Krishna is a god, worshiped across many traditions of religion in a variety of different perspectives. Krishna is recognized as the complete and or as the Supreme God in his own right. Krishna is one of the most widely revered and popular of all Hindu deities. Krishna's birthday is celebrated every year by Hindus on the eighth day (Ashtami) of the Krishna Paksha (dark fortnight) of the month of Bhadrapad in the Hindu calendar. Krishna aka Govinda, Mukunda, Madhusudhana and Vasudeva. Krishna is often described and portrayed as an infant eating butter, a young boy playing a flute as in the Bhagavata Purana, a young man along with Radha, a young man surrounded by beautiful women or as an elder giving direction and guidance as in the Bhagavad Gita. The stories of Krishna appear across a broad spectrum of Hindu philosophical and theological traditions. They portray him in various perspectives: a god-child, a prankster, a model lover, a divine hero, and the Supreme Being. The principal scriptures discussing Krishna's story are the Srimad Bhagavatam, the Mahabharata, the Harivamsa, the Bhagavata Purana, and the Vishnu Purana. The anecdotes and narratives of Krishna, in topic, are generally titled as Krishna Leela. Worship of the deity Krishna, either in the form of deity Krishna or in the form of Vasudeva, Bala Krishna or Gopala can be traced to as early as the 4th century BC. Worship of Krishna as Svayam Bhagavan, or the supreme being, known as Krishnaism, arose in the Middle Ages in the context of the Bhakti movement. From the 10th century AD, Krishna became a favorite subject in performing arts and regional traditions of devotion developed for forms of Krishna such as Jagannatha in Odisha, Vithoba in Maharashtra andShrinathji in Rajasthan. Some religiously oriented scholars have tried to calculate dates for the birth of Krishna, some believing that Krishna, under the name of 'Vasudeva Govinda Krishna Shauri', flourished as the ruler of Shuraseni and Vrishni tribes on the now-submerged island of Dwaraka (off coast Gujarat, India) sometime between 3200-3100 BC. Many religious scholars point out the parallels in the story of Krishna, which appear earlier than those of Jesus, show many similarities. This book gives the latest information on the history and worship that surrounds Krishna. The purpose of this series of books is to illuminate the necessity to emphasize our common humanity and eliminate the battles and divisiveness that exist in the ongoing religious struggles. This book is designed to be a state of the art, superb academic reference work and provide an overview of the topic and give the reader a structured knowledge to familiarize yourself with the topic at the most affordable price possible. The accuracy and knowledge is of an international viewpoint as the edited articles represent the inputs of many knowledgeable individuals and some of the most current knowledge on the topic, based on the date of publication.
About the Author: The editor has been studying theology, theosophy, hermeneutics, eschatology, comparative religions and has traveled extensively around the world studying world religions, cultural mythology and cultural anthropology. He has degrees from the University of Michigan and has worked in the corridors of power in Washington, DC and has informally studied the influence of belief systems on politics. The purpose of this series of books on religion, mythology and theology is designed to emphasize our common humanity and spirituality and eliminate the divisiveness that exists within the organized religions. This book is designed to be a state of the art, academic reference work and provides an overview of the topic and gives the reader a structured knowledge of the topic at the most affordable price possible. The accuracy and knowledge is of an international viewpoint. The edited articles represent the inputs of many knowledgeable individuals and the most current knowledge on the topic, based on the date of publication.