Krishna Janmashtami
When is Krishna Janmashtami in 2006? Krishna Janmashtami is on 16th of August in 2006.
Janmashtami is a festival commemorating Lord Krishna’s birth on the eight day (ashtami) of the dark fortnight in Shravan Masa. It is also known as Krishnastami or Gokulastami. The festival, which falls in the months of August/September, will be celebrated on September 7th this year. This festival is celebrated for two days. The first day is known as Sri Krishna Jayanthi and the second day is called Janmastami.
Lord Krishna considered being the eight avatar of Lord Vishnu is one of the more revered deities of Hindu religion. He narrated Bhagvad Geetha -a famous philosophical treatise- to Arjun, his sister Subhadra’s husband during the Kurukshetra war waged between Pandavas and Kauravas. He reportedly had 16,000 wives. He was known for his mischievous behavior during his childhood. Radha and other female cowherds known as gopikas were his playmates during his childhood. He later ruled over Dwaraka, where his subjects were mainly Yadavas.
In Maharashtra, sport of Dahi-handi is played out during Janamashtami. A pot with milk and its derivatives like is suspended between a height of 20 and 40 feet. Here, groups of youth form human pyramids by climbing one over the other. One person who is at the top of pyramid attempts to break this pot. If he is successful, his team wins currency notes, which are tied to the rope from which the pot is hanging.
Though the festival is popular throughout the country, it is celebrated with fervor particularly in places like Mathura, Vrindavan and Dwaraka. For Gujaratis too, this is a very important festival.
He was born to Vasudev and Devaki. The latter was the sister of Kamsa, the ruler of Mathura. Kamsa was known for his tyrannical activities. He used to ill-treat common men and sages alike. One night in his dream, a god tells him that his life would end at the hands of his own sister’s son. He tried to preempt this by imprisoning his sister and her husband. While in prison, Devaki conceived six times giving birth to six sons. Kamsa killed all of them. Before the seventh child is born, gods cautioned Vasudev by telling him that a Godchild would be born to Devaki. They asked him to take this child to Gokul ruled by king Nanda for safe-custody. Krishna was born and gods ensured that Vasudev was given safe passage to take Krishna by putting all the guards to sleep and opening the doors of the prison and the palace of Kamsa. Vasudev had to cross-river Yamuna to get to Gokul from Mathura. At that time, Yamuna was supposed to be flowing forcefully, but it parted and allowed Vasudev to go over to the other side of the bank.