She is described in the Puranic texts of Hinduism as the wife of Nanda, the chieftain of Gokulam, and the sister of Rohini.

[5] In the Bhagavata Purana, Yashoda is praised as: Neither Lord Brahmā, nor Lord Śiva, nor even the goddess of fortune (Goddess Mahalakshmi), who is always the better half of the Supreme Lord, can obtain from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the deliverer from this material world, such mercy as received by mother YaśodāThe Bhagavata Purana describes the following episode:[7] Another day, Śrī Kṛṣṇa was playing at Brahmāṇḍa-ghaṭa with Śrīdāma, Subala, Balarāma and some other cowherd boys.

Child Kṛṣṇa secretly ate some mud, but somehow the cowherd boys saw Him doing this and complained to Mother Yaśodā.

Yashoda, upon seeing this, was furious with Krishna for disobeying her and punished him by tying him to a mortar, or a grinding stone.

Hearing the demoness' dying screams, Yashoda finds the corpse still bearing her child in her arms.

The Tamil devotional song, 'Enna Thavam Seithanai' is addressed to Yashoda, rhetorically wondering what penance she had performed to raise Krishna as her own child.