Birth of krishNa

srI:
srImathE satakOpAya nama:
srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srImadh varavaramunayE nama:

krishNa, one of the pUrNa avatArAs of sriman nArayaNa, took the form of a human to show one of HIS greatest qualities – saulabhyam, the ability to mingle with everyone as an equal and being most easily approachable. As krishNa janmAshtami is being celebrated in the northern parts of bhAratha dhEsam, let us enjoy the story of the birth of krishNa.

There was a time in dwApara yuga, in the city of mathurA, where the yAdhava clan was thriving and there was a prince called kamsa, who then became the king of the yAdhavas. kamsa had a cousin dhEvaki, who was married to vasudhEva, another prince in the yAdhava clan. On the day dhEvaki and vasudhEva were married, there was voice from the sky which prophesied that dhEvaki’s 8th son would be the destroyer of kamsa. On hearing this kamsa was about to kill dhEvaki. Please make the puzzle below to see how angry kamsa became!

vasudhEva pleaded with kamsa to spare dhEvaki’s life and assured kamsa that both dEvaki and vasudhEva would give away all of their children to kamsa, as soon as they were born. vasudEvA pleaded saying that dhEvaki and he are not responsible for kamsa’s death and killing a woman would result in more sins for kamsa. kamsa also imprisoned vasudEvA and dEvaki in jail, in order to monitor all their activity.

Thus, dhEvaki and vasudhEva kept having children and as soon as a child was born, kamsa would come to the prison and take the child away. As days passed, dhEvaki and vasudhEva would lament at the plight of their children, even before they were born. Unable to see their suffering, srIman nArAyaNa came in their dreams one day, before the 8th child was born and said that he would be born as the 8th child and gave them a set of instructions.

The instructions were for vasudhEva to carry the 8th child to the house of his friend, the cowherd chief nandhagOpa in gOkula right after his birth, where nandhagOpa’s wife yasOdhA would birth to a daughter, at around the same time. The baby boy and girl were supposed to be exchanged. dhEvaki and vasudhEva were anxiously waiting for the birth for srIman nArAyaNa and in the month of AvaNi, the star of rOhiNi, in the thithi of ashtami, srIman nArAyaNa incarnated as krishNa!

As soon as the baby was born, the doors of the jail magically opened to let vasudhEva through, so that he may take krishNa to gOkula, per the instructions. The river yamunA lay between the cities of mathurA and gOkula. As is the color of krishNa, there were dark rain bearing clouds when krishNa was born and as vasudhEva started to take him out, the rains became heavier, such that no one could see what was going on.

In this heavy rain, vasudhEva had to cross the majestic river yamuna in order to reach gOkula. As vasudhEva was crossing the river yamunA, the river also started to over flow with water and it is believed that yamunA flooded in order to be able to touch the feet of little krishNa, as he lay on as basked carried on vasudhEva’s head. As vasudhEva was in jail and had no other possessions, adisEshA, the bed, throne, seat and umbrella of emperumAn came and hovered over vasudhEva’s head, protecting our small krishNa from the heavy rains. Complete the puzzle below to see the greatness of adisEshA and how vasudhEva crossed the raging river yamuna.

After reaching gOkula, vasudhEva entered the home of nandhagOpan and yasOdhA and replaced the baby girl lying there with krishNa and brought back the baby girl to Mathura. As soon as vasudhEva returned to the prison, the prison doors started locking back up. When vasudhEva was tucked back in safely, the baby girl started crying, awakening the guards, who in turn let kamsa know about the birth of the 8th child.

kamsa immediately rushed to the prison and was shocked to see that the 8th child was a girl and was almost sure that a baby girl could do nothing to him. kamsa was about to kill this baby girl too, but as he was about to do that, the baby girl flew out of his hand and became – yOga mAyA, with 8 hands. She laughed at kamsa and said that kamsa would gain nothing by trying to kill her and instead the one destined to kill kamsa, dhEvaki’s 8th child is elsewhere and vanished. Complete the puzzle below to see how yOga mAyA looks and the shocked look of kamsa.

While kamsa was shocked and furious at having been fooled, in spite of locking dhEvaki and vasudhEva, the people of gOkula rejoiced the birth of krishNa!

vaNNamAdangaL sUzh thirukkOttiyUr
kaNNan kEsavan nambi piRanthinil
eNNeysuNNam ethirethir thUvidak
kaNNan muRRam kalanthu aLarAyiRRE. – periyAzhwAr thirumozhi, 1.1.1

The joyous people of gOkula went to the palace where kutti kaNNan (baby krishNa) was “born” amidst them. They sprayed scented powder and fragrant oil on each other to celebrate the arrival of their darling and were happily celebrating that krishNa was born!  

Complete the puzzle below to imagine some of the celebrations in gOkula.

In the upcoming posts, we can enjoy the childhood of krishNa and many of his pass times.

Full series can be viewed at http://pillai.koyil.org/?p=593