Editing Krishna (section)

==== 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>