Krishna \Krish"na\ (kr[i^]sh"n[.a]), n. [Skr. k[.r]sh[.n]a ' The
black.'.] (Hindu Myth.)
The most popular of the Hindu divinities, usually held to be
the eighth incarnation of the god Vishnu.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Krishna is a well-known Hindu deity. Originally the
ethnic god of some powerful confederation of Rajput
clans, by fusion with the Vishnu of the older theology
Krishna becomes one of the chief divinities of
Hinduism. He is indeed an avatar of Vishnu, or Vishnu
himself. In his physical character mingle myths of
fire, lightning, and storm, of heaven and the sun. In
the epic he is a hero invincible in war and love,
brave, but above all crafty. He was the son of Vasudeva
and Devaki, and born at Mathura, on the Yamuna, between
Delhi and Agra, among the Yadavas. Like that of many
solar heroes, his birth was beset with peril. On the
night when it took place, his parents had to remove him
from the reach of his uncle, King Kansa, who sought his
life because he had been warned by a voice from heaven
that the eighth son of Devaki would kill him, and who
had regularly made away with his nephews at their
birth. Conveyed across the Yamuna, Krishna was brought
up as their son by the shepherd Nanda and his wife
Yashoda, together with his brother Balarama, 'Rama the
strong,' who had been likewise saved from massacre. The
two brothers grew up among the shepherds, slaying
monsters and demons and sporting with the Gopis, the
female cowherds of Vrindavana. Their birth and infancy,
their juvenile exploits, and their erotic gambols with
the Gopis became in time the essential portion of the
legend of Krishna, and their scenes are today the most
celebrated centers of his worship. When grown, the
brothers put their uncle Kansa to death, and Krishna
became king of the Yadavas. He cleared the land of
monsters, warred against impious kings, and took part
in the war of the sons of Pandu against those of
Dhritarashtra, as described in the Mahabharata. He
transferred his capital to Dvaraka ('the city of
gates'), the gates of the West, since localized in
Gujarat. There he and his race were overtaken by the
final catastrophe. After seeing his brother slain, and
the Yadavas kill each other to the last man, he himself
perished, wounded in the heel, like Achilles, by the
arrow of a hunter. The bible of the worshipers of
Vishnu in his most popular manifestation, that of
Krishna, consists of the Bhagavatapurana and the
Bhagavadgita. See these words.
[Century Dict. 1906]
Hare Krishnas A popular name for the group International
Society for Krishna Consciousness (abbreviated ISKCON),
devotees of Krishna, founded in 1966 by A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (born 1896, died 1977).
They are called thus because of their frequent public
chanting of the words "Hare Krishna".
[PJC]
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