist in many different belief systems, the major ones of which include:
Krishna in Jainism
The most exalted figures in
Jainism are the twenty-four
Tirthankaras. Krishna, when he was incorporated into the Jain list of heroic figures presented a problem with his activities which are not
pacifist or
non-violent. The concept of Baladeva, Vasudeva and Prati-Vasedeva was used to solve it. The Jain list of sixty-three
Shalakapurshas or notable figures includes amongst others, the twenty-four Tirthankaras and nine sets of this triad. One of these triads is Krishna as the Vasudeva, Balarama as the Baladeva and
Jarasandha as the
Prati-Vasudeva. He was a cousin of the twenty-second Tirthankara,
Neminatha. The stories of these triads can be found in the ''Harivamsha'' of
Jinasena (not be confused with its namesake, the addendum to ''
Mahabharata'') and the
Trishashti-shalakapurusha-charita of
Hemachandra.
In each age of the Jain cyclic time is born a Vasudeva with an elder brother termed the Baladeva. The villain is the Prati-vasudeva. Baladeva is the upholder of the Jain principle of non-violence. However, Vasudeva has to forsake this principle to kill the Prati-Vasudeva and save the world. The Vasudeva then has to descend to hell as punishment for this violent act. Having undergone the punishment he is then reborn as a Tirthankara.
Krishna in Buddhism
The story of Krishna occurs in the
Jataka tales in
Buddhism[9] in the Ghatapandita Jataka as a prince and legendary conqueror and king of India.
In the Buddhist version, Krishna is called ''
Vasudeva'', ''Kanha'' and
Keshava, and
Balarama is his younger brother, Baladeva. These details match that of the story given in the
Bhagavata Purana. Vasudeva, along with his nine other brothers (each son a powerful wrestler) and one elder sister (Anjana) capture all of
Jambudvipa (many consider this to be India) after beheading their evil uncle, King
Kamsa, and later all other kings of Jambudvipa with his
Sudarshana Chakra. Much of the story follows that given in the Bhagavata Purana in regards to the eventual defeat of
Kamsa.
As depicted in the
Mahabharata, all of the sons are eventually killed due to a curse of sage Kanhadīpayana (
Veda Vyasa, also known as Krishna Dwaipayana). Krishna himself is eventually speared by a hunter in the foot by mistake, leaving the sole survivor of their family being their sister, Añjanadevī of whom no further mention is made.
Since Jataka tales are given from the perspective of
Buddha's previous lives (as well as the previous lives of many of Buddha's followers), Krishna appears as one of the lives of
Sariputra, one of
Buddha's foremost disciples and the "Dhammasenapati" or
"Chief General of the Dharma" and is usually shown being Buddha's "right hand man" in Buddhist art and iconography.
[10] The
Bodhisattva, is born in this tale as one of his youngest brothers named Ghatapandita, and saves Krishna from the grief of losing his son.
Krishna in the Bahá'í Faith
Bahá'ís believe that Krishna was a "
Manifestation of God," or one in a line of prophets who have revealed the Word of God progressively for a gradually maturing humanity.
[11] In this way, Krishna shares an exalted station with
Abraham,
Moses,
Buddha,
Zoroaster,
Jesus,
Muhammad, the
Báb, and the founder of the
Bahá'í Faith,
Bahá'u'lláh. However, manifestation of God is different than a prophet.
Krishna in Thelema
Krishna was canonized by
Aleister Crowley and is recognized as a saint in the
Gnostic Mass of
Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica. Crowley writes in Liber Aleph, ch. 71:
:Krishna has Names and Forms innumerable, and I know not His true Human Birth, for His Formula is of the Major Antiquity. But His Word hath spread into many Lands, and we know it to-day as INRI with the secret IAO concealed therein. And the Meaning of this Word is the Working of Nature in Her Changes; that is, it is the Formula of Magick whereby all Things reproduce and recreate themselves. Yet this Extension and Specialisation was rather the Word of Dionysus; for the true Word of Krishna was AUM, importing rather a Statement of the Truth of Nature than a practical Instruction in detailed Operations of Magick.
Krishna in the performing arts
The earliest mention of any performance based on the Krishna story is mentioned in Patanjali's ''Mahabhashya'', though the type of performance is unclear.
As all stories of Krishna are presented as playful activities in which he is fully aware of his divine nature made him a difficult subject for the classical Sanskrit playwrights. These plays usually had scenes where the hero is deep in sorrow before the customary happy ending. While Vishnu's other major incarnation
Rama could be made into the
protagonist of the plays, it was virtually impossible to write such plays about Krishna.
Bhasa's ''Balacharita'' and ''Dutavakya'' are the only plays by a major classical dramatist. The former dwells only on his childhood exploits and the latter is a one-act play based on a single episode from the ''Mahabharata'' when Krishna tries to make peace between the warring cousins.
The problem faced by classical drama did not crop up in other arts like music, dance and narrative enactments of the Krishna legend. From the
10th century BCE, with the growing Bhakti movement, Krishna became a favourite subject. The songs of the ''
Gita Govinda'' became favoured across India, and had many imitations. The songs composed by the Bhakti poets added to the repository of both folk and classical singing.
The classical dances of India, especially
Odissi and
Manipuri, draw heavily on them. The '
Rasa lila' dances performed in
Vrindavana shares elements with
Kathak, and the
Krisnattam performed now exclusively at the
Guruvayur temple was the precursor of
Kathakali. The beautiful classical Sattriya dance form founded by the Assamese Vaishnava saint Sankardeva extols the virtues of Krishna. Among these is the Dashavatar Nritya. Srimanta Sankaradeva wrote various dramas (Ekankiyas)like 'ChorDara', 'Pimpara Gusuwa', on the childhood of Krishna. Krishna also inspired Sankardeva to compose other works. Assamese culture includes ''Namghars'', a congregational gathering, established by Sankardeva for praying to Krishna. There is a namghar in every village of Assam.
Medieval
Maharashtra gave birth to Hari-Katha that told Vaishnava tales through music, dance, and narrative sequences and Krishna’s story became a rich source. This tradition then spread to
Tamil Nadu and other southern states.
Narayana Tirtha's (
17th century CE) ''Krishna-Lila-Tarangini'' provided material for the musical plays of the ''Bhagavata-Mela'' by telling the tale of Krishna until his marriage to Rukmini.
Tyagaraja (
18th century CE) wrote a similar piece called ''Nauka-Charitam''.
The narratives of Krishna from the Puranas are performed in
Yakshagana, a performance style native to
Karnataka's coastal districts.
Many movies in all Indian languages have been made based on these pastimes. These are of varying quality and usually take many liberties with the story to add songs, melodrama, and special effects.
See also
★
Radha
★
Balarama
★
Rama
★
Vrindavan
★
Hare Krishna
★
Bhagavad Gita
★
Vishnu
★
Hindu deities
★
Udupi
★
Mirabai
★
Vithoba
★
Dnyaneshwar
★
Tukaram
Footnotes
1. Bhag-P 1.3.28 "All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Sri Krishna is the original Personality of Godhead."
2. Brahma Samhita 5.30
3. Chaitanya Charitamrita 9.30
4. Astrology Notes; Sri Krishna: His Birth and Activities. N.S. Rajaram takes these dates at face value when he opines that "We have therefore overwhelming evidence showing that Krishna was a historical figure who must have lived within a century on either side of that date, i.e., in the 3200-3000 BC period". ('Search for the Historical Krishna' 1999)
5. A collection of essays Dates are given as 3104 and 3102 BC or similar
6. hindunet.org
7. Prabhupada and the Founding of ISKCON by Charles Selengut "Within five years of these modest beginnings, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was the acknowledged spiritual leader and guru of hundreds of devotee followers who were organised into a religious movement with branches on several continents. By 1970 the new movement, incorporated as "The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)", had been given wide publicity by the media and popularised for the sixties counterculture through such celebrities as Allen Ginsberg and the Beatles. This new movement from the East was avowedly evangelistic and situated in the mainstream of the sixties youth and countercultural movements, performing their religious dances in public parks, participating in anti-Vietnam War rallies, and even, on occasions, appearing at rock concerts and music festivals."
8. ''Prabhupada - He Built a House, Satsvarupa dasa Goswami, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1983, ISBN 0-89213-133-0'' page xv
9. Andhakavenhu-(dāsa)-puttā
10. ''The Turner of the Wheel''. The Life of Sariputta, compiled and translated from the Pali texts by Nyanaponika Thera
11. Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, Esslemont, J.E., , , Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1980, ISBN 0-87743-160-4
References
★ The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli, published between 1883 and 1896
★ The Vishnu-Purana, translated by H. H. Wilson, 1840
★ The Srimad Bhagavatam, translated by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, 1988 copyright Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
★ The Jataka or Stories of the Buddha's Former Births, edited by E. B. Cowell, 1895
★ Garuda Pillar of Besnagar, Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report (1908-1909). Calcutta: Superintendent of Government Printing, 1912, 129.
★ Krishna the Divine Lover: Myth and Legend Through Indian Art (London 1982) by A. L. Dallapiccola
★ Scientific Dating of the Mahabharat War
[1]
★ For chronology of Krishna's life see
"Yahoo! India News, Thu, Sep 16, 2004: Top Stories, Friday September 10, 8:41 AM, Chronicling Krishna's life - to the last second, by Ashish Mehta, Indo-Asian News Service"
External links
;Articles
★
All about Krishna (various articles) (krishna.com)
★
The Search for the Historical Krishna, by Prof. N.S. Rajaram (veda.harekrsna.cz)
★
Sri Krishna - Differences in Realisation & Perception of the Supreme (stephen-knapp.com)
★
The full text of the Bhagavata Purana (Srimad-Bhagavatam) (srimadbhagavatam.com)
★
A Tribute to Hinduism - Dwarka (atributetohinduism.com)
★
Vedic Archeology (A Vaishnava Perspective) (gosai.com)
;Miscellaneous
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Shri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math - The bhakti tradition and Gaudiya Vaishnavism (sreecgmath.org)
★
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (iskcon.com)
★
Krishna Deity Gallery (vrindavan.com)
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Krishna - His life (krishna.avatara.org)
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Krishna 'Janmashtami' - The celebration of Krishna's birth (krishnajanmashtami.com)
★
Article on the chronology of Krishna (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
★
Devotional hymns and eulogies on Krishna (stutimandal.com)
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