Krishna (, pronounced [ˈkr̩ʂɳɐ] (listen); Sanskrit: कृष्ण, IAST: Kṛṣṇa) is a major deity in Hinduism
He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the supreme God in his own right
He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love and is one of the most popular and widely revered among Indian divinities
Krishna’s birthday is celebrated every year by Hindus on Krishna Janmashtami according to the lunisolar Hindu calendar, which falls in late August or early September of the Gregorian calendar
The anecdotes and narratives of Krishna’s life are generally titled as Krishna Leela
He is a central character in the Mahabharata, the Bhagavata Purana, the Brahma Vaivarta Purana and the Bhagavad Gita, and is mentioned in many Hindu philosophical, theological, and mythological texts
They portray him in various perspectives: a god-child, a prankster, a model lover, a divine hero, and as the universal supreme being
His iconography reflects these legends, and shows him in different stages of his life, such as an infant eating butter, a young boy playing a flute, a young boy with Radha or surrounded by women devotees, or a friendly charioteer giving counsel to Arjuna
The name and synonyms of Krishna have been traced to 1st millennium BCE literature and cults
In some sub-traditions, Krishna is worshipped as Svayam Bhagavan (the Supreme God) and it sometimes known as Krishnaism
These sub-traditions arose in the context of the medieval era Bhakti movement
Krishna-related literature has inspired numerous performance arts such as Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Odissi, and Manipuri dance
He is a pan-Hindu god, but is particularly revered in some locations such as Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh, Dwarka and Junagadh in Gujarat; the Jagannatha aspect in Odisha, Mayapur in West Bengal; in the form of Vithoba in Pandharpur, Maharashtra, Shrinathji at Nathdwara in Rajasthan, Udupi Krishna in Karnataka, Parthasarathy in Tamil Nadu, Parthasarathy in Aranmula, Kerala and Guruvayoorappan in Guruvayoor in Kerala
Since the 1960s, the worship of Krishna has also spread to the Western world and to Africa, largely due to the work of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)