Krishna Janmashtami कृष्ण जन्माष्टमी

The birth of Krishna is told in the Bhagavata Purana and the Vishnu Purana. His parents Devaki and Vasudeva were imprisoned by her brother Kamsa, the tyrant of Mathura, after a prophecy said her eighth child would end his rule. Krishna is born at midnight in the prison, the chains loosen, and Vasudeva carries the infant across the swollen Yamuna to Gokul, where he is exchanged for the daughter of Yashoda and Nanda. This is the reason the main celebration takes place at midnight and not at dawn.

Observance varies widely. In Mathura, Vrindavan and Dwarka, temples are decorated heavily and the birth is celebrated with a midnight arati and the rocking of a cradle. In Maharashtra and Gujarat Dahi Handi is a well-known custom, in which teams form human pyramids to break a pot of curd hung high above the street, recalling Krishna's boyhood love of butter. In Manipur and Odisha, dance and drama traditions take their own forms, and in South India households draw tiny footprints leading into the home to welcome the child.

Because the day is also the occasion to remember the person who spoke the Bhagavad Gita, many communities read from it in the afternoon. Some Vaishnava sects follow a different tithi or lunar convention from Smartas, so two neighbouring temples may sometimes keep the festival on consecutive days. Families who fast often break the vrata only after the midnight birth, but a lighter fast is perfectly acceptable for children, elders and people with health concerns.