BALARĀMA is a Hindu god, the elder brother of the god Kṛṣṇa. He is sometimes considered as the third of the three Rāmas, and thus the eighth avatāra of Viṣṇu; at other times he appears as an incarnation of the serpent Śeṣa or Ananta. He is also known by the names Baladeva, Balabhadra, Bala, and Halāyudha. Legends of Balarāma are found in the Brahmanical and Jain literature. He is mentioned along with Kṛṣṇa in the Mahābhārata, especially in its sequel Harivamśa, in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, and other Vaiṣnava Purāṇas.

The birth of Balarāma was extraordinary. When a disembodied voice predicted that the demon Kamsa would be killed by the eighth child of his sister Devakī, Kamsa vowed to kill her male children. Balarāma was conceived as...