Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hinduism, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Nepali
Other Scripts: कृष्ण(Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Nepali) কৃষ্ণ(Bengali) કૃષ્ણ(Gujarati) కృష్ణ(Telugu) கிருஷ்ணா(Tamil) ಕೃಷ್ಣ(Kannada) കൃഷ്ണ(Malayalam)
Pronounced: KURSH-nu(Sanskrit) KRISH-nə(English)
Derived from Sanskrit
कृष्ण (kṛṣṇa) meaning
"black, dark". This is the name of a Hindu deity believed to be an incarnation of the god
Vishnu. According to the
Mahabharata and the
Puranas he was the youngest of King
Vasudeva's eight sons by
Devaki, six of whom were killed by King Kamsa because of a prophecy that a child of Vasudeva would kill Kamsa. However, Krishna and his brother
Balarama were saved and he eventually fulfilled the prophecy by slaying the evil king. He then helped the Pandavas defeat the Kauravas in the Mahabharata War. His philosophical conversation with the Pandava leader
Arjuna forms the text of the important Hindu scripture the
Bhagavad Gita.
In some Hindu traditions, Krishna is regarded as the supreme deity. He is usually depicted with blue skin. He is also known by many epithets, such as Govinda, Gopala, and the patronymic Vasūdeva.