The image of Kṛṣṇa Have been Successfully dismantled down the history, especially by the Vaiṣṇava Bhakti Movement and cults like ISKCON. They have limited a shrewd political genius, mastermind war strategist & tactician, geo-political reformer, a wise philosopher, basically a multilayered character, into a mere Lover and a Mama’s boy overshadowed by his superadded supreme divinity! It started largely from Vedantist-Vaiṣṇava-Bhakti Movements which made BhagvadGītā as some sort of Bible , ensuring Salvation, later Tilak challenging the traditionalist view, made his own Interpretation on BhagvadGītā limiting it to wordly Karma yoga. Similarly many different people made many different interpretations on BhagvadGītā and Kṛṣṇa especially in the modern era. They removed all his Mahābhārata politics, his struggle against Jarāsandha, etc and made him some sort of messenger of truth! Especially the ISKCONist perspective on Kṛṣṇa has very Jesus type Messianic personality cult flavor in it. But Kṛṣṇa was never a messiah or prophet or some sort of messenger. Unlike Dāśarathi Rāma, he wasn’t bound by the rules or ‘maryādā’, he redefined the rules or dharma. He was not limited to social conventionality; he bypassed all the boundaries of conventionalism, incidents like Khāṇḍava-daha being one of such examples.

Now people while remembering or talking about Kṛṣṇa usually talk about Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, Makhanchori, Rāsa-līlā mainly.

He was the man who sacrificed Ghaṭotkaca as a war Tactic and played psychological mind games with Karṇa, weakening Karṇa’s morale and confusing the fella from his goal, just to ensure Pāṇḍava victory at all costs! He was the one who told not the strength but wisdom wins wars! They made strategic marraiges like Rukmiṇī Haraṇa and Subhadrā-Haraṇa as solely love stories; added Imaginary character like Rādhā! His childhood is now a sort of fantasy tale today filled with Jaw-dropping miracles, romance with the cowherd women, but in actuality the much talked about Rāsalīlā is only limited to one chapter in both Harivaṃśa and Viṣṇu Purāṇa. There’s no Rādhā in any of the primary texts associated with his life nor in any of his earliest pictorial depictions or shrines. But today the most popular person associated with his name is none other than Rādhā, so much so that Rādhā’s name come before Kṛṣṇa’s in general addressals. Kṛṣṇa’s entire existence on this earth is now limited to be revolving around some superficial divine romantic tale with Rādhā. His actual queen consort, Rukmiṇī, is hardly even talked about in the popular discourse.

And even the unconventionality of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa lores has been whitewashed or undermined or disowned today. The lores of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa in the Brahmavaivarta, Gīta Govinda, etc. are full of what can be classified under the genre of erotica with the stories and description being so bohemian that it would strike horrors in the Hindu Society today which is always too riled up about modesty.

The TV serials have played a major role in this further strengthening this distortion. The TV serials miss out the most interesting thing about this character, i.e. his politics, but TV portrayals instead superadd unnecessarily over exaggerated divinity overshadowing his entire character arc in them.

In the Mahābhārata he is much humanly character who used to care for his people, friends and dear ones willing to go to any extent for their sake! He is not exactly a protagonist or primary character in the context of the outcome of the climax, but still one of the most important characters in the epic. He is more like a wild card in the story. His divinity is affirmed at various instances but that is just a characteristic of his personality not his entire character arc.

While talking of his friendships, almost everyone talks about Sudāmā. But the Sudāmā lore is nowhere mentioned in the Mahābhārata and Viṣṇu Purāṇa. And if one looks closely into this tale it has more of Ordinary Bhakta’-‘Supremely Miraculous Godhead’ essence more into it, rather than a friendship among two friends. This lore is mentioned in later text called, Bhāgavatam, which makes it even more dubious. Actual friendship is seen in Kṛṣṇa’s relation with Arjuna.

His relation with Arjuna is the most fascinating part of his character. The extent he went and was willing to go for the sake his friend; his cousin; his brother; his companion Arjuna is best seen in two incidents, i.e. Subhadrā-Haraṇa and the night before the 14th day battle at Kurukṣetra.

Kṛṣṇa preferred Arjuna over the warrior pride of Vṛṣṇis, Andhakas & Bhojas who were formidable fighters known throughout the BhārataKhaṇḍa, by suggesting or insisting Arjuna to carry his own sister away and marry her, when he saw Arjuna got attracted to Subhadrā after seeing her, and then later pacifying the enraged Yādava warriors to not to wage a war on Arjuna, and accept him as son-in-law with proper respect. By this marriage Kṛṣṇa not only showed his true friendship with Arjuna but also cemented a matrimonial alliance between the Pāṇḍavas and Yādavas which would turn out to be beneficial for both the noble houses in the future. Thus again a political undertone in his actions.

The conversation at midnight between a worried Kṛṣṇa for Arjuna and his charioteer Dāruka, before the 14th day battle, clearly shows the extent he was willing to go for Arjuna. How much he cared for Arjuna that he was willing to do anything for him.

But unfortunately, both of these incidents have been distorted in the public perception. Subhadrā abduction have been turned into some love story, sure it ended up being into one from a certain viewpoint, but it didn’t begin at all like it is commonly considered and also shown on T.V. because of the distorted narrative that is prevalent in the masses. It’s actually one of the many unconventional incidents in the Mahābhārata involving Kṛṣṇa, which shows a totally different side of Kṛṣṇa.

Now When people generally talk about the 14th day battle of Kurukṣetra war, they usually talk about the interpolated incident of Kṛṣṇa hiding the sun, (which is absolutely absent in the original texts) not about the conversation that Kṛṣṇa had with Dāruka, the prior night.

His role as a Political Reformer is another most interesting thing about him:

Kṛṣṇa was the key political figure in overthrowing Kaṃsa, the tyrant king of Śūrasena Kingdom. The Śūrasena Janapada was home to Yādava clans constituted by the Andhakas, Vṛṣṇis and Bhojas. By overthrowing Kaṃsa, Kṛṣṇa re-established the old Chieftain Ugrasena on the throne and stabilized the republic from collapse due to factional infighting within the republic.

The next threat came from the Magadha Kingdom. The Magadha king, Jarāsandha, attacked Yādavas repeatedly, weakening their military. Kṛṣṇa and other Yādava chiefs all tried their best to hold on. At last they had to flee from their native kingdom to the south and to the west.

Later at Kṛṣṇa’s suggestion, the Yādavas who fled from Mathura formed a new Yādava Republic called Dvārakā. Its capital was Dvāravatī, a city well, on an island off the NorthWest Coast. This made it immune to attacks from land. The kingdom prospered by sea trade with seafaring kingdoms.

Now as aforementioned Kṛṣṇa had established an alliance of Yādavas with the Pāṇḍavas, a faction of Kurus, who were fighting against the established Kuru Kingdom. This alliance also benefited the Yādavas, strategically. With the help of the Pāṇḍavas they overthrew the Magadha king Jarāsandha who was their biggest enemy, established his pro Pāṇḍava/Yādava son on the Magadha Throne. For this assistance, Kṛṣṇa in turn helped the Pāṇḍavas establish their new capital IndraPrastha and also later  win the Kurukṣetra War against the older established Kuru faction headed by Duryodhana. Thus the rule of the Pāṇḍava Yudhiṣṭhira was re-established by Kṛṣṇa by overthrowing the older establishment of the Kurus.

However, The Yādava chiefs fought the Kurukṣetra War, on both sides, and even after the war ended, the enmity among the Yādava leaders continued. After 36 years, since the Kurukṣetra War, another civil war broke, among the Yādavas, in their own kingdom. This resulted in the absolute destruction of the Yādava republic of Dvārakā, with Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa also departing due to grief.

But the help Kṛṣṇa extended to the Pāṇḍava Yudhiṣṭhira, paid off. When Yudhiṣṭhira retired, he established the Yādava prince Vajra on the throne of Indraprastha as the chief of the surviving Yādavas, along with the Kuru prince Parīkṣita, at Hastinapura. Thus the royal lineage of the Vṛṣṇi-Yādavas continued through Aniruddha’s son, prince Vajra, great grandson of Kṛṣṇa and grandson of Pradyumna. Parīkṣita was the son of Abhimanyu and the grandson of Arjuna with the Vṛṣṇi Princess, Subhadrā.

Kingmaker, not the King

Kṛṣṇa was amongst the most powerful and influential people in the BhārataKhaṇḍa as well as within the Yādava Republic; conquered and defeated many other Janapadas/kingdoms for Yādavas; a power changer but never held any actual position of power. He was a kingmaker, who overthrew many older chiefs, establishing new ones throughout BhārataKhaṇḍa, but never himself became a king. Contrary to popular beliefs Kṛṣṇa was never crowned or called as Dvārakādhīśa in the texts. Its a concoction of bhakti cults. Kṛṣṇa hardly ever stayed in Dvārakā, in order to rule. Much of the time he was on military campaigns or with Pāṇḍavas. Even if he stayed in Dvārakā, he was nowhere in the line of succession to the throne.

A ‛learned’ philosopher

Another aspect of Kṛṣṇa that is mostly untalked about is him being a great philosopher and a Yogi of the top order. Him delivering the sermon BhagvadGītā is being overshadowed by his supreme divinity in the public perception. But as he himself later reveals in the AnuGītā of the Ashvamedhika Parva, that how he amassed this great knowledge is by interactions with many learned men and by his own meditations, and could deliver it to Arjuna by immersing himself into Yoga. AnuGītā is the key to understand the full context of BhagvadGītā, but hardly anyone talks or knows about it.

Kṛṣṇa was a Master of Dharma-Sūkṣma as well.Example- slaying of droṇa, making arjuna insult Yudhiṣṭhira, then making him boast , etc

An actual Warrior

Other than this he was a formidable warrior who learned and knew different forms warfare and weapon yielding. His warrior feats are the least talked about, overshadowed by his flute.

Many people say that he would have finished the war within a moment. They ignorantly think that it is an eulogy of Kṛṣṇa, but in actuality it is seriously undermining of Kṛṣṇa’s warrior capabilities overshadowing it by his superadded divinity. The Truth of the Mahābhārata is Kṛṣṇa had to fight actual full scale wars. He was the commander-in-chief of the Yādava republic, who led actual military campaigns. He sweated in actual combats which lasted for a while. He actually learned different forms of warfare and skills from different experts, several of whom were his contemporaries. He got his weapons as a reward by pleasing the gods, doing their bidding and which were actual physical weapons which he used to carry along with him wherever he used to go, they didn’t use to drop out of thin air, by enchanting some spells, whenever he wished. He got his knowledge by his own meditations and interactions with several learned and wise men.

It was not just all some fantasy divine miracle sort of thing, which people believe it to be.

Savarkar calls Kṛṣṇa as India’s 1st Utilatarianist(उपयुक्ततावादी) cause he clearly gave message although you shouldn’t kill animals but if a Tiger attacks your cow you should kill the tiger only because cow is more useful for you! His alliance with Pāṇḍavas to defeat Jarāsandha or his actions at Kurukṣetra are a good example of it! He is the one on which a major part of contemporary India’s philosophy is based. Narhar Kurundkar called him a Nation maker(राष्ट्र निर्माता)

This character has been distorted to such an extent , that sole appealing factor from this character is his supreme divine godhood, the love of bhakti for most of the folk out there, not his actual textual actions. These Bhakti cults indeed helped in keeping the character and its relevance amongst the public alive historically, not denying that, but they have even undermined the previously celebrated divine elements related to Kṛṣṇa. The esoteric RādhāKṛṣṇa lores having no accuracy, were still a huge part of the cults that worshipped Kṛṣṇa, but the later Bhakti traditions, Vaiṣṇavas have even compeletely undermined those limiting Kṛṣṇa to their own insularity.

People call him Līlā-Puruṣottama , but do they actually understand his pastimes ( Līlās) or even know about it.

Heartiest Greetings to all on the birthday of the Redeemer of the Yadus; Pride of the Sātvatas; Champion of the Vṛṣṇis; Grandeur of the Mādhavas; Hero of the Śauris , Vāsudeva, the son of Devaki.

This article is based on the information about Krishna that’s available in the Vyasa Mahabharata, Jain Harivamsa Purana, Bauddha Jataka, Chhandogya Upanishad.

Image Credits – Mrinal Rai, Moleeart, GeetaPress, Rajeshwari Bhimana