Q 01/05

Krishna and Rama are both avatars of which Hindu god?

A) Shiva

B) Vishnu

C) Brahma

D) Indra

Answer · why

B) Vishnu

Vishnu is said to descend as an avatar whenever some evil upsets the world's order, and Krishnaite traditions go further, treating Krishna himself as ...

Q 02/05

In which city was Krishna born, according to Hindu tradition?

A) Ayodhya

B) Mathura

C) Varanasi

D) Ujjain

Answer · why

B) Mathura

Mathura is where his parents were held in the king's prison, so the Krishna Janmasthan temple there marks a cell, not a palace, as his birthplace.

Q 03/05

In South India, Diwali marks Krishna's victory over which demon?

A) Mahishasura

B) Narakasura

C) Hiranyakashipu

D) Kumbhakarna

Answer · why

B) Narakasura

Narakasura had held thousands of women captive, so his death is kept as Naraka Chaturdashi, the eve of the main Diwali night in most of India.

Q 04/05

What relation was the tyrant Kamsa to Krishna?

A) His paternal grandfather

B) His elder brother

C) His father-in-law

D) His maternal uncle

Answer · why

D) His maternal uncle

His maternal uncle Kamsa jailed Krishna's mother and her husband after a prophecy that her child would kill him, which is why Krishna was born in a pr...

Q 05/05

According to the prophecy Kamsa heard at Devaki's wedding, which of her children would kill him?

A) The eighth

B) The first

C) The fifth

D) The seventh

Answer · why

A) The eighth

The eighth child was Krishna, smuggled out to Gokul on the night of his birth, and the number echoes in Janmashtami, kept on the eighth day of a lunar...