In Hinduism

Hinduism

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

, Devaki (देवकी) is the wife of Vasudeva

Vasudeva

In Hindu itihasa , Vasudeva is the father of Krishna, the son of Shoorsen, of the Yadu and Vrishni dynasties. His sister Kunti was married to Pandu. He was a partial incarnation of Rishi Kashyap....

 and biological mother of Krishna

Krishna

Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...

.

She was the daughter of Devaka, the younger brother of King Ugrasena

Ugrasena

Ugrasena was the King of Mathura, a kingdom that was established after the various Yadava clans, which include the Vrishnis and Bhojas decided that the dividing states would unite as one and that the Kingship would not be subject to heredity and if decided not to be so, the succeeding leader...

 of Mathura. She was a partial incarnation of Aditi

Aditi

Aditi in Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language. In the Vedas Aditi is mother of the gods from whose cosmic matrix the heavenly bodies were born...

, the mother of the Devas.

Imprisonment

Devaki and Vasudeva were imprisoned by her brother, Kamsa

Kamsa

In Hinduism, Kamsa or Kansa , often known as Kans in Hindi, is the brother of Devaki, and ruler of the Vrishni kingdom with its capital at Mathura. His father was King Ugrasena and mother was Queen Padmavati...

, due to a prophecy that her eighth sons would kill him. Kamsa then killed six of their sons. The seventh, Balarama

Balarama

Balarama , also known as Baladeva, Balabhadra and Halayudha, is the elder brother of the divine being, Krishna in Hinduism. Within Vaishnavism Hindu traditions Balarama is worshipped as an Avatar of Vishnu, and he is also listed as such in the Bhagavata Purana...

, escaped death by being transferred to the womb of Vasudeva's other wife, Rohini

Rohini Devi

In Hinduism, Rohini Devi is a consort of Vasudeva. She is the mother of Balarama and Subhadra, and played a prominent role in the nurture of Krishna. She was a partial incarnation of Kadru, the mother of the snakes.-Vasudeva's imprisonment:...

, while a female child (an incarnation of the goddess Yoga-Nidra or Maya) was placed in Yashoda's womb. The eighth son, Krishna (who was actually an Avatar

Avatar

In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....

 of Vishnu

Vishnu

Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....

), was born at midnight and taken by Vasudeva across the Yamuna river to be raised by Nanda

Nanda (mythology)

Nanda or Nandagopa, according to the Harivamsha and the Puranas, was the head of the gopas .It is said that Nand Baba owned 9 lakhs of cows . Nandvanshis or Ahirs are descendants of Nand. The night of Krishna's appearance or birth, Vasudeva brought Krishna to Nanda for Krishna's childhood years...

 and Yasoda

Yasoda

Yasoda/Yashoda was wife of Nanda within the Puranic texts of Hinduism. Within the Bhagavata Purana it is described that Yasoda later became the foster-mother to Krishna, who was born to Devaki but was given to Yashoda and Nanda in Gokul, by Krishna's father Vasudeva on the night of his birth, for...

 in the neighboring village of Gokul

Gokul

-In Vedic Scripture:-Geography:Gokul is located at . It has an average elevation of 163 metres .-Demographics: India census, Gokul had a population of 4041. Males constitute 55% of the population and females 45%. Gokul has an average literacy rate of 60%, higher than the national average of...

. In place of Krishna, Vasudeva took Yashoda's just born child (the incarnation of Yogmaya). After returning to Mathura with the baby girl (yog-maya), Kamsa

Kamsa

In Hinduism, Kamsa or Kansa , often known as Kans in Hindi, is the brother of Devaki, and ruler of the Vrishni kingdom with its capital at Mathura. His father was King Ugrasena and mother was Queen Padmavati...

 in disbelief, tries to destroy it when it flies out of his hands and turns into an eight-armed goddess

Iringole Kavu

-Location:This temple is located in the village 'Pattal' 35 kilometers away from Cochin, Kerala, India.Near iringole kavu there is a school called Government Vocational Higher Secondary School also called "Iringole School" by residents of Iringole.-Myth:...

 and warns him "fool, your death has already been born on this Earth." It was believed that Krishna was born not from a sexual connection between Devaki and Vasudeva, but was transferred to Devaki's womb. Lord Krishna and Balarama returned to Mathura as adolescent boys and killed the despotic Kamsa. Subsequently, the Lord freed His parents, and His granduncle Ugrasena (who had also been locked up).

Post Kamsa's death

Vasudeva and his second wife Rohini had a daughter Subhadra

Subhadra

Image:Jagannath, Baladev and Subadra in Radhadesh.jpg|thumb|right|250px|alt=|Subhadra, flanked by her brothers Balarama and Jagannatha . Deities of the Radhadesh temple in Belgium...

, who married Arjuna

Arjuna

Arjuna in Indian mythology is the greatest warrior on earth and is one of the Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. Arjuna, whose name means 'bright', 'shining', 'white' or 'silver' Arjuna (Devanagari: अर्जुन, Thai: อรชุน, Orachun, Tamil: Arjunan, Indonesian and Javanese: Harjuna,...

 and was the mother of Abhimanyu. Afterwards, they moved to Dwaraka with the rest of Mathura's population.