Back to Wisdom
Krishna Janmashtami - the birth of Sri Krishna
Krishna Janmashtami celebrates the appearance of Sri Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu, at midnight on Bhadrapada Krishna Ashtami - the eighth day of the waning moon in the month of Bhadrapada - under the star Rohini. Devotees keep a fast through the day and into the night; then, at the hour of the birth, the infant Krishna is welcomed into the world with worship, song and joy.
Worship the Lord whose birth this is. Offer Krishna mantras & stotras on this night; read the full life and lila of Krishna; and turn to the Srimad Bhagavata, the source that tells the story of his birth.
The story in brief
The birth of Krishna is told in the tenth canto of the Srimad Bhagavata - a midnight deliverance from the hands of a tyrant, and the beginning of the avatar who would restore dharma.
Devaki, Vasudeva and the prophecy
Krishna was born to Devaki and Vasudeva of the Yadava line. At Devaki’s wedding a voice from the heavens warned her brother, the tyrant Kamsa of Mathura, that her eighth child would be his end. Enraged, Kamsa imprisoned the couple and killed each child as it was born, waiting for the eighth.
The midnight birth in the prison
On the eighth night - Bhadrapada Krishna Ashtami, under the star Rohini - the Lord appeared at the stroke of midnight in the prison cell of Mathura. The chains fell away, the guards sank into sleep, and the prison doors opened of their own accord.
The crossing of the Yamuna to Gokula
To save the child, Vasudeva took the infant Krishna in a basket and carried him out through the sleeping guards into a stormy night. The river Yamuna, swollen and fierce, parted to let him pass, and Shesha is said to have spread his hoods above the child against the rain.
The swap in Gokula
Across the river in Gokula, Vasudeva laid the infant Krishna beside the sleeping Yashoda, wife of the cowherd chief Nanda, and took back her newborn daughter to the prison. When Kamsa came to kill this eighth child, she slipped from his grasp as the goddess and foretold his doom - while in Gokula, Krishna grew up safe among the cowherds.
How it is observed
Upavasa - the fast until midnight
Devotees keep a fast through the day of Janmashtami, many taking only fruit and milk, and break it only at midnight - the hour of the birth. The waiting fast turns the whole day toward the moment of the Lord’s appearance.
Midnight puja and abhisheka of bala-Krishna
At midnight the image of the infant Krishna (bala-Krishna) is bathed (abhisheka) with milk, curd, honey, ghee and water, dressed in fresh clothes and ornaments, and worshipped with lamps and offerings. The newborn is welcomed as if into one’s own home.
Jhula - the cradle
The little Krishna is laid in a decorated cradle (jhula or palna) and gently rocked, as a mother rocks her child. Devotees take turns swinging the cradle and singing the lullabies of Gokula through the night.
Bhajan and kirtan
The night is kept with devotional song - bhajans and kirtan recounting the birth and the childhood lilas of Krishna, often with readings from the tenth canto of the Bhagavata. The singing carries the vigil up to and beyond the midnight hour.
Dahi Handi - the butter-pot
Recalling Krishna the makhan-chor, the butter-thief who climbed for the curd hung out of reach, young people form human pyramids to break a high-hung earthen pot of curd (dahi handi). The custom is kept with special vigour in Maharashtra the day after the birth.
The great centres of celebration
Janmashtami is kept everywhere, but most grandly at Mathura and Vrindavan, the land of Krishna’s birth and childhood; at Dwarka in Gujarat, his kingly city; and at Udupi in Karnataka, the seat of the Krishna temple founded by Sri Madhvacharya. In these places the festival fills temples and streets through the night.
Educational overview. The tithi, the fasting rules and the sequence of the midnight puja vary by region, sampradaya and temple; follow your family tradition or local panchang for observance.