01Kinsman of the Pandavas
Krishna first sees his cousins at Draupadi’s svayamvara and knows them under their brahmin disguise. From then on he is never far away. With Arjuna he burns the Khandava forest for Agni, and from Agni and Varuna he receives the discus and the mace Kaumodaki. He takes Bhima and Arjuna to Girivraja, where Bhima kills Jarasandha after days of wrestling and the imprisoned kings are set free. At the Rajasuya, on Bhishma’s word, the first honour goes to Krishna. Shishupala of Chedi abuses him before the assembled kings, and Krishna takes off his head with the discus.
02The embassy for peace
Before the war Krishna goes to Hastinapura himself. He will not eat at Duryodhana’s table and stays in Vidura’s house. In the Kuru assembly he asks for the Pandavas’ share, then for only five villages. Duryodhana plots to bind him, and Krishna laughs and shows his own form, with the devas, the Adityas and the hosts shining from his body, so that only Bhishma, Drona, Vidura, Sanjaya and the rishis can bear to look, and the blind Dhritarashtra is given sight for that hour. Leaving, he takes Karna into his chariot and tells him whose son he is.
03Without a weapon
Duryodhana and Arjuna come to Dwaraka on the same day to ask for help. Krishna offers one of them his Narayani army and the other himself, unarmed. Arjuna chooses Krishna. On the first morning, between the two armies, he speaks the Bhagavad Gita to his friend and shows him the universal form. Twice, when Arjuna holds back against Bhishma, Krishna leaps down from the chariot to go at the grandsire himself, and Arjuna has to hold him back. Again and again his counsel turns the war: how Drona can be stopped, when to strike Karna, where Bhima should aim his mace.
04The curse and Prabhasa
On the field of the dead Gandhari curses him: in the thirty-sixth year his own kin will destroy each other. Krishna answers that he knew it already. He keeps his word to Uttara, and the child Parikshit, born lifeless, breathes again. In the thirty-sixth year the Yadavas, drunk at Prabhasa, kill one another with blades of eraka grass. Balarama leaves his body in yoga. Krishna lies down in the forest, and the hunter Jara, taking his foot for a deer, shoots him. His childhood in Gokula and Vrindavan is told in the Harivamsha, the supplement of the Mahabharata, and in the Bhagavata Purana.
Famous verses
सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज । अहं त्वा सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः ॥
Give up all dharmas and come to Me alone for refuge. I will free you from all sins; do not grieve.Bhagavad Gita 18.66 = Mahabharata 6.40.66 (BORI CE)