Vasudeva#Wives and children

Vasudeva was born to the Yadava king Shurasena in the Surasena kingdom of Khandalwansha.{{Cite book |last=Appadorai |first=A. |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.39545 |title=Economic Condition In Southern India Vol. 1 |date=1936}} Vasudeva had many brothers such as Devashrava and Devabhaga, and 5 sisters Srutakirti, Kunti, Rajadhidevi, Srutadeva (Mother of the Dantavakra), and Shrutasravas (mother of Shishupala). According to the Harivamsa Purana, Vasudeva and Nanda, the chief of Gokula, were not brothers or cousins.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wT-BAAAAMAAJ&q=Kshatriya|title=The Cattle and the Stick: An Ethnographic Profile of the Raut of Chhattisgarh|last=Soni|first=Lok Nath|date=2000|publisher=Anthropological Survey of India, Government of India, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Department of Culture|isbn=978-81-85579-57-3|language=en|page=13}}

Vasudeva married Devaki, and also had other wives such as Pauravi Rohini, Madira, Vaishakhi, Bhadra, Sunama, Sahadeva, Shantideva, Shrideva, Devarakshita, Vrikadevi, Upadevi, and Badarva. Rohini bore several sons, namely, Balarama, Sarana and Shatha.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/shatha|title = Shatha, Śaṭha, Satha, Saṭha, Śaṭhā: 19 definitions|date = 3 August 2014}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/sharana#purana|title=Sharana, Sārana, Sarana, Saraṇa, Sāraṇā, Śaraṇa, Sāraṇa, Saraṇā: 25 definitions|date=12 April 2009}} Vrikadevi gave birth to Avagaha and Nandaka.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/vrikadevi|title = Vrikadevi, Vṛkadevī: 2 definitions|date = 18 February 2017}} By Devaki, he had eight sons–six of whom were killed by Kamsa and the other two being Balarama (transferred into the womb of Rohini) and Krishna. He also had a daughter – Subhadra from Rohini.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/vishnu-purana-wilson/d/doc116012.html|title = The story of the previous birth of Shishupala and the sons of Vasudeva [Chapter XV]|date = 30 August 2014}} In some versions of the Bhagavata Purana, Vasudeva also married Sutanu, the princess of Kasi, and they had a son named Paundraka.Bhagavata Purana Skandha X Chapter 66, Motilal Bansaridass Publishers Book 4 Appendix (66A) pages 1884- 1885, additional verses in Vijaya-dhvaja's Bhagavata Purana, Chapter 69

Vasudeva traced a number of descendants through his sons. Sarana had many sons like Satyadhriti and Marsti, and Shatha had a son called Sarthi. Balarama married Revati and had two sons – Nishatha and Ulmuka & a daughter – Vatsala/Shashirekha. Krishna had eight principal wives, and he begat many children from them, such as Pradyumna, Samba, Bhanu etc., and they also had many children. Vasudeva's daughter Subhadra married Pandava prince Arjuna, and they had a son Abhimanyu. Ultimately, it was Abhimanyu's son Parikshit who ascended the Kuru throne after Yudhishthira.

Many of the Yadavas killed themselves in the Yadava fratricide. Krishna, Balarama and Vasudeva later gave up their lives, and the Pandavas collected the remaining Yadava children and ladies with them to Indraprastha, where Pradyumma's grandson Vajra was crowned as king of Mathura, and some other survivors also were crowned as kings of different places.(See Mausala Parva).Many migrated southwards and known as vira balija or vir banajiga and created a powerful warrior merchant class of south India and ruled nayaka dynasties.{{Cite book |last=Appadorai |first=A. |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.39545 |title=Economic Condition In Southern India Vol. 1 |date=1936}}

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| image1 = Vasudeva carrying baby Krishna in a basket across the Yamuna, Art of Mathura, circa 1st century CE.jpg

| image2 = Vasudeva_Carrying_Baby_Krishna_in_Basket_Across_Yamuna_-_Circa_1st_Century_CE_-_Gatashram_Narayan_Temple.jpg

| footer = Vasudeva carrying baby Krishna across the Yamuna. Circa 1st Century CE, Gatashram Narayan Temple. Mathura Museum}}

The sons of Vasudeva were related to Bhagavatism that was largely formed by the 1st-millennium BCE where Vāsudeva (Krishna, the son of Vasudeva) was worshiped as supreme ultimate reality. This is evidenced by texts and archaeological evidence. As textual evidence, the Mahanarayana Upanishad records the verse:

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नारायाणाय विद्महे वासुदेवाय धीमहि तन्नो विष्णुः प्रचोदयात्

nārāyāṇāya vidmahē vāsudēvāya dhīmahi tannō viṣṇuḥ pracōdayāt

We endeavor to know Narayana, we meditate on Vāsudeva and Vishnu bestows wisdom on us.

|Mahanarayana Upanishad|Chapter 7{{Sfn|Hattangadi|1999|p=॥ ७॥ Adhayaya}}SM Srinivaschari (1994), Vaiṣṇavism: Its Philosophy, Theology, and Religious Discipline, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120810983}}, page 132-134, 212-218}}

File:Krishna meets parents.jpg and Balarama meeting their parents (painting by Raja Ravi Varma)]]

This verse asserts that Narayana, Vāsudeva (Krishna), and Vishnu are synonymous. The author and the century in which the above Mahanarayana Upanishad was composed is unknown. The relative chronology of the text, based on its poetic verse and textual style, has been proposed by Parmeshwaranand to the same period of composition as Katha, Isha, Mundaka and Shvetashvatara Upanishads, but before Maitri, Prashna and Mandukya Upanishad.{{Sfn| Parmeshwaranand|2000|pp=458-459}} Feuerstein places the relative composition chronology of Mahanarayana to be about that of Mundaka and Prashna Upanishads.{{Sfn|Feuerstein|1989|pp=119-120}} These relative chronology estimates date the text to second half of 1st millennium BCE.{{Sfn| Parmeshwaranand|2000|pp=458-459}}{{Sfn|Olivelle|1998|pp=11-14}} Srinivasan suggests a later date for the composition of the Mahanarayana Upanishad, one after about 300 BCE and probably in the centuries around the start of the common era.{{Sfn|Srinivasan|1997|pp=112, 120}}

Other evidence is from archeological inscriptions, where Bhagavan is documented epigraphically to be from around 100 BCE, such as in the inscriptions of the Heliodorus pillar. An Indo-Greek ambassador from Taxila named Heliodorus, of this era, visited the court of a Shunga king, and addresses himself as a Bhagavata on this pillar, an epithet scholars consider as evidence of Vāsudeva worship was well established in 1st millennium BCE.John Irvin (1973-1975), Aśokan Pillars: A Reassessment of the Evidence, The Burlington Magazine. v. 115, pages 706-720; [https://www.jstor.org/stable/877843 v. 116, pages 712-727]; v. 117, pages 631-643; v. 118, pages 734-753; {{oclc|83369960}} A popular short prayer for worshipping Vāsudeva is Dwadashaakshar.

File:Vasudeva Takes the Infant Krishna Across the Yamuna River.jpg, {{Circa|1700}}. Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh]]

Sage Kashyapa is said to have incarnated as Vasudeva, the father of Krishna, due to a curse of the deities Varuna or Brahma.

Once, the sage is said to have performed a yajna (a ritual sacrifice) in his hermitage. Kashyapa sought the help of the god Varuna for the offerings of milk and ghee. Varuna lent the sage a divine cow that would provide him the required offerings. After completing the sacrifice, Kashyapa delayed in returning the cow back to the deity. Varuna cursed the sage and his wife, Aditi, to be born on earth as Vasudeva and Devaki, the parents of Vishnu in his avatar of Krishna.{{Cite book |last=Vemsani |first=Lavanya |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=56QvEAAAQBAJ&dq=Kashyapa+Yadava&pg=PA231 |title=Feminine Journeys of the Mahabharata: Hindu Women in History, Text, and Practice |date=2021 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-3-030-73165-6 |page=231 |language=en}}

In other iterations, Kashyapa is stated to have stolen a divine cow from Varuna for the performance of a ritual sacrifice. The deity requested Brahma for his intervention. For his theft of a cow, Brahma cursed Kashyapa to be born on earth as a cowherd. Since his wives, Aditi and Surasa, had assisted him in concealing the cows in his hermitage, they were also born on earth as his two wives, Devaki and Rohini.{{Cite book |last=Mani |first=Vettam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mvXsDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA397 |title=Puranic Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Work with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature |date=2015-01-01 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0597-2 |page=397 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last1=Preciado-Solis |first1=Benjamin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JvCaWvjGDVEC&q=gopatve+ka%C5%9Byapo+bhuvi |title=The Kṛṣṇa Cycle in the Purāṇas: Themes and Motifs in a Heroic Saga |last2=Preciado-Solís |first2=Benjamín |date=1984 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers |isbn=978-0-89581-226-1 |language=en}}

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{{Commons category}}

• Heliodorus pillar
• Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions
• Naneghat
• Vasu Doorjamb Inscription
• Vasudeva Upanishad

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Fortson |first=Benjamin W. IV |title=Indo-European Language and Culture |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |year=2004 |isbn=1-4051-0316-7 }}
• {{cite book|title= Yoga: The Technology of Ecstasy|first= Georg|last= Feuerstein|publisher= Tarcher|year= 1989|isbn= 978-0-87477-525-9}}
• {{Cite web|url=http://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_upanishhat/mahanarayana.pdf |title= महानारायणोपनिषत् (Mahanarayana Upanishad)|access-date=23 January 2016| language = sa|last= Hattangadi| first= Sunder| year= 1999 }}
• {{citation|last=Olivelle|first=Patrick|title=Ascetics and Brahmins: Studies in Ideologies and Institutions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TecNS3Vi2F4C|year=2011|publisher=Anthem Press|isbn=978-0-85728-432-7}}
• {{Citation|last=Olivelle|first=Patrick|title=Upaniṣads|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1998|isbn=978-0-19-283576-5}}
• {{cite book|last= Parmeshwaranand |first=S|title=Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Upanisads|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1zQytiw_cg8C|year=2000|publisher=Sarup & Sons|isbn=978-81-7625-148-8}}
• {{cite book|author= Hastings, James Rodney|author-link=James Hastings|others=John A Selbie, ed|title=Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, v.4: Behistun (continued) to Bunyan, p. 540.|publisher=Kessinger Publishing, LLC (Reprint 1990)|location=Edinburgh|year=1908|page=476|isbn=978-0-7661-3673-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kaz58z--NtUC&q=Krishna&pg=PA540 }}
• {{cite book|last=Srinivasan |first=Doris |title=Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes| publisher=BRILL Academic| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=vZheP9dIX9wC&pg=PA111| isbn=978-90-04-10758-8 |year=1997 }}

• RG Bhandarkar: "Vasudeva of Panini" 4.3.98. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1910.

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Category:People related to Krishna

Category:Characters in the Mahabharata

Category:Characters in the Bhagavata Purana