The legend behind the birth of Lord Vishnu as Krishna has an interesting story. Vasudeva, the Chief of the Shoora community, got married to Devaki, one of the seven daughters of Devaka. The match was perfect, and the husband and wife lived in perfect harmony. Meanwhile, Kansa, the son of Ugrasena, the King of the land, was wicked and had no respect for law, human or divine. Sage Narada once came to Kansa and asked him not to disobey and disrespect the law of dharma and foretold that the eighth child of Devaki would slay him if he continued to be wicked and revengeful.

Kansa was scared! He arrested Vasudeva and Devaki in the Gajaraja Palace, and demanded that every child born to Devaki be handed over to him. Vasudeva obediently handed over six of his children one after one whom the cruel Kansa killed mercilessly. Devaki became pregnant for the seventh time, giving birth to a boy. This time, thanks to the help of Ganga Charya and Akura, the seventh child was saved. They showed a dead body of a new-born girl beside Devaki and Kansa assumed that this child was dead. Meanwhile, the little boy was sent to Gokul, and grew under the great care and affection of Rohini, the older wife of Vasudeva. Rohini lived as a guest of Nanda’s, at Gokhul. They named the boy Balarama. Over nine years of confinement, Vasudeva and Devaki never failed in their devotion and always talked of the Lord and his Grace.

When Devaki was expecting her eighth child, the prophecy of sage Narada and the promise of Veda Vyasa began to show the signs of coming true. It was the eighth day of the dark half of the month of ‘Sravana’ (also spelt as Shravan). There was torrential rain with lightning and thunder, and floods.

Devaki gave birth to a child when the moon entered the house of ‘Vrishabha’ at the constellation of the star Rohini on Wednesday the 8th day of the second fortnight of the month of Sravana, which corresponded to the month of “Bhadrapada Krishnapaksha” according to the “Barhaspatyamana”, in the Visvavasu Year, 5172 years ago.

In the darkness, Vasudeva wrapped the child in a cloth and kept him in a basket, which he carried on his shoulder and crossed the Yamuna to give to Ganga Charya, the family priest and Nanda, the chief of the Gokul Yadavas. Ganga Charya returned a basket with the new born daughter of Nanda to Vasudeva who carried back the baby to the place of his confinement, as was pre-planned. Kansa couldn’t sleep all night, worried that the eighth child of Devaki’s would kill him. But, he saw that it was a daughter, and after assuming that the eighth child was a daughter, the prophecy of Narada proved incorrect and Kansa was very happy.

Nanda’s wife Yashoda had fainted during the delivery and never knew what had happened at night. When she came to her senses, Rohini gave the child to her. Since Nanda and Yashoda did not have children, the birth of the boy made the people of Gokul with wild delight and joy and the boy was named as Krishna with appropriate rituals.

Kansa was constantly haunted by the fear of a child having possibly been overlooked by Putana, his close confidant. He learned about the birth of a boy to Nanda and Yashoda and summoned Putana, in order to kill the baby boy. But Putana could not succeed and was later killed by Krishna. Kansa then called on Trinavrit, a bird catcher to kidnap Krishna.

When Trinavrit reached Gokul, there was a sandstorm and it was difficult for anyone to withstand the burden. Trinavrit caught hold of Krishna, who also held him tightly, until he died.  The eighth Avatara, Krishna, came to be known as the beloved Avatar of Vishnu. He had three objectives: to destroy wicked demons and play the leading role in the great war fought on the battlefield of Kurukshetra  where he delivered the Gita and to become the centre of the Bhakti movement in India.