In this post, Vraja Kishor das will answer these very common questions about Krishna and Radha – Why didn’t they marry? What is their family relationship? Why is Krishna blue?
Q: Why did lord Krishna not marry Radha?
A: To understand Radha you need to understand the mysteries of “prema rasa” – the ecstatic experience of spiritual love.
Krishna and Radharani playfully married once, as children sometimes do. They never really married, however, because their love is more primal, profound, and unbounded than what wedded love facilitates. Wedded love is beautiful, but it’s spontaneity and adventure is limited compared to what can be experienced in unwedded romance in pure love. Some limitation is imposed by the sense of “duty” that husband and wife naturally acquire towards one another. This sense of duty is beautiful, but the highest type of love is even more beautiful. It is so profound that it requires no sense of duty – and flows absolutely spontaneously – breaking all things that stand in its path. Thus the pure transcendental love that Radha and Krishna enjoy on the highest level of bliss (paramānanda) expresses itself in the form of being paramours, not being husband and wife.
Q: How many wives did Krishna have? What was the names of his wives? How many sons did Krishna have?
Krishna does not marry anyone or have any children.
However, Krishna’s first expansion, as the king of Mathura and Dvaraka does marry. This “Krishna” is slightly distinct from the original svayam-bhagavan Krishna, who never exits his Dhāma, Vṛndāvana. This first expansion of Krishna is known properly as Vāsudeva Krishna.
Vāsudeva Krishna first married Rukmini, and then married another seven goddesses, headed by Satyabhama. Jambavati is another prominent one of these original wives. A little while later, Vāsudeva rescued 16,100 ladies from their abduction into a harem, and then married them all. He personally lived with each of his 16,108 wives simultaneously.
We hear that he had 10 sons with each wife. I have seen lists of names for the sons only of the 8 original wives. The most famous are Pradyumna, Samba, etc. I am not sure if he also had many children with the thousands of other wives, nor am I sure how many daughters he had. When Vāsudeva Krishna departed from the earth, there was a terrible event that allowed almost every single one of his family members to leave the world at about the same time.
Q: Was Radha realy Krishna Aunti?
Radharani is the daughter of Vṛṣabhānu and Kīrtidā. Krishna is the son of Yaśodā and Nandā (Vāsudeva Krishna, a little different, is the son of Devakī and Vasudeva). There may be some distant relationship which would make Rādhā and Krishna some type of cousins, but if that is the case, I am not aware of it. So far as I know there is no family relationship between Rādhā and Krishna, and certainly Radharani is not Krishna’s aunt. That is rather preposterous.
We should mention that Krishna’s mother, Yaśodā has so much motherly affection for Sri Rādhā that she treats her exactly like her own daughter, you can say, exactly like her own “Daughter-in-law.”
Q: Why is Krishna blue in skin color?
Blue is a word that is moderately useful towards describing the transcendental color of the Supreme Personality Śrī Krishna. Here is a more elaborate and accurate description: imagine a mountain of dark-blue sapphire. It would be almost jet-black. Now imagine the sun rising behind that mountain. That is something to give a clearer idea of the color of Krishna. Very black, but with a blue brilliance.
If you understand how light produces color, it will make clear sense why Krishna is so black. Black is the color that attracts light absolutely, and no light bounces off a black object. Krishna is all-attractive. Therefore he is black, every energy is completely attracted to him and never departs from him.
– Vraja Kishor das
The Enquirer 
I love this article! So sweet the way you describe the infinite quality of Krishna and Radha’s love so it transcends the boundaries of convention. Also, your description of black sapphire with the sun shining on it to produce that magical blue sheen. Thanks Vic!
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Thank you Kathy! These are the ways that Sri Rupa, Sri Sanatana, Sri Raghunatha das, and Sri Jiva Goswami’s presented their ideas on these topics, I am just trying to also comprehend and give some expression in English to their extremely sweet and sublime realizations of divinity.
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Srila Prabhupada is very careful that we understand the relationship between Radha and Krishna very carefully; it’s not like some mundane love affair between a young boy and young girl. There are several ways to look at it, but first we must understand this point.
Srila Prabhupada points out in one lecture, that
“. . .the love between Radha and Krishna is called parakiya. They’re not married as husband and wife. Radharani appears to be the wife of someone else, but She and Krishna were friends from childhood. Radharani could never forget Krishna. She used to come to Krishna and stand before Him. And He was playing. They were Kishora-Kishori – boy and girl – but without inebriety.
“Here, the boy and girls mix, and there are so many abominable, distressful things, which increase their material bondage. But between Radha and Krishna the friendship between boy and girl is there without inebriety. Krishna had so many gopis (cowherd maidens) as His girlfriends, but there were no contraceptive pills. (laughter) That is the beauty. Here, the so-called love is lust. And there (in the spiritual world), that (lust) is the highest. Here, the same thing has become its perverted reflection. Just like in a reflection of a original tree on the water, the topmost part appears to be the lowest.
“Similarly, in the spiritual world, the highest, topmost level of love is parakiya. Parakiya means love – not by marriage, but by friendship. There, it is pure. There’s no inebriety. “Perverted” means the topmost thing has become the lowest. Here (in the material world), parakiya, loving another’s wife or husband, is most abominable; it is adultery.”
On the other hand, there’s another story: When Krishna was a small child, Radharani was asked to accompany Him home. In Their childhood forms, Radha and Krishna were walking together in Bandiravan. They stopped to rest under a banyan tree, and, by Their mystic potency, They manifested youthful forms. Lord Brahma was asked to be the priest for the wedding and guests arrived. Lord Brahma performed the marriage ceremony, with all the demigods in attendance. During the wedding ceremony, Radharani’s sari was tied to Krishna’s dhoti, as is the custom in Vedic weddings. When the ceremony was over and the guests had left, They assumed their childhood forms again. Radha gave Krishna to Mother Yasoda and then walked home.
In this way it is accepted that Radha and Krishna are actually married. However, in order to make their pastimes more relishable, Radha is “so-called” married to Abhimanyu. The intrigue of Them (Radha and Krishna) meeting in secret and planning and plotting against Jatila and Kutila always makes Their pastimes more relishable.
On still another level; Krishna is actually the only male (purusha – “enjoyer”), and everyone else is prakriti or female. So, Krishna is actually everyone’s pati (“husband”), but especially He is every woman’s husband. In fact, anyone who’s married to anyone except Krishna is committing adultery!
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how much age differance in radha and krishana
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Śrī Śrī Rādhā Kṛṣṇa Gaṇoddesśa-dīpikā 2.167 gives a rounded figure for her age as āpañca-daśa (“Thoroughly 15”). Śāstra describes Śrī Krishna as nava-yauvana which means “just about entering youth” which specifically means “on the verse of 16.”
Krishna’s birth is taken as midnight of the 8th day of the dark fortnight of Bhadra-month. Rādhā’s birth is taken as midday of the 8th day of the bright fortnight of the same month. They are the same age, separated only by one fortnight.
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WOW, how he had manage to sleep all these thousands of wives?
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🙂 He’s not ordinary! 😉 Every living being exists subjectively in their own universe. So each wife can experience as if she was the main wife and Krishna spends all his time with her. He effortlessly exists as the center of every subjective universe.
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I m not able to understan the love story of lord krishna and Radha but I love it…Their true love….
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Filling blessed krishna knowing about him realy make me full of joy i am still single but know i am feeling in believing in him that he must have make a radha in this lonely world for me
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krishna is known as yogiraj. He never do the things like ordinary person . If some one want to know something about krishna he has to feel himself by devoting little time in his service. You will understand yourself who is krishna.Atleast chant his name unconditionally for half an hour every day. You will get reply for every question takes birth in the mind.
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