21 Unknown Amazing Facts of Lord Krishna (Janmashtami Special)

Lord Krishna at ISKCON Temple

Janmashtami, a Hindu festival celebrating the birth (janma) of the God Krishna on the eighth (Ashtami) day of the dark fortnight of the month of Bhadrapada (August – September). The number eight has another significance in the Krishna legend in that he is the eighth child of his mother, Devaki. During his birth he was exchanged with Yoshoda's new born daughter named Eknamsha who is worshiped as Goddess Vindhyavasini.
Lord Krishna is the incarnation of Lord Vishnu. The Sanskrit word in its origin language "Krishna" is primarily an adjective meaning "black" or "dark", sometimes it is also translated as "all attractive".
When the peacocks see Lord Krishna, he reminds them of rain and thus, makes them very happy. Also, his music coupled with his dark skin helps them dance better. Thus as gratitude, they offer him their feathers which he happily accepts and places in his hair.
Skin tone of Lord Krishna was always blue in color, due to this uniqueness he had a gifted fragrance within himself that would attract his surrounding.

Idols of Lord Krishna and Radha in ISKCON temple in Chennai,Tamil nadu

Radha and Krishna's bond is well know across the globe, however it is very strange that Radha is not mention in any great scriptures like "Mahabharata" and "Bhagavad Gita". This fact is very important to miss by great saints like Ved Vyasa.
Lord Shri Krishna used 'Vaishnav Jwar' in his battle against Banasur and lord Shiva, which is considered as the first 'Atomic War'.
Lord Krishna notably has 108 names in total, which includes Gopal, Govind, Mohan, Shyam, Hari and more.
Krishna had 16,108 wives, out of which eight were principal wives known as Ashtabharya, the princely queens. Krishna had 80 sons also also remembered as the Yadavas and he had 10 sons from each of those eight wives. Rukmini, the wife of lord Krishna is considered to be an avatar of Goddess Laxmi.

Krishna and his 16108 wives

Pradyumna, the elder son of lord Krishna and Rukmini was Kamdev who was turned into ashes in his earlier life by lord Shiva.
Draupadi meant a lot to Krishna and it is also believed that he loved and protected her like true friend forever.
Lord Krishna's Favorite Weapon was Sudarshana Chakra, which he used, to kill Jayadratha by creating the illusion of sunset.
Lord Krishna is also known to revive the dead people. In the form of Guru Dakshina, Lord Krishna revived his Guru Sandipani's son who was dead. He is also believed to revive the six sons of devaki for a brief reunion.

Guru Dakshina By Krishna To Sandipani Muni

Lord Krishna is one of the God who has been cursed many times in his entire life. Even his death occurred due to the curse of sage Durvasa. Sage Durvasa cursed lord Krishna with weak and unprotected feet because he refused to apply kheer on his feet.
Another lesser known fact is that, Jara, the hunter who killed lord Krishna was Bali in his previous birth. Lord Krishna in his previous birth as lord Rama had killed Bali in a deceitful way. So, he promised Tara (Bali's wife) that Bali will exact his revenge in the next birth by killing him.
Eklavya was the cousin of lord Krishna. Yes, that's true. Eklavya's Father Devashrava was the brother of Vasudev.
Karna was the son of Kunti, the mother of Pandavas, But he was conceived before her marriage with Pandu. So she decided to abandon him. When Lord Krishna came to knew this, he persuaded Karna to fight with his brothers. But being a great companion of Duryodhan, he refused and was adamant to fight for Kauravas. Krishna was the first person who told Karna about the secret of his birth.
Lord Krishna was very unpredictable. He once started fighting Arjun for no particular reason. Lord Shiva was so disturbed by seeing this that he descended to earth to stop the fight. When asked the reason for fight, lord Krishna simply smiled and said, he was testing Arjun as he has to fight a war.

Sri Krishna deliver Gita Gyan to Arjuna inside the battle field

The first hand narration of Bhagavad Gita was not only heard by arjun but also heard by lord Hanuman (Who was sitting on top of Arjun's chariot), Sanjaya (Who forecasted the happenings of war to Drithrashtra by the powers given by the powers given by Ved Vyasa) and son of Ghatotkach, Barbarik watched it all from a hilltop. Lord Krishna tried to narrate the holy Bhagavad Gita to Duryodhana. But believing that he knew what was right and what was wrong, he refused to listen.
Pandavas were related to lord Krishna from mothers side. Pandavas mother Kunti was the sister of Vasudev, father of lord Krishna.
You will be surprised to know that the Bhagavad Gita was originally written in Sanskrit, until today, it has been translated into approximately 175 languages.
The holy book of wisdom, Gita and Mahabharata have a significant relationship with the number "18". The battle of Kurukshetra goes on for 18 days, the number of chapters and parvas in Gita are 18, 18 people are required for the ritual of sacrifice and the word 18, in Sanskrit means sacrifice. Called as an Akshauhini in the Mahabharata, there was a battle formation on the land of Kurukshetra which consisted of 21,870 elephants, 21,870 chariots, 65,610 cavalries and 109,350 infantry. Now, if you add up each of these digits, group-wise, then the sum will be equal to 18! In fact, it is also said that the size of Pandavas' army was 7 akshauhinis and those of Kauravas 11 akshauhinis.

aillard