Deities & Iconography | Krishna

Urmi Chanda-Vaz
Aug 25, 2016
2 min read

Krishna is among the primary Hindu deities, worshipped mainly by the followers of the Vaishnava sect. The cult of Krishna is one of the biggest and most powerful in Hinduism. He is the 8th incarnation of Vishnu and is considered to be the purnavataar, or the complete avataar. He appears in Jaya as a shrewd and charming human hero, but is completely identified with Vishnu in the Mahabhagavatam. He is central to the plot of the Mahabharata and his role as a friend, philosopher and guide is consolidated when he narrates the Bhagavad Gita to the Pandava prince, Arjuna.

Apart from an astute statesman, a charismatic leader and a brave warrior, Krishna is also adored for his role as a son, a friend and a lover. The Bhagavata Purana talks about the many lovable and heroic exploits of the child Krishna, or Gopala. He is the darling of Vrindavan as the butter-loving, demonslaying, flute-playing cowherd. He is the apple of Yashoda's eye, the object of devotion of the gopis, especially Radha and friend to Sudama and the other gopas. Some of the popular stories of Krishna include the story of his birth, the killing of the demoness Putana and defeating the serpent, Kaliya, the lifting of the Govardhana mountain, the Raas-leela with the gopis and the slaying of Kamsa among others.

In his popular iconic form, he is worshipped as a blue-skinned handsome youth, along with his consort, Radha. Apart from Radha, he is also associated with the ashtasakhis or the 8 chief gopis in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition namely Lalita, Vishakha, Champakalata, Chitra, Tungavidya, Indulekha, Rangadevi and Sudevi.

He is also associated with his siblings, Balabhadra and Subhadra in the Bhagavata tradition, and the trio is worshipped at the well-known Jagannatha dham in Puri, Odisha. Other popular forms in which Krishna is worshipped are as Srinath ji, at Nathadvara in Rajasthan, as Dvarkadheesh at Dwarka in Gujarat, as Vitthala, along with Rukmini at Pandharpur in Maharashtra. In popular art, he is depicted as standing in the tribhangakaya or in a pose where his body bends in three places and plays a flute. With his disarming smile, a peacock feather in his crown and a cow by his side, he is surely one of the most beloved deities for Hindus.