Yashoda Jayanti

Maa Yashoda was the foster mother of Lord Sri Krishna. The character of Yashoda as a Mother of Lord Krishna cannot be forgotten by any person who know Mahabharat as well as life of Shri Krishna. She is known and cited as an example of motherly love till date for the love and affection that she had bestowed on Krishna.

Yashoda Jayanti is annually observed on Phalgun Krishna Paksha Sashti tithi or the sixth day during the waning phase of moon as per traditional Hindu lunar calendar followed in North India. It is the birth anniversary celebration of Maa Yasoda, the foster mother of Bhagavan Sri Krishna. The day of great importance at Dwarka, Braj, Vrindavan and Mathura. 

According to Bhagavata purana  Lord Krishna, who was born to Devaki  was given to Yashoda and Nand in order to protect Krishna from Devaki’s brother, Kansa who was an evil king. Yashoda and Nanda looked after baby Sri Krishna. She cared for Sri Krishna as his real parents, Vasudeva and Devaki, were in the prison of Kansa. Mata Yashoda’s love is immense towards Lord Krishna and she cannot be compared to anyone else.

Some of the popular incidents in the life of Bhagavan Sri Krishna is associated with Mata Yashoda. They include Krishna showing Mata Yashoda the entire universe in his mouth and the famous incident of her tying Krishna to grinding stone.

The festival is marked with lot of love and devotion and celebrated in all the Krishna temples and also the ISKCON temples all across the world.

In Gujarat the day is marked with lot of celebration and people decorates their homes with flowers and pictures of Yashoda and Sri Krishna. In Gokul, where Sri Krishna spent his childhood, people keep retelling or enacting (in dramas or dance recitals) the beautiful tales of Krishna’s childhood anecdotes with Yashoda. People also believe that there is no other lady can compensate the role of a mother like Yashoda Mata as she was not real mother to the Lord but she deed a lot for the son which is much more to her than the real son.