Sri Gokulashtami

Sri Krishna Jayanthi - also known as Gokulashtami or Janmashtami, is the birthday of Lord Krishna. This year, it falls on Tuesday, August 19, 2003. This festival is celebrated with great pomp and show throughout the country. Temples hold special poojas and devotees throng to the temples to get the blessings of the Lord.

The houses are also decorated with special care. Patterns of small feet, drawn with rice flour are made, leading from the house entrance to the puja room, where the idol of Lord Krishna is kept. This symbolises the baby Krishna coming to his devotees' house to bless them and leaving behind his footsteps.

Special dishes like murukku, seedai, vella seedai, thengozhal, payasam are all made and offered to the Lord. In the evening, usually a special pooja is done to mark the occasion and people ask one another "krishnar onga veetukku vandacha?" (Has Krishna come to your house?). Kids are also dressed up as Krishna and Radha (young Krishna's lady love at Brindavan). 

Sri Krishna Leela

Krishna was famous for his leelas or divine acts. Right from the time he was an infant, he performed these leelas to save his devotees from evil. Most of the time, this involved fighting with the demons sent by his evil uncle Kamsa to kill him. Before Krishna was born, Kamsa had a dream that the eighth child born to his sister Devaki will prove to be his nemesis. So Kamsa killed all of Devaki's children, except for the eighth one, Krishna, who was left in the home of Nandagopa, the chief of cowherds and was brought up as his own child. When Kamsa heard of this, he periodically sent demons around to kill Krishna and they were all vanquished one by one and ultimately, Krishna killed Kamsa. 

Here are a few leelas of the young Krishna.

The story of Krishna and Kalinga, the serpent

The story of Krishna, and Kalinga the serpent is very well known. Kalinga, a naga (a serpent), had been occupying the river Yamuna and its banks. It poisoned the waters of the Yamuna and also dried the forests nearby by the poison airs breathed by it. The cattle that drank from the waters of Yamuna died from the poison and the distraught cowherds lamented their vows to Nanda, Krishna's father. Krishna overheard this and decided to teach the evil serpent a lesson.

Krishna jumped into the water to kill the serpent, which coiled itself around the young Krishna. But Krishna's divine powers were too much for Kalinga, and very soon, the serpent king was overpowered by the Lord. Merciful that he is, Krishna spared Kalinga and told him to leave the shores of Yamuna forever. This leela is termed as Kalinga-Nardan.

The story of Krishna and Putana

The story of Krishna, and Putana is very well known. Kamsa, the evil uncle of Krishna, had hired the services of Putana, the Rakshasi (female demon), to kill Krishna. Putana was a magician and could take any form she wanted. She disguised herself as a Gopikaa, a cowherdess, and entered Krishna's house. Krishna was still a baby then. She fed Krishna on her own milk which was poisoned. Krishna, though a baby, knew of the real form of her and sucked her life along with the milk. 

The story of Krishna and Bakasura

Bakasura, the brother of Putana, was one of the many asuras (demons) sent by Kamsa to kill Krishna. Bakasura took the form of a giant bird and terrorised the cowherds and cowherdesses of Gokul. Krishna entered the beak of the bird, and then the bird closed its beak. But Krishna wriggled round and round inside so as to make Bakasura uneasy and ultimately Bakasura had to vomit Krishna out and died on the spot. 

Sir, I have enjoyed these stor..... - hareshres, karachi, 12/6/2004
Sir, I have enjoyed these s..... - Neha Nepali, Mumbaires, 11/2/2004