Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.
Concept
Bala Krishna
Summary
Bala Krishna (बाल कृष्ण) or Bala Gopala, refers to the boyhood form of the Hindu deity Krishna. The worship of Krishna as a divine child was historically one of the early forms of worship in Krishnaism.
The eighth son of Devaki and Vasudeva, Krishna was born to fulfil the prophecy of slaying his tyrannical uncle and the king of Mathura, Kamsa. As soon as he was born in a prison with his parents, he asked his father to carry him to the region of Vraja, where he would spend his childhood among the cowherds, along with his brother, Balarama. In the settlement of Gokulam, he was raised by his foster-parents, Yashoda and Nanda.
As a toddler, Krishna is best recognised for his tales of mischievous antics, such as stealing butter from the families of the cowherds of Gokulam. Butter is often interpreted as a metaphor for love in the traditions of Krishna-devotion, associated with its properties of non-quantifiability and abundance. The child Krishna also untethers cows, teases children, and expresses a disdain for social conventions. This is often interpreted as a part of his līlā, his divine play in which he intimately interacts with the world around him.
Bala Krishna is also said to have performed a number of miraculous acts. His tyrannical uncle, Kamsa, hearing of his birth, sent a number of malicious asuras and beasts to murder him, but all of their efforts were foiled. Putana, a shapeshifting demoness, was killed when the baby Krishna sucked her life from her by taking the poisoned breast she offered him. Another asura named Bakasura assumed the form of a crane or a stork and attempted to swallow Krishna, but he was slain instead when the deity broke his beak. When Aghasura, assuming the form of a snake, swallowed Krishna and his friends, the deity grew to a massive size within him, slaying him.
Some of his legends are associated with liberation, as in the Bhagavata Purana's story of Manigriva and Nalakuvara. The sons of Kubera, the god of wealth, these brothers are described to have once caroused with maidens at Shiva's mountain pleasure garden, when the divine sage, Narada, appeared.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.