Krishna

Govinda, cowherd and charioteer

Cowherd of Vrindavana, charioteer of Arjuna, and for much of the Bhagavata tradition God in person: worshipped as an avatara of Vishnu and the speaker of the Bhagavad Gita.

A quick reference entry. For the full account, follow the guides below.

Guides and journal

What is Diwali? Worship
Ask in coastal Karnataka or among Telugu and Tamil families and you will hear about Krishna and a demon named Narakasura.
Who is Krishna? Deities
The god was Vasudeva, the deity later generations would know as Krishna.
Who is Vishnu? Deities
…round the last few centuries BCE, places its teaching in the mouth of Krishna, who the text reveals to be Vishnu in human form.
What is the Bhagavad Gita? Scriptures
I am unable, too, to stand up; my mind whirls…" Then he sits down in the chariot and says he will not fight. That charioteer is Krishna.
Reading the Bhagavad Gita in the modern world Journal
Arjuna, the great archer, asks Krishna to drive his chariot into the gap between the lines so he can see who he is about to kill.
The Great Mantras Treatise
…ts in the Namakam of the Shri Rudram , the great hymn to Rudra in the Krishna Yajurveda, which gives the Panchakshara a Vedic root reaching back to the oldest layer of sacred sound this treatise described.
The Burning and the Colours Treatise
For one day the lines are down. The colour-play is woven to Krishna.
The Monsoon and the Midnight Birth Treatise
The most loved tells that Draupadi , when Krishna once cut his hand, tore a strip from her garment and bound the wound, and that Krishna, moved, vowed himself her protector ever after, a vow the tradition says …
The Song in the Middle Treatise
The warrior's charioteer, who is also Krishna, who is also, the tradition holds, God, answers his despair.
The Book of the Lord Treatise
The life of Krishna The reason the Bhagavata is loved, though, is not its theology of devotion.
What Oppenheimer's Gita line really means Journal
"I am Time, grown mighty, come to destroy the worlds." The word at the head of the sentence, the word that names what Krishna has become, is kala .
Lila: The World as Divine Play Essentials
And Krishna is the player above all others, the flute-player of Vrindavan, and here lila becomes intimate and human-sized.
Where was Dvārakā? The search for Krishna's drowned city Journal
The Mahabharata ends its account of Krishna not in glory but in ruin.
Why is Krishna blue? Journal
The blue is so settled that almost no one thinks to ask about it. It is simply the colour Krishna is.