In Hindu Grantha’s, it has been said that the birth of Lord Krishna took place at Rohini Nakshatra as eighth son of Devaki and Vasudeva. He was given birth in jail where his maternal uncle, Kansa kept his parents as captives since Narada had made predictions that Kansa would be killed from the hands of Devaki’s son. Krishna was saved by getting exchanged with a cowherd daughter. Krishna is believed to be the eight incarnation of Vishnu. While Krishna was taken out of the cell, it is said that all the locks and doors opened automatically while the guards feel asleep until the time Vasudeva returned. Even Yamuna, famous holy river, helped Vasudeva cross the river to reach Braj where the Lord was kept beside Jashoda while she was sleeping.
Krishna was raised in a cowherd family where all the other villagers loved him due to innocence and spiritual aura he possessed. His friends included cowherd children, milkmaids and cows. Krishna’s love for his mother has been narrated in many tales that shows great example of child’s pure love. Krishna is famous for teasing milkmaids of Vrindavan where he stole curd and butter from their earthen pots. All these facts must be known to everybody, but there are few lesser known facts about the Lord which are given below.
- The name of Krishna is basically an adjective that means ‘dark’. There is another translation to its meaning which is ‘all attractive’.
- Krishna has 108 names among which Govind, Mohan, Gopal, Devkinandan, Hari, Ghanshyam and Banke Bihari are the most popular ones.
- Krishna is also said to be a part of Jain religion. Krishna represented one of the Triads that named Vasudeva i.e. a heroic figure.
- In spite of the fact we know about love between Radha and Krishna, there are no evidences or mentioning of Radha in famous Shrimad Bhagavatam, Mahabharata or Harivansham where life about Krishna is mentioned.
- Lord Krishna is related to Pandavas from maternal side. Kunti is said to be mother of Pandava princes was actually sister of Vasudeva, father of Krishna.
- In Vedas, it is said that children offer Gurudakshina or fees in return of education they received by their gurus. Krishna revived the life of his guru Sandipani’s son and thus paid his Gurudakhina.
- Lord Krishna actually had eighty sons out of which Pradyumana is the most popular and known to everybody. Krishna was also cousin of Eklavya whose father, Devasharva was brother of Vasudeva.
- It was Krishna who advised Arjuna to abduct his sister Subhadra as he knew that she would get married to Duryodhana whom Krishna did not liked at all. Later, Subhadra and Arjuna got married with blessings of Balarama and Krishna.
- Krishna had 16,108 wives out of which many were rescued from the captivity of Naraksura. His 8 main wives (Ashtabharya) included Rukmani, Kalindi, Mitravinda, Nagajiti, Jambvati, Bhadra, Lakshmana and Satyabhama. Although Krishna was very close to Radha, they never got married. It is said that Krishna abducted Rukmani, who was the princess of Vidarbha on her request to get saved from marrying Shishupala.
- Lord Krishna is also mentioned in Buddhist Jataka. In Vaibhav Jataka, Krishna is described as a legendary figure of India who kills his evil uncle Kansa along with other kings to rule over Jambudvipa i.e. India.
- It is said that Draupadi and Krishna were brothers and sisters in which Draupadi was born to assist the Lord to destroy sinful kings. Draupadi is also said to be an incarnation of Goddess Parvati. Krishna, the incarnation of Vishnu is also brother of Parvati.
- Krishna is said to be killed by and arrow of the hunter Jara. Jara mistook Krishna’s feet to be deer’s body while the lord was resting in the forest area. Jara is said to be incarnation of Bali who was killed by Rama, another incarnation of Vishnu and Krishna’s predecessor.
- Krishna is believed to be beyond anything related to human life or limitation of nature. He does not seem to grow old in Puranas despite passing several decades. Even in Mahabharata, lord Krishna has been seen not subjected to any limitations. In one of the incidences mentioned, Duryodhana tried to captivate Krishna when his body exploded to show all his creations within him.