Who is Lord Krishna?

      People believe that Lord Krishna is the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. They also believe that He was the only complete incarnation of Lord Vishnu among His ten incarnations. A Poorna Avatar means that He was the same as Lord Vishnu Himself. In other words, Lord Krishna had all the powers that Lord Vishnu had. This is probably why, it is only in this incarnation of Lord Vishnu, that He can be seen using His divine Sudarshan Chakra (Discus), Shanka (Conch) and flying on His vehicle, Garuda. There are many who consider Him to be the Supreme Lord and more powerful than Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva. There are others who consider Him to be on par with Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva. There are a few who do not believe Him to be the Supreme Lord. They say that He was a righteous prince who fought for Darma (righteousness), an excellent statesman and a diplomat par excellence, but nothing beyond that.

Lord Krishna

      There are many questions about Lord Krishna starting right from His date and place of birth. Was He born in 3000 BC? or was it 1000 BC? It is always difficult to know the exact date of birth of someone born a few thousands of years ago, but can the difference be as high as 2000 years? Was He born in present day Mathura? Or was Mathura as described in the scriptures a different place? In present day Mathura, there is another place about a kilometre from the famous Krishna Janmasthan (birth place of Lord Krishna) which claims to be the real spot where Lord Krishna was born. As those aware of the story know, on the eventful rainy night when Lord Krishna was born in the prison cell in Mathura, His father Vasudev took Him to Gokul to protect Him from the evil Kansa. Here too, there is a confusion. There are two towns near Mathura which claim to be the real Gokul. the place where Lord Krishna and Lord Balarama spent Their childhood. One of them is present day Gokul, which has the advantage of having the same name as the place mentioned in the Scriptures. The other is an adjacent town, Mahavan, which is a couple of kilometres from this town and claims to be the 'real' Gokul! So, what do we have now? Each town has its own Nanda Bhavan where Nanda Maharaj is supposed to have lived with Yashoda, Rohini, Krishna, and Balarama. Each place has its own share of tourist spots where the demons Putana, Trinavarta, and others were killed. Each flaunts the divine spot where the Supreme Lord showed the entire cosmos in His mouth to Yashoda.

      Any discussion on Krishna would be incomplete without talking about His divine consort Radha. Since time immemorial, people have been trying to figure out what relationship this Divine Couple shared. This is linked to another pertinent question - who is Radha? There are many people who believe that Radha is an incarnation of the Goddess of Fortune, Goddess Lakshmi. Since Goddess Lakshmi is the wife of Lord Vishnu, they believe that Radha married Lord Krishna. They believe that She was His wife, albeit for a very brief period, before he left the dusty villages of Brij to go back to Mathura. There are others who believe that Radha was a Rishi (sage) in Her previous birth and because of the blessings of Lord Vishnu was born as Radha, His consort. These people believe that Radha and Krishna share a platonic relationship. According to them, the relationship between the divine couple was that of God and devotee. There are many who believe Radha and Krishna were divine soul mates who shared Their joys and sorrows together during Lord Krishna's stay in Brij Bhoomi. There are some who believe Radha to be a part of Krishna, an expansion. According to them, Radha and Krishna are two individuals from the same soul. The analogy they use is that of the sun and sunshine. One comes from the other and you can't have one without the other. The same can be said of Radha and Krishna. What makes this relationship even more unusual is the fact that Radha was older than Krishna. Again, the difference in the age between the two is not clearly known. There are some who believe Radha was older than Krishna by only a few months. There were some who think She was older by one full yeat. There are a few who believe the difference to be as high as five years. There is also a mystery surrounding the identity of the man She married. Some believe She was engaged to another cowherd, even before She met Krishna. There are others who say that She was already married to another cowherd when she first met Krishna. There are a few who believe that though She was engaged to another cowherd, She broke off that engagement and married Krishna. There are others who say that though She broke off Her engagement and spent Her time with Krishna, She didn't marry Him. The 'other cowherd' in question? Well, here too, there is no consensus! Some believe his name to be Ayyan and others say it was Abhimanyu (not to be confused with Arjuna's son with the same name). In fact, there are a few who say that Ayyan (Abhimanyu?) was not a cowherd but served in the army of Kansa! The profession of Radha's father Vrishabhanu is equally uncertain. Some believe he was an ordinary cowherd. Others believe he was a king of a part of Brij Bhoomi.

      One more mystery surrounding Radha is the fact that there is no explicit mention about Her in the ancient text Srimad Bhagavatam. There is an implicit reference about Her but you won't find Her name anywhere. One of the earliest texts that mentioned Her by name is the legendary poem Geet Govind scripted by the famous poet Jayadeva. However, some people believe that Sage Shuka deliberately avoided taking Her name while narrating Srimad Bhagavatam to King Parikshit. They believe that Shuka was Radha's pet parrot in one of his earlier births and that he had such love and respect for Her that had he uttered Her name he would have swooned for six months.

      There are different versions regarding when Krishna first met Radha and also the location of Their first meeting. According to one version, He was still an infant, swaying in a cradle when Radha came from Barsana with Her family to Nanda Rai's house in Gokul. However, another version says that when Krishna was a three year old boy, he was dragging the grinder mortar tied to His back, and Radha met Him then for the first time. This happened in front of the two trees that He had just uprooted, to give liberation to Nalakuvara and Manigriva and release them from a curse.

      If the location of their first meeting is uncertain, so is the venue of Their last meeting. The most popular belief is that Krishna met Radha for the last time in Brij Bhoomi before He and Balarama accompanied Akroor to Mathura. A second version says that They met for the last time in Kurukshetra, when They came with Their respective families to bathe in the sacred Samantapanchaka tank after a solar eclipse. A third version states that Radha, along with Her gopi friends, came to Dwarka to meet Krishna for the last time. It is believed that They bathed at Gopi Sarovar, after which, They gave up Their mortal bodies and their souls achieved liberation.

      People ask why Radha and Krishna separated. Why did Krishna not return from Mathura and go back to Radha? Why did He make Her wait forever? The truth perhaps is that, Krishna indeed wanted to come back and take Radha with Him to Mathura. He wanted to make her the Queen of Mathuta. However, Radha was reluctant. She believed that the Kanha whom She loved was a carefree cowherd of Vrindavan. She felt that this Kanha would be very different from Prince Krishna of Mathura. She loved playing in the fields and forests of Nandagaon and Barsana. She did not want to be confined within the palaces of Mathura. She knew she would miss the open spaces of Barsana. So it was Radha who was against going to Mathura to stay with Krishna. Others believe that since Radha and Krishna are part of the same Supreme Lord, there is no question of separation. It is just a question of one soul in two bodies.

      There are differences of opinion regarding the location of Dwarka where Lord Krishna spent the last 97 years of His life. Most people believe that ancient Dwarka, where Lord Krishna lived, is the same as present day Dwarka. However, there are others who believe that ancient Dwarka was close to the current location of Dwarka, but not the same. They believe that ancient Dwarka was hit by a tsunami and was submerged in the Arabian Sea. There is also a view that combines both these theories and states that ancient Dwarka where Lord Krishna lived is a combination of what is present day Dwarka and also the submerged portions of the great city that have been found during recent excavations. There are a few who believe that none of this is true. They say that the ancient city of Dwarka is nowhere near the present Dwarka on the western tip of Gujarat. They are convinced that the ancient Dwarka was in the current district of Junagadh, on the southern tip of Gujarat. Their logic is simple. It is a well-known fact that during the end of His stay on earth, Lord Krishna advised His Yadavas to visit the holy place Prabhas Patan which is located near Somnath. The Yadava men went to Prabhas Patan and performed all religious rituals during the day. However, as night fell, they began to drink and soon got intoxicated. In their inebriated state, they began to abuse each other and killed each other. Towards the end of this midnight carnage, Lord Krishna and Lord Balarama left for Their Holy Abode, Vaikunta. The moot question raised by many people is, if Lord Krishna advised His men to visit Prabhas Patan which is near Somnath, shouldn't Dwarka also be somewhere close to Somnath in Junagadh? If Lord Krishna wanted His men to visit a few holy places, why would he ask them to travel 250 km, the distance between the current towns of Dwarka and Somnath? During those days of bullock carts and horse carriages, it would have taken them a few days to cover that distance. Based on this logic, they stick to their theory that the ancient Dwarka was near Somnath.

Krishna

      Though there are different versions of the story, the most popular one believes that a major part of erstwhile Dwarka city is now submerged in the Arabian Sea and the remaining part is the current Dwarka town. The original Dwarka city extended up to Bet Dwarka in the north, Okha in the south, and Pindara in the east. The portions between Bet Dwarka and Okha now lie under the Arabian Sea and the only way to commute between the two places is by ferry. It is believed that Dwarka's submergence in the Arabian Sea coincided with the departure of Lord Krishna to His Holy Abode Vaikunta which also marked the beginning of Kali Yuga.

      The Archaeological Society of India (AST) has conducted many explorations and confirmed the existence of this holy city. The Marine Archaeology Unit (MAU) of the National Institute of Oceanography also conducted underwater studies in 1983 in the coastal waters of Dwarka under the guidance and supervision of the world renowned Marine Archeologist Dr. S.R. Rao.

      Between 1983 and 1990, the township of Dwarka was discovered and found to be extending to more than half a kilometer from the shore. At Bet Dwarka, the team found a wall, 560 metres long, visible on the shore itself. Dating the pottery found there gave them the date of the civilisation 528 B.C. They also unearthed a mudra (seal) which was an important clue confirming the existence of Lord Krishna's city because the Mahabharata refers to the fact that Lord Krishna wanted every citizen to carry some sort of identity (mudra). The township was built in six sectors along the banks of a river. It was also noticed that the layout of Dwarka city, as described in the holy books matched with the findings of the lost city discovered by the team led by Dr. Rao.

      There are many who have challenged the veracity of the episode of the Yadavas killing one another and Krishna departing to His Heavenly Abode at the end of the carnage. They have called it purely fictitious and a figment of imagination. Their logic is that Lord Krishna was the Supreme Lord and omnipotent. How could He and His men succumb to the curse of a mere mortal Gandhari, at the end of the Kurukshetra war, which led to the bloody destruction of the Yadava dynasty? Could He not have averted this? However, the believers in the authenticity of this gory episode have an answer to this. They believe that Lord Krishna was aware through His divine omniscience that the Yadavas would be intoxicated with power and would cease to walk on the path of righteousness a few years after the Kurukshetra war. The only solution would be to end their dynasty through self-destruction. Gandhari was a mere tool in His scheme of things. That's probably why, Lord Krishna, much to the astonishment of the onlookers, smiled even as Gandhari abused and hurled her venomous curse on Lord Krishna and His Yadava dynasty. He was merely using her as a tool and she was only obeying His command. Lord Krishna had the highest regard for women. He wanted to show the world that before a pious and righteous woman, even the Supreme Lord has to bow.

      If you think that Dwarka and Somnath have lots of unanswered questions, then Kurukshetra is not far behind. The date of the famous Kurukshetra battle has been debated over the years. The date ranges from 150 B.C. to 3138 B.C. and each date has been computed with considerable justification. There are also different versions regarding the total number of verses in the Bhagavad Gita that Lord Krishna preached to Arjuna at Kurukshetra, ranging from 700 to 745.

The debates continue...

      There are these and other interesting questions about Lord Krishna and His life in our website, but I am chiefly interested in describing the places that I visited and the legends associated with each of them. It has been my humble effort to take the readers to the different sacred places in India where Lord Krishna spent a major part of His life.