Krishna
Indian mythology · deity · divine love, statecraft, dharma
The eighth avatar of Vishnu: cowherd, prince, and counselor. As Arjuna's charioteer in the Mahabharata he delivers the Bhagavad Gita. In Bhakti traditions he is worshipped not as an avatar but as the supreme god himself.
Stories
The Bhagavad Gita
On the eve of the Kurukshetra war, the warrior Arjuna despairs at fighting his own kin. His charioteer Krishna reveals himself as God and teaches the paths of duty, knowledge, and devotion.
The Dice Game
Shakuni's loaded dice strip Yudhishthira of kingdom, brothers, himself, and at last Draupadi. Dragged into the assembly, she is saved from disrobing by Krishna's grace while Bhishma and Vidura sit in shamed silence and Dushasana pulls at her robe; her unbound hair becomes the war's standing oath.
The Fall of Bhishma
None can defeat the grandsire while he holds his weapons, and he will not raise them against one born a woman. So Arjuna advances behind Shikhandi, Amba reborn for exactly this hour, and fills Bhishma with arrows; the old man falls onto a bed of shafts and chooses to die only when the sun turns north.
Karna's Wheel
The final duel of the war: Karna against Arjuna, brother against unknowing brother. When Karna's chariot wheel sinks into the earth, he pleads the code of arms while he frees it. Krishna reminds Arjuna of the code that died with Abhimanyu, and the arrow flies.
The Mace Duel
With his hundred brothers dead, Duryodhana rises from a lake for the last fight. Balarama watches his two pupils circle; Bhima, losing, strikes below the belt at Krishna's signal and shatters the thigh he swore to break in the dice hall. Dharma and vengeance settle their accounts in one blow.
The Night Massacre
The war is won when Ashwatthama enters the sleeping camp by night and kills the victors' sons in their beds. For a crime beyond battle, Krishna sentences him to deathless wandering, wounded and shunned until the age itself ends; Draupadi, given his life, lets him go.
Krishna and the Serpent
The serpent Kaliya's venom has blackened the Yamuna and killed the cowherds' cattle. The boy Krishna dives from a tree into the poisoned water, rises dancing on the serpent's hundred hoods, and spares his life at the pleading of the serpent queens; Kaliya carries the god's footprints away as protection.
The Butter Thief
The child Krishna raids every butter pot in Gokul, and when Yashoda finally ties him to a mortar as punishment, the rope is always two fingers too short. She looks into her yawning child's mouth and sees the whole universe inside; the vision closes, mercifully, and she picks up her son.
The Lifting of Govardhana
Krishna persuades the cowherds to honor their mountain and cattle instead of Indra, and the insulted storm god answers with a deluge. Krishna lifts Govardhana hill on his little finger and holds it as an umbrella over Nanda's people for seven days, until Indra descends and bows.
The Death of Kamsa
The tyrant of Mathura summons the boys he failed to kill to a rigged wrestling match. Krishna and Balarama break his champions, and Krishna drags his uncle from the throne by the hair, freeing Devaki and Vasudeva from the prison where their children were murdered.
Sudama's Handful of Rice
A destitute brahmin walks to Dwarka to see the friend of his schooldays, ashamed of the handful of beaten rice he carries as a gift. Krishna washes his feet, eats the rice with delight, and sends him home unasked to find his hut a palace; between friends, the gift was never the point.