How Did Krishna Die? The Story of Jara the Hunter, from the Mahabharata

How did Krishna die? The scriptures tell a strange and moving story: a hunter named Jara, mistaking the meditating Krishna's foot for a deer, shot him with an arrow. The account sits in the Mausala Parva, the sixteenth and bleakest book of the Mahabharata. Yet to devotees, Krishna did not die as a mortal dies; he consciously departed the world, rising upward in light to his eternal abode. Here, from one born in Braj, is the full story of Krishna's passing, the truth about where the arrow struck and the deep karma behind it. Plan your visit with our Mathura Vrindavan tour packages.

Key takeaways

• Krishna was shot by a hunter named Jara, who mistook his foot for a deer.

• The account is in the Mausala Parva, the sixteenth book of the Mahabharata.

• It happened at Prabhasa (in modern Gujarat), after the Yadava clan destroyed itself.

• The arrow struck the sole of his foot, not the heel, as the Sanskrit makes clear.

• Jara was, by tradition, the monkey-king Vali reborn, claiming a karmic debt from the Ramayana.

• To devotees, Krishna did not die as a mortal but consciously rose to his eternal abode.

I am Gurudutt, born in Gokul in the Mathura district, guiding pilgrims through Braj since 2018, more than 50,000 of them. Visitors often ask me how Krishna died, expecting a simple answer, but the story is strange, sourced and profound and much repeated online is wrong. Here I give you the scriptural account, faithfully, from a land that remembers not Krishna's end but his eternal, ever-present life.

The setting: the fall of the Yadavas at Prabhasa

The story of Krishna's passing is a sombre one. Long after the great war of the Mahabharata, a curse fell upon Krishna's own clan, the Yadavas. At the coastal place of Prabhasa, in what is now Gujarat, the Yadavas, in a drunken quarrel, turned upon one another and destroyed themselves almost to the last man. Krishna's elder brother Balarama, seeing the end had come, withdrew from the world in yoga. Krishna, now alone, went into the forest, sat beneath a tree and entered a deep meditative state (yoga samadhi), his foot resting raised. The stage was set for the strangest of endings.

The fatal shot: Jara the hunter

Into that forest came a hunter named Jara, searching for deer. Seeing, from a distance, the reddish sole of Krishna's raised foot moving slightly in the dappled light, he took it for the ear or eye of a deer and loosed an arrow. It pierced the sole of Krishna's foot. Drawing near to claim his prey, the hunter saw what he had done and was struck with terror and grief and fell at Krishna's feet begging forgiveness. Krishna, the scriptures say, comforted him. Then, his earthly work complete, the Lord rose upward, filling the sky with light and returned to his eternal abode.

Sole, not heel: the truth the internet gets wrong

Here is a point where much that is written online is simply mistaken. It is very often said that Krishna was shot in the heel and his death is even called his 'Achilles heel'. But the Sanskrit is clear: the arrow struck the sole of his foot, not the heel. The Mausala Parva says:

In plain words: the hunter, intent on a deer, shot the sleeping Krishna and struck him on the sole of the foot. The key word is padatale, 'on the sole of the foot'. The word for heel, parshni, appears nowhere in the Mausala Parva, in any edition. 'Heel' was only the choice of the old English translator, Ganguli and from that single word the internet built the 'Achilles heel' myth. The scriptures agree among themselves: the Bhagavata Purana too says the sole (11.30.33) and so does the Vishnu Purana. Krishna was struck on the sole of his foot.

The irony is beautiful and profound. The lotus feet of Krishna have been venerated for centuries as the very symbol of refuge and surrender and it is exactly there that the arrow found him. It is why the charan paduka, the sacred sandals or footprints of the Lord, are kept and worshipped in so many homes and temples of Braj.

The karma: why it had to be so (Jara was Vali)

Why should the Lord meet such an end? The scriptures give a deep answer of karma. In his earlier descent as Rama, in the Ramayana, Krishna had slain the mighty monkey-king Vali with an arrow shot from hiding, not in open combat. That deed left a karmic debt. The hunter Jara, it is said, was Vali reborn, come to claim it. So Krishna's passing was no accident but a destined settling of accounts, willingly accepted. When the trembling hunter begged forgiveness, Krishna did not blame him but reassured him, telling him not to fear and to rise, for what had happened was by the Lord's own will and sending him onward by his grace. Even after his death, Krishna turned into a lesson in karma and compassion.

Did Krishna really 'die'? The devotional view

To the devotees of Braj and to the Vaishnava tradition, Krishna did not die as a mortal dies. The Lord, who is eternal and self-luminous, cannot be killed; the arrow was but the outward occasion of his conscious departure from the world, his tirodhana, his return to his own eternal abode, Goloka. The Mahabharata itself describes him rising upward in radiance, filling the heavens with light. So devotees do not mourn Krishna's 'death' as an ending; they understand it as the Lord withdrawing his visible play (leela) from the earth, while remaining ever-present to those who love him. In Braj, above all, Krishna is felt not as one who died long ago, but as one who is here, now, forever.

Braj remembers his life, not his end

It is worth saying, from Braj, that Krishna's death happened far away, at Prabhasa in Gujarat and it is not what his own land dwells upon. Braj, the land of Mathura, Vrindavan, Gokul and Barsana, remembers and celebrates his birth and his childhood, his leelas and his eternal love for Radha, not his passing. Here he is the ever-living child and lover, not the dying king. To visit Braj is to step into his living presence: the birthplace at the Krishna Janmabhoomi, the infancy at Gokul, the beloved Banke Bihari and the love of Radha at Radha Raman and along the Yamuna at Kesi Ghat.

The honest bit: on the sources

Honest words from one born in Braj. This account is drawn faithfully from the scriptures: the Mausala Parva of the Mahabharata for the event and the Bhagavata Purana and Vishnu Purana for Krishna's words to the hunter. Where an old English rendering is followed, it is the public-domain Ganguli translation of the Mahabharata; the Sanskrit is quoted from the text itself. I have taken care of the one point most often wrong, the sole, not the heel, because the truth matters and because the lotus feet deserve it. There are, as ever, small differences between texts and tellings and the deepest meaning, that Krishna's passing was his own willed departure and a teaching in karma, matters more than any detail. Told rightly, the story of how Krishna 'died' is really the story of how the deathless Lord chose to leave and why.

Why Experience My India is the right choice

I was born in Gokul in the Mathura district, in the land of Krishna's living presence. Guiding since 2018, more than 50,000 pilgrims, 4.5 stars on Google, WhatsApp first, 8 AM to 9 PM daily. We take you through the land of Krishna's life and eternal love, tell you the true stories, sourced and faithful, on the very ground, walk you into the temples cars cannot reach and share the deeper meaning behind the tales, with no touts. One clear fare and never a charge for free darshan.

Tip from Gurudutt: if the story of Krishna's death moves you, come to Braj to feel the other half of the truth: that he never really left. Stand at his birthplace, walk the groves where he played as a child, bow at the Yamuna where he sported and chant 'Radhe Radhe' and you will understand what the devotees mean when they say Krishna is not a god who died in a forest long ago, but the ever-living Lord of Vrindavan, present to all who love him. The Mahabharata tells how he departed; Braj shows you that he stayed.

Related guides

• Places to visit in Mathura and Vrindavan: the top sights

• Barsana and Nandgaon: the twin villages of Radha and Krishna

• Mathura Vrindavan itinerary: 1, 2 and 3-day plans

• Vrindavan and Govardhan: the temple town and the sacred hill

Explore more Braj guides

• Keshi Ghat, Vrindavan: the Yamuna aarti and boat rides

• Festivals of Mathura and Vrindavan

• Pooja and seva in Mathura Vrindavan

• Mathura Vrindavan temples and places: the complete hub

Plan your visit to the land of Krishna

Tell me your dates and I will plan your journey through the land of Krishna's life and love, with a car, a guide born on this soil and your seva arranged, for one clear price. Our Mathura Vrindavan tour packages from Delhi and the NCR and our Mathura tour packages cover the heart of Braj. WhatsApp +91 7302265809, any day 8 AM to 9 PM. Packages from ₹1,999 per person, 4.5 stars on Google. Born in Gokul, Mathura.