Krishna Janmashtami

Overview

Krishna Janmashtami is Krishna’s birthday: Bhadrapada Krishna Ashtami (Shravana Krishna Ashtami in the amanta calendar of the west and south), kept at midnight because that is the hour the Bhagavata Purana gives for his birth in Kamsa’s prison at Mathura. The day is a fast until midnight, a night vigil of kirtan, the bathing and dressing of the infant Krishna (Bal Gopal or Laddu Gopal) and his rocking in a cradle, and — the next day, in Maharashtra — the breaking of the curd pot. See the Krishna page for the birth story in full.

Story and scripture

The Bhagavata Purana’s tenth canto opens with it: Kamsa, warned that Devaki’s eighth child will kill him, imprisons her and Vasudeva and kills their children at birth; the eighth is born at midnight, the guards sleep, the chains fall, and Vasudeva carries the infant across the flooded Yamuna to Gokul, where Yashoda has just given birth to a girl. He exchanges the children and returns. The Vishnu Purana and the Harivamsha tell the same night. The Bhagavata specifies the tithi and the nakshatra (Rohini), which is why both figure in the calendar rules.

How the day is kept

The fast. From sunrise (some from the previous evening) until the midnight puja; fruit and milk are usually allowed. The nirjala fast, without water, is kept by some.

Midnight. In temples and homes, the infant Krishna’s image is bathed (with milk, curd, honey, ghee and sugar — the panchamrita), dressed, placed in a cradle and rocked; a conch is blown at the birth hour; the aarti follows and the fast is broken with the prasad — in Braj, the chhappan bhog of fifty-six dishes. Mathura’s Krishna Janmabhoomi temple and Vrindavan’s Banke Bihari are the centre of it; the Jhulan (swing) and the Raslila performances of Braj run for days.

Jaap. The Hare Krishna mahamantra, kept as jaap through the day and sung through the night’s kirtan; Vasudeva Sutam Devam, the opening verse of the Krishnashtakam, is the day’s salutation. The Krishna aartis and chalisa are linked below.

Dahi Handi. On the following day (Gokulashtami’s Dahi Kala in Maharashtra), pots of curd, butter and money are strung across streets and broken by human pyramids.

Regional forms

• Braj (Mathura–Vrindavan): the temple midnight aarti, Jhulan, and the Raslila plays; the whole month of Bhadrapada is festival season.
• Maharashtra and Gujarat: Gokulashtami; Dahi Handi in Mumbai and Pune the next day; Dwarka’s temple observes the midnight birth.
• Tamil Nadu and Kerala: Krishna Jayanti / Gokulashtami, often on a different day, since the Tamil calendar takes Rohini nakshatra in the solar month of Avani as the rule rather than the tithi; small footprints of rice-flour paste are drawn from the door to the shrine for the infant’s arrival. Kerala’s Guruvayur temple is the centre.
• Odisha and Bengal: Sri Krishna Janmashtami with the fast and midnight puja; Nanda Utsav the next morning.
• ISKCON temples worldwide: the Vaishnava date, with abhisheka of the deities and a midnight aarti.

The date

This site uses the Smarta rule — the day Ashtami is current in nishita kala, the 48 minutes around local midnight, for New Delhi. Vaishnava calendars can be a day later; Tamil calendars use Rohini in Avani and can differ by more. The table names the rule on each row.

Mantra, aarti and chalisa for Krishna Janmashtami

Mantra Hare Krishna Maha Mantra हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे । Mantra Vasudeva Sutam Devam (Krishna Vandana) वसुदेवसुतं देवं कंसचाणूरमर्दनम् । Aarti Aarti Kunj Bihari Ki आरती कुंजबिहारी की Aarti Aarti Shri Krishna Kanhaiya Ki आरती श्रीकृष्ण कन्हैया की Chalisa Krishna Chalisa कृष्ण चालीसा