[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879) › c5.897 # A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.897 A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.897 - **Language:** English ### [c5.897](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.897) Krishna was of the Yādava race, being descended from Yadu, one of the sons of Yayāti. The Yādavas of old were a pastoral race, and dwelt on the river Yamunā (Jumna), in Vrindāvana, on the western side, and in Gokula on the other. In those days, Kansa, Rāja of the Bhojas, having deposed his father, Ugrasena, ruled in the city of Mathurā, near Vrindāvana. Ugrasena had a brother named Devaka, and Devaka had a daughter named Devakī, who married Vasu-deva, son of Sūra, also a descendant of Yadu. The history of Krishna’s birth, as given in the Mahā-bhārata and followed by the Vishnu Purāna, is that Vishnu plucked out two of his own hairs, one white, the other black. These two hairs entered the wombs of Rohinī and Devakī; the white hair became Balārāma and the black (krishna) hair (kesa) became Krishna or Kesava. - [Previous: c5.896](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.896) - [Next: c5.898](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.898) - [Up: c5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5) ## Linked texts (2) - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Viṣṇupurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.visnu) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.897](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.897) · Pramāṇa