Devaki

Krishna and Balarama meet their parents. Painting by Raja Ravi Varma

In Hinduism, Devaki (देवकी) is the wife of Vasudeva and biological mother of Krishna.

She was the daughter of Devaka, the younger brother of King Ugrasena of Mathura. She was a partial incarnation of Aditi, the mother of the Devas.

Imprisonment

Vasudeva and Devaki traveling in a carriage.

Devaki and Vasudeva were imprisoned by her brother, Kamsa, due to a prophecy that her eighth son would kill him. Kamsa then killed six of their sons. The seventh, Balarama, escaped death by being transferred to the womb of Vasudeva's other wife, Rohini, while a female child (an incarnation of the goddess Yoga-Nidra or Maya) was placed in Yashoda's womb. The eighth son, Krishna (who was actually an Avatar of Vishnu), was born at midnight and taken by Vasudeva across the Yamuna river to be raised by Nanda and Yasoda in the neighboring village of Gokul. In place of Krishna, Vasudeva took Yashoda's just born child (the incarnation of Yogmaya). After Vasudeva's return to Mathura with the baby girl (yog-maya), Kamsa tried to destroy her. Then she flew out of his hands, turned into an eight-armed goddess and warned him: "fool, the agent of your death has already been born on this earth." Lord Krishna and Balarama returned to Mathura as adolescent boys and killed the despotic Kamsa. Subsequently, Krishna freed his parents, and his grand-uncle Ugrasena (who had also been locked up).

Post Kamsa's death

Vasudeva and Devaki moved to Dwaraka with the rest of Mathura's population.

See also

• Iringole Kavu
• Yogmaya Temple