Janmashtami 2023

Janmashtami celebrates Krishna’s birth in a prison in Mathura. That same night, his father Vasudeva carried him across the Yamuna to Gokul.

After Devaki and Vasudeva married, her brother Kansa drove their chariot as they departed. A voice from the sky announced that Devaki’s eighth child would bring about Kansa’s death. Terrified, he drew his sword to kill his sister.

Vasudeva stopped him. The warning had concerned Devaki’s child, not Devaki herself. He promised to hand over her children to Kansa. Kansa accepted and spared her that day.

When their first child was born, Vasudeva kept his promise and took the baby to Kansa. Kansa sent the child back, thinking only the eighth was a danger. Later, a conversation with Narada deepened his suspicions. He imprisoned Devaki and Vasudeva and killed their first six children.

Their seventh child was not born in the prison. Yogamaya transferred the unborn child from Devaki to Rohini, who lived in Gokul. He would be known as Balarama. In Mathura, Kansa waited for Devaki’s eighth child.

During the night, Krishna appeared before Devaki in the prison. She and Vasudeva first saw him in Vishnu’s four-armed form. Vasudeva recognised him and prayed. Devaki rejoiced that the Lord had come to their family, yet feared what Kansa would do. She asked him to conceal his divine appearance and become an ordinary baby.

Krishna reminded them of their earlier lives. As Prishni and Sutapa, they had wanted a child like the Lord, and he had come to them as Prishnigarbha. Later, as Aditi and Kashyapa, they had received him as Vamana. Now he was their child for the third time. Having told them this, he took the form of a newborn.

That same night, Yashoda had a daughter in Gokul. Vasudeva picked up Krishna and set out to take him there. The prison doors opened and the guards slept. Outside it was raining. Shesha spread his hoods over the baby to shelter him.

The Yamuna was in full flow when Vasudeva reached its bank. He had to carry the child to the other side. The river gave him a passage, and he crossed to Nanda’s home in Gokul.

Everyone there was asleep. Vasudeva laid Krishna beside Yashoda and took her daughter back to Mathura. He placed the girl beside Devaki. The prison doors closed, and he remained a prisoner as before.

When the girl cried, the guards woke and told Kansa. He came to the prison. Devaki begged him to spare the baby, but he seized her. She slipped from his hands and appeared as a goddess. She told him the child he feared had already been born elsewhere.

For a time Kansa admitted his wrongdoing and asked Devaki and Vasudeva to forgive him. After listening to his advisers, he became cruel again. Meanwhile in Gokul, news spread that a child had come to Nanda’s house. Nanda arranged the birth rites and gave gifts in charity. Cowherds and gopis came with good wishes. The child born in Mathura’s prison was welcomed with joy in Gokul.

Janmashtami celebrates Krishna's birth and his divine role in protecting dharma, as narrated in the Bhagavata Purana tradition. The correct fasting day depends on local midnight, Ashtami and Rohini considerations, and sometimes differs between Smarta and Vaishnava communities.

Devotees sing bhajans and listen to the birth story while waiting for Krishna’s birth at night. At midnight they perform a birth aarti and rock baby Krishna in a cradle. Many also fast. Some communities celebrate Nandotsav the next day to recall Gokul’s welcome.

Mathura and Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh and Dwarka in Gujarat are major centres. Gujarati amanta calendars call the lunar fortnight Shravan Vad; North Indian purnimanta calendars call the corresponding fortnight Bhadrapada Krishna. Smarta and Vaishnava/ISKCON observances may fall on different civil dates because their midnight Ashtami and Rohini criteria differ. The stored sunrise-only rule must not be presented as an authoritative fasting-date calculation.