Janmashtami Special: Lord Krishna ,The Romantic Anecdote Of Indian Mindset

I adore Lord Krishna,for his colorful lifestyle and romantic anecdotes. On the auspicious occasion of Krishna Janmashtami, also known as Janmashtami or Gokulashtami, I extend my heartiest greetings to all those who adore him. Janmashtami is an important festival, particularly in the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism. It is celebrated on the birth of Krishna, the supreme godhead of all gods. It is observed on the eighth day (Ashtami) of the Krishna Paksha (dark fortnight) in Bhadrapada, (August or September).

Krishna is a symbol of dance and drama, love and colorful anecdotes. He had extra- marital affairs with Radha and known for his Rasa Lila or Krishna Lila with 108 Gopis of Vrindavan. They were divided into three groups: Gopis were of the same age as Krishna; maidservants; and messengers, The primary nine Gopis were considered the foremost of Krishna's devotees after Srimati Radharani. It is considered as "Dance of Divine Love:. The dance form tells the story of Krishna, Radha and the Gopis, and is considered as Krishna's favorite past time. . The anecdotes and narratives of Krishna's life titled as Krishna Leela is most loved in India even today. He is a central character in the Raas Leela. It is an important part of the traditional Manipuri culture even today.

In India, there have, always, been two set of laws- one for rulers and VVIPS; another for common men. Honestly speaking, rulers were sacrosanct in the past and still sacrosanct in contemporary India.

So Krishna is greatly admired and respected for murdering his maternal uncle(Kamsa mama). though in normal circumstances, we condemn a murderer Krishan and his brother Balarama visited Mathura to slay the wicked Kamsa. A murder is a murder and can't be justified under any circumstances even if the murderer happens to be a king. Similarly, according to Hindu rules, extra marital affairs is strictly prohibited for a married man but Krishna-Radha extra-marital affairs are sacrosanct.

Despite all this, Krishna is the most widely revered and most popular of all Indian divinities, worshiped as the eighth

incarnation (avatar, ) of the Hindu god Vishnu, He is perhaps the earliest ideal of romanticism- an artistic, intellectual and cultural movement that ran from the late eighteenth century through the nineteenth century.

Romanticism is seen as a rejection of the precepts of order, calm, harmony, balance, idealization, and rationality that typifies Indian classical culture even today.

In many Hindu theological, and mythological texts, Krishna Is portrayed in various perspectives: a god-child, a prankster, a model lover, a divine hero, and as the universal supreme being. His iconography reflects these legends, and shows him in different stages of his life, such as an infant eating butter, a young boy playing a flute, a young boy with Radha or surrounded by women devotees (Gopis), or a friendly charioteer giving counsel to Arjuna.[

Krishna-related literature has inspired numerous performance arts such as Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Odissi, and Manipuri dance.Though Krishan is a pan-Hindu god, but is revered in some locations such as Dwarka and Junagadh in Gujarat; the Jagannatha aspect in Odisha, Mayapur in West Bengal; in the form of Vithoba in Pandharpur, Maharashtra, Shrinathji at Nathdwara in Rajasthan, Udupi Krishna in Karnataka, Parthasarathy in Tamil Nadu and Guruvayoorappan in Kerala.

Since the sixties,the worship of Krishna has also spread to the Western world and even to Africa, largely due to the work of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). He is quite popular in Western World for his colorful personality. My grand salute to Him.

(Chander Sharma)