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Krishna Janmashtami

A festive tradition in honour of Lord Krishna's birthday

Krishna Janmashtami falls on the birthday of Lord Krishna, one of Lord Vishnu’s many avatars, as per the Hindu calendar. Folklore describes the childhood of Krishna as fun-loving and mischief-making, with an inordinate fondness for churned butter. Janmashtami’s highlight is the ‘dahi handi’ ceremony which involves mud pots hung on string high up across cities, that can be reached and broken by human pyramids – a reenactment of Krishna’s impious thefts of churned butter. The evenings are marked by drama performances narrating stories of Lord Krishna that show the flirty, youthful side of his character.

Image Credits: sandeepachetan, CC-BY

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