Krishna 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 widely revered among Hindu 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.
Radha, also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. In scriptures, Radha is mentioned as the avatar of Lakshmi and also as the Mūlaprakriti, the Supreme goddess, who is the feminine counterpart and internal potency of Krishna. Radha accompanies Krishna in all his incarnations. Radha's birthday is celebrated every year on the occasion of Radhashtami.
Bhakti is a term common in Indian religions which means attachment, fondness for, devotion to, trust, homage, worship, piety, faith, or love. In Indian religions, it may refer to loving devotion for a personal God, a formless ultimate reality or for an enlightened being. Bhakti is often a deeply emotional devotion based on a relationship between a devotee and the object of devotion.
Hindi literature includes literature in the various Central Indo-Aryan languages, also known as Hindi, some of which have different writing systems. Earliest forms of Hindi literature are attested in poetry of Apabhraṃśa such as Awadhi and Marwari. Hindi literature is composed in three broad styles- prose, poetry, and prosimetrum. Inspired by Bengali literature, Bharatendu Harishchandra started the modern Hindi literary practices. In terms of historical development, it is broadly classified into five prominent forms (genres) based on the date of production. They are:
Meera, better known as Mirabai, and venerated as Sant Meerabai, was a 16th-century Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Krishna. She is a celebrated Bhakti saint, particularly in the North Indian Hindu tradition. She is mentioned in Bhaktamal, confirming that she was widely known and a cherished figure in the Bhakti movement by about 1600. In her poems, she had madhurya bhava towards Krishna.
Krishna Janmashtami, also known simply as Krishnashtami, Janmashtami, or Gokulashtami, is an annual Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu. In certain Hindu texts, such as the Gita Govinda, Krishna has been identified as supreme God and the source of all avatars. Krishna's birth is celebrated and observed on the eighth day (Ashtami) of the dark fortnight in Shravana Masa. According to the purnimanta tradition), Krishna's birth is celebrated on the eighth day (Ashtami) of the dark fortnight in Bhadrapada Masa.
Braj is a language within the Indo-Aryan language family spoken in the Braj region in Western Uttar Pradesh centered on Mathura. Along with Awadhi, it was one of the two predominant literary languages of North-Central India before gradually merging and contributing to the development of standardized Hindi in the 19th century. It is spoken today in its unique form in many districts of west Uttar Pradesh, often referred to as 'Central Braj Bhasha'.
The Radha Vallabha Sampradaya is a Vaishnava Hindu denomination which began in 1535 at Vrindavan, with the Sant Hith Harivansh Mahaprabhu (1502–1552). Harivansh's views are related to Krishnaism, but emphasises devotion to the goddess Shri Radha as the Supreme Being.
Vallabha, also known as Vallabhācārya, Vallabha Dīkṣita, was an Indian saint and philosopher. He founded the Kr̥ṣṇa-centered Puṣṭimārga sect of Vaishnavism in the Braj (Vraja) region of India, and propounded the philosophy of Śuddhādvaita.
The Puṣṭimārga, also known as Pushtimarg or Vallabha Sampradāya, is a sect within the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism. It was established in the early 16th century by Vallabha (1479–1530) and further developed by his descendants, particularly Viṭṭhalanātha. Followers of the Puṣṭimārga worship Kr̥ṣṇa and engage in devotional practices centered around the youthful Kr̥ṣṇa as depicted in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, and the pastimes at Govardhan Hill.
Gokul is a town in the Mathura district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south-east of Mathura.
Radha-Krishna is the combined form of the Hindu god Krishna with his chief consort and shakti Radha. They are regarded as the feminine as well as the masculine realities of God, in several Krishnaite traditions of Vaishnavism.
Shuddadvaita is the "purely non-dual" philosophy propounded by the Hindu philosopher Vallabha, the founder of Puṣṭimārga, a Vaishnava tradition focused on the worship of the deity Krishna. Vallabhacharya's pure form (nondualist) philosophy is different from Advaita.
Vaishnavism is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the sole supreme being leading all other Hindu deities, that is, Mahavishnu. Its followers are called Vaishnavites or Vaishnavas, and it includes sub-sects like Krishnaism and Ramaism, which consider Krishna and Rama as the supreme beings respectively. According to a 2020 estimate by The World Religion Database (WRD), hosted at Boston University’s Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs (CURA), Vaishnavism is the largest Hindu sect, constituting about 399 million Hindus.
Krishnaism is a term used in scholarly circles to describe large group of independent Hindu traditions—sampradayas related to Vaishnavism—that center on the devotion to Krishna as Svayam Bhagavan, Ishvara, Para Brahman, who is the source of all reality, not simply an avatar of Vishnu. This is its difference from such Vaishnavite groupings as Sri Vaishnavism, Sadh Vaishnavism, Ramaism, Radhaism, Sitaism etc. There is also a personal Krishnaism, that is devotion to Krishna outside of any tradition and community, as in the case of the saint-poet Meera Bai. Leading scholars do not define Krishnaism as a suborder or offshoot of Vaishnavism, considering it at least a parallel and no less ancient current of Hinduism.
Vilwamangalam Swamiyar was a saint that lived in India. Swamiyar was renowned all over India. Bengalis believe that he was born in Bengal while Odias believe in Odisha, though tradition in Kerala implies that he belonged to Panniyoor village.
Dayaram (1777–1853) was a Gujarati poet of medieval Gujarati literature and was the last poet of the pre-British Gujarati school. He is known in Gujarati literature for his literary form called garbi, a lyric song. He was a follower of Pushtimarg of Hindu Vaishnavism. Dayaram, along with Narsinh Mehta and Meera, is considered a major contributor during the Bhakti movement in Gujarati literature.
Braj literature is literature in Braj Bhasha, one of the Western Hindi languages developed as a literary language during the 15th century, Bhakti Movement as a form of devotional songs in praise of Krishna. It is often mystical in nature, related to the spiritual union of people with God, because almost all of Braj poets were considered God-realised saints and their words are thus considered as emanating from a divine source. Much of the traditional Northern Indian literature shares this trait. It literary tradition is a celebration of Krishna. The Braj region has a rich legacy and the medium was mainly the literary vehicle for the poets viz. Surdas, Tulsidas, Acharya Ram Chandra Shukla, Raskhan, Amir Khusrau among others.
Lallu Lal (1763–1835) was an academic, author and translator from India. He was an instructor in the Hindustani language at Fort William College in Hastings, Calcutta. He is notable for Prem Sagar, the first work in modern literary Hindi.
Gokulanātha was an Indian religious figure of the Puṣṭimārga sect of Vaishnavism. Gokulanātha was the fourth son of Viṭṭhalanātha, and was the founder of the fourth house of the Puṣṭimārga. He wrote several theological works in Sanskrit, and is considered the progenitor of the sampradāya's Vārta tradition in the vernacular Braj Bhasha language.
