Ajay Kumar at 08:36, 8 August 2023

2023-08-08T08:36:51Z

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{{Short description|Boyhood form of Hindu deity Krishna}}
{{Redirect|Balakrishna|the name|Balakrishna (name)}}
[[File:Raja Ravi Varma, Krishna Drishta (1888).jpg|thumb|''Krishna Drishta'' (1888), Raja Ravi Varma.]]
{{Vaishnavism}}
'''Bala Krishna''' ({{lang-sa|बाल कृष्ण|lit=child Krishna/divine child Krishna|translit=Bālakṛṣṇa}})<ref name="kk20072">{{cite book |author=KLOSTERMAIER, Klaus K. |title=A Survey of Hinduism for Bala Krishna |publisher=State University of New York Press; 3 edition |year=2005 |isbn=0-7914-7081-4 |page=206 |author-link=Klaus Klostermaier}}. Present day Krishna worship is an amalgam of various elements. According to historical testimonies [[Krishna-Vasudeva]] worship already flourished in and around Mathura several centuries before Christ. A second important element is the cult of Krishna Govinda. Still later is the [https://www.dadabhagwan.org/path-to-happiness/spiritual-science/know-bhagavad-gita-as-it-is/bal-krishna-worship-at-home/ worship] of Bala-Krishna, the Divine Child Krishna - a quite prominent feature of modern Krishnaism. The last element seems to have been Krishna Gopijanavallabha, Krishna the lover of the Gopis, among whom [[Radha]] occupies a special position. In some books Krishna is presented as the founder and first teacher of the Bhagavata religion.</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=India through the ages|url=https://archive.org/details/indiathroughages00mada|last=Gopal|first=Madan|year= 1990| page= [https://archive.org/details/indiathroughages00mada/page/75 75]|editor=K.S. Gautam|publisher=Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India}}</ref> or '''Bala Gopala''', refers to the boyhood form of the [[Hinduism|Hindu]] deity [[Krishna]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x-aRSuypah8C&dq=bala+krishna+myth&pg=PA143 |title=Hinduism and Modernity |date=2008-04-15 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-470-77685-8 |pages=143 |language=en}}</ref> The worship of Krishna as a divine child was historically one of the early forms of worship in [[Krishnaism]].

== Legend ==
The eighth son of [[Devaki]] and [[Vasudeva]], Krishna was born to fulfil the prophecy of slaying his tyrannical uncle and the king of Mathura, [[Kamsa]]. As soon as he was born in a prison with his parents, he asked his father to carry him to the region of [[Braj|Vraja]], where he would spend his childhood among the cowherds, along with his brother, [[Balarama]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ph.D |first=Lavanya Vemsani |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4fw2DAAAQBAJ&dq=krishna+raised+by+nanda+and+yashoda&pg=PA188 |title=Krishna in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Hindu Lord of Many Names: An Encyclopedia of the Hindu Lord of Many Names |date=2016-06-13 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-61069-211-3 |pages=79–80 |language=en}}</ref> In the settlement of [[Gokul]]am, he was raised by his foster-parents, [[Yashoda]] and [[Nanda (Hinduism)|Nanda]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Constance |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OgMmceadQ3gC&dq=krishna+raised+yashoda&pg=PA510 |title=Encyclopedia of Hinduism |last2=Ryan |first2=James D. |date=2006 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-0-8160-7564-5 |pages=510 |language=en}}</ref>

As a toddler, Krishna is best recognised for his tales of mischievous antics, such as stealing butter from the families of the cowherds of Gokulam.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Flueckiger |first=Joyce Burkhalter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0inWBgAAQBAJ&dq=bala+krishna+butter&pg=PA24 |title=Everyday Hinduism |date=2015-05-06 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4051-6021-6 |pages=24 |language=en}}</ref> Butter is often interpreted as a metaphor for love in the traditions of Krishna-devotion, associated with its properties of non-quantifiability and abundance. The child Krishna also untethers cows, teases children, and expresses a disdain for social conventions. This is often interpreted as a part of his ''līlā'', his divine play in which he intimately interacts with the world around him.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Olson |first=Carl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RVWKClYq4TUC&dq=divine+child+krishna+butter&pg=PA166 |title=The Many Colors of Hinduism: A Thematic-historical Introduction |date=2007 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-4068-9 |pages=166 |language=en}}</ref>

Bala Krishna is also said to have performed a number of miraculous acts.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Inc |first=Merriam-Webster |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZP_f9icf2roC&dq=divine+child+krishna&pg=PA647 |title=Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions |date=1999 |publisher=Merriam-Webster |isbn=978-0-87779-044-0 |pages=647 |language=en}}</ref> His tyrannical uncle, Kamsa, hearing of his birth, sent a number of malicious [[asura]]s and beasts to murder him, but all of their efforts were foiled. [[Putana]], a shapeshifting demoness, was killed when the baby Krishna sucked her life from her by taking the poisoned breast she offered him.<ref name="Hawley97" /> Another asura named [[Bakasura (crane demon)|Bakasura]] assumed the form of a crane or a stork and attempted to swallow Krishna, but he was slain instead when the deity broke his beak.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vishwananda |first=Paramahamsa Sri Swami |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uMEGDAAAQBAJ&dq=bakasura&pg=RA1-PA134 |title=The Essence of Shreemad Bhagavatam |date=2016-03-07 |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand |isbn=978-3-940381-52-1 |pages=434 |language=en}}</ref> When [[Aghasura]], assuming the form of a snake, swallowed Krishna and his friends, the deity grew to a massive size within him, slaying him.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vaswani |first=J. P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ePNvEAAAQBAJ&dq=aghasura&pg=PT176 |title=Stories with a difference from the Bhagavata Purana |date=2019-06-20 |publisher=Gita Publishing House |isbn=978-93-86004-23-9 |pages=176 |language=en}}</ref>

Some of his legends are associated with liberation, as in the [[Bhagavata Purana]]'s story of [[Manibhadra|Manigriva]] and [[Nalakuvara]]. The sons of [[Kubera]], the god of wealth, these brothers are described to have once caroused with maidens at [[Shiva|Shiva's]] mountain pleasure garden, when the divine sage, [[Narada]], appeared. While the girls respectfully covered themselves, the brothers ignored him, their arrogance caused by their great wealth. This prompted Narada to curse them to take the forms of two motionless trees until they were freed by Krishna. Once, in order to prevent her son from causing further mischief, Yashoda tied him up to a grinding mortar. The child Krishna was still able to crawl away, and found himself being wedged between two [[Terminalia arjuna|arjuna trees]]. His waist tethered to the mortar behind him, Krishna pulled, uprooting the trees. Freed from Narada's curse, Manigriva and Nalakuvara assumed their true forms, and offered their obeisance to the deity before they returned to their abode.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gupta |first1=Ravi M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jrwxDQAAQBAJ&dq=krishna+manigriva&pg=PA164 |title=The Bhāgavata Purāna: Selected Readings |last2=Valpey |first2=Kenneth R. |date=2016-11-29 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-54234-0 |pages=164–165 |language=en}}</ref> [[File:Krishna opens his mouth and Yashodha sees the three worlds (bazaar art, c.1910's).jpg|thumb|Painting of Krishna opening his mouth, revealing the cosmos to Yashoda.]]In one of his most popular legends, Krishna's playmates are said to have accused him of eating mud to Yashoda. When Yashoda started to scold him, Krishna denied this claim, and opened his mouth wide so that she could see for herself. Yashoda witnessed a cosmic vision of all matter within his mouth, observing space, the cardinal directions, earth and its islands, oceans, and mountains, constellations, the mind, the elements, and finally also herself in his gaping mouth, leaving her bewildered.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weddle |first=David L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lS8tcx-VE40C&dq=krishna+opens+mouth&pg=PA42 |title=Miracles: Wonder and Meaning in World Religions |date=2010-07-01 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-0-8147-9483-8 |pages=42 |language=en}}</ref>

In his iconography, is often depicted as a small child crawling on his hands, and knees or dancing with a piece of butter in his hand.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=kEj-2a7pmVMC&dq=Bala+Krishna&pg=PA251 Students' Britannica India By Dale Hoiberg, Indu Ramchandani p.251]</ref><ref>{{Cite book | title = The Qualities of Sri Krsna | author = Satsvarupa dasa Goswami| author-link = Satsvarupa dasa Goswami | publisher = GNPress | year = 1998 | pages = 152 pages | isbn = 0-911233-64-4 }}</ref>
[[File:Raja Ravi Varma, Yasoda Adorning Krishna.jpg|thumb|Painting of Yashoda adorning Krishna with ornaments, Raja Ravi Varma.]]
In the [[Bhagavad Gita]], one interpretation speculates Krishna teaching a universal monotheistic religion, a revelation of him being the [[svayam bhagavan|Svayam Bhagavan]]. The childhood episodes of Krishna's legend became the focus of the medieval devotional cults that started to develop into a number of movements in medieval India.<ref name="Hawley97">
{{cite book |author1=Miller, Barbara Stoler |author2=Hawley, John C. |title=Love Song of the Dark Lord |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |year=1997 |isbn=0-231-11097-9 }}</ref>

==Worship==
The worship of Bala Krishna, the divine child, while a significant feature of the Krishna religion, often receives less attention,<ref>
{{cite journal |last1=BASHAM |first1=A. L. |last2=Singer |first2=Milton |last3=Ingalls |first3=Daniel H. H. |date=May 1968 |title=Review:''Krishna: Myths, Rites, and Attitudes.'' |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=667–670 |doi=10.2307/2051211 |jstor=2051211|s2cid=161458918 }}
</ref> despite being one of the most popular deities of Krishna in many parts of India today.<ref name="kk20072" /> Early evidence of such worship can be found or as early as the 4th century BCE, according to evidence in [[Megasthenes]] and in the [[Arthashastra]] of [[Kautilya]], when ''Vāsudeva,'' as the son of [[Vasudeva]], was worshipped as the supreme deity in a strongly monotheistic format, where the Supreme Being was perfect, eternal, and full of grace.<ref name="Hastings">{{Harvnb|Hastings|2003|pp=540–42}}</ref>

The veneration of Bala Krishna is included as a part of the various forms of worship that culminated with the worship of Krishna as the [[svayam bhagavan|Svayam Bhagavan]] in various schools of [[Vaishnavism]]. The monotheistic tradition of [[Bhagavatism]], and the cults of [[Gopala-Krishna|Gopala Krishna]], [[Radha Krishna]], and [[Cult of Krishna-Vasudeva|Vasudeva-Krishna]], form the basis of the current tradition of Krishnaism, as well as Krishna in mainstream Vaishnavism.<ref name="kk20072" />[[File:Balakrishna hampi.png|right|thumb|180px|A 14th-15th century CE relief of Balakrishna in [[Hampi]], [[Vijayanagara]] in [[Karnataka]] South India]]
A prominent historical site dedicated to the veneration of Bala Krishna is the Balakrishna temple in [[Hampi]], built by the [[Vijayanagara]] ruler [[Krishnadevaraya]] in 1513 CE. The main altar of this temple is dedicated to Bala Krishna, and it is one of the rare temples where the stories of the [[Purana]]s are carved on the walls of the temple and its [[Gopuram|rajagopuram]].<ref>
Also Balakrishna refers to the name of the Telugu Actor
{{cite web
|url=http://www.hampi.in/sites/Krishna_Temple.htm
|title=Krishna Temple
|publisher=www.hampi.in
|access-date=2008-05-25
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080224080544/http://www.hampi.in/sites/Krishna_Temple.htm
|archive-date=2008-02-24
}}
</ref> [[File:Krishna temple at Hampi.jpg|thumb|220px|left|View of the temple of Bala Krishna at [[Hampi]]]]The [[Udupi Sri Krishna Matha]] is also a notable site that contains a [[murti]] of Bala Krishna. According to regional legend, it is believed to have been transported by sea from [[Dvārakā|Dvaraka]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://btg.krishna.com/main.php?id=285 |title=Back to Godhead - How Krishna Came to Udupi |publisher=btg.krishna.com |access-date=2008-05-25 |last=Dasa |first=Kundali |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012151146/http://btg.krishna.com/main.php?id=285 |archive-date=October 12, 2007 }}
</ref> It is also regarded to be the same image that was venerated by the chief queen of [[Krishna]], [[Rukmini]]. The saint [[Madhvacharya]] is regarded to have placed the image that is observed by pilgrims to this day.<ref name="Kim">{{cite book |author=Knott, Kim |title=Hinduism: a very short introduction |url=https://archive.org/details/hinduismveryshor0000knot |url-access=registration |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford [Oxfordshire] |year=1998 |isbn=0-19-285387-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/hinduismveryshor0000knot/page/33 33]}}</ref> The [[Diya (lamp)|sacred lamps]] at this statue of Bala Krishna regarded to have been recovered from the sea in the 14th century were said to have been lit by [[Madhvacharya]] himself and are being always kept alight, and that is for the last 700 years.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.indiapilgrim.in/Udupi/udipi_index.html
|title=IndiaPilgrim
|publisher=www.indiapilgrim.in
|access-date=2008-05-25
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080530205926/http://www.indiapilgrim.in/Udupi/udipi_index.html
|archive-date=30 May 2008
|url-status=dead
}}</ref><ref>C. M. Padmanabhacharya, [https://books.google.com/books?id=nT9MAAAAMAAJ&q=%22balakrishna+%22+Madhvacharya Life and Teachings of Sri Madhvachariarya], 1983</ref>

At the very beginning of his work to establish [[Hindu]] [[Krishna]] temples in the west, the [[Gaudiya Vaishnavism|Gaudiya]] [[guru]] [[Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada]] wanted to establish a prominent temple in [[New York City]] dedicated to Bala Krishna, even before starting [[ISKCON]]. He wrote the following to one of his supporters in India:<ref name = Sdg>{{cite book | first =Satsvarupa dasa| last =Goswami| url = http://www.sdgonline.org| title =Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta Vol 1-2| publisher = GN Press | orig-year = 1980-82 |year=2002| isbn = 0-89213-357-0 | page = Ch.13 "Struggling Alone"}}</ref>

{{blockquote|I think therefore that a temple of Bala Krishna in New York may immediately be started for this purpose. And as a devotee of Lord Bala Krishna, you should execute this great and noble work. Till now there is no worshipable temple of the Hindus in New York, although in India there are so many American missionary establishments and churches.|to S. Morarji|1965<ref name = Sdg/>}}

==See also==
{{Hinduism}}
* [[Gopala-Krishna|Gopala Krishna]]
* [[Radha Krishna]]
* [[Vāsudeva|Vasudeva Krishna]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Bala Krishna}}
*{{cite book
|last=Hastings
|first=James Rodney
|author-link=James Hastings
|others=John A Selbie
|title=Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics
|edition=Volume 4 of 24 ( Behistun (continued) to Bunyan.)
|publisher=Kessinger Publishing, LLC
|location=Edinburgh
|year=2003
|version=2nd edition 1925-1940, reprint 1955, 2003
|isbn=0-7661-3673-6
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kaz58z--NtUC&q=Krishna&pg=PA540
|access-date=2008-05-03
}}
*{{cite journal
|title=A Revolution in {{IAST|Kṛṣṇaism}}: The Cult of Gopāla: History of Religions |volume=25 |issue=4 |date=May 1986 |pages=296–317 |last=Hein |first=Norvin |jstor=1062622 |journal=History of Religions
|doi=10.1086/463051 |s2cid=162049250 }}
*{{cite book
|title = Krishna Myths Rites & Attitudes
|author = SINGER, Milton
|publisher = UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
|year = 1900
|isbn = 0-313-22822-1
}}
* {{cite journal
| author = Delmonico, N.
| year = 2004
| title = The History Of Indic Monotheism And Modern Chaitanya Vaishnavism
| journal = The Hare Krishna Movement: The Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mBMxPdgrBhoC&q=Vaisnava+monotheism&pg=PA31
| access-date = 2008-04-12
| publisher = Columbia University Press
| isbn = 978-0-231-12256-6
}}
{{Krishna|state=autocollapse}}

[[Category:Vaishnavism]]
[[Category:Forms of Krishna]]
[[Category:Hinduism and children]]

Bala Krishna - Revision history

Ajay Kumar at 08:36, 8 August 2023