Main articles: Vaishnavism and Krishana
The worship of Krishna is part of Vaishnavism, which regards Vishnu as the Supreme God and venerates His associated Avatars,
their consorts, and related saints and teachers. Krishna is especially
looked upon as a full manifestation of Vishnu, and as one with Vishnu
himself.[92] However the exact relationship between Krishna and Vishnu is complex and diverse,[93] where Krishna is sometimes considered an independent deity, supreme in his own right.[94]
Out of many deities, Krishna is particularly important, and traditions
of Vaishnava lines are generally centered either on Vishnu or on
Krishna, as supreme. The term Krishnaism has been used to describe the
sects of Krishna, reserving term "Vaishnavism" for sects focusing on
Vishnu in which Krishna is an Avatar, rather than as a transcendent Supreme Being.[95]
All Vaishnava traditions recognise Krishna as an avatar of Vishnu;
others identify Krishna with Vishnu; while traditions, such as Gaudiya Vaishnavism,[96][97] Vallabha Sampradaya and the Nimbarka Sampradaya, regard Krishna as the svayam bhagavan, original form of God.[98][99][100][101][102] Swaminarayan, the founder of the Swaminarayan Sampraday
also worshipped Krishna as God himself. "Greater Krishnaism"
corresponds to the second and dominant phase of Vaishnavism, revolving
around the cults of the Vasudeva, Krishna, and Gopala of late Vedic period.[103] Today the faith has a significant following outside of India as well.[104]
Early traditions
The deity Krishna-Vasudeva (kṛṣṇa vāsudeva "Krishna, the son of Vasudeva") is historically one of the earliest forms of worship in Krishnaism and Vaishnavism.[18][47] It is believed to be a significant tradition of the early history of the worship of Krishna in antiquity.[19][105]
This tradition is considered as earliest to other traditions that led
to amalgamation at a later stage of the historical development. Other
traditions are Bhagavatism and the cult of Gopala, that along with the cult of Bala Krishna form the basis of current tradition of monotheistic religion of Krishna.[106][107] Some early scholars would equate it with Bhagavatism,[19] and the founder of this religious tradition is believed to be Krishna, who is the son of Vasudeva, thus his name is Vāsudeva;
he is said to be historically part of the Satvata tribe, and according
to them his followers called themselves Bhagavatas and this religion had
formed by the 2nd century BC (the time of Patanjali), or as early as the 4th century BC according to evidence in Megasthenes and in the Arthasastra of Kautilya, when Vāsudeva
was worshiped as supreme deity in a strongly monotheistic format, where
the supreme being was perfect, eternal and full of grace.[19] In many sources outside of the cult, the devotee or bhakta is defined as Vāsudevaka.[108] The Harivamsa describes intricate relationships between Krishna Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha that would later form a Vaishnava concept of primary quadrupled expansion, or avatar.[109]
Bhakti tradition
Main article: Bhakti yoga
Bhakti, meaning devotion, is not confined to any one deity. However
Krishna is an important and popular focus of the devotional and ecstatic
aspects of Hindu religion, particularly among the Vaishnava sects.[96][110] Devotees of Krishna subscribe to the concept of lila, meaning 'divine play', as the central principle of the Universe. The lilas
of Krishna, with their expressions of personal love that transcend the
boundaries of formal reverence, serve as a counterpoint to the actions
of another avatar of Vishnu: Rama, "He of the straight and narrow path of maryada, or rules and regulations."[97]
The bhakti movements devoted to Krishna became prominent in southern
India in the 7th to 9th centuries AD. The earliest works included those
of the Alvar saints of the Tamil country.[111] A major collection of their works is the Divya Prabandham. The Alvar Andal's popular collection of songs Tiruppavai, in which she conceives of herself as a gopi, is the most famous of the oldest works in this genre.[112][113] [114] Kulasekaraazhvaar's Mukundamala was another notable work of this early stage.
Spread of the Krishna-bhakti movement
The movement spread rapidly from northern India into the south, with the Sanskrit poem Gita Govinda of Jayadeva
(12th century AD) becoming a landmark of devotional, Krishna-based
literature. It elaborated a part of the Krishna legend—his love for one
particular gopi, called Radha, a minor character in Bhagavata Purana but a major one in other texts like Brahma Vaivarta Purana. By the influence of Gita Govinda, Radha became inseparable from devotion to Krishna.[17]
While the learned sections of the society well versed in Sanskrit could enjoy works like Gita Govinda or Bilvamangala 's Krishna-Karnamritam
, the masses sang the songs of the devotee-poets, who composed in the
regional languages of India. These songs expressing intense personal
devotion were written by devotees from all walks of life. The songs of Meera and Surdas became epitomes of Krishna-devotion in north India.
These devotee-poets, like the Alvars before them, were aligned to
specific theological schools only loosely, if at all. But by the 11th
century AD, Vaishnava Bhakti schools with elaborate theological frameworks around the worship of Krishna were established in north India. Nimbarka (11th century AD), Vallabhacharya (15th century AD) and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (16th century AD) were the founders of the most influential schools. These schools, namely Nimbarka Sampradaya, Vallabha Sampradaya and Gaudiya Vaishnavism respectively, see Krishna as the supreme god, rather than an avatar, as generally seen.
In the Deccan, particularly in Maharashtra, saint poets of the Varkari sect such as Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Janabai, Eknath and Tukaram promoted the worship of Vithoba,[39] a local form of Krishna, from the beginning of the 13th century until the late 18th century.[17] In southern India, Purandara Dasa and Kanakadasa of Karnataka composed songs devoted to the Krishna image of Udupi. Rupa Goswami of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, has compiled a comprehensive summary of bhakti named Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu.[110]
In the West
Since 1966, the Krishna-bhakti movement has also spread outside India. This is largely due to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement.[20] The movement was founded by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who was instructed by his guru, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, to write about Krishna in English and to share the Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy with people in the Western world.[115]
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