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Krishna: the cowherd god, his stories and his temples
कृष्ण
Krishna is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and, by Gaudiya Vaishnavas and ISKCON, as the Supreme God himself. He is worshipped at every stage of his life: the infant stealing butter, the cowherd boy with a flute, Radha's beloved, and Arjuna's charioteer who speaks the Bhagavad Gita. His name means "dark", and the country of his childhood, Braj around Mathura and Vrindavan, is still the place where his worship is loudest.
Story
Born in a prison in Mathura and smuggled across the Yamuna on the night of his birth; he lifted Govardhan hill on one finger to shelter the villagers from Indra's rain. Every temple in Vrindavan retells a different episode of his childhood.
Family and companions
Festivals
Holi
JanmashtamiThe key stories
The stories come mainly from the Bhagavata Purana and the Mahabharata. In them, Krishna is born in a prison in Mathura to Devaki and Vasudeva, whose brother, the tyrant king Kamsa, has been told that their eighth child will kill him. On the night of his birth Vasudeva carries the baby across the Yamuna to Gokul, where the cowherd Nanda and his wife Yashoda raise him.
The childhood stories are the ones Braj tells most: the toddler stealing butter, the boy whose mother looks into his mouth and sees the universe, the flute that draws the gopis (cowherd women) out at night for the Rasa Lila dance, and Govardhan hill, which he lifts on one finger to shelter the villagers from Indra's rain. Every temple in Vrindavan retells a different episode.
Grown up, he returns to Mathura and kills Kamsa, founds the city of Dwarka on the western coast, and in the Mahabharata serves as Arjuna's charioteer at Kurukshetra, where his counsel on the battlefield becomes the Bhagavad Gita.
✅ Forms and symbols
Each image shows him at a particular moment of his life.
- Dark skin — Krishna means "dark" or "black", so he is painted dark blue or black.
- Flute — The bansuri flute of Venugopala, the cowherd who charms Braj with music.
- Butter and cows — Bal Gopal, the child with a ball of butter, and Govinda or Gopal, "protector of cows".
- Radha — His consort, almost always beside him in Vrindavan's temples; Radha Raman keeps no Radha image, because she is held to be invisibly present.
- Regional forms — Banke Bihari in Vrindavan, Jagannath at Puri, Shrinathji (Krishna as a seven-year-old child) at Nathdwara, Guruvayurappan in Kerala.
Krishna temples
The densest cluster is in Braj, two hours south of Delhi.
Vrindavan
[Banke Bihari](/en/vrindavan/banke-bihari-mandir/), the town's most crowded darshan; [Radha Raman](/en/vrindavan/radha-raman-mandir/), with a self-manifested deity from the 16th century; [Govind Dev](/en/vrindavan/govind-dev-temple/) and [Madan Mohan](/en/vrindavan/madan-mohan-temple/); [ISKCON Vrindavan](/en/vrindavan/iskcon-vrindavan/) and the lit marble of [Prem Mandir](/en/vrindavan/prem-mandir/). All Vrindavan temples: [list](/en/vrindavan/temples/).
Mathura, Govardhan, Barsana
[Krishna Janmasthan](/en/mathura/krishna-janmasthan-temple/), on the site held to be his birthplace (no phones inside), and [Dwarkadhish](/en/mathura/dwarkadhish-temple/) above Vishram Ghat. Around them: the 21 km [Govardhan parikrama](/en/govardhan/parikrama/) round the hill he lifted, and [Radha Rani temple](/en/vrindavan/radha-rani-temple-barsana/) in Barsana, Radha's village.
Delhi, Bengaluru, Mysuru
[ISKCON Delhi](/en/delhi/iskcon-delhi/) and [ISKCON Bangalore](/en/bengaluru/iskcon-bangalore/), the two big city temples of the movement; near Mysuru the 12th-century [Venugopala Swamy temple](/en/mysore/venugopala-swamy-temple-krs-backwaters/), drowned by a reservoir and rebuilt stone by stone.
Across India
The Sri Krishna temple and matha at Udupi in Karnataka; Dwarkadhish at Dwarka, one of the Char Dham; the Jagannath temple at Puri; Guruvayur in Kerala; Shrinathji at Nathdwara in Rajasthan; and Mayapur in Bengal, the ISKCON headquarters.
Festivals
[Janmashtami](/en/festivals/janmashtami/), his birthday, is kept at midnight with the temples full; [Holi](/en/festivals/holi/) is played longest and hardest in Braj, where it recalls Radha and Krishna; the day after [Diwali](/en/festivals/diwali/) Braj raises the Annakut, a mountain of food, for Govardhan Puja; and the month of [Kartik](/en/festivals/kartik-month/) is the pilgrim season in Vrindavan. In the lanes you will hear the maha-mantra, Hare Krishna, sung often.
❓ FAQ
Who is Lord Krishna?
A major Hindu deity, worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and, in several traditions, as the Supreme God himself. He is the hero of the Bhagavata Purana and the teacher of the Bhagavad Gita.
What is Krishna the god of?
Of love and devotion above all: in the bhakti traditions he is the god you approach as a friend, a child or a beloved. He is also the protector of dharma and the teacher of the Gita.
Where was Krishna born?
In Mathura, according to tradition in a prison cell of King Kamsa. The Krishna Janmasthan temple marks the spot.
Who is Krishna's wife?
Rukmini is his principal queen in Dwarka. Radha is not his wife but his beloved from Braj, and in Vrindavan she is worshipped beside him as an equal.
What is the Krishna mantra?
The best known is the maha-mantra: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. It is sung in the streets of Vrindavan and Mayapur.