Vasudeva

Vasudeva was the father of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa and Balarāma. He belonged to the Yādava line, through Devamīḍha and Śūrasena. The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa names him as an aṃśa (part) of the ancient ṛshi Kaśyapa. In an earlier kalpa (age of the world) Kaśyapa did ten thousand years of tapas (austerity) on Mount Gandhamādana to obtain Bhagavān Vishṇu as his son.

His life is marked by deep wisdom, moral courage under great pressure and firm devotion. The best known moment is his night crossing of the Yamunā with the infant Kṛshṇa to bring him to safety.

Lineage

Vasudeva belongs to the Yādava branch of the Soma-vaṃśa, the lunar dynasty. The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa gives his line as Yadu → … → Devamīḍha → Śūrasena → Vasudeva. He was a prince of the Yādava nobility and a kinsman of the ruling house of Mathurā.

Among his wives, the two best known are Devakī, who bore Kṛshṇa, and Rohiṇī, who lived in safety in Gokula and bore Balarāma after the transfer of the child from Devakī’s womb. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 7)

Kaśyapa’s tapas in an earlier age

At the time of Kṛshṇa’s birth, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa tells Vasudeva that their bond is far older than one life. In an earlier kalpa, Vasudeva was the great ṛshi Kaśyapa. With his wife Aditi, whose aṃśa is now Devakī, Kaśyapa did intense tapas for ten thousand years on the holy Gandhamādana mountain.

At the end of this tapas, Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared before them. He gave them a vara (boon) that he would be born as their son. The boon first bore fruit as the Vāmana avatāra. Now, in the Dvāpara yuga, the same tapas gave its highest fruit. Parātpara Brahman came into Devakī’s womb and was born as Kṛshṇa, keeping the old bond with Kaśyapa-Vasudeva. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapters 7 and 9)

The wedding and the voice from the sky

Garga Muni performed Vasudeva’s wedding to Devakī with full Vedic rites, and the Yādavas rejoiced. Kaṃsa himself drove the wedding chariot, to honour his sister. At that moment the ākāśavāṇī (a bodiless voice from the sky) broke the joy. It declared that Devakī’s eighth child would kill Kaṃsa.

Kaṃsa seized Devakī to kill her at once. Vasudeva showed a clear mind and moral wisdom. He stepped forward and spoke calmly and with reason. He told Kaṃsa that Devakī herself was no danger, that only the eighth child was, and that he, Vasudeva, would hand every child they had to Kaṃsa himself. He made this promise freely to save his wife’s life. He would have to keep it at a very great cost to himself. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 7)

Imprisonment and the loss of six children

Kaṃsa did not fully trust the promise. He put Vasudeva and Devakī in prison in chains. For years Vasudeva watched helplessly as Kaṃsa took and killed the first six children born to Devakī. Vasudeva kept his promise and did not resist, because resisting would have cost Devakī her life. The pain of these years deepened his devotion into full surrender to the will of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 7)

The night of Kṛshṇa’s birth

At midnight on the night of Kṛshṇa’s birth, divine light filled the prison cell. The child first appeared to Vasudeva and Devakī in his full four-armed form of Bhagavān Vishṇu. He held the śaṅkha (conch), cakra (discus), gadā (mace) and padma (lotus). He wore the Kaustubha gem, the Vaijayantī garland and the pītāmbara (yellow cloth).

Vasudeva was filled with bhakti (devotion) and composed a stotra (hymn of praise) to this form. In it he praised the child as Parātpara Brahman, the cause of all creation, beyond all the guṇas, the eternal Purusha who took form out of compassion for his devotees.

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa then spoke. He confirmed the old account, that this child was the fruit of Vasudeva’s ten thousand years of tapas as Kaśyapa. Then he took the form of an ordinary newborn, so that Vasudeva could carry him to safety. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 7)

The crossing of the Yamunā

The night journey across the flooded Yamunā with the infant Kṛshṇa is one of the best known events in the Purāṇic account of Kṛshṇa’s life. By the māyā of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, the prison guards fell into deep sleep. The iron chains on Vasudeva’s wrists fell off, and the heavy doors opened by themselves. Vasudeva laid the infant in a wicker basket and went out into the stormy night.

The Yamunā was in flood, high, wild and dark. Vasudeva entered the river with the basket held high on his head. Ādiśesha, the divine serpent, appeared and spread his thousand hoods over the infant like an umbrella, to keep off the rain and the weather. The Yamunā knew her Prabhu Kṛshṇa and parted her waters, and Vasudeva crossed safely. He reached Gokula, the settlement of Nanda, where Yaśodā had just given birth. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 7)

The exchange of the children

At Nanda’s house, Vasudeva laid the infant Kṛshṇa beside the sleeping Yaśodā. He took the newborn girl, who was Yogamāyā herself and had appeared there at the same time, and carried her back across the Yamunā to the prison. The doors closed behind him, and he put the girl in Devakī’s arms.

Kaṃsa came in and seized the girl to dash her to death. She rose into the sky and showed her divine form. She declared that Kṛshṇa had already been born elsewhere. The exchange was complete. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 7)

What the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa shows in his life

The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa shows Vasudeva as a great bhakta (devotee) chosen by Bhagavān Kṛshṇa through his suffering. His tapas as Kaśyapa, his courage in speaking with Kaṃsa, his patient endurance through years in prison and grief, and his one act of perfect devotion in carrying Bhagavān Kṛshṇa across the Yamunā make up this picture. The Purāṇa presents his whole life as the ripening of that old tapas into its highest fruit: Bhagavān Kṛshṇa himself as his son. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 7)

Vasudeva in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda

Vasudeva’s stotra at Kṛshṇa’s birth

The Bhāgavata gives special place to Vasudeva’s own stotra at the moment the four-armed divine child appeared before him. In it Vasudeva praised the child as the unborn Parabrahman who has entered time and space by his own will, not by the force of karma or māyā. He said that even the Vedas and the greatest ṛshis cannot fully know this Supreme, so how could an ordinary being like himself? He said that the divine child lay before him only because of the old tapas that he and Devakī had done as Kaśyapa and Aditi, and that the fruit of that tapas had now come in full. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 3)

The revelation of three births

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa himself told Vasudeva and Devakī the history of their parenthood across the ages. In the first age they were the ṛshi pair Sutapas and Pṛśni, who did great tapas for twelve thousand years. Bhagavān Vishṇu was born from Pṛśni’s womb as Pṛśnigarbha. In the second age they were Kaśyapa and Aditi, and the fruit of their tapas was Vāmana. Now, in the Dvāpara Yuga, Parātpara Brahman had come as Devakī’s eighth child, keeping the old bond for the third and last time. This shows Vasudeva as a great tapasvin whose long spiritual journey ended in the highest gift, and not only as a father in prison. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 3)

The crossing of the Yamunā in the Bhāgavata

The Bhāgavata shows Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s own will directing every part of that night. The prison doors opened by themselves. The chains fell away. The guards slept as if struck senseless. The Yamunā, in full monsoon flood, knew the Supreme Being in the basket on Vasudeva’s head and parted her waters to make a path.

The Bhāgavata adds that Ādiśesha, the first serpent, came down and followed behind Vasudeva, spreading his thousand hoods like an umbrella over the infant against the rain. The Yamunā touched the feet of the infant Kṛshṇa, as devotees touch the feet of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 3)

The visit to Gokula

Kṛshṇa was settled in Gokula, and Nanda’s people were celebrating his birth. Vasudeva came to Gokula, saying he was visiting his old friend Nanda. The two were friends, and both had newborn children. He found Nanda full of joy over the birth of his son.

Vasudeva told Nanda of the strange and ominous signs he had seen, which seemed to point to danger for the children of Gokula. He urged Nanda to be watchful. The two friends talked together, and then Vasudeva went back to Mathurā. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 5)

Vasudeva in the Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva

His family line in the Vṛshṇi vaṃśa (Chapter 34)

The Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa gives one of the fullest accounts of Vasudeva’s line within the Vṛshṇi branch of the Yādava family. In Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 34 (Vṛshṇi Vaṃśa Varṇana), the line runs Kroshṭu → Yudhājit → Vṛshṇi → Śvaphalka and Citraka, the two sons of Vṛshṇi. Separately it runs through Anāmitra → Devamīḍha → Śūrasena.

Śūrasena’s eldest son by Mahishī, a Bhoja princess, was Vasudeva. He was also called Ānakadundubhi, because divine drums (dundubhis) sounded in the sky when he was born. The text praises his beauty. In all of Bhūloka there was no man as handsome as Vasudeva, and his body shone like moonlight.

Vasudeva was the eldest and best known of Śūrasena’s ten sons and the head of the Yādava nobility when Bhagavān Kṛshṇa came down. Akrūra, another important figure in Kṛshṇa’s account, belongs to the Śvaphalka branch of the same Vṛshṇi line, and so was Vasudeva’s cousin. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 34)

His time as Kaṃsa’s prisoner

The Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa gives special detail on Vasudeva’s imprisonment. In Chapter 1, after Nārada’s visit, Kaṃsa rages at his assembly. He turns on Vasudeva and speaks to him with scorn. He accuses him of secretly planning Kaṃsa’s destruction through his sons, and of being a traitor who sits at Kaṃsa’s table while plotting his end. Vasudeva bears this with gāmbhīrya (deep, unshaken calm) and says nothing. The Yādavas in the assembly bow their heads in shame at Kaṃsa’s abuse of this elder. Akrūra, watching Vasudeva endure the insult, feels a surge of joyful devotion at the thought that Kṛshṇa will come to end all this.

In Chapter 31, after Kaṃsa is killed, one of the first things Kṛshṇa does is bow at Vasudeva’s feet. Vasudeva had grown old before his time through years of grief at the loss of his children, but now he is made young again by a father’s joy. He embraces his son. In the Hari Vaṃśa the bond between Vasudeva and Kṛshṇa is one of the deepest in the narrative. Vasudeva’s endurance through the whole ordeal matches Kṛshṇa’s patience on a cosmic scale. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapters 1 and 31)

The night of Kṛshṇa’s birth in the Hari Vaṃśa (Chapter 4)

The Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa tells Kṛshṇa’s birth in Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 4 (Śrī Kṛshṇa Jananamu), in a form that matches the other Purāṇas but with its own emphases. Yogamāyā had moved Devakī’s seventh garbha (unborn child) to Rohiṇī, and Devakī seemed to have lost the child. Then the eighth child, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa himself, was born at midnight under the Abhijit nakshatra in the Vijaya muhūrta. Good signs came with the birth: the fires burned steadily, the air was pleasant and the stars shone brightly.

The Hari Vaṃśa describes the child as bearing the Śrīvatsa mark and divine lakshaṇas (marks). Vasudeva saw his divine son and was overcome. He spoke to him: “O Prabhu Kṛshṇa, do not show this form! I speak out of fear of Kaṃsa. He killed my sons, who were your elder brothers.” Then he quickly took the child and went to Yaśodā’s house that night.

The Hari Vaṃśa tells the exchange in few words. Vasudeva laid the child beside the sleeping Yaśodā without her knowing. He took the newborn girl, who was Yoganidrā herself, and returned. He told Kaṃsa that it was a daughter. Kaṃsa came in, seized the girl and hurled her against the stone. She flew upward and took her four-armed divine form. She said: “O Kaṃsa, why kill me? He who will destroy you has already been born elsewhere. At the time of your destruction, your enemies will drink your warm blood.” She then rose into the sky with her attendants, worshipped by the Kṛshṇa-vaṃśīyas (those of Kṛshṇa’s line).

After this Kaṃsa went to Devakī alone. For the first time he showed something close to regret. He told her that he had killed her children out of fear for his own life, and now found that another would destroy him. Devakī forgave him with great generosity. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 4)

Vasudeva’s instruction to Nanda (Chapter 5)

In Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 5, the Hari Vaṃśa records that Vasudeva had already sent Rohiṇī to Nanda’s house for safety before Kṛshṇa’s birth. Nanda came to Mathurā to pay the yearly tribute, and Vasudeva met him. Vasudeva urged him to take both children, Saṃkarshaṇa (Balarāma, the son of Rohiṇī) and the other child, and raise them in Gokula. He told Nanda to perform the jātakarma (birth rite) and the other saṃskāras (life rites) for both, and to protect Rohiṇī’s son as he would Yaśodā’s son.

Vasudeva also warned Nanda not to settle in Vṛndāvana itself. The rākshasa Keśi, serpents and birds of ill omen, he said, came to that place, and the children might be harmed. He described the right place: a level, pleasant spot near the Yamunā, close to Mount Govardhana, with plenty of pasture and natural defences. Nanda took in these words, took the children and left. He crossed the Yamunā before dawn and came to Gokula, which was just as Vasudeva had described it.

This counsel was the last act of Vasudeva’s direct part in Kṛshṇa’s Gokula years. After it he went back to Mathurā and lived on as Kaṃsa’s prisoner, knowing his son was safe. The Hari Vaṃśa presents this last instruction as the end of his work as earthly guardian. Having brought Kṛshṇa safely to Gokula and arranged for his care, he stepped back and let the divine plan unfold. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapter 5)

The reunion at Dvārakā in the Mahābhārata (Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 59)

This comes after the long Anugītā teaching and the Uttaṅkopākhyāna on the journey. Kṛshṇa arrived at Dvārakā during the joyful Raivataka festival. The Bhoja, Vṛshṇi and Andhaka clansmen came forward to receive him, “as devas come forth to receive Devendra.”

Kṛshṇa honoured and greeted them all. Then he performed abhivādana (the formal greeting that states one’s name and gotra) before his father Vasudeva and his mother Devakī. They held their son close, and all the Vṛshṇi kinsmen pressed round him. Kṛshṇa washed his parents’ feet. After a short rest, at his father’s own request, he told Vasudeva the whole course of the great war. This account goes on into Chapter 60. (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 59)

Vasudeva in the Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva (Chapters 60–62)

In these chapters Vasudeva is also called Vāsudeva. After the Kurukshetra war, he heard men speak of the “most wondrous great war.” He asked his son Kṛshṇa, who had seen it all, to tell him its whole course: how the Pāṇḍavas fared against Bhīshma, Droṇa, Karṇa and the others, and how it ended.

Kṛshṇa gave him a short account of the eighteen-day war. He told of the successive command of Bhīshma, Droṇa, Karṇa and Śalya, the deaths of Śakuni and Duryodhana, and Aśvatthāmā’s massacre by night, in which only the five Pāṇḍavas, Kṛshṇa and Sātyaki lived on their side. The gathered Vṛshṇis grieved deeply as they heard it (Chapter 60).

In his telling, Kṛshṇa left out on purpose the death of his nephew Abhimanyu, so as not to give his father unbearable grief. But Subhadrā overheard, cried out and fell. When Vasudeva saw her fall, he too fell senseless with grief. When he recovered, he asked Kṛshṇa straight out: had Abhimanyu’s face been marked in battle, and had he ever turned his back on the fight? He remembered his grandson’s boyhood boasts that he would match himself against Droṇa, Bhīshma and Karṇa. Kṛshṇa told his father that Abhimanyu had died facing the enemy, with his face unmarked, betrayed only by the joint treachery of Droṇa and Karṇa, and that he had surely reached svarga (Chapter 61).

Vasudeva then held an especially rich śrāddha (rite for the dead) for Abhimanyu. The text records that he fed sixty lakh brāhmaṇas with full honours, and quietly met their wish for wealth so that none needed to ask. Balarāma and Sātyaki did the rite with him (Chapter 62). (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapters 60–62)

Mausala Parva: grief, the talk with Arjuna, and death by yoga (Chapters 5–7)

The destruction of the Yādavas at Prabhāsa took his sons and grandsons, and Kṛshṇa and Balarāma left the world. Vasudeva, also called Ānakadundubhi, lay overcome with grief in Dvārakā. Arjuna came and clasped his feet. Vasudeva could hardly raise his nephew’s head for sorrow. He held Arjuna and cried out the names of his brothers, sons, grandsons and companions who lay dead. He told Arjuna that he had once seen his kinsmen defeat hundreds of kings and rākshasas, and that now, with death kept from him, he alone was left alive. (Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapters 5–6)

Pradyumna and Sātyaki, the two foremost atirathas (great warriors) among the Vṛshṇis and Arjuna’s own dear pupils in archery, had set off the ruin by their quarrel. Even so, Vasudeva would not blame Sātyaki, Kṛtavarman, Akrūra or Pradyumna. The true cause, he said, was the śāpa (curse) of the brāhmaṇas.

He recalled the greatness of his son: Govinda, the eternal Acyuta, slayer of Keśin, Kaṃsa, Ekalavya, Śiśupāla and Pauṇḍraka the king of Kāśī, and conqueror of the kings of the east, the south and the desert. Kṛshṇa could have undone the śāpa of Gāndhārī and of the ṛshis, but out of respect for their words he let his line perish.

Vasudeva gave Arjuna Kṛshṇa’s last message: Arjuna must perform the last rites for the women, the children and Vasudeva himself; the ocean would swallow the city once Arjuna left; and Kṛshṇa’s deep words, “I am Arjuna, and Arjuna is I.” Vasudeva said that he had stopped taking food and would bring death upon himself through yoga, together with the wise Balarāma. He placed the kingdom, the women and the jewels in Arjuna’s hands and gave up his dear life. (Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapter 6)

At dawn the brave son of Śūra, shining with tejas (radiance), joined himself in yoga and passed to the highest state. The women of his house wailed aloud. His four noble wives, Devakī, Bhadrā, Rohiṇī and Madirā, climbed onto his funeral pyre to follow him to their husband’s world.

Arjuna carried his body out on a great bier and burned it with the honours due to one who has performed the aśvamedha. His priests walked before the bier with the umbrella of the yajña and the blazing fires. Vajra and the surviving young Yādavas offered the water. (Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapter 7)

Svargārohaṇa Parva: return to the Viśvedevas (Chapter 5)

In the last chapter of the Mahābhārata, Sauti tells where the heroes and elders went in the end. Vasudeva, Ānakadundubhi, the father of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, is named among the great Yādava and allied lords who, their earthly course complete, returned into the Viśvedevas. In the same company were Virāṭa, Drupada, Dhṛshṭaketu, Niśaṭha, Akrūra, Sāmba, Bhānu, Kampa, Vidūratha, Bhūriśrava, Śala, Bhūri, Kaṃsa, Ugrasena, and Uttara together with his brother Śaṅkha.

So the earthly father of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa returned to the high order of devas from whose splendour he had taken his share. (Mahābhārata, Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 5)

Sources

• Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapters 7 and 9
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapters 3 and 5
• Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Vishṇu Parva, Chapters 1–5, 31 and 34
• Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapters 59–62
• Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapters 5–7
• Mahābhārata, Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 5