Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s3.t15.4

v2.c10.s3.t15.4

The synopsis of '*Sūrsāgar*': Krishna was born into the Yadava clan. His parents suffered persecution from his maternal uncle, the King Kamsa. Therefore, Krishna was raised by the cowherd couple Nanda and Yashoda. The child Krishna was, on one hand, naughty and played a lot of mischievous pranks. On the other hand, as an avatar of Vishnu, he subdued and killed a number of demons, protecting the cowherds. As a youth, Krishna flirted with many ‘gopis’ (wives and daughters of the cowherds), from which a lot of erotic verses came into being. At the age of 16, Krishna returned to his birthplace Mathura and slew the wicked King Kamsa. Thus, he rescued his birth parents, and later himself became the regent. After sometime, he decided to move his kingdom to Dvaraka and there he achieved greatness and immortality.