He is one of the most popular Hindu deities, a dashing, daring, blue-skinned hero who drives women wild and demons into despair.

Krishna is not just a top Hindu god, he’s also a true mythological superhero. But he had to work for it. Most of his formative years were spent avoiding death at the hands of jealous nasties.

The eighth child of Devaki, he was due to be killed at birth by wicked uncle Kamsa, but Vishnu saved the day by transferring him to a womb with a view in a quieter neighborhood. Sweet little Godlet Vindhyavasini was substituted in his place. Wicked Kamsa would have killed her instead but the Gods whisked her away to Heaven. (See Balarâma for a slightly different version of this story.)

Once Krishna was safely born, his troubles really began. A succession of baby-killing demons tried their best to dispatch him, but the innocent little lamb was really an indestructible Godly lump with a thousand sneaky demon-dispatching tricks. See what happened to Pûtanâ, for example.

Once grown up, Krishna went to chase girls in the countryside. This suited him down to the ground and, with his good looks and charm, Krishna soon found himself with 16,000 girlfriends. This was not entirely due to his good looks and charm; he came to the rescue of the lovely maidens and was forced to marry them all to prevent moral complications.

This idyllic lifestyle was cut short when it was revealed that he was really the Eighth Incarnation of Vishnu, and was therefore supposed to be doing important Godly work instead of messing around in the hay all day. So Krishna left to start a new career as Demon Destroyer and Hero, pausing only to kiss goodbye to each of his 16,000 wives.

Many tales have been told of Krishna’s amazing adventures. How he rescued Rukmini from a devilish marriage. How he feuded with the villainous Sisupala. How he grappled with fate and dodged death the way some people dodge the tax collector. How his heart ended up in Jagannath, the God of Heavy Goods Vehicles. But you get the picture.

Krishna is truly a SuperGod. He’s clever, sexy, cunning, and blessed with outrageous good fortune. In the Bollywood of Heaven, he is a rich and famous celebrity. Now the star of epic philosophical action-adventure Mahabharata and creator of the sublime poem Bhagavad-Gita, his name is revered all over the world.

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Article last revised on September 22, 2018 by Rowan Allen.
Editors: Peter J. Allen, Chas Saunders

References: Coming soon.

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