Lord Krishna - Is He a Historical Person?

Maha Bharat Yudh - Is It a Historical Fact?

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"Krishna was a historical figure who lived towards the end of the Vedic Age. Traditional Indian accounts are closer to truth than those of Western Indology, which are colored by colonial and missionary biases and plagued by weak scholarship."

 

Prof. N.S. Rajaram
www.swordoftruth.com September 4th, 1999

 

Since the life and career of Krishna lie within the century or so described in the great historical epic Mahabharata, if we can demonstrate the historicity of the characters and the principal episodes of the epic, we will essentially have established Krishna's historicity also.

 

 

Mention of Characters of Maha Bharata in Various Texts

 

Among Buddhist works Kunala Jataka mentions Krishnaa (i.e., Draupadi) in addition to Bhimasena, Arjuna, Nakula, Sahadeva and Yudhittila (Pali for Yudhisthira). Dhananjaya of the Kuru race (Arjuna) and Draupadi Svayamvara are referred to in Dhumakari Jataka. The same work refers also to Yudhisthira as an ancestor of the Kurus of Indapattana (i.e., Indraprastha) and also to Vidurapandita. In addition to these Mahabharata characters, Krishna himself is mentioned in Buddhist works such as Sutrapitaka and Lalitavistara [1].

 

Greek travelers who came to India following Alexander's invasion have left us some tantalizing references to Krishna and also to Indian historical records as they existed in their time. Authors like Pliny referred to Krishna as Heracles, derived from Hari-Krishna. They record that the Indian Heracles - our Krishna - was held in special honor by the Sourseni tribe one of whose major cities was Methora. We can recognize them as Shuraseni and Mathura. (Shura was the father of Vasudeva and the grandfather of Krishna.)

Indian Heracles (Krishna) is recorded by the Greeks as having lived 138 generations before the time of Alexander and Sandracottos which we may take to be c. 330 BC. Taking 20 years per generation, which is known to be a good average when ancient Indian dynasties are involved, we are led to the computation 2760 + 330 = 3090 BC which is remarkably close to the Kali date of 3102 BC. So a reckoning based on ancient Greek records takes us again to the traditional date of c. 3100 BC [1].

 

 

 

References

 

1. http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/encyclopedia/historical-krsna.htm

 

 

For More Study

 

Books

 

Search for the Historical Krishna by N.S. Rajaram; Prism Books Pvt Ltd, Bangalore; 210 pp, Rs 165.00

 

 

Web Pages/Sites

http://nitaaiveda.com/Essays_and_Articles/Scholara_Accept_Lord_Krishna.htm

http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/ancient/mahabharat/mahab_reality.html