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[[File:Krishna dancing atop a stool, attended by two gopis. (6125100924).jpg|thumb|310x310px|Painting of Krishna dancing atop a stool, attended by two gopis. ca. 1760.]]
{{Short description|Cow-protector form of Hindu deity Krishna}}
'''Gopala Krishna''' ({{langx|sa|गोपालकृष्ण|translit=Gopālakṛṣṇa|lit=cow-protector Krishna}}) refers to a form of the [[Hinduism|Hindu]] deity [[Krishna]], as featured in the [[Harivamsa|Harivamsha]] and the [[Puranas]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Greenberg |first=Yudit Kornberg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nGoag6b3JvYC&dq=krishna+cowherds+gopas&pg=PA353 |title=Encyclopedia of Love in World Religions |date=2007-11-30 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-85109-980-1 |pages=353 |language=en}}</ref> The narratives of Gopala Krishna are set in the cowherd settlement of the [[Braj|Vraja]] region called [[Gokul|Gokulam]], where he is raised by his foster-parents, [[Nanda (Hinduism)|Nanda]] and [[Yashoda]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hudson |first=D. Dennis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UXlMCAAAQBAJ&dq=krishna+cowherds+gopas&pg=PT147 |title=The Body of God: An Emperor's Palace for Krishna in Eighth-Century Kanchipuram |date=2008-09-25 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-045140-0 |pages=147 |language=en}}</ref>
| quote = Present day Krishna worship is an amalgam of various elements. According to historical testimonies [[Krishna-Vasudeva]] worship already flourished in and around Mathura several centuries before Christ. A second important element is the cult of Krishna Govinda. Still later is the worship of Bala-Krishna, the Divine Child Krishna - a quite prominent feature of modern Krishnaism. The last element seems to have been Krishna Gopijanavallabha, Krishna the lover of the Gopis, among whom [[Radha]] occupies a special position. In some books Krishna is presented as the founder and first teacher of the Bhagavata religion.▼
▲Historically one of the earliest forms of worship in [[Krishnaism]], it is believed to be a key element of the early history of the worship of Krishna. This tradition is considered separate from the associated traditions of [[Bala Krishna]] and [[Radha Krishna]], that led to amalgamation under [[Bhagavatism]] at a later stage of historical development.<ref name="kk20072">{{cite book |author=KLOSTERMAIER,
==Legend==▼
== Literature ==
The [[Bhagavata Purana]], as well as the [[Harivamsa|Harivamsha]], a text that supplements the [[Mahabharata]], are the primary sources that describe the legend of Gopala Krishna. The tenth book of the Bhagavata Purana, called the Krishna-charita, offers details regarding the childhood of Krishna as the foster-son of Nanda and Yashoda, his life of a cowherd in Vraja, his defeat of the malicious [[Putana]] and [[Kaliya]], and his relationship with the women of the region.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Upinder |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cvauDwAAQBAJ&dq=cowherd+krishna&pg=PA611 |title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century (PB) |date=2009 |publisher=Pearson India |isbn=978-93-325-6996-6 |pages=611 |language=en}}</ref> Indologist [[Wendy Doniger]] states that the Harivamsha, composed two centuries after the Mahabharata, integrates the mythologies of the powerful deity and prince who appears in the latter epic, with the folk and vernacular stories of Krishna as a cowherd child. Thus, she believes that his narrative is composed as God pretending to be a prince, who is pretending to be a cowherd.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Doniger |first=Wendy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nNsXZkdHvXUC&dq=cowherd+krishna&pg=PA477 |title=The Hindus: An Alternative History |date=2010-09-30 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-959334-7 |pages=477 |language=en}}</ref>
▲== Legend ==
In this form, Krishna is represented as a divine cowherd, engaged in the playing of his flute, enrapturing the minds of the milkmaids of [[Braj|Vraja]], called the [[Gopi|gopis]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bryant |first=Edwin Francis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HVDqCkW1WpUC&dq=krishna+gopis&pg=PA260 |title=Krishna: A Sourcebook |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-803400-1 |pages=260 |language=en}}</ref> He is described to be a frolicking youth, and a prankster who amuses himself in his mischief. As a disobedient child, he steals butter from the houses of the gopis, untethers cows, and lies to his foster-mother, [[Yashoda]]. Despite all of these antics, the women of [[Gokul|Gokulam]] find him to be too endearing to punish him. Among the most popular portrayals of Gopala Krishna and the gopis is the ''rāsalīlā'', in which Krishna multiplies in form and dances with each gopi who encircles him in the forest. This is variously interpreted to be both a dalliance,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Olson |first=Carl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RVWKClYq4TUC&dq=cowherd+krishna&pg=PA167 |title=The Many Colors of Hinduism: A Thematic-historical Introduction |date=2007 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-4068-9 |pages=167 |language=en}}</ref> as well as a performance of [[Bhakti|spiritual love]] between Krishna and his devotees.<ref>{{Cite web |last=www.wisdomlib.org |date=1970-01-01 |title=Rasalila, Rāsalīlā, Rasa-lila: 1 definition |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/rasalila |access-date=2022-12-07 |website=www.wisdomlib.org |language=en}}</ref> Later traditions depict Krishna with primarily one gopi-consort called [[Radha]], and later texts such as the [[Brahma Vaivarta Purana]] portray Radha to be the chief of the gopis, and Krishna's primary partner during this stage of his life.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pintchman |first=Tracy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3KcEotmV2MAC&dq=cowherd+krishna+purana&pg=PA51 |title=Guests at God's Wedding: Celebrating Kartik among the Women of Benares |date=2005-08-25 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-6595-0 |pages=52 |language=en}}</ref>[[File:Krsna and the Cowherds.jpg|thumb|Krishna and the cowherds.|260x260px]]
In the [[Bhagavata Purana]], Krishna is presented with his close friends who are also cowherds, called the gopas, who joke and have mock fights with the deity.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gupta |first1=Ravi M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jrwxDQAAQBAJ&dq=krishna+cowherds+gopas&pg=PA15 |title=The Bhāgavata Purāna: Selected Readings |last2=Valpey |first2=Kenneth R. |date=2016-11-29 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-54234-0 |pages=15 |language=en}}</ref> With these cowherd-boys of Vraja, the deity engages in his boyhood adventures.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holdrege |first=Barbara A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_tBgCgAAQBAJ&dq=krishna+cowherds+gopas&pg=PT236 |title=Bhakti and Embodiment: Fashioning Divine Bodies and Devotional Bodies in Krsna Bhakti |date=2015-08-14 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-66909-8 |pages=236 |language=en}}</ref> While he tends to the cows and allows them to graze for pastures, he is attacked by a number of [[Asura|asuras]], assigned with the task of slaying him by his tyrannical uncle, [[Kamsa]]. Krishna employs both brute strength and his cunning to defeat [[Bakasura (crane demon)|Bakasura]], [[Vyomasura]], [[Aghasura]], and several other asuras.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Prasoon |first=Prof Shrikant |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xmb22pVp3v0C&dq=krishna+vyomasura&pg=PT140 |title=Hinduism-Clarified And Simplified |date=2009-07-18 |publisher=Pustak Mahal |isbn=978-81-223-1056-6 |pages=140 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Pattanaik |first=Devdutt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OVsoDwAAQBAJ&dq=cowherd+krishna&pg=RA1-PA28 |title=Indian Mythology: Tales, Symbols, and Rituals from the Heart of the Subcontinent |date=2003-04-24 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-59477-558-1 |pages=28 |language=en}}</ref>
Most of the tales of Gopala Krishna are traditionally offered allegorical interpretations. One legend depicts Krishna stealing the clothes of the bathing gopis, placed on the riverbank. He climbs a nearby tree, taking the clothes with him. He refuses to return the clothes to the women until they personally walk to the foot of the tree, in the nude. This is most often interpreted to mean that humans are incapable of hiding anything from God, and that the contents of their souls are as good as naked. Another legend features Krishna asking the people of Gokulam to not offer veneration to the [[Historical Vedic religion|Vedic]] deity of [[Indra]]. Furious that his customary veneration had been denied to him, the deity unleashed a torrential downpour upon the land. Krishna is described to have lifted the massive mountain called [[Govardhan Hill|Govardhana]] to protect the people.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ellwood |first=Robert S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1pGbdI4L0qsC&dq=gopal+krishna+butter&pg=PA259 |title=The Encyclopedia of World Religions |date=2008 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-1038-7 |pages=259 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilkins |first=W. J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f0XpDQAAQBAJ&dq=krishna+cowherds+gopas&pg=PA207 |title=Hindu Gods and Goddesses |date=2003-11-21 |publisher=Courier Corporation |isbn=978-0-486-43156-7 |pages=207 |language=en}}</ref>
==See also==
=== Related names ===
* [[Achyuta]]
* [[Gopinath (Krishna)|Gopinath]]
* [[Govinda]]
* [[Keshava]]
* [[Madhava (Vishnu)|Madhava]]
* [[Radha Ramana]]
* [[Vāsudeva]]
=== Related traditions ===
* [[Bala Krishna]]
* [[Vasudeva-Krishna|Vasudeva Krishna]]
* [[Radha Krishna]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==
*{{cite journal|jstor=1062622|title=A Revolution in Kṛṣṇaism: The Cult of Gopāla: History of Religions, Vol. 25, No. 4 (May, 1986 ), pp. 296-317
[[Category:Titles and names of Krishna]]▼
{{Krishna|state = expanded}}
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