The Janamashtami festival marks the birth of Krishna, the most highly venerated God in the Hindu pantheon.
In the house of Vasudeva will the Supreme Lord, the original transcendental person, personally appear... Bhagavata Purana, 1.23
To most Hindus, Krishna is an avatar (incarnation) of the great god Vishnu. In the Bhagavad Gita he is the vehicle for the revelation of ultimate reality; at the other end of the spectrum he is known for his childhood pranks, erotic seductions and for inspiring the heady rapture of personal devotion.
According to the Bhagavata Purana, the province of Mathura was in the thrall of the tyrannical king Kansa, who was told that the eighth child of his cousin Devaki would be responsible for his death. Enraged, he was about to slay his cousin, when her husband Vasudeva intervened, promising to deliver all their children into Kansa’s hands, if only he would spare Devaki.
Kansa imprisoned Devaki and Vasudeva, and murdered their first six offspring. The seventh, Balarama, was miraculously saved, and the eighth was Krishna, who was rescued and delivered into the hands of Vasudeva’s friends, the cow herders Nanda and Yashoda. He was born on the eighth day of the month of Shravan; the festival celebrating his birth, Janamashtami‡ (janam, ‘birth’, ashtami, ‘eighth’) is marked by fasts, prayers and the enactment of incidents from Krishna’s childhood, and is as eagerly anticipated as Christians look forward to the advent of Christmas.
Ref: BBC Interfaith Calendar
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