The Krishna StoriesThis mischievous blue boy- God is universally popular not least because he is always getting up to some prank or other.
His stories are told throughout the year but they are particularly useful to session planners around Spring because of the Spring festival of Holi which provides a colourful backdrop to one of the episodes in his life.
Krishna’s birth has similarities with that of Moses in that the blue baby’s life was threatened by the King of the time, his uncle, who wanted all male babies in the land to be slaughtered at birth. To avoid being killed, Krishna was wrapped up, and taken across the river to a village where he grew up in the family of the leader of some cowherds. He is generally shown playing a flute, as in the photograph of the Krishna puppet.
At five, his exploits began and he had a gang of boys from the village who used to follow him around. One of their adventures involves stealing butter from a house.
Another is about stealing fruit from a forbidden orchard.
Krishna always gets into a scrape and even when threatened with danger manages to extricate himself.
Along the way he becomes enraptured with the cowgirl Radha, with whom he is often pictured (See photograph).
As Krishna reaches his teenage years, his uncle learns that he is still alive and in order to dispose of him so that he can never take over his kingdom, organises a fixed battle. However Krishna still wins and kills his uncle in the process.
Krishna plays a significant role in the epic the Mahabharata and that in itself constitutes a large story. He helps a set of princes from ancient India to regain lost land, ultimately enabling them to win a battle through his wise counsel and encouragement.
Session on Krishna can be great fun and slightly messy if the Holi story is incorporated, as spray streamers are used to give the colour effect traditionally made with paints.
The sessions can be modified for nursery through to much older groups as they range from simple adventures to the epic and the philosophical.
