Yashoda
Yashoda
8 min read
Yashoda is a central figure in Hindu mythology, the foster mother of the god Krishna. Wife of Nanda, chief of the cowherds of Vrindavan, she raises Krishna with unconditional maternal love, a symbol of devotion (bhakti) in Hinduism.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Foster mother of Krishna according to the Puranas, notably the Bhagavata Purana (composed around the 6th–9th century)
- She raises Krishna in Vrindavan after Vasudeva entrusts him to Nanda to protect him from King Kamsa
- Iconic scene: Yashoda sees the entire universe in the mouth of the infant Krishna
- She embodies vatsalya (maternal love), one of the nine forms of bhakti in the Vaishnavite tradition
- A recurring figure in medieval Indian devotional poetry (Mirabai, Surdas, 15th–16th centuries)
Works & Achievements
The scene in which Yashoda tries to bind Krishna with a rope that is always two fingers too short is one of the most celebrated stories in Krishnaism, illustrating divine omnipotence freely submitting itself to a mother's love.
When Yashoda asks Krishna to open his mouth, she glimpses the entire universe within. This episode is a foundational moment of theological revelation, comparable to the vision granted to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita.
A collection of devotional poems by the blind poet-saint Surdas, entirely devoted to the leelas of the child Krishna. Yashoda is portrayed with extraordinary tenderness throughout; these poems shaped popular Hindu devotion for centuries.
The image of Yashoda holding or nursing the infant Krishna is a major iconographic subject in Indian art, from the Mathura sculptures of the 7th century to the Rajput miniatures of the 18th century.
Lullabies sung by Yashoda at Krishna's cradle have been passed down for centuries across India and are still performed during Janmashtami; they constitute a devotional musical genre in their own right.
Anecdotes
One day, gopika women came to complain to Yashoda that Krishna was stealing butter from their homes and giving it to the monkeys. Yashoda, both amused and embarrassed, caught her son to scold him. Krishna looked at her with his big innocent eyes and denied everything with such candor that his mother could not help but laugh, unable to punish him. This episode, famous under the name of 'Makhan Chor', is one of the most beloved leelas of Krishnaite mythology.
One day, playmates told Yashoda that Krishna had eaten dirt. Worried, she ordered him to open his mouth so she could check. Looking inside, Yashoda saw not dirt, but the entire universe: the stars, the oceans, the mountains, and all living beings. Overwhelmed by this cosmic vision, she immediately forgot everything she had just seen, for Krishna erased her memory through his maya — thus protecting her from the truth of his divine nature.
Irritated by Krishna's mischief, Yashoda decided to tie him to a mortar with a rope to keep him from causing trouble. But every time she lengthened the rope, it was always two fingers too short to go around him. She looked for other ropes and knotted them together, but the same thing kept happening. Finally, Krishna, moved by his mother's effort and pure love, allowed himself to be tied — this episode earns him the name Damodara, 'he whose belly is bound'.
Although Yashoda is Krishna's foster mother, the Puranic tradition specifies that she never discovered her son's true divine identity during her lifetime. It is precisely this blissful ignorance that allowed their relationship to be of absolute purity. Hindu theology sees in Yashoda's love the perfect model of maternal devotion (vatsalya bhakti): an unconditional love founded not on knowledge of divine greatness, but simply on the heart's attachment.
Primary Sources
Yashoda, beholding the entire universe within the open mouth of the child, was seized by an overwhelming cosmic vision. Then, by Krishna's grace, her memory was veiled and she saw nothing but her beloved little boy.
Nanda and Yashoda raised the child Krishna at Gokula with boundless love. Yashoda, unaware that he was the Supreme Lord, cherished him as any mother cherishes her son.
Vasudeva carried the infant Krishna across the flooded Yamuna and exchanged him for the newborn daughter of Yashoda and Nanda at Gokula. Yashoda awoke the following morning with no memory of giving birth, and found a son at her side.
Krishna spoke to his mother Yashoda and revealed his divine nature to her, but through his *maya* he immediately erased that memory from her mind so that their maternal bond would remain pure and untainted by reverential awe.
Key Places
Village of cowherds where Yashoda and her husband Nanda raised the child Krishna. It is the setting for most of Krishna's childhood leelas and the everyday home of Yashoda.
Sacred forest and village where Krishna spent his youth among the gopas and gopis. Vrindavan is the spiritual heart of Krishnaism and the foremost pilgrimage site for Krishna devotees around the world.
City neighboring Gokula, and the kingdom of the tyrant Kamsa, Krishna's uncle. It was to escape Kamsa that Vasudeva entrusted the infant Krishna to Yashoda — this danger is why Yashoda became his foster mother.
Sacred river flowing alongside Mathura and Vrindavan. It was by crossing the flooded Yamuna that Vasudeva carried the infant Krishna to be entrusted to Yashoda; the river is revered as sacred throughout the Krishnaite tradition.
