Bala Krishna

The eighth son of Devaki and Vasudeva, Krishna was born to fulfil the prophecy of slaying his tyrannical uncle and the king of Mathura, Kamsa.

As soon as he was born in a prison with his parents, he asked his father to carry him to the region of Vraja, where he would spend his childhood among the cowherds, along with his brother, Balarama.

Putana, a shapeshifting demoness, was killed when the baby Krishna sucked her life from her by taking the poisoned breast she offered him.

[9] Another asura named Bakasura assumed the form of a crane or a stork and attempted to swallow Krishna, but he was slain instead when the deity broke his beak.

The sons of Kubera, the god of wealth, these brothers are described to have once caroused with maidens at Shiva's mountain pleasure garden, when the divine sage, Narada, appeared.

Freed from Narada's curse, Manigriva and Nalakuvara assumed their true forms, and offered their obeisance to the deity before they returned to their abode.

[14][15] In the Bhagavad Gita, one interpretation speculates Krishna teaching a universal monotheistic religion, a revelation of him being the Svayam Bhagavan.

[1] A prominent historical site dedicated to the veneration of Bala Krishna is the Balakrishna temple in Hampi, built by the Vijayanagara ruler Krishnadevaraya in 1513 CE.

[20] The sacred lamps at this statue of Bala Krishna regarded to have been recovered from the sea in the 14th century were said to have been lit by Madhvacharya himself and are being always kept alight, and that is for the last 700 years.