KRISHNŬ OR KANIYĀ.
Vishnŭ the Preserver descended on earth in the form of this god, for the purpose of bringing peace and happiness to all the world. Krishnŭ is the most celebrated form of Vishnŭ, or, rather, Vishnŭ himself; and is distinct from the ten avatars or incarnations. Many of the Hindū gods govern their worshippers by fear; the dread of the vengeance of the deity ensures obedience. Krishnŭ is the god of love and good-will: to bless mankind caused his descent from heaven; and after many years’ sojourn upon earth for that holy purpose, he suddenly disappeared.
Such was his power over the affections, that no woman ever beheld Kaniyā-jee, but she left home and husband and children, and followed him throughout the world; no eye gazed upon him that loved him not; and to this day, the beautiful, warlike, and amorous Krishnŭ is the most popular deity, and especially revered by Hindūstanī women.
His parents were Vasudeva and Dewarkī; but he was brought up in the house of Nanda and Gosodā. In his infant days his life was sought: to preserve the child, and to conceal him from the tyrant Kansa, to whom it had been predicted that a child, the eighth of his family, would destroy him, his uncle fled with him to the banks of the Jumna: the pursuers were at his heels, escape was impossible; the infant god commanded the waters to open a passage for him; the waters heard and obeyed the command, they stood like a wall on the right side and on the left; Krishnŭ was carried across by his relative; on reaching the opposite bank, the waters flowed on as before, and cut off the pursuit of his enemies.
The city of Mathurā is celebrated as the birth-place of Krishnŭ. In the family of Nanda he passed his youth amidst the gopas and gopīs. During his childhood he vanquished the serpent Kāliya, and slew many giants and monsters: afterwards he put the tyrant Kansa to death, and kindled the mahā-bārat or Great War. He is the Apollo of the Hindūs, and is supposed by Colonel Wilford to have lived about thirteen hundred years before Christ. Krishnŭ is a terrestrial god, and is represented by the image in black marble that stands on the right of Ganesh, in the frontispiece of the first volume; I procured it at Allahabad during the great fair; it came from Jeypore. The Hindoo deity is represented playing on the flute, an amusement to which he was prone when in the forests, surrounded by the gopīs or milkmaids, who were his ardent admirers and followers; amongst them he had 16,000 lady-loves, besides his lawful wives. The Hindoo code allows of two helpmates, but the laws of man extend not to the gods, and Krishnŭ took unto himself eight wives, each of whom bore him ten sons; also Radha, the beloved, the wife of another, to say nothing of the 16,000 gopīs, each of whom also bore him ten sons. Nevertheless, it is asserted, his life was one of purity, and whatever may tend to give contrary ideas on the subject is all māyā or illusion.
The Bhagavat Purana gives the following:—“In this happy season did Creeshna bestow joy and satisfaction on all living creatures, and often as he touched his flute in the presence of the adoring gopias, one exclaimed, ‘Happy animals, inhabiting Berjeben, who enjoy the sight of Creeshna!’ Another said, ‘O favoured stream of Jumna, and other transparent pools and fountains, whence Creeshna deigns to drink!’ Another exclaimed, ‘Melodious above all is the flute which resides for ever on his lip!’ Another said, ‘O happy trees of this wood, under whose thick shade Creeshna delights to slumber!’ Another said, ‘Honoured above all existing animals are these cattle which the Creator himself leads to pasture!’ Thus did the gopias plunge into the fathomless ocean of love, and admire him who had on a yellow robe, a peacock’s feather on his head, a brilliant rosary round his neck, and a flute on his lip; and they said to each other, ‘How happy are we whom he condescends to love!’ In short, by their purity of faith, and zeal of attachment, their hearts at length became illuminated, and they knew and comprehended that Creeshna was the Creator of the World.”
The Bhagavat Purana gives this personal description:—“He (Akroon) saw also, standing by him, more distinctly, the form of Creeshna, of a black colour, wearing a yellow robe, beautiful to behold; with ruby lips, his neck smooth as white coral, his arms very long and slender, his breast high and bold, his waist of elegant proportion, his legs beautiful beyond expression, his foot like the lotus flower, and his nails red. He had a jewel of inestimable value in his crown, a chowder round his waist, a zennar upon his shoulder, a string of flowers round his neck, a splendid koondel in his ear, the kowstek-men on his arm, and the shankhe, chakra, geda, and kemel, in his hands.”
The work containing the history of this god is very interesting: some of the songs are beautiful, especially those in honour of him who, to the Hindūs, brought peace and happiness upon earth. In many respects the history is thought by Maurice, in his “Indian Antiquities,” to resemble that of our Saviour; on which subject more will be said as we consider another form of Krishnŭ, as the destroyer of the serpent.
KANIYĀ-JEE AND THE GOPĪS.