In the civil wars of his kinsmen, the Kuru and Panda, when he sided with the latter and shared their exile, he had thrown aside his Apollonic character of Murlidar, where, by the sounds of his pipe (Murali), be captivated the shepherdesses as he attended the kine in the pastoral Surasen, and had assumed that of Chacradhari, or wielder of the discus, the most ancient weapon of this Indo-Getic race.
Krishna is worshipped under his infant form as Gopala and Balagopala, and again as Gopi-natha, the god of the milkmaids. In the picture of Krishna, observes Sir William Jones, it is impos sible not to discover, at the first glance, the features of Apollo, surnamed Nomios, or the pastoral, in Greece, and Opifir in Italy, who fed the herds of Admetus, and slew the serpent Python.
Krishna's favourite place of resort was a tract of country around Agra, and principally the plains of Mathura, where Krishna and the nine Gopia, evidently the nine muses, usually spent the night in dancing.
Krishna deified is the shepherd Apollo of the Hindus, and his deeds, like those of Rama Chandra, have been sung by the noblest poets of the east.
The legend generally believed by the Hindus is partly historical and in part fable. It is to the effect that Krishna was born in Mathura, and was the son of Vasudeva (giver of wealth) and Devaki, sister to Kansa, the king of that country. At the time of the nuptials of his father and mother, it was predicted to Kansa that the eighth child of Devaki would deprive him of his life and crown, and become sovereign of Mathura in his stead. The king, in consequence, commanded that Devaki should be closely watched, and that whenever she was delivered of a child, it should be brought to him immediately to be put to death. The princess gave birth to five sons and one daughter, who were thus, by the directions of her brother, de stroyed as soon as they were born. When she became pregnant the seventh time, a voice from heaven commanded that the fruit of her womb should be conveyed into that of another female named Robin!, who gave birth to the third Rama, called Bala Rama, Krishna's brother ; and when the period of her delivery the eighth time arrived, the tyrant gave orders for a stricter watch to be placed over her than had been before ob served. The guards placed by Kansa over his pregnant sister having failed in their vigilance, Kansa, enraged, ordered all new-born infants to be slain. But Krishna escaped his various snares,
one of which was sending a woman named Patnia, with a poisoned nipple, to nurse him. In a mira culous escape of the infant over the Yamuna (Jumna), he is represented as conveyed by his father, and protected by Sesha or immortality. He was fostered by a herdsman named Ananda, or happy, and his wife Yasoda, or the giver of honour, and passed the gay hours of youth danc ing, sporting, and piping among a multitude of young Gopa or cowherds, and Gopi or milkmaids, from whom he selected nine as favourites. This is the period which has made most impression on the Hindus, who are never tired of celebrating Krishna's frolics and exploits as a child,—his steal ing milk, and his destroying serpents ; and among them is an extensive sect which worship him under his infant form, as the supreme creator and ruler of the universe. Krishna excites enthusiasm, especially among his female worshippers. He spent his youth among the Gopi, or milkmaids, dancing, sporting, and playing on the pipe ; and captivated the hearts, not only of his rural coin panions, but of the princesses of Hindustan, who had witnessed his beauty. In Brindaban, where lie tended cattle, stole milk, played upon the pipe, and danced and sported with milkmaids, the scenes of his gay amours are now reckoned as objects of the holiest veneration. The cradle of Krishna is preserved among the treasures of Nanda gaon, and the dairy is shown from which he used to steal milk and butter in his infancy. His sub sequent life was chequered ; he recovered his inheritance, but, being pressed by foreign enemies, he removed his residence to Dwaraka in Gujerat. He afterwards appeared as an ally of the family 61 the Pandu in their war with their relations the Kuru, for the sovereignty of Hastinapur. This war forms the subject of the great Hindu heroic poem, the Mahabharat, of which Krishna is in fact the hero. It ended in the dearly-bought success of the Pandu, and in the return of Krishna to Gujerat. His end was unfortunate, for he was soon involved in civil discord, and at last was slain by the arrow of a hunter, who shot at him by mistake in a thicket.