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Mahabharata character
Family Shurasena (father)
Kunti (sister)
Spouse(s) Rohini Devi, Devaki
Children Balarama, Subhadra and Krishna

In the Bhagavad Purana, Vasudeva (Devanagari वसुदेव, IAST Vasudeva) was the father of the eighth incarnation of Vishnu, Krishna, and his siblings Balarama and Subhadra. He was a Yadava King. He was the brother of Nanda Baba, who took care of Krishna during his early years as a child. His sister Kunti was married to Pandu. Kunti plays a big role later in the war Mahabharata.

The patronymic Vāsudeva (with long ā) is a popular name of Krishna. According to the Harivansa Purana, Vasudeva and Nanda were brothers.[1] He was said to be 'Gwala' or the person rearing cattle. According to Indian history or ancient texts he was the most peacemaking person...

Krishna and Bhagvatism[edit]


नारायाणाय विद्महे वासुदेवाय धीमहि तन्नो विष्णुः प्रचोदयात्


— Mahanarayana Upanishad, Chapter 7,[2][3]

This verse asserts that Narayana, Vāsudeva (Krishna) and Vishnu are synonymous.[3] 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.[4] Feuerstein places the relative composition chronology of Mahanarayana to be about that of Mundaka and Prashna Upanishads.[5] These relative chronology estimates date the text to second half of 1st millennium BCE.[4][6] 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.[7]


See also[edit]


  2. ^ Hattangadi 1999, p. ॥ ७॥ Adhayaya.
  4. ^ a b Parmeshwaranand 2000, pp. 458-459.
  5. ^ Feuerstein 1989, pp. 119-120.
  6. ^ Olivelle 1998, pp. 11-14.
  7. ^ Srinivasan 1997, pp. 112, 120.


Further reading[edit]
