[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975) › c7.2673 # Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.2673 Purāṇic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Purāṇic Literature c7.2673 - **Language:** English ### [c7.2673](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c7.2673) 7) Colour of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Balabhadrarāma. Śrī Kṛṣṇa was dark in colour and Balabhadra white. There is a story in the Mahābhārata to explain this difference in their colour. The Devas informed Mahāviṣṇu of their decision to incarnate themselves on earth for the annihilation of the evil and cruel people. Pleased at their decision Viṣṇu plucked from his head a black hair and also a white hair and threw them on the ground, and he said that the black hair would enter Devakī and be born as Kṛṣṇa while the white one would enter Rohiṇī and be born as Balabhadra. Accordingly Kṛṣṇa became of the colour of the cloud (black) and Balabhadra white in colour. (Ādi Parva, Chapter 199, Verse 31). - [Previous: c7.2672](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c7.2672) - [Next: c7.2674](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c7.2674) - [Up: c7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c7) ## Cites (1) - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c7.2673](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c7.2673) · Pramāṇa