Sri Krishna and Gautama Buddha were the two great prophets of ancient India whose teachings; the ‘Bhagvad Gita’ and the ‘Four Noble Truths’ are relevant even in the present times. Both belonged to the Kshtriya class and their teachings, influenced by the Upanishads, were inclusive in nature and meant for the whole of humanity. But unlike Buddha who became a monk, Sri Krishna till his end remained active in public life, dethroning tamasik rulers and empowering sathvik rulers. While Buddha’s teaching that ‘life is full of misery’ evokes pessimist outlook in life, Sri Krishna urged people to actively discharge their duties in life but without any attachment for the results.
Ancestry of Sri Krishna
Sri Krishna, belonging to the Lunar race was the son of Vasudeva who was the 93rd descendant from Vrshni, who was the son of Bhima Satvata, the 66th descendant of Kroshtu, son of Yadu and grandson of Yayati. Hence Krishna is said to be identified with the Yadavas, Vrshnis and Savatas. As his mother Devaki was the daughter of Ugrasena who was a descendant from Andhaka, son of Bhima Satvata, Krishna is also identified with the Andhaka clan.1 The Jaina tradition makes Krishna a cousin and contemporary of Neminatha, the Jain Tirthankara before Parshvanatha of the 8th century B.C.2
Were there two different Krishna’s?
According to some scholars Sri Krishna of the Mahabharata is not the same person as the Sri Krishna of the Puranas because- The story of Krishna’s childhood has no place in the Mahabharata though later on a supplement in the form of Harivamsha was added giving a detailed account of the early life of Sri Krishna. But it is outside the mainstream of the Mahabharata text and is a sort of Purana in itself.3
The character which is ascribed to Sri Krishna in the Puranas is altogether unbecoming of the great sage who, later on, became the teacher of such lofty thoughts as are embodied in Bhagavad Gita, and so according to these scholars the two Krishna’s cannot possibly be the same person.4
According to R.G.Bhandarkar the cow-herd Krishna of the Puranas is different from the Vrishni prince Vasudeva of the Mahabharata. Krishna was most probably the god of a nomadic cow-herd tribe known as the Abhiras who lived in the region extending from the vicinity of Mathura in the east to that of Dwaraka in the west. Stories about Krishna’s childhood exploits current among this nomadic tribe might have afterwards been incorporated in the Puranas, after the worship of Sri Krishna was adopted in Hinduism is the view of R.G.Bhandarkar.5
But Bahadur Mal feels that in the Mahabharata itself, there are passages in which Vasudeva is described as Krishna of the Yadava and Vrishni tribes of Mathura. Probably Vasudeva the Vrishni prince in his infancy was brought up in a cow-herd settlement at Gokula and then at Brindavan.6
Confusion regarding Krishna’s teacher
The earliest mention of Krishna is to be found in the Chandogya Upanishad and all scholars have asserted that Devakiputra Krishna described there was the disciple of Ghora Angirasa.7 But Puranic traditions does not recognize Ghora Angirasa and mention Sandipani as the teacher of Krishna.8
While H.C.Rayachaudhuri considers Krishna as the disciple of Ghora Angirasa and identifies the Krishna of the Chandogya Upanishad with the epic Krishna by showcasing the identity of the teachings of Gita with those contained in the conversation between Ghora Angirasa and Krishna,9 S.N.Tadapatrikar believes that Krishna initiated by Ghora Angirasa was quite different from Krishna of the epic and Puranas and the messenger of Bhagavad Gita.10
However Bimanbehari Majumdar asserts that the original text of Chandogya Upanishad does not say that Krishna is the disciple of Ghora Angirasa and it was Shankaracharya in his commentary on the above mentioned Upanishad had said that Krishna was the disciple of Ghora Angirasa. According to Bemanbehari Majumdar, Ghora Angirasa addresses Krishna as Achyuta (infallible), Akshita (indestructible and Prana Sanshita (the very essence of life), which shows that Ghora Angirasa regarded Krishna as a divine being. Interestingly in the Bhagavad Gita also we find the term, Achyuta being used by Arjuna to call Krishna.11
Multi facet personality of Sri Krishna
A daring personality who fought with the mighty and powerful, Sri Krishna was an astute statesman, a master strategist, a counselor, a mystic and a religious reformer.
Krishna’s strength and valour, knowledge and wisdom placed him above all others. All the great men of his times bowed down their heads in reverence to him. As he was the greatest of all, he received the agra puja at the Rajasuya sacrifice. According to Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Sri Krishna will stand out as the resplendent embodiment of all good qualities in all places and all times.12
Sri Krishna was a master of various arts like the art of healing, driving chariots; was a good singer and musician. He invented a new weapon, the Sudharshana Chakra.13
Under the watchful eyes of Acharya Sandipani, Krishna mastered over ‘64 fine arts’. He was known for breeding and training horses. The names of his four favourite horses; Shaibya, Sugriva, Megha-Pushpa and Balahaka have come down to us and it seems that with the help of these horses, Sri Krishna used to cover the distance between Indraprastha (Delhi) and Dwaraka in a week. He is credited to have reclaimed land from the ocean by a feat of engineering not detailed in the available text and built the great city of Dwaraka. He is also said to have introduced a new flower, Parijata.14
Sri Krishna’s campaign against autocratic rulers
Sri Krishna was a relentless fighter in the cause of justice and righteousness. He waged throughout his life, incessant war against tyrants and evil doers and destroyed them. Kamsa, Jarasandha, Shishupala and Salva were some of the evil tyrant rulers eliminated by him. In Drona Parva of the Mahabharata, Dhritarashtra refers to the Angas, the Vangas, the Kalingas, the Magadhas, the Kashis, the Kosalas, the Vatsyas, the Gargias, the Karusas, the Paundras, the Avantis and others being vanquished by Sri Krishna. During the Rajasuya yajna, Bhishma while speaking about the great qualities of Sri Krishna, declares that there was hardly a king among those present in the yajna, who had not been defeated by Sri Krishna at one time or another. Allowing for any exaggeration that there might possibly be in this description of the battles waged by Sri Krishna, there is no doubt that he was unequaled, through the length and breadth of the country, in martial valour and skill in arms.15
Sri Krishna as a religious reformer
According to K.V.Raman, the Bhagavata school centering around the worship of Sri Krishna and the teachings of Bhagavad Gita evolved around 2nd century B.C. in the Mathura region. The Bhagavata school was a very important reformist movement, a liberal reaction to the protest movements within the Hindu fold which became popular throughout India. Though the Krishna cult was popularized by the shepherd class of the Yadavas, the Bhagavata movement received active support and encouragement from the caste including the higher ones and it became one of the most popular movements in our history spreading to different parts of the country.16
The gist of Bhagavad Gita
The whole and sole teaching of the Gita, is very pragmatic, very practical and very rational. That teaching is, in brief: “Do your duty, not out of blind faith in any petty, paltry, ritualistic and dictatorial conventions, but after ascertaining it in the light of Atma Vidhya – the all-coordinating, all illuminating science; and then do it without craving for fruit, fearless of consequences, sure that right resolve and right effort can never go in vain, but will always bring right results, soon or late”.17
Krishna cult, a revolt against the Vedic cult
Even in his boyhood and youth, Sri Krishna was a zealous reformer of religion. He battled bravely as a boy against the prevalent excessive and sensuous Vedic formalism and ritualism; warred upon vested priestly or rather priest-crafty interests and pretensions; successfully abolished the Indra-Makha with its blood sacrifices and libations and potations; and established instead the more rational cult of the cow, so eminently suited to an agricultural civilization. This open condemnation of hypocritical, cunning, selfish and senseless, or perverse and depraved sacerdotal formalism and of the endeavor to hypnotize the people with the mere outer word of the Veda is briefly but strongly repeated by him in his later teachings of the Gita.18
“ The flowery speech of the foolish men who are always talking of ‘Veda, Veda’, as if there were nothing else, filled with desires, greedy of paradise, ambitious of powers, craving after luxuries- they who allow their minds to be carried away by that deceptive speech, they never attain to the steadiness of the understanding which sees the Self in and by meditation. Rise above the Vedas, Arjuna! Rise beyond the reach of the three gunas, rise beyond the pairs of opposites, rise to the supremacy of the Self. To the man who knows the immensity of the Self, the whole of the Vedas is of no more use than is a small and shallow puddle in the time of widespread flood”.19
In its real character, Bhagavatism was not very favourably inclined towards the varnashramadharma and the Brahmins, and the Vrishnis among whom Sri Krishna was born were noted for their irrelevant attitude towards Brahmins and casteless foreigners were freely admitted into the Bhagavata religion.20
In Vaishnavism (due to the influence of Krishna’s cult), the rituals consist of fruits, leaves, flowers and water given (offered) with devotion. The god accepts it because of devotion. This form of worship is entirely non-Vedic, it avoids sacrifices and its strong predilection for non-violence precludes offering living creatures.21
The Bhagavad Gita which contains the message of Sri Krishna marks a clear departure in its religious and social outlook from the Vedic tradition which had its base on priestly power and knowledge and control of sacrifice. The Bhagavad Gita presented the Bhakti marga as a way of salvation open for the men of the world including women, Jnana marga for those who could attain it and Karma marga for the warrior class.22
Bhagavata religion co-opted by Vedic followers
The worship of Krishna Vasudeva as a divine chieftain had taken place even before the compilation of the epic Mahabharata. In the earliest literary references, Krishna is already remembered as a leader and the religious preceptor and the God of gods of the Vrsni or Sattvata people of north India of plebeian social status. Later the Sattvatas rose from the low original status to the rank of warriors or Kshatriyas in status. Their faith called Sattvatadharma became the personal religion of many members of the north Indian knightley circles and by the time when the epic had reached the point of mid formation, the cult of Krishna had began to attract members of India’s other and highest aristocracy, that of the Sanskrit speaking Brahmins.23
One of the reason for the Sattvatadharma to gain adherents from the upper castes was due to the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita to the disaffected householders leaving their civil duties and entering monastic life; that salvation can be gained by doing one’s duty in the society without expectations.24
Also the greatness of Sri Krishna and the excellence of the Bhagavad Gita which came to be regarded as one of the three prasthanas of Vedanta led to the Bhagavata religion, which was once regarded as outside the pale of Vedism to be admitted into the Vedic fold. This also led to the Yadu clan to which Sri Krishna belonged and which is said to have originally been regarded as a shudra one to be recognized as a Kshtriya clan.25
Infused Vedic ideology with Bhagavatism
Though Bhagavatism/Vaishnavism was imbued with non-Brahmanical/Vedic ideas and practices, it seems that among the early worshippers of Vishnu, there was one section of people who, though won over to the worship of Sri Krishna, looked upon the Vedas as authorities, attached great importance to varnasharamadharma and the smrti rules. It was these type of Brahmins who were the authors of present Puranas who on one hand while glorifying Sri Krishna/Vishnu, on the other hand tried to establish the varnashramadharma and the authority of the Vedas.26
Entering the Krsnaite religion in increasing numbers, Brahmins undertook to give Krishna worship the status of an orthodox Vedic religion by identifying Krishna with the Rig Vedic god Vishnu. The Sattvata religion received a more inclusive name as Bhagavatism- the religion devoted to Bhagavan or Sri Krishna and absorbed the sect of the Pancaratrins who honoured Brahmins and the Vedas but who refrained scrupulously from taking life in ritual or in diet.27
Deification of Sri Krishna
According to Bimanbehari Majumdar, the earliest mention of Sri Krishna is to be found in the Chandogya Upanishad, where Ghora Angirasa addressed Krishna as Achyuta (infallible), Akshita (indestructible and Prana Sanshita (the very essence of life). As the date of the composition of Chandogya Upanishad is said to be sometimes before the 6th century B.C., the godhood of Krishna must have taken place some centuries earlier than the date of the composition of Chandogya Upanishad.28
We find references to Krishna Vasudeva in Panani’s Astadhyayi (400 B.C.), as well as in the commentary of Patanjali on the same.29 Buddhist canon Niddesa of the 4th century B.C. mentions about the worship of Vasudeva.30 Inscriptions found at Ghosundi (200 B.C.) and at Nanaghat cave (189 B.C.), helps us fix the time when Krishna began to be worshiped as an incarnation of God in India.31 Evidence of the worship of Sri Krishna comes from the Greek accounts of an Indian group that migrated to Armenia in the period 149-127 B.C., who worshiped Kishen or Damodara, a derivative and epithet of Krishna respectively.32
During the Kushana period, Mathura was a stronghold of the Krishna cult. One of the Kushana kings was named Vasudeva. The earliest representation in India of Krishna belongs to that period and comes from Mathura. It is the Mathura Museum relief, No.1344, which represents Vasudeva carrying new born child Krishna to Gokula across the Yamuna.33
Under the patronage of the Guptas who called themselves, Paramabhagavatas, the Bhagavata religion gained popularity in Uttar Pradesh and other parts of northern India.34 Vidisha or Malwa region in Madhya Pradesh was also an important centre of Bhagavata religion as a bulk of inscription and monuments of that religion comes from this region. The most important being the inscribed Garuda column erected at Besnagar in the 2nd century B.C. in honour of Vasudeva by Heliodoros, a Greek ambassador to the court of the Sunga king, Kashiputra Bhagabhadra.35
In south India, we find references to Krishna (who was known as Mayon, the deity of the Mullai or forest region) in the Sangam literature.36 Some of the important temples of Krishna in south India includes, the Krishna temple at Udupi consecrated by Madhvacharya (13th century A.D.), the Krishna temple at Guruvayur in Keralam (which during 16th century had become very famous) and the Parthasarathi temple in Triplicane in Tamilnadu where along with Krishna and Rukmini, we find the images of Balarama, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Shatyaki.37
Character assassination of Sri Krishna
According to Bahadur Mal, there is no historical basis for the current stories of love between Sri Krishna and the cow-herd maidens of Brindavan. We do not find any mention of such things in the Mahabharata. These stories are the creation of a later age, when the bhakti cult with reference to Sri Krishna as the incarnation of God had been firmly established. The yearning of a soul for God was given a concrete symbolic expression in the form of love which a woman feels for her lover. Gradually these stories at the hands of various writers assumed a fantastic proportion of the Puranas including the Bhagavata Purana. Even the character of Radha is a creation of the rich imagination of later writers.38
Scholars like Daya Krishna wonder why though the gopis who are depicted as living eternally in the memory of those days they had passed with Sri Krishna, never make the slightest effort to seek him out and meet him once more or even try to find where he is or how he is. Similarly we do not find any reference about Sri Krishna visiting the gopis.39 All these show the untrustworthiness of the stories of love between Sri Krishna and the gopis found in the Puranas.
Similarly the stories of deceit and falsehood said to have been practiced by Sri Krishna against his enemies in the Mahabharata war is a pure fabrication introduced into the main story in order to malign him. It is unbelievable that Sri Krishna who in point of valour and righteousness, towered above all the great heroes of Mahabharata should have so openly and crudely violated the universally accepted code of honorable warfare, as is popularly supposed.40
Sri Krishna was a monogamist
Sri Krishna had only one wife, Rukmini and after Krishna was identified with the supreme Vishnu, Rukmini was identified with Lakshmi.41 According to Asha Goswami, Sri Krishna who had incarnated on the earth (according to popular belief and faith) to lead the people on to the path of righteousness and duty could not have been so fickle and frivolous about his marriage which in fact is a very important social event in human life.42 The number of wives of Krishna and their names given in different sources like the Mahabharata and the Puranas differ widely.43 The epic Mahabharata hints out Krishna as a monogamist where it enlists Krishna with the known monogamists of the age like Sri Rama, Nala, Satyavan, etc.44
Worship of child Krishna
Beginning about 300 A.D., a mutation occurred in Vaishnava mythology in which the ideals of Sri Krishna worshippers were turned upside down. The Harivamsha Purana, which was composed at about that time, related in 32 chapters, the childhood of Sri Krishna that he had spent among the cow-herds. The tales had never been told in Hindu literature before. The old adoration of Sri Krishna as moral preceptor went into a long quiescence. The age of Krishna as a sportive being- as a doer of lilas had begun. This has continued even to this day with the great sects that dominate Vaishnava religious life in north India today worship Sri Krishna as Gopala, the cowherd boy.45
The growth of the cult of child Krishna among the bhaktas in the middle ages is attributed to the teaching of Vallabhacharya (1479-1531 A.D.), for whom Krishna inspired the feeling of vatsalyabhava bhakti, the love for God which is like that of a parent for a child. It is said that Krishna appeared to him in a vision and asked him to ‘promulgate his worship in the form of the divine child known as Bala Gopala”.46
The Vallabhacharya sect devoted to Krishna worship ignores altogether that aspect of the great life, Krishna, the super-hero, the matchless warrior, the unrivalled statesman, the breaker of the militarist oppressors of the people, the experimenter with republicanism, the teacher of the Gita and instead its practice is limited to the dwelling on and enacting of the scenes and doings of Krishna’s childhood and adolescence, of flirtations and dances with the dairy-maids, and the enjoyment of tongue and sex – which elemental appetites somehow manage to become the chief objects of worship, in one disguise or another.47
Hindus emasculated by worshiping baby gods
Instead of worshiping the valorous statesman and a world teacher, Sri Krishna, the Hindus have been worshiping child Krishna and shamelessly enact imaginary acts of child Krishna like breaking of pots filled with curds/butter in a sport called ‘Dahi handi’ and flirt in a dance called ‘Raas leela’ during his birth celebration. Even the recent consecration of Sri Rama done with much fanfare at the temple of Ayodhya was that of a child Rama called ‘Ram Lalla’ instead of the adult Sri Rama who had vanquished the mighty king of Lanka, Ravana. Probably Hindus fear that if they start worshiping adult gods, they may have to emulate their qualities which involves exhibiting manliness when confronting problems or injustice, whereas worshiping child gods would give them license to behave in a childish manner and act frivolously in the name of devotion.
Even when senseless accusation are made against Sri Krishna like he had married 16,000 maidens, let alone ordinary Hindus, even the so called highly educated, scholars and religious heads don’t take trouble to introspect whether it is possible or practical to marry 16,000 maidens; and that these type of accusation is a blot on the character of Sri Krishna; and they have a responsibility to see that the factual accounts of Sri Krishna is presented to the masses; and think of the ways to prevent slanders being hurled on their prophet.
Reference
F.E.Pargiter – Ancient Indian Historical Traditions, Oxford University Press, London, 1922, pp:88,105,107,145,148
Amarnath Ray – Sri Krishna and the Source of the Bhagavadgita, Indian Historical Quarterly, vol-9, p.188
Bahadur Mal – Sri Krishna, His Philosophy and his Spiritual Path, Vishveshvaranand V.R.Insitute, Hoshiarpur, 1960, p.7
Ibid, pp: 7,8
Ibid, p. 8
Ibid, pp: 8,9
Bimanbehari Majumdar – Krsna in History and Legend, University of Calcutta, 1969, p. 2
Ibid, p.4
Ibid, p. 263
S.N.Tadapatrikar – The Krishna Problem, ABORI, vol – X, April 1929, pp: 332,333
Bimanbehari Majumdar – Op.Cit, pp: 2,3,4,281,282
P. Banerjee – The Life of Krishna in Indian Art, National Museum, New Delhi, 1978, pp: 2,3
Dhirendra Nath Pal – Sri Krishna – His Life and Teachings, C C Basak, The Research House, Calcutta, 1923, pp:76, 386,48,207,208
Bhagavan Das- Krishna – A Study in the Theory of Avataras, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay, 1962 pp:48,49,50
Bahadur Mal – Op.Cit, pp: 14,15
K.V.Raman – Presidential Address – Cultural Heritage – A Synthesis, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol 46 (1985), pp: 100,101
Bhagavan Das- Op.Cit, p.96
Ibid, pp: 85,86
Ibid, pp: 86,87
R.C.Hazra – Pre-Puranic Hindu Society before 200 A.D., The Indian Historical Quarterly, vol-xv, 1939, p. 412
Sukumari Bhattacharji – Indian Theogony -Comparative Study of Indian Mythology from Veda to Purana, Firma KLM Private Ltd, Calcutta, 1978, p. 306
K.V.Raman – Op.Cit, p.101
Norvin Hein – A Revolution in Krsnaism: The cult of Gopala, History of Religions, vol 25, No 4., Religion and change ASSR Anniversary volume, May 1986, p. 297
Ibid
Amarnath Ray – Op.Cit, pp: 190,191
R.C.Hazra – Op.Cit, pp: 417,418
Norvin Hein – Op.Cit, p. 298
Bimanbehari Majumdar – Op.Cit, pp: 281, 282
Bahadur Mal – Op.Cit, p. 6
S.N.Tadapatrikar – Op.Cit, p. 272
Bahadur Mal – Op.Cit, pp: 6,7
Charles S. J . White – Krishna as Divine Child, History of Religions, vol – 10, No.2, November 1970, p. 158
P. Banerjee – Op.Cit, p. 68 (The famous Keshavarai temple at Mathura built by Maharaja Virasimha of Orchha during the time of Jahangir was destroyed by Ramjan Shah in 1670 A.D. at the orders of Aurangzeb, P. Banerjee – Op.Cit, p. 75)
Ibid, p. 69
Ibid, p. 103
Ibid, p. 114
Ibid, pp: 117,125,128
Bahadur Mal – Op.Cit, pp: 30,31
Edited by Nalini Bhushan, Jay L . Garfield, Daniel Raveh, Contrary Thinking – Selected Essays of Daya Krishna, Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 275
Bahadur Mal – Op.Cit, pp: 16,17
Asha Goswami – The Monogamist Krishna, Charu Deva Shastri Felicitation Volume, Delhi, 1974, p. 450
Ibid, p. 443
Ibid, p. 444
Ibid, pp: 447,448
Norvin Hein – Op.Cit, p. 296
Charles S. J . White – Op.Cit, p. 166
Bhagavan Das- Op.Cit, pp: 160,161