THE LITTLE MAKHANCHOR- KRISHNA

India is the country of diverse religion and festivals. All festivals have a historic significance to them and are rooted in various cultural. Shree Krishna Janmashtami, Gokulashtami, Shree Krishna Jayanti, Shree Jayanti or Janmashtami is a Hindu festival which is celebrated on  the birth of Lord Krishna. It is celebrated with great fervour and zeal in India and various parts of the world during the Bhadrapad month Krishna pakshya Astami Tithi or the 8th day of the dark fortnight in the month

He is believed to be the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. As a kid Lord Krishna was named “Makhanchor” or the one who steals butter. Because he always used to steal it from his mothers’ kitchen. Therefore his name was ‘Natkahat Nand Lal’. Sri Krishna was dark-colored. So he was always worried about his color. Moreover, Sri Krishna had a friend named Radha. Radha was of great importance to Krishna. So he always spent time with her. Radha was very beautiful and fair so Lord Krishna always felt color complex

The Divine Birth

There came a time when Mother Earth was unable to bear the sins and cruelty committed by evil kings and rulers. Mother Earth then prayed to Lord Brahma, the creator of the Universe, to relieve her from these sinful kings. Lord Brahma prayed to the supreme Lord Vishnu for reincarnation and to relieve Mother Earth from these evil rulers. Lord Vishnu accepted the request and assured to defeat tyrannical forces. 

The ruler of Mathura, Kansa was one such evil king. He had a sister named Devaki, who was married to Vasudeva. Long time ago, in ancient India, there lived a king called Ugrasen. He had two children, prince Kansa and princess Devaki. Prince Kansa was evil by nature. When Kansa grew up, he imprisoned his own father and crowned himself king.

         Soon, his sister Devaki was married to King Vasudev. Right after the wedding, Kansa heard a divine warning from the sky, “O King! Your sister’s eighth son will grow up to kill you.” When Kansa heard this, he was afraid. He imprisoned his own sister Devaki and her husband, King Vasudev, immediately and kept them under continuous watch.

         Years passed. Each time Devaki gave birth to a child in the prison, Kansa arrived and killed the infant with his own hands. When Devaki became pregnant for the eighth time, Vasudev’s friend King Nanda’s wife, Yashoda, was also pregnant. The eighth child, Lord Krishna, was born to queen Devaki at midnight in the prison. As soon as the child was born, Lord Vishnu appeared in His divine form and the prison was filled with a dazzling light. Both Devaki and Vasudev prayed to Lord Vishnu. At the same time that Lord Krishna was born in the prison, Queen Yashoda gave birth to a baby girl in Gokul. That infant was the divine energy of Lord Vishnu.

         A divine message came to Vasudev soon after the birth of Lord Krishna, “Take this child across the Yamuna River to Gokul and exchange Him with Yashoda’s daughter. You will return before anyone comes to know about the birth of this child.”

         Vasudev immediately followed the advice. The prison doors opened automatically as he walked towards them with the child in his arms. The guards had already been put to sleep by divine intervention. Vasudev then approached the Yamuna River, which was very turbulent due to fierce winds and rain. But as soon as Vasudev reached the riverbank, the river parted and made way for the divine child. Vasudev reached the opposite bank of the river safely and found that all the people of Gokul were fast asleep.

         He entered the palace of King Nanda and Queen Yashoda and put the baby boy in the place of Yashoda’s baby girl. Then Vasudev returned to the prison with the baby girl in his arms.

         As soon as Vasudev set the baby girl down next to Devaki, the prison doors shut automatically. The guards were now awake and were startled by the cries of the baby girl. The guards ran to Kansa and announced the birth of the eighth child.

         With the memory of the divine warning fresh in his mind,.Kansa rushed to the prison to execute the child. Devaki appealed to him, “O Kansa, this baby is a girl and not the boy that the divine warning spoke of. How can this child harm you?” But Kansa ignored her, snatched the child from her lap and hurled the child against the prison wall.

         The child did not fall down; instead she flew up and appeared in the sky as a goddess with eight arms, each arm carrying a weapon. She said, “O evil king! You will gain nothing by killing me. The one who will destroy you is elsewhere.” And the goddess disappeared.

         Meanwhile, there was great rejoicing in Gokul. Everyone was celebrating the birth of King Nanda’s son. Nanda named the child Krishna. Entire Gokul wore a festive appearance that day. The streets were swept clean and all the houses were decorated with flags and flowers. Cows were smeared with turmeric and adorned with peacock feathers and garlands. All the people of Gokul danced in joy and flocked to Nanda’s house to see baby Krishna and to offer gifts.The day Devaki and Vasudeva got married, a voice from the sky forecasted that Devaki’s eighth son will bring an end to Kansa’s rule and will kill him. 

Frightened Kansa held the couple. He then vowed that he would kill every child of Devaki and Vasudeva. Seeing their first seven children being killed by the cruel Kansa, the imprisoned couple feared giving birth to their eighth child. 

One night Lord Vishnu appeared before them. He told them that in the guise of their son, he will return and rescue them from Kansa’s autocracy. 

The divine baby was born and the day he was born, Vasudeva found himself magically freed from prison. He ran away with the infant to a safer house and Lord Vishnu removed all the obstacles from Vasudeva’s path. 

Vasudeva reached a house in Gokul, exchanged Lord Krishna with a new born girl of Yashoda and Nanda and returned to the prison with the girl child. As soon as Kansa came to know about the new-born, he again tried to kill the child. The infant ascended to the heavens and transformed into the goddess Yogamaya and said, “O foolish Kansa! What will you get by killing me? Your nemesis is already born.” 

Meanwhile, Krishna was raised as a cowherd in Gokul and became a skilful musician. On his return to Mathura, he slayed Kansa and restored his father to power.

Nandostav or Dahihandi

People celebrate Janmashtami in mid-night. Because Lord Krishna was born in the dark. Moreover, people have a special way of celebrating the festival. Since Sri Krishna was fond of eating Makhan  people play this sport.

The sport is, they tie an earthen pot(matki). The judge of the game ties the matki really high from the ground. Furthermore, a person fills Makhan in the matki. Also, what people do is they build a human pyramid to break the matki popularly called as Dahihandi in Mumbai. Since the matki is too high they have to build a tall pyramid. As a result, many people have to take part in sport. Moreover, there are other teams too who stop them from breaking the matki. Equal chances are there for both the teams. Each team gets a chance for a particular time period. If the team is not able to do it in time then the other team tries it. This is an interesting sport many people gather to watch this sport.

To celebrate the day, Krishna temples are decorated; processions are taken out, while religious sites dedicated to the Blue God see a host of bhajans and kirtans taking place along with satsangs. Many places host dance-drama enactments of the life of Krishna according to the Bhagavata Purana, devotional singing through the midnight when Krishna was born, fasting, a night vigil (ratri jagaran), and a festival the following day to celebrate his birth.The sole reason of celebrating this festival is bringing people together so that principles of unity strengthens.

If you don’t fight for what you want; Don’t cry for what you lost.~The Bhagavad Gita

“Do everything you have to do,
But not with greed, not with ego,
Not with lust, not with envy but
with love, compassion, humility and devotion.” 

“You have the right to work, but never to the fruit of the work. You should never engage in action for the sake of reward, nor should you long for inaction.”