8. The Kr'ishn'a-Aratcira and Balardnaa-Avatdra.—The former of these two, which arc generally treated as one, is the most interesting incarnation of Vishntu, both on account of the opportunity which it affords to trace, in IIindu antiquity, the gradual transformation of mortal heroes into representatives of a god; and on account of the numerous legends connected with it, as well as the influence which it exercised on the Vaishn'ava cult (see VArsux'Avas). In the Mahabharata (as Dr. Muir has shown in the fourth volume of his excellent work, Original Sanskrit Texts), Kr'ishn'a—which literally means, " the black or dark one"—is sometimes represented as rendering homage to S'iva (q.v.), and therefore acknowledging his own inferiority to that deity, or as recommending the worship of Uma (q.v.), the consort of S'iva, and as receiving boons from both these deities. In some passages. again, he bears merely the character of a hero endowed with extraordinary powers, and, in some, his divine natare is even disputed or denied by his adversaries, though they are ultimately punished for this unbelief. As the intimate ally of the Pau'du prince, Arjuna (see PAN'DAvAs), he claims, especially in the philosophical episode, the Bhagavadgita, the rank of the supreme deity; but there are other passages, again, in the Maliabarata, in which the same cairn of S'iva is admitted, and an attempt is made at their rival claims by declaring both deities one and the same.. Sometimes, moreover, Kr'ishn'a is, in this epos, declared to represent merely a very small portion—"a portion of a portion," as it is called—of the divine essence of Vishulti.• In the Mahabharata, therefore, which is silent also regardin" many adventures in Keishn'a's life, fully detailed in the Puran'as, the worship of Vishniu in this incarna tion was by no means so generally admitted or settled as it is in many Puran'as of the Vishn'uit sect; nor was there, at the epic period, that consistency in the conception of a Kr'ishn'a-Avatara which is traceable in the later wotks. The principal legends relat ing to Kr'ishn'a, as he appears in the Harivans'a and the Puran'as, are the following: A. demon king, Hansa of Mathura, of the race of Yadu, and therefore of the lunar line of kings, who, in a former birth, had been the demon Kdlanemi, had deposed and impris oned his father, Ugrasena, and oppressed, with his iniquitous hosts, the Earth ; and Earth having laid her complaints before an assembly of the gods on Mt. Meru, Brahman p_myed to Vishniu to relieve the world of its distress. When he had ended his prayer, Vishniu plucked off two hairs, one white, and one black, and promised the gods that these two hairs should become impersonated as lialardma and Kr'ishn'a, sons of Devoid, to fulfill their wishes. Now Devaki, who, in a former life, had been Aditi (space per sonified), was a wife of Vasudeva, who was of the race of Yadu, and a relative of Kansa; but as Kansa had been warned by a voice in heaven that their eighth child would he an incarnation of Vislin'u, he placed both husband and wife in confinement, after having obtained, though, from Vasudeva, the promise that he would deliver to him every child Devaki would bring forth. Six children of hers were accordingly given up to Kansa, and destroyed; but when Balarama, the seventh, was about to come into the world, Vislin'u appeared to Yoganidr4, a form of Uma (q.v.), and directed her to transfer Bala rams, before the time of his birth, to Rohinii, another wife of Vasudeva, and spread the report that Devakl had miscarried; enjoining her also to become incarnate as a child of the wife of an old cowherd Nanda, at the same time that he would become incarnate, as Kr'ishn'a, in the eighth conception of Devaki; for at the time of their simultaneous birth, lie added, Vasudeva, aided by him, would bring the infant Kr'ishn'a to the bed of Yas'oda, and her to that of Devakl. In this manner, I3alaranza and Kr iskn' a were saved, though the infant Durga, as soon as born, was dashed by Kansa against a stone, and suffered a temporary death. Kansa, having become aware that his design had been frustrated, now ordered the destruction of all young children, wherever they might be found, but considering it useless to keep Devaki and Vasudeva any longer in prison, liberated them., Vasudeva, apprehensive of the safety of Balarama, then took him to Nanda, to be brought up together with Kr'ishn'a; and thus began the earthly career of these two Avataras of Vishn'u, in which Balarama always figures as the friend and ally of his more important brother, Kr'ishn'a. The first miraculous act of the latter consisted in causing the death of a female demon, Putand, who suckled, and meant to destroy him. Then, as a little boy, he overturned a heavy wagon of the cowherds, and pulled down the trunks of two large trees—to the amazement of the cowherds, who did not yet suspect his divine nature, and, becoming afraid to remain any longer in Vraja, the place where these events happened, repaired to Vr'indavania. There Bala rams and Keishn'a remained until they had attained seven years of age. At this time Kr'ishn'a killed a serpent-monster Minya, in the Yamuna river, and then returned to Vraja. The next exploit of the brothers, more particularly, however, of Balarama, con sisted in the destruction of two demons. _Men uka and Pralamba, who infested tin forests; but that which followed, especially established the fame of Kr'ishn'a, and is one still commemorated iu their festivals by the worshipers of this god. When sporting in Vraja, he once found all the cowherds busily engaged in preparing for a sacrifice to be offered to India (q.v.). Seeing this, he dissuaded them from worshiping this god, and directed them to address their prayers and offerings to the mountain Gerard hana. Indra, however, offended by these proceedings, sent, a heavy storm, which inun dated the country, and threatened to destroy the cattle. Thereupon, Kr'ishn'a plucked up the mountain Govardhana from its base, and held it up as a large umbrella over the cow-pens, to shelter the herdsmen and their cattle from the storm. For seven days and nights they were thus protected by the elevation of the mountain; and Indra, at last con vinced of the irresistible might of Kr'ishn'a, carne to Govardhana, and worshiped him, obtaining on this occasion the promise that Kr'ishn'a would befriend the Paii'd'u prince, Arjuna, in his conflict with the Mires (see MaramaitATA). The episode in the life of Kr'ishn'a which now ensued, and is filled up with the, pleasures and sports he. enjoyed among the Gopis, or eowlierdesses, is that commemorated in the Rasa Yatra, an annual festival celebrated in various parts of India in the month of Karttika (Oct.-Nov.), and dwelt upon in many poetical works. Of these cowherdesses, later poets especially mention Radkii; and she is sometimes also represented as the divine or mystical love to which Kr'ishn'a returns at the end of his more worldly amours (see the article JAYADEVA).
After some more miraculous deeds, Kr'ishn'a and Balarama repaired to Nathura, where Kansa, in the hope of affecting their death, had invited them to assist at a solemn rite of the lustration of arms, and to engage in a trial of strength with his chief boxers, Can'tlra and lluspr'ikc, Akrrira, sent by Kansa to convey to tlibm his invitation, had already revealed to them the purpose for which he was despatched; but undaunted by his words, they accomplished their journey, during which they performed several other wonderful deeds, and, arrived at Mathura, accepted the challenge of Kansa. The con test ended not only in the death of the two boxers, but in that of Kansa also. Kr'ishn'a now released Ugrasena, Kansa's father, from the confinement in which he was kept, and restored him to the throne of isfathura. A number of other miraculous feats now fol lowed in the career of Kr'ishn'a. The principal are his conquering Jardsandha. the father-in-law of Kansa, who came to revenge the death of the latter, and Kdlayavana, a king of the Yavauas, who also overran Mathitra with his armies; and his founding the city of Dwaraka. At the end of these wars, he made a short stay at Vraja, then returned to Dwaraka, and there married Revati. by whom he had two sons. But he also carried off violently Rukrnin'i, the daughter of a king of Vidarbha, who had been betrothed to (q.v.), and had to wage a hot contest with the latter and his allies, before he conquered them. His next war was that with Naraka, a demon-king of Pragjyotisha, who had robbed Aditi of her earrings, and ultimately was put to depth by him. He then repaired to Indra's heaven, to restore to Aditi her earrings; but carrying off a won derful tree from Indra's garden, got into a conflict with this god; ultimately, however, be was allowed by him to take the tree to Dwaraka. There he married 16,100 maidens. he had rescued from Naraka. Other wars followed, in one of which Kr'ishn'a also fought with Silva, when siding with his enemy Ban'a, who was a son of Bali. The most important, however, of all these contests is the great war between the Klima and Pan'dlus. in which Y-fishnia was the ally of the latter. According to the Vishreu-Pur 4n'a, Keislin'a's earthly career was brought to its close by an event which has nothing in it of the miraculous, and is more consistent with the end of a mortal hero than with that of an incarnate god. He was accidentally shot in the sole by a hunter, who thought that he was aiming at a deer. The hunter, it is true, is called dart, is a word it the feminine gender, and means " old age," or " decay ;" but even if a mere allegory. the story of his end "from old age," or an arrow, barely tallies with the character assigned him in the Puranlas, and is therefore sometimes also omitted in the accounts of this Avatara.—For Balarama, see also the legend in the article 9. The Buddha-Avatcira, or Vishnu's epiphany as Buddha.—It is originally foreign to the cycle of the Avatar-as of Vishnu, and therefore only briefly alluded to in some Puran'as. Where this is done, the intention must have been to effect a compromise between Brahmaism and Buddhism, by trying to represent the latter religion as not irreconcilably antagonistic to the former. See BUDDHISM.
10. The Kalki- or Kalkin-Avatdra.—It is yet to come, " when the practices taught by the Vedas and the institutes of the law, shall have ceased, and the close of the Kali or present age shall be nigh." Vishn'uwi]l then be born " in the family of Vishniugas'as (possessing the glory of Vishniu), an eminent Brahman of Sambhala village, endowed with the eight superhuman faculties. He will then destroy all the barbarians and thieves, and all whose minds are devoted to iniquity."—Vialiteit-Nriin'a.
Vishn'n's wife is Srri, or Lakshrni (q.v.), and his paradise iraikunt'ha. When repre sented, he is of a dark hue, with four hands, in which be holds a conch-shell, blown in battle, the Ainchajanya; a disk, the Sudars'ana, an emblem of sovereign power; a mace, the liattmodaki, as a symbol of punishment; and either a lotus, as a type of creative pow el', • • or a sword, the AVandaka. On his breast shines the jewel Kaustubha. He is variously represented: sometimes, as ,Ntirtiyan! at (see the first Avatara), when floating on the primeval waters, and resting on S"esha, his serpent of infinity—the god Brahman corning out of a lotus that arises from his navel, and Lakshrui being seated at his feet; or riding on Garud'a, a being half bird and half man, or seated on a throne, and holding Lakshml on his lap; or, if he is represented in one of his incarnate forms, as fish, boar, man-lion, etc., he has a human shape, ending in a fish, or a human body with a boar's head, or with a lion's head; or he appears as a dwarf, or (as Parasquitma) armed with an axe; or (as Balaratua) holding a plow-share. As Kr'ishn'a, he is generally repre sented in a juvenile form, or as an adult, in a dancing posture, and playing on the flute. As lialki, he has a sword in his hand, and is kneeling before a winged horse. The leading personages or events connected with these Avataras are likewise frequently associated with the representation of the god: thus, in the representation of the fourth Avatara, Iliraniyakasiipu, as being torn open by the man-lion; or, in that of the sixth, the demon Arjuna, fighting with Parasiurania; or, in that of the seventh, the ten-headed Rilvan'a, battling with Ramachandra; or Hanumat and the monkey chiefs, paying ador ation to the latter; while his brothers stand at his sides, and Sita is sitting on his lap; or, in the eighth Avatara, the mountain Govardhana, when uplifted by Kr'ishn'a, and the Gopis sporting with him. Vishn'u is praised under thousand names, which are enu merated in the MaIttiblithatta, and have been commented upon by S'ankara, and other authors.—For other myths relating to Vislin'u, the general reader may consult H. II_ Wilson's translation of the Visliniu-Purcinia, which has been recently re-edited by Fitz edward Hall (five volumes, with index, Loud. 1864-76); the first nine books of Le BM gavata-Purdn'a, traduit et publie par Eugene Burnout, vols, (Paris, 1840-47); llanrantia, traduit par A. Langlois, vols. i., ii. (Paris, 1834-35); Lassen's Indische Alter thumskunde, vol. i. (2d edition, Leipzig, 1866), vole. ii.-iv. (Bonn and Leipzig, 1852-61); and the first and fourth volumes of John Muir's Original Sanscrit Texts (Load. 1858, 63); see also the representations of Visliniu in Edward Moor's Hindu Pantheon (Load. 1810).
VISHN'II•PURiN'A. See PIIRIN'A.