In the era of Dwapara, there lived a king named Ugrasena. He had a wicked son named Kamsa who victimized the people in his land and subjected them to all sorts of harassment. Ugrasena also had a daughter, Devaki, who married the prince Vasudeva from the Yadu dynasty. On the day of their wedding, Devaki’s father had given numerous gifts to the bride and groom and sent them off. Devaki’s brother Kamsa was happy for his sister and he personally took the reins of their chariot as their driver. On their way, a divine voice intimated to Kamsa that the Lord will be born as the eighth child to Devaki who will kill him to relieve the sufferings of his victims. Hearing that, Kamsa panicked. He wanted to eliminate the danger of this unborn child immediately and the best way was to kill his sister even before she bore any child. So he stopped the chariot and was ready to kill Devaki with his sword. None of Devaki’s entreaties to Kamsa would change his mind. Vasudeva, who loved Devaki very much, realized that the immediate concern was to save Devaki somehow. He appealed to Kamsa saying, "Kamsa, my dear brother-in-law! Do not believe everything you hear. Who knows if what the voice had told you will come to pass? No one knows the future. However, if you spare your sister’s life, I assure you that I will hand over not only the eighth child but every child born to her. You can kill them all the moment they are born. Why do you want to kill your sister now? She is not your enemy and does not pose any danger to you now." Kamsa listened carefully. There was some truth to what Vasudeva was saying. After all, his concern was not his sister but her child. So he spared Devaki.

Devaki gave birth to a son soon. Vasudeva, true to his word, handed him over to Kamsa. Kamsa was moved by Vasudeva’s honesty. He knew his danger was from the eighth child of Devaki so he let Vasudeva take the child back. However, he was persuaded by his ministers that it was better to kill all children of Devaki than to take a chance. So Kamsa changed his mind and killed the first born child of Devaki. He then ordered Devaki and Vasudeva to be imprisoned and kept under heavy guard. He also imprisoned his father and declared himself the king. He was very cruel to his subjects. He deposed many kings and annexed their kingdoms to his own. Every one was afraid of him and hated him but no one could oppose him. All the people in the land prayed for his demise.

Devaki gave birth to five more sons while in prison. One by one, Kamsa killed all five of Devaki’s sons with his sword without mercy. Neither Devaki’s cries nor Vasudeva’s appeals could stop the inhumane killings of the babies. Devaki and Vasudeva were heart broken.

When Devaki became pregnant for the seventh time, they were anxious and nervous. But they did not know that the fetus was Lord’s amsha who would help Him fulfill His mission. Therefore, unknown to Devaki or her husband, Lord Vishnu commissioned His Yogamaya to transplant the fetus of Devaki in the womb of one of Vasudeva’s other wives, Rohini. Accordingly, Devaki’s seventh pregnancy was reported aborted. Rohini gave birth to a son, Balarama.

Soon, Devaki became pregnant for the eighth time This time the Lord also caused Yogamaya to take birth in the womb of Yashoda, wife of Nanda in Gokul, as a girl child. One day during the pregnancy, the Lord Vishnu appeared in Devaki’s dream and explained to her that there was nothing to worry. He will be born at midnight. On the same day, Yashoda will give birth to a girl child in Gokul across the Yamuna River. Vasudeva was to carry Devaki’s son at midnight across Yamuna to Yashoda and switch Him with the girl baby of Yashoda and bring her back to the prison. Kamsa will not know of the switch because the Lord will put all the prison guards to sleep until morning. The girl baby is His Yogamaya and she will not be harmed by Kamsa. Devaki woke up from her dream and narrated the whole story to her husband. They both spent the night praying to the Lord and placed full faith in His guidance.

Lord Krishna was born on the eighth day of the dark fortnight at midnight. The night was dark and the guards were asleep. Devaki too was asleep, tired from giving birth. Vasudeva, as instructed, carried the infant in his arms and set out to Gokul where Yashoda lived. His shackles got freed automatically and the doors of the prison were open. Vasudeva reached the Yamuna river which was full but miraculously, the river gave way to him. Vasudeva crossed the river praising the Lord for His help. He entered Yashoda’s house. Yashoda was fast asleep with her newborn daughter by her side. Vasudeva laid the infant Krishna by her side and carried the baby girl back to the prison.

In the morning, Yashoda believed that she had given birth to a boy baby. She and her husband Nanda were very happy. Back at the prison, Kamsa was notified of the birth of a baby. He was surprised to know, however, that it was a girl baby. Can a woman be a danger to him? How can the divine voice be wrong? Should he kill the baby anyway? He was scared and confused. In the end, he decided that it was better to be safe than sorry. Devaki’s pleas that it would be a sin to kill a girl infant went unheeded. He snatched the infant from the crying Devaki’s bosom and with one swift swing threw the infant hard against a nearby boulder. Amazingly, instead of falling on to the ground dead, the infant flew high up in the sky and addressed Kamsa thus: "O Kamsa! You can not kill me, for I am the Lord’s Yogamaya. The Lord has already been born to kill you and is growing up safe in Gokul".

Kamsa was frightened. The inevitable seems to have happened in spite of all his efforts,. What is he to do now? He consulted his ministers and they advised him that all male infants who were born in the last few weeks in his kingdom should be killed. Kamsa ordered his men to seek and kill all newborn male babies. Soon, word reached him that a baby boy was born in Gokul a few days back. He sent the asura woman Pootana to seek him out and kill him.

Pootana, the demon woman, knew that she could not kill the baby Krishna if his parents knew of her true identity. By means of her magic, the fiery looking Pootana transformed herself in to a beautiful motherly woman and entered Gokul. She carried poison in her breasts. She visited Yashoda’s house and seeing the baby Krishna sleeping in the bassinet, she admired Him so much that Yashoda thought that she was really a good woman fond of Krishna. Thus, when Pootana made a request to let her give Krishna her breast to feed Him, Yashoda was hesitant at first but yielded to Pootana’s insistent appeals to her motherly feelings. Pootana took the baby Krishna in to her lap and began feeding Him her poison. Krishna of course knew her tricks and her true identity. He sucked the poisoned milk out of her breast along with her life force itself. Pootana screamed in pain and lay dead immediately. Yashoda and her friends came out to see what had happened. To their horror they saw a great asura woman lying dead and Krishna playing on her body innocently. Pootana’s body was so big that Nanda and his neighbors had to cut it in to several pieces so they could carry and cremate them.

Undeterred, Kamsa sent several asuras to kill Krishna. The demons came in various forms: Trinavarta in the form of a tornado, Aghasura in the form of a giant serpent, Vatsasura in the form of a calf, Bakasura in the form of a giant crane and many other asuras in many deceitful forms to kill the child Krishna but He killed them all to the wonder and amazement of the residents of Gokul. All the efforts of Kamsa to kill Him thus did not succeed and Krishna was growing up under the love and care of Yashoda and Nanda.

One day Yashoda was churning butter when Krishna wanted her to feed Him. Yashoda put aside the churning and sat down to feed Him. Just then she noticed the milk on the stove boiling over. So she sat Krishna down and rushed off to attend to the boiling milk. Krishna got angry for the interruption and He broke the butter pot and started eating the butter. When Yashoda noticed this, she became angry. Krishna noticing His mother’s anger started running out of the kitchen when Yashoda thought that He must be punished for His impatience. She followed Krishna, and after running around in circles for a while, she had gotten hold of Him. But she could not bring herself to give any kind of physical punishment to Him. So she tied Him to a heavy stone mortar so He will stay put for a while. Krishna however dragged the heavy mortar outside and right through the middle of two tall sala trees. The mortar got lodged between the two trees but Krishna pulled on it so hard that the two trees fell down with a big noise. Everyone got alarmed by the noise of the falling trees and rushed to the scene. To their surprise, they saw Krishna unharmed and two gandharvas making obeisance to Him. They were Nalakubara and Manigriva, the sons of Kubera the guardian of money for the gods. They had been cursed by Narada to be born as trees for insulting him. Narada later granted that they would be rescued by Krishna from their existence as trees. Now Krishna has fulfilled Narada’s promise to them.

But Yashoda could not see Him as anything but her lovable cuddly baby. His child-like behavior annoyed her at times but mostly she was greatly amused by his creativity for mischief. One day, his friends including Balarama told her that Krishna had been eating mud. She was angry with disgust at the thought of Him eating mud and dirt. So she pulled Him aside and confronted Him to tell her the truth if He had been eating mud. Krishna replied, "Mother, why would I eat mud when there is so much butter and milk around? These kids just want to get me in trouble with you. Before you decide to punish me, why don’t you look in my mouth and even smell it to see if what they say is true?" So saying He opened His mouth wide so Yashoda could see inside of His mouth. Yashoda almost fainted with the sight. She saw the entire universe inside Krishna’s mouth. The planets including the earth with all its life forms, the stars, the heaven and the entire creation was visible to her. She was bewildered and confused by that grand vision which was not possible for even the highest yogis. But soon Krishna became a child again and Yashoda recovered from Her vision. She forgot her line of thought and picked up Krishna and busied herself in coddling Him.

As Krishna was growing up, He delighted His mother with many lovable mischievous acts. His favorite pastime was to steal butter from the neighbors’ houses who could not succeed in hiding it from him no matter how much they tried. When they tried to confront Him, He would disarm them with His charm. However, when He started to includ His friends in the mischief of distributing the milk and curds to monkeys, the women of Gokul could not keep quiet. They complained to His mother, Yashoda, about His mischief. In despair they told Yashoda that they can no longer tolerate His mischief and would rather leave the village than put up with it. Yashoda at first accused them of exaggerating but soon she pacified them by her reconciliatory apologetic words. She could not bring herself to punish Krishna, however.

Krishna loved to tease the girls of Gokul, the Gopis. They all loved Him dearly because He also loved them much. In His infinite mercy, He wanted to make the Gopis realize the highest spiritual Truth through Him. That was possible only if they surrendered to Him completely. One day He got His chance when all the young ladies went swimming in Yamuna. They had taken their clothes off and entered the waters leaving the clothes on the bank. Krishna approached the site stealthily and took off with all their clothes and climbed up a nearby tree. When the Gopis realized that their clothes were gone, they looked up and saw Krishna up in the tree. They quickly sank in to the water up to their necks and pleaded with Krishna to return their saris and cholis but he would not heed. He told them that He would return their clothing only if they accepted him as the Supreme God and there was no place for false modesty before Him. The Gopis came out of the water one by one and accepted Krishna as their Saviour.

A huge poisonous serpent with many hoods called Kaliya, made a lake in the river Yamuna its home. The lake and waters of Yamuna were being poisoned by it. The residents of Brindavan were very afraid of the serpent and avoided the lake altogether. Krishna decided that it was time to get the serpent out of the lake and restore it to the people of Brindavan. One day he jumped right in to the lake and started making a lot of noise by disturbing the waters very badly. The serpent did not like being disturbed and came up to the surface and got hold of Krishna in its coils. His friends saw this and ran back to the village to inform Yashoda and others. When they arrived, they saw Krishna being crushed by the serpent’s coils. They were all anxious and Yashoda started crying. Krishna could not see His mother cry so he decided to get Himself free from the serpent. He expanded Himself until the serpent could no longer hold him and lost its grip. Then Krishna jumped up on to the top of the serpent’s hoods and started dancing so hard that it could not bear the pain. Krishna danced on its hood for so long that the serpent fainted. Krishna ordered Kaliya and his wives to leave the lake and go elsewhere. Thus Krishna rid the lake of the serpent and the poison.

One year there were no rains in Brindavan and the Gokul community was worried. They started preparations to do a yajna (sacrifice) to appease the rain god Indra, the king of heaven. Krishna, however, did not want them to worship any demi god like Indra. He told them not to make the yajna in honor of Indra as He, the Supreme Lord, would take care of them. So the people of Brindavan did not perform the yajna which made the rain god Indra very angry. He sent a torrential rain with hail storm over Brindavan. It rained for several days and the storm was so fierce that all the inhabitants Brindavan were afraid for their cattle and lives. To protect them, Krishna lifted the Govardhana mountain with his little finger on His left hand and asked everyone to take shelter under it from the hail storm. Indra rained hail for several days but could not harm them in any way because they were shielded by the mountain that Krishna had lifted on His finger. He realized that Krishna was indeed the Supreme God and apologized to Krishna who forgave him and sent him back to heaven. A grateful community of Brindavan praised Krishna as the Supreme Lord.

It was spring in Brindavan. The flowers were blossoming. The autumn season was very pleasant on the banks of Yamuna whose sandy beach glistened in moon light. Krishna loved to play his flute and He was so good at it that even the animals and birds were mesmerized by its sound. On one full moon night He started playing the flute which could be heard by the gopis in the Brindavan. The Gopis were so excited and enamored by the sound, that they forgot themselves and their families and ran to meet Krishna on the banks of Yamuna. Some were milking the cows but they left the milking undone and left. Some were making themselves up for the night and they left for Krishna half made-up. Some were feeding their husbands and families and they left them in the middle of their meal. Neither their husbands, nor their parents, nor their brothers, nor their in-laws could stop them from leaving their homes for the banks of Yamuna where Krishna played His flute.

When they reached the shore of Yamuna, Krishna tried to send them back even though He knew fully well that there was no turning back for the Gopis. He told them that they should not come in the middle of the night to meet a stranger and that they should respect their husbands and parents. So the best thing for them to do was to return to their homes. The Gopis were very sad on hearing Krishna’s words asking them to go back. They pleaded with Him to accept their love for Him. They told Him that they could not live without Him. So Krishna agreed to dance with them. He expanded Himself in to many Krishnas and made a circle such that each Gopi was surrounded by a Krishna and each Krishna was surrounded by a Gopi. In this circle, Krishna danced with all the Gopis on the banks of Yamuna. Then He lead them in to the water and sported with them on that moonlit night in the cool waters of Yamuna.

Krishna’s youth was thus spent among the Gopis who loved Him more than their lives. But soon Kamsa sent Akrura to fetch Him. It was time for Krishna to fulfill His greater mission of getting rid of Kamsa. He made the trip to Mathura city with His brother Balarama. The citizens of Mathura were mesmerized by the two handsome brothers from Brindavan. They all came out see them. Krishna got Himself some new clothes to wear from the king’s clothier. A hunchback lady named Kubja offered Him some perfumes and lotions that she was taking to the palace. In return, Krishna straightened her up by pulling her up by the shoulders. Kubja was very grateful and asked Krishna to accept her invitation to her house. Krishna promised to see her after He had finished His mission in Mathura.

When they arrived at Kamsa’s palace, the brothers were attacked by an elephant named Kuvalaya. Krishna killed the elephant very easily. Then an asura wrestler named Chanoora was ordered by Kamsa to attack Krishna. In the ensuing fight, Krishna killed Chanoora very easily. Infuriated, Kamsa himself now attacked Krishna. They fought a very ferocious battle but in the end Krishna killed Kamsa.