Mathura: Krishna’s Birthplace
Mathura in Uttar Pradesh is the city Hindu tradition calls the birthplace of Krishna. Story, map, video, and what history says.
Mathura is an ancient city in Uttar Pradesh, on the Yamuna river. In Hindu tradition, it is the birthplace of Krishna, and one of the seven holiest cities in India.
What the story says
The story says Krishna was born in a prison cell in Mathura, to Devaki and Vasudeva. His uncle Kamsa, the king of Mathura, had locked them up because of a prophecy that Devaki’s eighth child would end him.
On the night of Krishna’s birth, the prison doors swung open and the guards fell asleep. Vasudeva carried the baby across the stormy Yamuna to Gokul, where Krishna would grow up in safety.
Years later, Krishna returned to Mathura, defeated Kamsa, and freed his parents.
Watch the story
Hear this place come alive in the Mythical Masala episode S1E22: Krishna’s Miraculous Birth and Babyhood Adventures:
Chapters
- 00:00 Hook: the eighth son will be your doom
- 01:31 A wedding, a prophecy, and a prison
- 03:04 Six children lost, and a baby named Balarama
- 04:44 A starry night, and a divine visitor
- 05:39 Midnight: Krishna is born
- 06:32 A stormy night escape
- 08:39 The goddess who laughed at Kamsa
- 09:56 Welcome to Gokul, butter thief
- 11:31 Baby Krishna flips a cart
- 12:47 The universe inside his mouth
- 14:22 Tied to a mortar, he uproots two trees
- 15:32 Outro: Kamsa’s shadow looms
Find it on the map
Here is Mathura today. Zoom out to see where it sits in India, or tap the button to open it in Google Maps.
What we actually know
In Hinduism, the birthplace of Krishna is believed to be at the Krishna Janmasthan Temple Complex in Mathura, and the city is counted among the Sapta Puri, the seven cities considered holy by Hindus. Tradition also calls Mathura the capital of the Surasena kingdom ruled by Kamsa.
Historians know Mathura as a genuinely ancient city: the site was inhabited before the 1st century CE, flourished under the Kushan dynasty, and its Government Museum, founded in 1874, holds one of India’s finest collections of ancient sculpture.