The three Krishnas in the Mahabharata. Do you know who they are?

/ kkumarkg

All of us know about Sri Krishna. But did you know that there are three different Krishnas in the Mahabharata? And that does not count the imposter Krishna mentioned in the Bhagavata Purana!

So, who are these three people?

  1. Sri Krishna
    We all know Sri Krishna. Son of Vasudeva and Devaki. Avatar of Vishnu, charioteer to Arjuna and giver of the Bhagavat Gita. The word Krishna means the dark one. The name Krishna defaults to him. But there are two more prominent character in the Mahabharata, whose given name is Krishna.
  1. Veda Vyasa
    The author of the Mahabharata and one of the key characters in the epic. Did you know that his original name was also Krishna. Krishna Dwaipayana, meaning the dark one born on an Island. He was born to Satyavathi, of Saga Parashara. Then why was he called Veda Vyasa?
    According to Hindu epics, Veda Vysas is not the name of a person. It is a position. Vyasa means diameter. Veda Vyasa means he who grasps (the diameter of) the Vedas. He codified the Vedas for this age. There is to be different Veda Vyasas for different ages. Sage Krishna Dwaipayana is the Veda Vyasa for our age. He will go on to become one of the Saptarshis in a future age.
  1. Draupadi
    Draupadi or Panchali, the wife of the five Pandavas. Her name was also Krishna, meaning the dusky one. Draupadi means daughter of Drupada and Panchali means princess of Panchala. Again, positions and not actual given names.
    Is Krishna a popular name for girls? According to the website nameberry.com “In the past decade, Krishna has been extremely popular as a girls’ name in Chile, where it reached Number 12 on the female popularity list in 2002”

Paundraka Vasudeva, the imposter
The Bhagawata Purana talks of Paundraka Vasudeva. He used to imitate Sri Krishna in attire and claimed that he was the true Krishna. He was killed by Sri Krishna.

2 thoughts on “The three Krishnas in the Mahabharata. Do you know who they are?”

  1. There was another Krishna and his name was Arjun. Krishna was one his ten names which are as follows: Arjun, Falguni, Sabyasachi, Jishnu, Krishna, Kiriti, Vibhatsu, Shvetvahan, Vijay, and Dhananjay.

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