Editing Krishna (section)

== Historical and literary sources ==
The tradition of Krishna appears to be an amalgamation of several independent deities of ancient India, the earliest to be attested being [[Vāsudeva]].<ref name="GDF119">{{harvnb|Flood|1996|pp=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo/page/119 119]–120}}</ref> Vāsudeva was a hero-god of the tribe of the [[Vrishni]]s, belonging to the [[Vrishni heroes]], whose worship is attested from the 5th–6th century BCE in the writings of [[Pāṇini]], and from the 2nd century BCE in epigraphy with the [[Heliodorus pillar]].<ref name="GDF119" /> At one point in time, it is thought that the tribe of the Vrishnis fused with the tribe of the [[Yadavas]], whose own hero-god was named Krishna.<ref name="GDF119" /> Vāsudeva and Krishna fused to become a single deity, which appears in the ''[[Mahabharata]]'', and they started to be identified with [[Vishnu]] in the ''Mahabharata'' and the ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]''.<ref name="GDF119" /> Around the 4th century CE, another tradition, the cult of [[Gopala-Krishna]] of the [[Abhira people|Ābhīra]]s, the protector of cattle, was also absorbed into the Krishna tradition.<ref name="GDF119" />

===Early epigraphic sources===
{{main|Vāsudeva-Krishna}}

====Depiction in coinage (2nd century BCE)====
[[File:Vasudeva Krishna on a coin of Agathocles of Bactria circa 180 BCE.jpg|thumb|upright|{{center|[[Vāsudeva]]-Krishna, on a coin of [[Agathocles of Bactria]], {{circa}}{{nbsp}}180{{nbsp}}BCE.<ref name="US">{{cite book |last1=Singh |first1=Upinder |title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century |date=2008 |publisher=Pearson Education India |isbn=978-81-317-1120-0 |pages=436–438 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&pg=PA437 |language=en}}</ref><ref>[[Osmund Bopearachchi]], [https://www.academia.edu/25807197 Emergence of Viṣṇu and Śiva Images in India: Numismatic and Sculptural Evidence], 2016.</ref> This is "the earliest unambiguous image" of the deity.<ref name="BRILL">{{cite book |last1=Srinivasan |first1=Doris |title=Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes: Origin, Meaning, and Form of Multiplicity in Indian Art |date=1997 |publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-10758-8 |page=215 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vZheP9dIX9wC&pg=PA215 |language=en}}</ref>}}]]
Around 180 BCE, the [[Indo-Greek]] king [[Agathocles of Bactria|Agathocles]] issued some coinage (discovered in [[Ai-Khanoum]], Afghanistan) bearing images of deities that are now interpreted as being related to [[Vaisnava]] imagery in India.<ref name="Bopearachchi"/><ref>Audouin, Rémy, and Paul Bernard, "[http://www.persee.fr/doc/numi_0484-8942_1974_num_6_16_1062 Trésor de monnaies indiennes et indo-grecques d'Aï Khanoum (Afghanistan). II. Les monnaies indo-grecques.]" Revue numismatique{{nbsp}}6, no.{{nbsp}}16 (1974), pp.{{nbsp}}6–41 (in French).</ref> The deities displayed on the coins appear to be [[Saṃkarṣaṇa]]-[[Balarama]] with attributes consisting of the [[Gada (mace)|gada]] mace and the [[plow]], and Vāsudeva-Krishna with attributes of the [[shankha]] (conch) and the [[Sudarshana Chakra|sudarshana chakra]] wheel.<ref name="Bopearachchi" /><ref>Nilakanth Purushottam Joshi, Iconography of Balarāma, Abhinav Publications, 1979, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5vd-lKzyFg0C&pg=PA22 p. 22]</ref> According to [[Bopearachchi]], the [[headdress]] of the deity is actually a misrepresentation of a shaft with a half-moon parasol on top ([[chattra]]).<ref name="Bopearachchi" />

====Inscriptions====
[[File:Heliodorus pillar.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Heliodorus Pillar]] in the Indian state of [[Madhya Pradesh]], erected about 120{{nbsp}}BCE. The inscription states that Heliodorus is a ''Bhagvatena'', and a couplet in the inscription closely paraphrases a Sanskrit verse from the ''Mahabharata''.<ref name=allchin309>{{cite book|author1=F. R. Allchin|author2=George Erdosy|title=The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5kI02_zW70C&pg=PA309 |year=1995| publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-37695-2|pages=309–310}}</ref><ref>L. A. Waddell (1914), Besnagar Pillar Inscription{{nbsp}}B Re-Interpreted, ''The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland'', Cambridge University Press, pp.{{nbsp}} 1031–1037</ref>]]
The [[Heliodorus Pillar]], a stone pillar with a [[Brahmi script|Brahmi]] script inscription, was discovered by colonial era archaeologists in Besnagar ([[Vidisha]], in the central Indian state of [[Madhya Pradesh]]). Based on the internal evidence of the inscription, it has been dated to between 125 and 100{{nbsp}}BCE and is now known after [[Heliodorus (ambassador)|Heliodorus]] – an [[Indo-Greek]] who served as an ambassador of the Greek king [[Antialcidas]] to a regional Indian king, Kasiputra [[Bhagabhadra]].<ref name="Bopearachchi" /><ref name=allchin309 /> The Heliodorus pillar inscription is a private religious dedication of Heliodorus to "[[Vāsudeva]]", an early deity and another name for Krishna in the Indian tradition. It states that the column was constructed by "the ''Bhagavata'' Heliodorus" and that it is a "''Garuda'' pillar" (both are Vishnu-Krishna-related terms). Additionally, the inscription includes a Krishna-related verse from chapter{{nbsp}}11.7 of the ''Mahabharata'' stating that the path to immortality and heaven is to correctly live a life of three virtues: self-[[Temperance (virtue)|temperance]] (''damah''), generosity (''cagah'' or ''tyaga''), and vigilance (''apramadah'').<ref name=allchin309 /><ref name=salomon265>{{cite book|author=Richard Salomon|title=Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the other Indo-Aryan Languages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XYrG07qQDxkC|year=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-535666-3|pages=265–267}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Benjamín Preciado-Solís|title=The Kṛṣṇa Cycle in the Purāṇas: Themes and Motifs in a Heroic Saga |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JvCaWvjGDVEC&pg=PA34 |year=1984|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-0-89581-226-1|page=34}}</ref> The Heliodorus pillar site was fully excavated by archaeologists in the 1960s. The effort revealed the brick foundations of a much larger ancient elliptical temple complex with a sanctum, ''[[mandapa]]s'', and seven additional pillars.{{sfn|Khare|1967}}{{sfn|Irwin|1974|pp=169–176 with Figure 2 and 3}} The Heliodorus pillar inscriptions and the temple are among the earliest known evidence of Krishna-Vasudeva devotion and [[Vaishnavism]] in ancient India.{{sfn|Susan V Mishra|Himanshu P Ray|2017|p=5}}<ref name="Bopearachchi">{{cite web|author=[[Osmund Bopearachchi]]| year= 2016| url=https://www.academia.edu/25807197|title= Emergence of Viṣṇu and Śiva Images in India: Numismatic and Sculptural Evidence}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Burjor Avari|title=India: The Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Subcontinent from C. 7000 BCE to CE 1200|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WTaTDAAAQBAJ |year=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-23673-3|pages=165–167}}</ref>

[[File:Rama Krishna at Chilas.jpg|thumb|[[Balarama]] and Krishna with their attributes at [[Chilas]]. The [[Kharoshthi]] inscription nearby reads ''Rama [kri]ṣa''. 1st century CE.<ref name="BRILL"/>]]

The [[Heliodorus Pillar|Heliodorus inscription]] is not isolated evidence. The [[Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions]], all located in the state of [[Rajasthan]] and dated by modern methodology to the 1st{{nbsp}}century{{nbsp}}BCE, mention Saṃkarṣaṇa and Vāsudeva, also mention that the structure was built for their worship in association with the supreme deity [[Narayana]]. These four inscriptions are notable for being some of the oldest-known [[Sanskrit]] inscriptions.<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard Salomon|title=Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=t-4RDAAAQBAJ |year= 1998|publisher= Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-509984-3|pages=86–87}}</ref>

A [[Mora well inscription|Mora stone slab]] found at the Mathura-Vrindavan archaeological site in [[Uttar Pradesh]], held now in the [[Mathura Museum]], has a Brahmi inscription. It is dated to the 1st{{nbsp}}century{{nbsp}}CE and mentions the five [[Vrishni heroes]], otherwise known as Saṃkarṣaṇa, Vāsudeva, [[Pradyumna]], [[Aniruddha]], and [[Samba (Krishna's son)|Samba]].<ref name=vardpande6>{{cite book|author=Manohar Laxman Varadpande|title=Krishna Theatre in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TaF603WEv4IC&pg=PA6 |year=1982|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-81-7017-151-5|pages=6–7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title= Hindu Gods and Heroes: Studies in the History of the Religion of India|last= Barnett|first= Lionel David|year= 1922 |publisher= J. Murray|page= [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.173123/page/n92 93]|url= https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.173123}}</ref><ref name=Puri1968>{{cite book|author = Puri, B. N.|year = 1968|title = India in the Time of Patanjali|publisher = Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan}} p. 51: The coins of Rajuvula have been recovered from the Sultanpur District...the Brahmi inscription on the Mora stone slab, now in the Mathura Museum,</ref>

The inscriptional record for [[Vāsudeva]] starts in the 2nd century BCE with the coinage of Agathocles and the Heliodorus pillar, but the name of Krishna appears rather later in epigraphy. At the [[Chilas]] II archaeological site dated to the first half of the 1st-century CE in northwest Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border, are engraved two males, along with many Buddhist images nearby. The larger of the two males held a plough and club in his two hands. The artwork also has an inscription with it in [[Kharosthi]] script, which has been deciphered by scholars as ''Rama-Krsna'', and interpreted as an ancient depiction of the two brothers, Balarama and Krishna.<ref>{{cite book|author=Doris Srinivasan|title=Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes: Origin, Meaning, and Form of Multiplicity in Indian Art|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vZheP9dIX9wC |year=1997|publisher=Broll Academic|isbn=90-04-10758-4|pages=214–215 with footnotes}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Jason Neelis|title=Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and Exchange Within and Beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GB-JV2eOr2UC |year=2010|publisher=Btill Academic|isbn=978-90-04-18159-5|pages=271–272}}</ref>

The first known depiction of the life of Krishna himself comes relatively late, with [[:File:Vasudeva_Carrying_Baby_Krishna_in_Basket_Across_Yamuna_-_Circa_1st_Century_CE_-_Gatashram_Narayan_Temple.jpg|a relief]] found in [[Mathura]], and dated to the 1st–2nd century CE.<ref name="KCIA">{{cite book |last1=Bhattacharya |first1=Sunil Kumar |title=Krishna-cult in Indian Art |date=1996 |publisher=M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd. |isbn=978-81-7533-001-6 |page=27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SyyNIL7Ug2kC&pg=PA27 |language=en}}</ref> This fragment seems to show [[Vasudeva]], Krishna's father, carrying baby Krishna in a basket across the [[Yamuna river|Yamuna]].<ref name="KCIA"/> The relief shows at one end a seven-hooded Naga crossing a river, where a ''[[makara]]'' crocodile is thrashing around, and at the other end a person seemingly holding a basket over his head.<ref name="KCIA"/>

===Literary sources===
==== Mahabharata ====
{{See also|Krishna in the Mahabharata|Bhagavad Gita}}
[[File:Krishna advising Pandavas.jpg|thumb|Krishna advising Pandavas]]
The earliest text containing detailed descriptions of Krishna as a personality is the epic ''[[Mahabharata]]'', which depicts Krishna as an incarnation of Vishnu.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url= https://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-357806/Mahabharata|title= Britannica: Mahabharata|access-date=2008-10-13 |encyclopedia = encyclopedia|publisher= Encyclopædia Britannica Online |year= 2008|author = Wendy Doniger}}</ref> Krishna is central to many of the main stories of the epic. The eighteen chapters of the sixth book (''Bhishma Parva'') of the epic that constitute the ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]'' contain the advice of Krishna to [[Arjuna]] on the battlefield.

During the ancient times that the ''Bhagavad Gita'' was composed in, Krishna was widely seen as an avatar of Vishnu rather than an individual [[deity]], yet he was immensely powerful and almost everything in the universe other than Vishnu was "somehow present in the body of Krishna".<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Armstrong |first=Karen |title=A History of God: The 4000-year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam |publisher=[[Alfred A. Knopf Inc]] |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-679-42600-4 |location=New York |pages=85–86 |author-link=Karen Armstrong}}</ref> Krishna had "no beginning or end", "fill[ed] space", and every god but Vishnu was seen as ultimately him, including [[Brahma]], "storm gods, sun gods, bright gods", light gods, "and gods of ritual."<ref name=":0" /> Other forces also existed in his body, such as "hordes of varied creatures" that included "celestial serpents."<ref name=":0" /> He is also "the essence of humanity."<ref name=":0" />

The ''[[Harivamsa]]'', a later appendix to the ''Mahabharata,'' contains a detailed version of Krishna's childhood and youth.<ref>Maurice Winternitz (1981), ''History of Indian Literature'', Vol. 1, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-0836408010}}, pp. 426–431</ref>

==== Other sources ====
[[File:Baby thief Krishna (bazaar art, c.1950's).jpg|thumb|left|Krishna is celebrated in the Vaishnava tradition in various stages of his life.]]
The ''[[Chandogya Upanishad]]'' (verse III.xvii.6) mentions Krishna in ''Krishnaya Devakiputraya'' as a student of the sage Ghora of the Angirasa family. Ghora is identified with [[Neminatha]], the twenty-second ''[[tirthankara]]'' in [[Jainism]], by some scholars.{{sfn|Natubhai Shah|2004|p=23}} This phrase, which means "To Krishna the son of [[Devaki]]", has been mentioned by scholars such as [[Max Müller]]<ref name=maxmuller316>Max Müller, [https://archive.org/stream/upanishads01ml#page/48/mode/2up Chandogya Upanishad 3.16–3.17], The Upanishads, Part{{nbsp}}I, Oxford University Press, pp. 50–53 with footnotes</ref> as a potential source of fables and Vedic lore about Krishna in the ''Mahabharata'' and other ancient literature{{snd}} only potential because this verse could have been interpolated into the text,<ref name=maxmuller316 /> or the Krishna Devakiputra, could be different from the deity Krishna.<ref>Edwin Bryant and Maria Ekstrand (2004), ''The Hare Krishna Movement'', Columbia University Press, {{ISBN|978-0231122566}}, pp. 33–34 with note 3</ref> These doubts are supported by the fact that the much later age ''Sandilya Bhakti Sutras'', a treatise on Krishna,<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/ShandilyaBhaktiSutra/shandilya_bhakti_sutras#page/n0/mode/2up Sandilya Bhakti Sutra] SS Rishi (Translator), Sree Gaudia Math (Madras)</ref> cites later age compilations such as the ''[[Narayana Upanishad]]'' but never cites this verse of the Chandogya Upanishad. Other scholars disagree that the Krishna mentioned along with [[Devaki]] in the ancient Upanishad is unrelated to the later Hindu god of the ''Bhagavad Gita'' fame. For example, Archer states that the coincidence of the two names appearing together in the same Upanishad verse cannot be dismissed easily.<ref>WG Archer (2004), ''The Loves of Krishna in Indian Painting and Poetry'', Dover, {{ISBN|978-0486433714}}, p. 5</ref>

[[Yāska]]'s ''[[Nirukta]]'', an etymological dictionary published around the 6th{{nbsp}}century{{nbsp}}BCE, contains a reference to the Shyamantaka jewel in the possession of [[Akrura]], a motif from the well-known Puranic story about Krishna.<ref name = bryant4>{{Harvnb|Bryant|2007|p=4}}</ref> [[Shatapatha Brahmana]] and ''Aitareya-Aranyaka'' associate Krishna with his Vrishni origins.<ref>Sunil Kumar Bhattacharya ''Krishna-cult in Indian Art''. 1996 M. D. Publications Pvt. Ltd. {{ISBN|81-7533-001-5}} p. 128: Satha-patha-brahmana and Aitareya-[[Aranyaka]] with reference to first chapter.</ref>

In ''Ashṭādhyāyī'', authored by the [[ancient]] grammarian [[Pāṇini]] (probably belonged to the 5th or 6th{{nbsp}}century{{nbsp}}BCE), ''Vāsudeva'' and ''Arjuna'', as recipients of worship, are referred to together in the same ''[[sutra]]''.<ref name="kurukshetra.nic.in">[http://kurukshetra.nic.in/museum-website/archeologicaltreasure.html] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217161420/http://kurukshetra.nic.in/museum-website/archeologicaltreasure.html|date=17 February 2012}}</ref><ref>Pâṇ. IV. 3. 98, Vâsudevârjunâbhyâm vun. See Bhandarkar, Vaishnavism and Śaivism, p.{{nbsp}}3 and J.R.A.S. 1910, p.{{nbsp}}168. Sûtra{{nbsp}}95, just above, appears to point to bhakti, faith or devotion, felt for this Vâsudeva.</ref><ref>Sunil Kumar Bhattacharya ''Krishna-cult in Indian Art''. 1996 M. D. Publications Pvt. Ltd. {{ISBN|81-7533-001-5}} p. 1</ref>[[File:Dancing Krishna, India, Tanjore, Tamil Nadu, Chola dynasty, 14th century, bronze, HAA.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Bala Krishna]] dancing, 14th{{nbsp}}century{{nbsp}}CE [[Chola]] sculpture, [[Tamil Nadu]], in the [[Honolulu Academy of Arts]].]]
[[Megasthenes]], a Greek ethnographer and an ambassador of [[Seleucus I]] to the court of [[Chandragupta Maurya]] towards the end of 4th{{nbsp}}century{{nbsp}}BCE, made reference to [[Megasthenes' Herakles|Herakles]] in his famous work [[Indica (Megasthenes)|Indica]]. This text is now lost to history, but was quoted in secondary literature by later Greeks such as [[Arrian]], [[Diodorus]], and [[Strabo]].{{sfn|Bryant|2007|p=5}} According to these texts, Megasthenes mentioned that the Sourasenoi tribe of India, who worshipped Herakles, had two major cities named Methora and Kleisobora, and a navigable river named the Jobares. According to [[Edwin Bryant (author)|Edwin Bryant]], a professor of Indian religions known for his publications on Krishna, "there is little doubt that the Sourasenoi refers to the Shurasenas, a branch of the [[Yadu]] dynasty to which Krishna belonged".{{sfn|Bryant|2007|p=5}} The word Herakles, states Bryant, is likely a Greek phonetic equivalent of Hari-Krishna, as is Methora of Mathura, Kleisobora of Krishnapura, and the Jobares of [[Yamuna|Jamuna]]. Later, when [[Alexander the Great]] launched his campaign in the northwest [[Indian subcontinent]], his associates recalled that the soldiers of [[King Porus|Porus]] were carrying an image of Herakles.{{sfn|Bryant|2007|p=5}}

The Buddhist [[Pali canon]] and the Ghata-Jâtaka (No. {{nbsp}}454) [[polemic]]ally mention the devotees of Vâsudeva and Baladeva. These texts have many peculiarities and may be a garbled and confused version of the Krishna legends.{{sfn|Bryant|2007|pp=5–6}} The texts of [[Jainism]] mention these tales as well, also with many peculiarities and different versions, in their legends about [[Tirthankara]]s. This inclusion of Krishna-related legends in ancient [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] and Jaina literature suggests that Krishna theology was existent and important in the religious landscape observed by non-Hindu traditions of [[Ancient india|ancient India]].{{sfn|Bryant|2007|p=6}}<ref>Hemacandra Abhidhânacintâmani, Ed. Boehtlingk and Rien, p. 128, and Barnett's translation of the Antagada Dasāo, pp.{{nbsp}}13–15, 67–82.</ref>

The ancient Sanskrit grammarian [[Patanjali]] in his ''[[Mahabhashya]]'' makes several references to Krishna and his associates found in later Indian texts. In his commentary on Pāṇini's verse 3.1.26, he also uses the word ''Kamsavadha'' or the "killing of Kamsa", an important part of the legends surrounding Krishna.{{sfn|Bryant|2007|p=5}}<ref>{{cite book|title=India through the ages|url=https://archive.org/details/indiathroughages00mada|last=Gopal|first=Madan|publisher=Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India|year=1990|editor=K.S. Gautam|page=[https://archive.org/details/indiathroughages00mada/page/73 73]}}</ref>

====Puranas====
Many [[Puranas]] tell Krishna's life story or some highlights from it. Two Puranas, the ''[[Bhagavata Purana]]'' and the ''[[Vishnu Purana]]'', contain the most elaborate telling of Krishna's story,<ref name="Elkman1986">{{cite book|author = Elkman, S. M.|author2=Gosvami, J.|year = 1986|title = Jiva Gosvamin's Tattvasandarbha: A Study on the Philosophical and Sectarian Development of the Gaudiya Vaisnava Movement|publisher = Motilal Banarsidass}}</ref> but the life stories of Krishna in these and other texts vary, and contain significant inconsistencies.{{sfn|Rocher|1986|pp=18, 49–53, 245–249}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Gregory Bailey|editor=Arvind Sharma|title=The Study of Hinduism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=npCKSUUQYEIC|year=2003|publisher=University of South Carolina Press|isbn=978-1-57003-449-7|pages=141–142}}</ref> The ''Bhagavata Purana'' consists of twelve books subdivided into 332{{nbsp}}chapters, with a cumulative total of between 16,000 and 18,000 verses depending on the version.<ref name=barbaraholdrege109>Barbara Holdrege (2015), Bhakti and Embodiment, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0415670708}}, pp.{{nbsp}}109–110</ref><ref>Richard Thompson (2007), ''The Cosmology of the Bhagavata Purana 'Mysteries of the Sacred Universe'', Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120819191}}</ref> The tenth book of the text, which contains about 4,000 verses (~25%) and is dedicated to legends about Krishna, has been the most popular and widely studied part of this text.{{sfn|Bryant|2007|p=112}}{{sfn|Matchett|2001|pages=127–137}}