Kṛshṇa Janma (Bhāgavata Purāṇa)

The 10th Skanda of the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa begins with the birth of Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa. Chapters 1 to 4 tell how he came into the world. They tell of Kaṃsa’s cruelty, the prison of Devakī and Vasudeva, the moving of Balarāma from the womb of Devakī to the womb of Rohiṇī, and the midnight birth of Kṛshṇa in the prison of Mathurā under the Rohiṇī nakshatra (star), in the dark fortnight of Śrāvaṇa. The account ends with Vasudeva crossing the flooded Yamunā with the child on his head and changing the children at the settlement of Nanda in Gokula.

Parīkshit asks Śuka (Chapter 1)

The 10th Skanda opens with a question from King Parīkshit to Śuka Maharshi about the Kṛshṇa avatāra (descent). Parīkshit says that Bhagavān Vishṇu has come down many times, as Matsya, Varāha, Narasiṃha, Vāmana, Paraśurāma and Rāma. But the Kṛshṇa avatāra is special. What were the exact circumstances of this descent? What deeds did he do that no other descent has done? Śuka was glad of this question and began to tell the account.

Kaṃsa’s cruelty and the voice from the sky (Chapter 1)

Kaṃsa, the son of Ugrasena, had gained great power by joining with asura kings: Jarāsandha, Bāṇāsura, Narakāsura and others. His ministers were fearsome asuras: Pralamba, Baka, Cāṇūra, Tṛṇāvarta, Agha, Mushṭika, Arishṭa, Dvivida, Pūtanā, Keśī and Dhenuka. Under his terror the Yādavas scattered. They fled to the lands of the Kurus, Pāñcālas, Kekayas, Śālvas, Vidarbhas, Nishadhas, Videhas and Kosalas. Those who stayed served Kaṃsa as his subjects.

Kaṃsa arranged the marriage of his sister Devakī to Vasudeva. To show his love for his sister he drove the wedding chariot himself. At that very moment of joy a voice with no body spoke from the sky: “O Kaṃsa! The eighth child born of this woman, whom you are leading so lovingly, will be your killer.”

Kaṃsa was seized with terror. At once he drew his sword to kill Devakī. Vasudeva stepped in with great calm. He reminded Kaṃsa that the danger was the eighth child and not Devakī herself, and he promised to hand over every child born to them into the hands of Kaṃsa. Kaṃsa gave way. He put both Devakī and Vasudeva in prison in chains.

The Garbha Stotra of the devas (Chapter 2)

When Bhagavān Vishṇu entered the womb of Devakī, the devas led by Brahmā came to the prison cell. This was the first sign that the divine child was coming. They offered a deep stotra (hymn of praise) to Bhagavān Vishṇu, who was hidden in the womb. It is known as the Garbha Stotra. In it Bhagavān Vishṇu is praised in these ways:

• He is satya (truth itself), and truth is the highest means of reaching him.
• He is brahma-svarūpa (the form of Brahman), present in srishṭi (creation), sthiti (keeping) and laya (dissolving).
• He is the ātman of all five mahābhūtas (great elements): pṛthivī (earth), jala (water), agni (fire), vāyu (air) and ākāśa (space).
• He is the base of the saṃsāra-vṛksha, the tree of birth and death. This tree has two fruits (sukha and duḥkha, happiness and sorrow), three roots (sat, raja and tama), four juices (dharma, artha, kāma and moksha), and five sense organs as its hollows. It has six changes (pariṇāma, from birth to death), seven dhātus (the body’s elements) as its bark, and the eightfold prakṛti as its branches. This tree rests only on the māyāśakti (power of illusion) of Bhagavān Vishṇu.
• Pure devotion to him removes the impurity of the antaḥkaraṇa (the inner mind) more surely than jñāna (knowledge) alone. The devas say: “Those who follow only dry knowledge without bhakti get only suffering, as one who husks empty grain gets only labour.”
• From the beginning he has taken avatāras for the good of the worlds: Matsya, Hayagrīva, Kūrma, Nṛsiṃha, Varāha, Haṃsa, Śrī Rāma, Paraśurāma and Vāmana. Now he comes down as Kṛshṇa to lift the burden of the earth.
• His birth in the womb of Devakī is only līlā (divine play). Birth, life and death in the Supreme ātman are only appearances made by ajñāna (ignorance).

The stotra ends with the devas praising the very ground of Gokula, which will carry the marks of the lotus feet of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. They pray that they may receive even one drop of the dust of those feet.

Balarāma is moved to Rohiṇī (Chapter 2)

The seventh child that Devakī carried was Śesha, the divine serpent who is the couch of Bhagavān Vishṇu. He came as a partial form. Bhagavān Vishṇu told Yogamāyā to go to Gokula, where Rohiṇī, a wife of Vasudeva, was living in safety at the settlement of Nanda. Yogamāyā was to move this child from the womb of Devakī to the womb of Rohiṇī. She did so, and to the world it seemed that Devakī had lost the child. Because of this moving (saṃkarshaṇa), the child came to be called Saṃkarshaṇa. Because he brings joy to all, he is called Rāma. Because he is the best among the strong, he is called Bala. So Balarāma was born safely in Gokula to Rohiṇī.

At the same time Bhagavān Vishṇu gave Yogamāyā another command:

“Go to Gokula, to the settlement of Nanda where the gopas (cowherds) and the cows live. You will be born as the daughter of Yaśodā. I will be born as the son of Devakī. When I am taken to Gokula, you will return to the prison.”

Yogamāyā obeyed and came down.

The birth of Kṛshṇa (Chapter 3)

On the sixth day of the dark fortnight of Śrāvaṇa, at midnight, under the Rohiṇī nakshatra, the time came. All the stars and planets stood in their best places. The sky was clear, the rivers ran pure, flowers bloomed in the forest, and divine music filled the air. Brahmā and Rudra came to the sky with all the devas and ṛshis.

In the prison cell of Mathurā, Devakī went into labour. Then, as the full moon rises in the east, Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared. He came first in his full four-armed divine form. He held the śaṅkha (conch), cakra (discus) and gadā (club). The Śrīvatsa mark shone on his dark chest, and the Kaustubha gem blazed at his throat. He wore the Vaijayantī garland and pītāmbara (yellow silk). On his head was a blazing crown, and light danced from its jewels over his thick curling hair. The prison cell was filled with a light that covered the whole world.

Vasudeva looked at the child with wide eyes. He saw that this was Purushottama himself. Filled with bhakti, he made a stotra of praise. He called him the Parabrahman who is in all creation and yet beyond it. He said that Bhagavān Kṛshṇa entered the womb of Devakī without truly entering, as the unchanging (avikārī) tattvas (principles) enter the changing (vikārī) ones to make the brahmāṇḍa (the cosmic egg). He praised the child as the witness of all movements of the buddhi (intellect), as sat-cit-ānanda (being, knowledge and joy). The three appearances through the three guṇas are all his own play: as Vishṇu for sthiti (keeping), as Brahmā for srishṭi (creation) and as Rudra for laya (dissolving). Vasudeva prayed to be kept safe from Kaṃsa, and he asked the child to hide his divine form.

Devakī then offered her own stotra. She spoke to the child in the highest words of Vedānta:

“You are Parabrahma, seen by all yet beyond all the senses. When the life of Brahmā ends and the five mahābhūtas melt back into the mahat-tattva, and the mahat-tattva into māyā, only you remain. That is why you are called Śesha. All time, from a nimesha (blink of the eye) to the year, is your līlā. O Hari, take away the terror of Kaṃsa. Hide this four-armed divine form. It is not fitting for the world of men to see it in the body of an infant. O Madhusūdana, my son, hide yourself.”

Then Bhagavān Kṛshṇa spoke. He reminded Devakī and Vasudeva of their three births together over the ages.

1. In the Svāyambhuva Manvantara, Devakī was the ṛshikā Pṛśni and Vasudeva was the Prajāpati Sutapas. Brahmā told them to have children. They did intense tapas (austerity) for twelve thousand years, bearing rain, wind, heat and cold, living only on fallen leaves and air, with their minds fixed on the Supreme. Bhagavān Vishṇu was pleased and appeared before them in this same four-armed form. They asked for a son exactly like him. Since no one equals Bhagavān Vishṇu, he himself was born as their son, known as Pṛśnigarbha.
2. In the second birth they were Kaśyapa and Aditi, and the same Bhagavān Vishṇu was born as Upendra, who is Vāmana.
3. Now, in the third birth, as Vasudeva and Devakī, he comes down again to keep that old bond.

Then he took the form of an ordinary newborn infant.

The crossing of the Yamunā (Chapter 3)

By the māyā of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa the prison guards fell into deep sleep. The iron fetters fell from the wrists of Vasudeva. The huge prison doors, barred with iron bolts and chains, opened by themselves. Vasudeva lifted the infant, put him in a wicker basket on his head, and walked out into the stormy night.

The Yamunā was in flood. She was wild and black, with hundreds of whirlpools. As Vasudeva entered the river, Ādiśesha, the divine serpent, appeared and spread his thousand hoods like a great umbrella over the infant to shield him from the monsoon rain. The Bhāgavata says: “As the sun rises and darkness flees, so when Vasudeva carried Kṛshṇa the prison doors opened of themselves.” The Yamunā knew her master in the basket on the head of Vasudeva. She parted her flood waters and let him cross safely, touching the feet of the infant Kṛshṇa with her flowing current.

At the settlement of Nanda in Gokula, Yogamāyā had at the same time made Yaśodā give birth to a daughter. Then she cast Yaśodā into a deep sleep in which nothing is remembered. Vasudeva entered the house and laid the infant Kṛshṇa beside the sleeping Yaśodā. He took the newborn girl of Yaśodā, crossed the Yamunā again, went back into the prison, and placed the girl in the arms of Devakī. He took up his chains again. The prison doors closed. Yaśodā woke knowing only that she had given birth. She could not remember whether it was a boy or a girl, because Yogamāyā had wiped that knowledge from her mind.

Yogamāyā speaks to Kaṃsa (Chapter 4)

Kaṃsa heard the cry of the newborn from the prison cell. He rushed in and snatched the infant from the arms of Devakī. Devakī begged him: “This is a girl, not the one who was foretold as your destroyer. Please do not kill her.” But Kaṃsa was so afraid that he lost all restraint. He lifted the girl to dash her on the stone floor. The child slipped from his hands and rose into the sky. She took her divine eight-armed form. She was Yogamāyā, the first Śakti herself. She laughed at Kaṃsa and said: “O fool! He who will be your killer is already born elsewhere. Do not kill the innocent. Those who do evil and harm children are destroyed by the very karma they make.”

Then she vanished. Kaṃsa was deeply shaken. He freed Devakī and Vasudeva from their chains and did not imprison them again. He called his ministers, and they advised him to send asuras to every settlement to kill all newborn infants in the region. Pūtanā was among the asuras sent out.

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 1 (Parīkshit’s question; Kaṃsa’s cruelty; the voice from the sky)
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 2 (the Garbha Stotra; Balarāma moved to Rohiṇī)
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 3 (the birth of Kṛshṇa; the stotras of Vasudeva and Devakī; the crossing of the Yamunā)
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 4 (Yogamāyā and Kaṃsa)