Sri Krishna Janmashtami Vrat Katha in English
Indra said- 'O best of sages, knower of all scriptures, O God, tell me the best of all fasts, the fast by which humans get salvation, benefit and by that fast creatures also get enjoyment and salvation. Listening to Indra's words, Narad ji said- 'At the end of Treta Yug and the beginning of Dwapar Yug, there was a very sinful demon named Kansa who did condemnable deeds. That wicked and wicked Kansa had a beautiful sister named Devaki. The eighth son born from Devaki's womb will kill Kansa.'
Listening to Narad ji's words, Indra said- 'Describe the story of that wicked Kansa in detail. Is it possible that the eighth son born from Devaki's womb will kill his maternal uncle Kansa. Hearing Indra's doubtful words, Naradji said - O Indra, son of Aditi! Once upon a time, that evil Kansa asked an astrologer - 'How and by whom will I die?' The astrologer said - 'O Kansa, the best among demons! Vasudev's wife Devaki, who is eloquent, is also your sister. Her eighth son born from her womb, who will defeat the enemies and will be famous in this world as 'Krishna', will kill you one day at sunrise.' Hearing the astrologer's words, Kansa said - 'O Devaaj, now you tell me on which day of which month will Devaki's eighth son kill me.' The astrologer said - 'O Maharaj! On the Shukla Paksha Tithi of Magh month, you will fight with Shri Krishna, who is full of sixteen arts. He will kill you in that very war. Therefore, O Maharaj! You should protect yourself carefully.' After telling this much, Narad ji said to Indra- 'Kans will surely die at the hands of Krishna at the time told by the astrologer.' Then Indra said- 'O Muni! Describe the story of that wicked Kans, and tell how Krishna will be born and how Kans will be killed by Krishna.'
On hearing Indra's words, Narad ji started saying again- 'That wicked Kans said to one of his gatekeepers- 'Protect my sister, who is dearer to me than my life, completely.' The gatekeeper said- 'This is what will happen.' After Kans left, his younger sister, feeling sad, went to the pond with a pot on the pretext of taking water. Sitting under a tree on the bank of that pond, Devaki started crying. At the same time, a beautiful woman, whose name was Yashoda, came and said to Devaki in a sweet voice- 'O Devi! Why are you lamenting like this? Tell me the reason for your crying.' Then the sad Devaki said to Yashoda- 'O sister! My elder brother Kansa is a wicked person who is involved in evil deeds. That evil brother has killed many of my sons. At present I am carrying my eighth son. He will kill this one too because my elder brother is afraid that my eighth son will surely cause his death.'
On hearing Devaki's words, Yashoda said- 'O sister! Do not lament. I am also pregnant. If I have a daughter, then you can take that daughter in place of your son. This way your son will not be killed by Kansa.'
Thereafter Kansa asked his gatekeeper- 'Where is Devaki? She is not visible at this time.' Then the gatekeeper said to Kansa in a polite tone- 'O Maharaj! Your sister has gone to the pond to fetch water.' On hearing this Kansa became angry and asked the gatekeeper to go to the same place where she had gone. The gatekeeper's eyes fell on Devaki near the pond. Then he said, 'Why have you come here?' On hearing his words Devaki said, 'There was no water in my house, I have come to the pond to fetch water.' After this Devaki went towards her house.
Kans again told the gatekeeper to protect his sister completely in this house. Now Kansa started feeling so scared that he got huge locks put on the doors inside the house and appointed demons and monsters to guard outside the door. Kansa was trying to save his life in every way. Once the water bearing clouds established their dominance in the sky when the Sun was in the zodiac sign Leo. It was the darkest midnight on the Ashtami Tithi of the dark fortnight of the month of Bhadon. At that time the moon was also in Taurus. On a Wednesday, Rohini Nakshatra, when the moon rises at midnight with the good fortune of the moon, when it is one hour after midnight, then the result mentioned in the Shruti-Smriti Purana is undoubtedly attained.
Saying this, Naradji said to Indra- 'In such an auspicious moment called 'Vijay', Shri Krishna was born and due to the influence of Shri Krishna, the doors of the prison opened by themselves at that very moment. All the demon guards guarding the door fell unconscious. Devaki said to her husband Vasudev at that very moment- 'O Lord! You give up your sleep and take this son of mine to Gokul, there give this son to Yashoda, the wife of Nand Gopa. At that time, Yamuna was completely flooded, but when Vasudevji took the child Krishna in a basket and went to cross the river, the moment the child's feet touched the river, Yamuna came back to its previous stable form. Somehow, Vasudevji reached Gokul and entered Nanda's house and immediately gave his son to him and took his daughter in return. He immediately returned from there and reached Kansa's prison.
In the morning, when all the demon guards woke up, Kansa asked the gatekeeper that what happened to Devaki's womb now? Find out and tell me. The gatekeepers, following Maharaj's orders, went to the prison and saw that there was a girl in Devaki's lap. Seeing this, the gatekeepers informed Kansa, but Kansa started fearing that girl. So he himself went to the prison and snatched the girl from Devaki's lap and threw her on a rock, but that girl went towards the sky by the magic of Vishnu and went into space and turned into electricity.
She said to Kansa through a voice from the sky, 'O wicked one! The one who will kill you has been born in Nanda's house in Gokul and your death is certain from him. My name is Vaishnavi, I have been born from the Maya of Lord Vishnu, the creator of the world.' Saying this, she went towards heaven. Kansa became angry on hearing that voice from the sky. He sent the demoness Putana to Nanda's house to kill Krishna, but when the demoness started breastfeeding Krishna, Krishna pulled out her life from her breast and the demoness died saying Krishna-Krishna.
When Kansa received the news of Putana's death, he sent a demon named Keshi in the form of a horse and then a demon named Aristha in the form of a bull to kill Krishna, but both of them also died at the hands of Krishna. After this, Kansa sent a demon named Kalyakhya in the form of a crow, but he too was killed by Krishna. Kansa became very frightened by the shock of the death of his powerful demons. He ordered the gatekeepers to present Nanda before him immediately. When the gatekeepers brought Nanda, Kansa told Nanda that if he wanted to save his life, he should bring Paarijaat flowers. If he could not bring them, he would surely be killed.
On hearing Kansa's words, Nanda said 'It will be so' and went towards his home. After coming home, he narrated the entire incident to his wife Yashoda, which Shri Krishna was also listening to. One day Shri Krishna was playing ball with his friends on the banks of river Yamuna and suddenly he himself threw the ball in the Yamuna. The main purpose of throwing the ball in the Yamuna was to somehow bring Paarijaat flowers. So he climbed a Kadamba tree and jumped into the Yamuna.
A Gopal named 'Shridhar' told Yashoda about Krishna jumping into the Yamuna. On hearing this, Yashoda ran to the banks of river Yamuna and praying to river Yamuna, she said- 'O Yamuna! If I see the child, then I will definitely observe the fast of Rohini-yukt Ashtami of Bhadrapad month because kindness, charity, gentleman, birth in a Brahmin family, Rohini-yukt Ashtami, Gangajal, Ekadashi, Gaya Shraddha and Rohini fast, all these are rare.'
The fruits obtained by performing thousands of Ashvamedha Yajnas, thousands of Rajasuya Yajnas, charity, pilgrimages and fasts, all of them can be obtained by observing the fast of Krishnashtami. Sage Narad told this to Indra. Indra said- 'O Narad, the best of sages! After jumping into the Yamuna river, what did that child Krishna do in the netherworld? Tell me this entire story as well.' Narad said- 'O Indra! In the netherworld, the wife of the king of snakes asked that child, what are you doing here, where have you come from and what is the purpose of coming here?'
The snake's wife said- 'O Krishna! Have you played gambling, in which you have lost all your wealth. If this is true, then take the pebble, crown and necklace of gems and go to your house because my master is sleeping at this time. If he wakes up, he will devour you.' On hearing the words of the snake's wife, Krishna said- 'O Kanthe! I will tell you the reason for which I have come here. Understand that I have lost the head of Kaliya Naag in gambling with Kansa and I have come here to take it back.' Hearing this from the child Krishna, the wife of the snake became very angry and waking up her sleeping husband, she said- 'O lord! This enemy has come to your house. So you kill him.'
Hearing the words of his mistress, Kaliya Naag woke up from his sleep and started fighting with the child Krishna. Krishna fainted in this fight, to overcome that unconsciousness, he remembered Garuda. As soon as he remembered, Garuda came there. Shri Krishna now mounted on Garuda and started fighting with Kaliya Naag and he defeated Kaliya Naag in the fight.
Now Kaliya Naag had understood very well that the one with whom he was fighting was Shri Krishna, the incarnation of Lord Vishnu. So he prostrated himself at the feet of Krishna and presented Krishna with a crown made of many flowers grown from Parijat. When Krishna was about to leave, Kaliya Naag's wife said- 'O Lord! I could not recognize Krishna. O Janardan, please protect me without mantra, without ritual, without devotion. O Lord! Give me back my husband.' Then Shri Krishna said- 'O Serpent! I will take your husband and leave him in front of Kansa, who is the strongest among the demons, otherwise you go to your home.' Now Shri Krishna came above the Yamuna dancing on the hood of Kaliya Naag.
Thereafter, all the three worlds trembled with the hiss of Kaliya. Now Krishna left for Kansa's Mathura city. Seeing the lotus flowers there, that Kaliya snake also went into the reservoir in the middle of Yamuna.
Here Kansa also got surprised and Krishna returned to Gokul happily. On his arrival in Gokul, his mother Yashoda celebrated various types of festivals. Now Indra asked Naradji- 'O great sage! The creatures of the world were very happy on the arrival of child Shri Krishna. After all, what deeds did Shri Krishna do? Please tell me all of them.' Narad said to Indra- 'The mind-captivating Mathura city is situated in the southern part of the Yamuna river. Kansa's very powerful brother Chanur lived there. The announcement of Shri Krishna's wrestling with that Chanur was made. O Indra! The wrestling between Krishna and Chanur was very surprising. Krishna was in child form as compared to Chanur. Kansa and Keshi were watching this battle amidst the public gathering of Mathura with the sounds of bheri, shankh and mridang. In the arena of the stadium, big and fierce wrestlers like Chanur, Mushtik, Shal, Toshal etc. were ready for the fight. King Kansa was seated on the high stage with his important citizens and friends.
As soon as he entered the stadium, Shri Krishna spontaneously picked up the bow with his left hand. In the blink of an eye, he strung it in front of everyone and pulled the string in such a way that the bow broke with a terrible sound. Both the brothers killed all the soldiers who were protecting the bow. After killing Kuvalayapid, Shri Krishna pulled out both his teeth and killed the mahout and many evil people with them. Some soldiers ran away and gave all the information to King Kansa, then Kansa, grinding his teeth in anger, signaled Chanur and Mushtik to kill both the boys quickly. Meanwhile, Shri Krishna and Baldev, with some blood stains on their bodies and huge elephant tusks on their shoulders, reached near the arena smiling like a lion cub. Chanur and Mushtik challenged both the brothers for wrestling. The policy thinker Shri Krishna suggested fighting with wrestlers of their age. But Chanur challenged Shri Krishna and Mushtik challenged Balram ji with great pride to entertain Maharaj Kansa. Shri Krishna-Balram wanted this. Thus the wrestling match started.
The women sitting there got ready to leave after seeing that unethical wrestling match. After seeing the beauty of Shri Krishna, they started saying – Oh! To tell you the truth, the land of Braj is the most holy and blessed. The Supreme Purushottama lives there hidden in the guise of a human. The Lord, whose lotus feet are worshipped by the God of Gods, Mahadev Shankar and Goddess Lakshmi, roams there happily wearing a garland of colorful flowers, following the cows, playing the flute with his friends and Balramji and doing various types of sports. The taste of this beauty of Shri Krishna is available only to the residents of Braj and especially to the Gopis. The peacocks, parrots, deer, cows, calves and rivers there are all blessed. They freely drink the various types of sweetness of Shri Krishna and become happy. They were still discussing this when Shri Krishna defeated Chanur and Balaramji defeated Mushtik and killed them. Thereafter Kut, Shal, Toshal etc. were also killed. Meanwhile Kansa got angry and ordered to arrest Shri Krishna, Baldev and Nanda-Vasudev. But, in front of everyone, Shri Krishna jumped with great speed and reached his stage, caught his hair and threw him down and jumped on his chest, due to which he died. Thus Kansa was killed easily. Shri Krishna rescued Kansa in the stadium along with his followers. Shankar ji, worshipped by Kansa, was gratified to see this colour. Hence his name became Shrirangeshwar. This place is still flying the flag of this colourful leela of Krishna. According to Shrimad Bhagwat and according to the opinion of Shri Vishwanath Chakravarti Pada, Kansa was killed on the day of Shivratri. Because Kansa had called Akrur to his house on the night of Ekadashi and had consulted him. Shri Krishna killed Chanur by entangling his feet around his neck. After Chanur's death, he wrestled with Keshi.
O Indra! At that very moment, Shri Krishna meditated on Garuda, Balram and Sudarshan Chakra, as a result of which Baldevji came riding on Garuda with Sudarshan Chakra. Seeing him coming, the child Krishna took the Sudarshan Chakra from him and sat on Garuda's back himself and killed many demons and devils, mutilated the bodies of many. In this war, Shri Krishna and Baldev killed countless demons. Balramji destroyed a huge group of demons on the seventh day of the Shukla Paksha of Magh month with his weapon plough and Krishna with Sudarshan Chakra.
When in the end only the wicked Kansa survived, Krishna said - O wicked, unrighteous, wicked one, now I will fight with you on this great battlefield and kill you and free this world from you. Saying this, Shri Krishna caught hold of his hair and turned Kansa around and threw him on the ground, due to which he died. On Kansa's death, the gods blew conches and showered flowers. The people present there were hailing Shri Krishna. Nanda, Devki, Vasudev, Yashoda and all the creatures of this world celebrated the death of Kansa.
The person who observes the fast of Janmashtami attains prosperity and liberation. He attains age, fame, glory, profit, son and grandson and enjoys all kinds of happiness in this life and finally attains salvation. The people who listen to the story of Shri Krishna with devotion, all their sins are destroyed. They attain the best destination.
