Devaki
Krishna's Birth Mother
The princess of Mathura who gave birth to Krishna in a prison cell at midnight. Her patience through years of sorrow was answered by the greatest joy in the epics.
- Sanskrit/Telugu name: దేవకి
- Also known as: Devaki Devi, Devaki Mata
- Symbols: Prison cell, Midnight lamp
Story
Devaki was a princess of the Yadava clan and the sister (in many tellings, cousin-sister) of the cruel King Kamsa of Mathura. On her wedding day, as Kamsa lovingly drove the newlyweds' chariot, a voice from the sky thundered that Devaki's eighth child would destroy him. Kamsa drew his sword on his own sister, and only Vasudeva's desperate promise — to hand over every child born to them — saved her life. The couple was thrown into prison, and Devaki's heart broke again and again as Kamsa took her babies. But the eighth child was Krishna, born at midnight in the rainy month of Shravana, the prison filling with divine light as his true four-armed form appeared to his parents for one shining moment. The guards fell asleep, the chains opened, and Vasudeva carried the newborn across the stormy Yamuna to safety in Gokula. Devaki endured years more of prison until young Krishna returned, defeated Kamsa, and touched his parents' feet at last. Every Krishnashtami (Janmashtami), when Telugu families decorate tiny footprints from the doorway to the puja room and celebrate at midnight, they are celebrating the exact moment Devaki's sorrow turned to joy.
Fun fact
Krishna's birthday is celebrated at midnight precisely because that is when Devaki delivered him in the prison — one of the only festivals timed to the middle of the night.