Vasudeva

According to Hindu scripture, Vasudeva (Devanagari वसुदेव, IAST Vasudeva), also called Ānakadundubhii ("Drum", after the sound of drums heard at the time of his birth),[1][2] is the father of the Hindu deities Krishna, Balarama and Subhadra. He was king of the Vrishnis and a Yadava prince.[3] He was the son of the Yadava king Shurasena. His sister Kunti was married to Pandu. Kunti plays a big role later in the war Mahabharata.

For his son Vāsudeva the deity, see Vāsudeva and Krishna.

Vasudeva
Krishna and Balarama meeting their parents (painting by Raja Ravi Varma).
Devanagari	वासुदेव
Texts	Bhagavata Purana, Harivamsa, Vishnu Purana, Mahabharata
Personal information
Parents	Shurasena (father) Marisha (mother)
Siblings	Pritha
Spouse	Rohini Devi, Devaki
Children	Balarama, Krishna and Subhadra
Dynasty	Yadava

The patronymic Vāsudeva (with long ā) is a popular name of Krishna, the son of Vasudeva with Devaki, "Vāsudeva" in the lengthened form being a vṛddhi-derivative of the short form "Vasudeva", a type of formation very common in Sanskrit signifying "of, belonging to, descended from".[4]

According to the Harivansa Purana, Vasudeva and Nanda (who took care of Krishna during his early years as a child) were brothers.[5] He was said to be 'Gwala' or the person rearing cattle.

Family

Vasudeva was born to Yadava king Shurasena and his wife Marisha, in the Surasena kingdom. Vasudeva had many brothers such as Devashrava and Devabhaga, and sisters such as Kunti (mother of the Pandavas), Shrutasravas (mother of Shishupala) and others.

Wives and children

Vasudeva married the 7 daughters of King Devaka - Srutadevaa, Santidevaa, Upadevi, Sridevi, Devaraksita, Sahadevaa and Devaki, and also others such as Pauravi (daughter of Bahlika), Rohini, Bhadra, Madira and Vrikadevi. Rohini begat sons such as Balarama, Sarana and Shatha.[6][7] Vrikadevi begat sons like Avagaha and Nandaka.[8] By Devaki, he had 6 sons - 8 of whom were killed by Kamsa and the other 2 being Balarama (transferred into the womb of Rohini) and Krishna. He also had a daughter - Subhadra from Devaki. [9]

Descendants

His sons in turn had many sons. Sarana had many sons like Satyadhriti and Marsti, and Shatha had a son called Sarthi. Balarama espoused Revati and had 2 sons - Nishatha and Ulmuka. Krishna had 8 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 fracticide. 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).

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:

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,[10][11]

This verse asserts that Narayana, Vāsudeva (Krishna) and Vishnu are synonymous.[11] 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.[12] Feuerstein places the relative composition chronology of Mahanarayana to be about that of Mundaka and Prashna Upanishads.[13] These relative chronology estimates date the text to second half of 1st millennium BCE.[12][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.[15]

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, worked at 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.[16] A popular short prayer for worshipping Vasudeva is Dwadashaakshar.

• 
  Vasudeva carrying baby Krishna in basket across the Yamuna. Circa 1st Century CE, Gatashram Narayan Temple. Mathura Museum.
• 
  Vasudeva carrying the newborn Krishna to Nand's house in Gokul via the river Yamuna

See also

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

Notes

1. Garg, Gaṅgā Rām (1992). Encyclopaedia of the Hindu World. Concept Publishing Company. p. 408. ISBN 978-81-7022-375-7.
2. Ph.D, Lavanya Vemsani (2016). Krishna in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Hindu Lord of Many Names: An Encyclopedia of the Hindu Lord of Many Names. ABC-CLIO. p. 297. ISBN 978-1-61069-211-3.
3. Williams, Joanna Gottfried (1981). Kalādarśana: American Studies in the Art of India. BRILL. p. 129. ISBN 978-90-04-06498-0.
4. Fortson (2004:116f)
5. Lok Nath Soni, The cattle and the stick: an ethnographic profile of the Raut of Chhattisgarh. Anthropological Survey of India, Govt. of India, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Dept. of Culture (2000).
6. https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/shatha
7. https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/sharana#purana
8. https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/vrikadevi
9. https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/vishnu-purana-wilson/d/doc116012.html
10. Hattangadi 1999, p. ॥ ७॥ Adhayaya.
11. SM Srinivaschari (1994), Vaiṣṇavism: Its Philosophy, Theology, and Religious Discipline, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120810983, page 132-134, 212-218
12. Parmeshwaranand 2000, pp. 458-459.
13. Feuerstein 1989, pp. 119-120.
14. Olivelle 1998, pp. 11-14.
15. Srinivasan 1997, pp. 112, 120.
16. John Irvin (1973-1975), Aśokan Pillars: A Reassessment of the Evidence, The Burlington Magazine. v. 115, pages 706-720; v. 116, pages 712-727; v. 117, pages 631-643; v. 118, pages 734-753; OCLC 83369960

References

• Fortson, Benjamin W., IV (2004). Indo-European Language and Culture. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 1-4051-0316-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Feuerstein, Georg (1989). Yoga: The Technology of Ecstasy. Tarcher. ISBN 978-0874775259.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Hattangadi, Sunder (1999). "महानारायणोपनिषत् (Mahanarayana Upanishad)" (PDF) (in Sanskrit). Retrieved 23 January 2016.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Olivelle, Patrick (2011), Ascetics and Brahmins: Studies in Ideologies and Institutions, Anthem Press, ISBN 978-0-85728-432-7CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Olivelle, Patrick (1998), Upaniṣads, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0192835765CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Parmeshwaranand, S (2000). Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Upanisads. Sarup & Sons. ISBN 978-81-7625-148-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Hastings, James Rodney (1908). Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, v.4: Behistun (continued) to Bunyan, p. 540. John A Selbie, ed. Edinburgh: Kessinger Publishing, LLC (Reprint 1990). p. 476. ISBN 978-0-7661-3673-1.
• Srinivasan, Doris (1997). Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes. BRILL Academic. ISBN 978-9004107588.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading

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