Janmashtami, Hindu festival celebrating the birth (janma) of the god Krishna on the eighth (ashtami) day of the dark fortnight (waning moon fortnight) of the Hindu calendar month Bhadrapada (August–September on the Gregorian calendar). The festival is a joyous time involving group dancing and singing songs (bhajans) as well as ritual practices of fasting and worship of Krishna.
Legend of the birth of Krishna
According to the story of Krishna’s birth as related in the 10th book of the Bhagavata Purana (c. 10th century), Krishna is born as an avatar of Vishnu in order to relieve the world of its burden of demonic asuras (anti-gods) living as kings on Earth. One such demon king named Kamsa, who belongs to the Yadu clan, rules the town of Mathura (in modern Uttar Pradesh), and it is into this clan that Vishnu is instructed to take birth. When Kamsa’s sister Devaki marries Vasudeva, a prophetic voice from the sky (Sanskrit: ākāśavānī) foretells that her eighth son will kill Kamsa. Kamsa decides to kill Devaki to prevent his death from coming to pass, but Vasudeva intervenes and promises to hand over to the king every child born to him and Devaki. Kamsa imprisons the couple and murders their first six children. The seventh child, Balarama, is miraculously transferred to the womb of Rohini, Vasudeva’s first wife; in the Bhagavata Purana Balarama is considered a partial avatar of Vishnu and identified as Shesha, the serpent king.
At Vishnu’s birth as Krishna there are divine signs, and Vasudeva and Devaki are afforded a vision of their child as the supreme Vishnu in his celestial form before he transforms himself into the appearance of a human baby. As Vishnu he tells his human parents that Yogamaya, his divine feminine power, or Shakti, has been born simultaneously to Yashoda across the Yamuna River in Gokula (ancient Vraja) and that they should orchestrate a switch of the two infants. The prison doors open by divine will and illusory power, and Vasudeva carries the child across the river to Gokula, where he will then be raised in safety by his foster mother, Yashoda. When Kamsa comes to see the foretold eighth child, Yogamaya transforms into a goddess, frightening and humbling him. Krishna, after many other divine exploits, eventually kills his demon uncle Kamsa.
