As devotees prepare to celebrate Krishna Janmashtami, the familiar story of Lord Krishna's divine birth often focuses on Vasudeva carrying the newborn Krishna from Mathura to Gokula. But the Srimad-Bhagavatam records another important figure in this dramatic episode, Yogamaya, the divine girl associated with Yashoda.
According to Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.2, Krishna instructed Yogamaya to appear in Braja (Gokula) as the daughter of Nanda Maharaja and Yashoda. The account describes Yogamaya as the Lord's divine internal potency.
The story takes a dramatic turn after Krishna's appearance in the prison of Mathura. Vasudeva was instructed to take the newborn Krishna to Gokula and exchange Him for the baby girl who had been born to Yashoda. Vasudeva found Yashoda and the residents of Gokula asleep, placed Krishna beside her and returned to Mathura with the girl.
Kamsa, fearing the prophecy that Devaki's eighth child would be responsible for his death, arrived at the prison and attempted to kill the infant. But the baby slipped from his hands and rose into the sky.
The Srimad-Bhagavatam describes the child revealing herself in an eight-armed divine form. She identified herself as the younger sister of Lord Vishnu and warned Kamsa that his destined enemy had already been born elsewhere.
The Bhagavatam associates Yogamaya with forms worshipped as Durga, Bhadrakali, Vaishnavi and other goddess manifestations.
The Yogamaya episode adds a lesser-known dimension to Janmashtami. While Krishna was being carried to safety in Gokula, Yogamaya's appearance before Kamsa became part of the divine arrangement surrounding Krishna's earthly pastimes.
For devotees, her story is therefore not merely a footnote to Krishna's birth-it is an important part of the traditional narrative of how Krishna's appearance and childhood pastimes were divinely arranged.
