Lord Krishna, the dude of Vrindavan, the 8th avatar of Lord Vishnu, was much more than being the guide of Arjun during Mahabharat. The Nandalala/Nandkishor of Yashoda, the mischievous ‘Makkhanchor’ (butter thief), had a mysterious life that little had been revealed. So, let’s continue reading to know how much do you know about the legendary fanciful character.

1. Birth: Krishna was born 5,252 years ago (as of 2020), on 18th July, 3,228 B.C, on the Ashtami/8th day of Hindu month Shravan, fell on Krishna Paksha under Rohini Nakshatra, Wednesday at00 AM.

2. Birth Place: He was born in Mathura, in the jail of the Yadava clan, and grew up in Gokul, then shifted to Vrindavan.

3. Family: He was born to King Vasudeva and Queen Devaki and adopted by Nandraj and Yashoda. His siblings were Balaram and Subhadra.

4. Wives: He had 16,108 wives, among them Rukmini, Satyabhama, Jambavati, Kalindi, Mitravinda, Nagnajiti, Bhadra, Lakshmana were his principal wives. Each of them bore him 10 sons.

5. Krishna’s biological parents had an interracial marriage. (Vasudeva: Yadava clan & Devaki: Ugra clan).

6. “Drought” and “threat of wild wolves” made them shift from ‘Gokul’ to ‘Vrindavan’ at the age of 9.

7. He stayed in Vrindavan for 14-16 years. He killed his own maternal uncle, the demon king Kamsa at the age of 14-16 at Mathura. He then released his biological mother and father and never returned to Vrindavan ever again.

8. He was born dark-skinned. Gokul people named and teased him “Kanha” for being black, short, and adopted. His childhood was wrought with life-threatening situations.

9. Krishna had killed only 4 people in his lifetime- Kamsa, Shishupaala, Dantavakra, and Chanoora.

10. He never returned to Vrindavan ever again.

11. He had to emigrate from Mathura to Dwaraka, due to the threat of a Sindhu King; Kala Yaavana.

12. He defeated ‘Jarasandha’ with the help of ‘Vainatheya”, Tribes on Gomantaka hill (now Goa).

13. He rebuilt Dwaraka.

14. He started his schooling at age 16-18 at Sandipani’s Ashram in Ujjain.

15. After his education, he came to know about his cousins’ (Pandavas) fate of Vanvas. He rescued them in ”Wax house”, and later, Pandavas got married to Draupadi. His role was immense in this saga.

16. He saved Draupadi from embarrassment and stood by his cousins during their exile.

17. Eventually, he made them win the Kurushetra war.

18. Then, he helped his cousins to establish Indraprastha- the Pandava’s Kingdom.

19. He saw his cherished city Dwaraka washed away.

20. He is the only person who knew the past and probably the future, yet he lived at that present moment always.

21. He had faced bigger challenges in every turn but never performed any miracles.

22. He was killed by Jara (a hunter) while sleeping in a nearby forest.

23. He and his life is truly an example for every human being.

24. Krishna is worshipped as:

(a) Krishna Kanhaiyya: Mathura

(b) Jagannath: Odisha

(c) Vithoba: Maharashtra

(d) Srinath: Rajasthan

(e) Dwarakadheesh: Gujarat

(f) Ranchhod: Gujarat

(g) Krishna: Udipi, Karnataka

Hare Krishna.

Feature Image Credit: Image by Seb Powen from Pixabay. (free for commercial use)