[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930) › v6.c81.488 # History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.488 History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.488 - **Language:** English ### [v6.c81.488](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v6.c81.488) It would not be out of place to say a few words about Kṛṣṇa and about the antiquity of Kṛṣṇa worship. There is a reference in the Chāndogya-upaniṣad (III. 17. 6) to Kṛṣṇa Devakīputra receiving instruction from Ghora Āṅgirasa. There was a Vedic poet named Kṛṣṇa who calls upon the Aśvins to listen to his invocation in Ṛg. VIII. 85. 3 and the Anukramaṇī assigns Ṛg. VIII. 86-87 to Kṛṣṇa Āṅgirasa. Jain tradition regards Kṛṣṇa as contemporaneous with Nemi, the 22nd Tīrthaṅkara, and from the account of the 63 great men of Jain pre-history about one third are shown as associated with Kṛṣṇa. The life of Kṛṣṇa as gathered from the Mahābhārata is a composite one. In some passages he is depicted as a Yādava prince, the staunchest friend of the Pāṇḍavas³²⁸ (and particularly of Arjuna), as a great warrior, statesman and philosopher. In other passages he is identified with the Supreme Lord of the worlds and as Viṣṇu Himself (Śānti 47. 28, Droṇa 146. 67-68, Karṇa 87. 74, Vanaparva 49. 20, Bhīṣma 21. 13-15). There are most sublime praises of Kṛṣṇa put in the mouths of Yudhiṣṭhira (Droṇa 149. 16-33), Draupadī (Vanaparva 263. 8-16) and Bhīṣma when about to die (Anuśāsana 167. 37-45). We have further information about him from the Harivaṁśa, the Viṣṇupurāṇa, Vāyu (98. 100-102), the Bhāgavata and Brahmavaivarta that deal with Kṛṣṇa's romantic career among cowherds, which is wanting in the Mahābhārata. - [Previous: v6.c81.487](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v6.c81.487) - [Next: v6.c81.489](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v6.c81.489) - [Up: v6.c81](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v6.c81) ## Cites (4) - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa*vulgate.3.49.20) — Sanskrit - [Vāyupurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.vayu.2.36.100) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Chāndogyopaniṣad](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.upanisad.mukhya.chandogya.3.17.6) — Sanskrit - [Ṛgvedasaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.samhita.rg.8.85.3) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v6.c81.488](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v6.c81.488) · Pramāṇa