Moses & Krishna – Different Religions, Different Stories, Same Elements

At first glance Moses and Krishna are names synonymous with religions at the opposite ends of the spectrum from each other. While one is at the heart of the monotheistic traditions the other is the corner stone of one of the oldest practiced polytheistic religions. One emanates from the banks of river Nile and ends in the Sinai desert while the other originates from the fertile plains around river Yamuna and finds its way to the Arabian Sea coast. Moses was a human chosen by God as his Prophet while Krishna is considered as an incarnation of God Himself. The followers of both have spent millennia trying to prove the other wrong. But go beyond the labels of the religions, and you will find startling similarities between the elements of both stories.

Moses was left adrift by his mother when he was 3 months old in a reed basket because the Pharaoh had ordered that all Hebrew male babies be killed. The uncle of Krishna, Kans too had ordered that all male babies born to his sister Devki be killed at birth and when Krishna was born his father Vasudev carried him across the Yamuna in a reed basket. Hence both babies were separated from their natural mothers due to an eminent threat on their lives and both babies undertook this journey on a river in a basket.

Moses was raised in the household of the Pharaoh (according to Islam it was the Pharaoh’s wife who adopted him while according to the Judaic version it was the Pharaoh’s daughter). Regardless of who raised him the fact remains that he was raised as the family member of the very person against whom he would eventually revolt and from whom he would later liberate his people the Israelites. Krishna too was related to the very person whom he was destined to kill i.e. Kans the King of Mathura and liberate the oppressed people of that land. Both of them ended up having 2 mothers, one who gave them birth and the other who raised them with love.

Moses and Krishna both left the land where they spent their childhood in order to rescue their people from cruelty of their rulers. Moses led his people to the Sinai from where his people crossed the River Jordan and Krishna left Gokul where he was raised to Mathura where he vanquished his uncle.

The most famous scene of the Exodus is where the waters part for Moses and his people as they are chased by the Pharaoh and his army. Interestingly there is a similar incident with Krishna as well. After Kans was killed his wife swore revenge on Krishna and her brother waged endless wars against the kingdom of Mathura. Tired of years of conflict, Krishna took all his people and came to the coast of the Arabian sea near the delta of the Godavari. Here he asked the sea to give his people shelter and tradition says that the sea receded and the land revealed is what we know today as Dwarka. Here Krishna spent his last days as the King of Dwarka.

Whether we are talking about 2 different stories or if we are actually looking at the same myth being adapted across cultures separated by thousands of miles and several millennia, we do not know, nor do I want to venture there. However there is one thing which we can be certain of and that is when people look below the surface, when we keep our sentiments on the side, when we control our knee jerk reactions to other religions and are able to study things objectively, we can find similarities even between opposites. And therein lies our hope for peace, tolerance and coexistence.