Janm ashtami (जन्म अष्टमी) is the celebration of the birth of Shri Krushn (कृष्ण). It falls on the eight day (अष्टमी) of the waning moon (कृष्ण पक्ष) in the month of Shravan (श्रावण) or Bhaadrapad (भाद्रपद), corresponding to August/September (Naaradeeya Puraan, part 4; Vishnu Puraan, part 5, chapter 1). According to Bhavishya Puraan (Uttar Parv,
chapter 55), the birth took place at midnight and at that moment the
Sun was in the zodiac of Leo (सिंह राशि), the moon was in Taurus (वृष)
and the nakshatra or lunar mansion was Rohini (रोहिणी नक्षत्र). The symbol of Rohini nakshatra is a cart or chariot (drawn by cows or oxen). It is interesting to note here that Lord Krushn was born in the family of cowherds. Also, during the famous battle described in the epic Mahabharat (महाभारत), Krushn was the charioteer of Arjun and did not directly participate in the battle himself.
 |
| Source: By AnshumanF (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons |
Krushn was the eighth child of Vasudev and Devaki (Vishnu Puraan, part 5, chapter 1). He was an incarnation of Bhagvaan Vishnu, who took birth as Krushn to kill the evil king Kans (कंस) of Mathura (मथुरा). Kans was an incarnation of the demon named Kaalnemi (कालनेमि), the brother of Hirayankashipu (हिरण्यकशिपु). During the marriage ceremony of Vasudev and Devaki, Kans heard a celestial announcement that the eighth child of Devaki would kill him. On hearing this, Kans pulled his sword and was about to kill Devaki but Vasudev dissuaded him by promising to hand over every child born to the couple to Kans. In order to keep the couple under his watch, Kans put them in prison. One by one, Kans killed six of the first eight of Devaki's children. The seventh was deemed to be a miscarriage but was in fact transferred to the womb of Vasudev's another wife Rohini by the divine illusory power (महामाया) called Yognindra (योगनिंद्रा) of Shri Vishnu. This seventh child was the incarnation of Shesh (शेष), a form of Bhagvaan Vishnu. The eighth child of Devaki was Krushn. To protect him from certain death at the hands of Kans, another trick was used. Shri Vishnu directed Yognindra to take birth as Yasoda's child the very next day (नवमी) after Krushn's birth. The two babies were then switched by Vasudev. Under the influence of Yognindra, all the prison guards felt asleep and the prison locks opened automatically to make way for Vasudev. He crossed river Yamuna under torrential rain and left Krushn with Yasoda and brought back Yasoda's daughter to the prison. Kansa mistook the infant girl as the eighth child of Devaki and threw her on a rock to kill her but she vanished into space instead. Krushn meanwhile was safe with Yasoda.
Comments
Post a Comment