by V. Kumar

Created on: September 05, 2008

The three primary forms in which god is conceptualised in Hindu tradition are BRAHMA, the creator, VISHNU, the preserver and SHIVA, the destroyer. Together, they form the holy trinity. Among them, VISHNU is the most revered form of the Lord in India, along with Lord Shiva. He is said to preserve the universe and all its entities including human beings and other forms of life on earth. Thus, he is said to be involved with most aspects of life and its preservation.

INCARNATION is an important aspect of Hindu religious philosophy. There is a firm belief that whenever there is too much of anarchy and destruction, whenever the human values are lost in the society, the Lord himself takes a mortal form and joins the world to get rid of the evil, save the world and create an example that the lesser mortals can follow. Vishnu is said to have done this nine times till date, since the beginning of life on earth, in the current cycle of the universe.

KRISHNA THE EIGHTH AVATAAR OF VISHNU

The eighth avataar or incarnation of Vishnu came to this world in the form of KRISHNA, who was the eighth child of VASUDEV and DEVAKI. Devaki was the sister of King of Mathura, KANS, who was the biggest perpetrators of human suffering of his times. Once there was an AKASHVANI or divine sound from sky which said that Kans will be killed by the eighth son of Devaki. On hearing this, Kans wanted to kill her, but was convinced by her husband, Vasudev, that instead of killing her sister, she should imprison her, and kill her eighth son. Kans agreed and allowed Devaki to live in a prison on the condition that all her children will be immediately killed.

One by one, Kans killed seven of her children. Then one day, when Devaki was pregnant again, Lord Vishnu appeared in the cell where Devaki and Vasudev were imprisoned and blessed them. A few days later, when she gave birth to her eighth child, all of a sudden, all guards of the prison got unconscious, and all gates of the prison opened miraculously. Vasudev took the child out of the prison to a close by village called GOKULA, where the wife of the headman of the village, YASHODA, had also given birth to a girl child just about that time. Vasudev exchanged his baby boy with Yashoda's girl child, whom he carried back to prison to her wife. Later, Kans came to know about the eighth child of Devaki, and tried to kill it, but the girl slipped out of his hand and disappeared. Simultaneously, another divine announcement said that the eighth child of Devaki

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