A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.896

c5.896

The modern deity Krishna is the most celebrated hero of Indian mythology, and the most popular of all the deities. He is said to be the eighth Avatāra or incarnation of Vishnu, or rather a direct manifestation of Vishnu himself. This hero, around whom a vast mass of legend and fable has been gathered, probably lived in the Epic age, when the Hindus had not advanced far beyond their early settlements in the north-west. He appears prominently in the Mahā-bhārata, where his character is invested with a certain degree of mysticism. Additions and interpolations have raised him to divinity, and it is in the character of the “Divine One” that he delivered the celebrated song, Bhagavad-gītā, a production of comparatively late date, now held to be part of the great epic. In this work he distinctly declares himself to be the Supreme Being. He says:— “All this universe has been created by me; all things exist in me;” and Arjuna addresses him as “the supreme universal spirit, the supreme dwelling, the eternal person, divine, prior to the gods, unborn, omnipresent.” The divine character of Krishna having thus been established, it was still further developed in the Hari-vansa, a later addition to the Mahā-bhārata; and in the Purānas, especially the Bhāgavata Purāna, it attained full expansion. There the story of the life of Krishna, from his earliest days, is related with minute details, and it is upon this portion of his life that the popular mind delights to dwell. The mischievous pranks of the child, the follies of the boy, and the amours of the youth, are the subjects of boundless wonder and delight. All these stories, as told in the Bhāgavata Purāna, have been made accessible and popular by the Hindī translation known by the name Prem Sāgar, ‘ocean of love,’ and by other versions. Much of the story of the early days of Krishna is thus of comparatively modern invention, while the incidents of his relations with the Pāndava princes are among the most ancient.