Happy  Janmashtami

Janmashtami,one of the most popular festivals of Hindus celebrates the
birth of their beloved God, Sri Krishna. Detailed story of Janmashtami
or Lord Krishna”s birth has been narrated in Puranas. Please read on to
know more about the various fascinating aspects of the legend of
Janmashtami as stated in Puranas.

Mathura, a prominent town of Northern India and the birth city of Sri
Krishna was ruled by King Ugrasen, a Yaduvanshi ( Belonging to the
Community of Yadavs). He was a great king loved by his subjects. He had
two children, a son Kansa and a daughter Devki. Kansa was quite cruel by
nature, his wickedness knew no bounds when he jailed his father and
forcefully became the king of Mathura.

Love for sister Devki and Brother in law Vasudev

Though Kansa was hard hearted but he loved his sister immensely and
married her off to Vasudev, one the high ranking officers in his army.
However on the day of wedding, as a result of a heavenly prediction that
Devki's eighth child will be born to kill him, Kansa decided to
kill his sister. On Vasudev”s pleading, he put both of them in dungeons
and let them live but with a promise that they will handover all their
children to Kansa, only to be killed by him.

Birth of Balram

Kansa succeeded in killing all the six new born babies of Devki and
Vasudev, however the seventh child was saved by divine intervention as
the child was transferred from Devki's womb to that of Rohini”s,
Vasudev”s other wife. Thus Balram, the elder brother of Krishna was born
but Kansa thought that Devki had a miscarriage.

Birth of Krishna

The birth of the eighth child of Devki, Lord Krishna was followed by a
chain of dramatic events. Soon after the birth of the child, as if by a
sheer miracle, all the soldiers guarding the couple fell asleep and the
gates of the dungeon flew open themselves. Vasudev decided to smuggle
the child safely in a basket to his friend Nand in Gokul. Since it was
raining heavily, River Yamuna was all swollen and Vasudev feared that
both he as well as his child will drown if he tried to cross it,
however, as soon as the feet of the infant touched the river, the flow
of water became normal and Vasudev was able to cross it easily.
Sheshnag, the five headed serpent of Lord Vishnu protected the child
with its fangs. Vasudev knew that his was not an ordinary child but a
divine being. After handing his child, to his dear friend, Nand, Vasudev
returned back safely with a girl child and no one got to know about it. 

Yogmaya's prediction

On hearing the news of the eighth born child, Kansa rushed to kill the
girl. He paid no heed to Devki's plead of sparing the girl. He held
the child by her legs and just as he was about to bang her against the
wall, the girl vanished into thin air and told Kansa that his slayer had
been born and was safe in Gokul. The girl child was none other than
Yogmaya (divine illusion). The eighth child grew up as Yashoda and Nand's
son in Gokul and later killed his maternal uncle Kansa, freeing all the
people of Mathura from his tyranny.

Jai Shree Krishna