KRISHNA JANMASHTAMI

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Lord Krishna was the eighth avatar of (considered as the Supreme Being in Vaishnavism and as Purushottama or Supreme Purusha in ancient sacred texts like the Gita). Krishna Janmashtami is an annual of the birth of Lord Krishna. This festive occasion is also known as Krishnashtami, Aatham, Gokulashtami, Ashtami , Srikrishna , Sree Jayanti or sometimes merely as Janmashtami. It is celebrated on the eighth day (Ashtami) of the (dark fortnight) of the month of Bhadrapada (August-September). The special features of this celebration include Rasa lila, dramatic enactments of the life of Krishna. The Rasa lila is a part of the traditional story of Krishna described in Hindu scriptures such as the Bhagavata and literature such as the Gita Govinda, where he dances with and her sakhis. The term, rasa meaning "aesthetics" and lila meaning "play" or "dance" is a concept from Hinduism, which roughly translates broadly as " ". Dahi Handi is a celebration of God's playful and mischievous side, where teams of young men form human towers to reach a high-hanging and break it. This tradition, also known as uriadi, is a major event in on this day, i.e. Gokulashtami. Krishna was the 8th son of . Mathura (in present day Mathura district, Uttar Pradesh) was the capital of the , to which Krishna's parents Vasudeva and Devaki belonged. King Kansa, Devaki's brother, had ascended the throne by imprisoning his father, King . Afraid of a prophecy that predicted his death at the hands of Devaki's eighth son, Kansa had the couple locked into a . After Kansa killed the first six children, and Devaki's apparent miscarriage of the seventh (which was actually a secret transfer of the infant to Rohini as ), Krishna was born. On the orders of Lord Vishnu, Vasudeva took Krishna with him and crossed Yamuna to reach . There everyone was asleep, so he quietly kept him there and returned with Yashoda's daughter. Thinking that girl to be Devki's eight child, Kansa threw her on a stone, but to his utter surprise, she rose in air and transformed into Yogmaya (Vishnu's helper) and warned Kansa about the by Krishna who was already born. Then she disappeared. Krishna grew up in Gokul with his brother Balaram. Then he returned to and killed Kansa with the help of his brother, Balram.