Overview
Devaki (Sanskrit: देवकी, IAST: Devakī) is a figure in Hindu literature, best known as the mother of the god Krishna. She is described as one of the seven daughters of Devapa (also called Devaka), a king of the Yadu dynasty, and has four brothers. Devaki is among the wives of Vasudeva, and through this union she becomes the mother of Krishna.
Devaki is closely associated with the narratives surrounding Mathura. Her cousin Kamsa, the king of Mathura, is depicted as a cruel tyrant. According to tradition, the sage Narada informed Kamsa that in a previous life he had been the asura Kalanemi, who was slain by Vishnu, a revelation said to have intensified his wickedness. These accounts form part of the wider story cycle in which Krishna is born to Devaki and Vasudeva in captivity under Kamsa.
In popular tradition, Devaki is regarded as an incarnation of Aditi, a mother goddess who is described as the daughter of Daksha and the wife of the sage Kashyapa. This identification connects Devaki's role as the mother of Krishna with earlier cosmological themes of motherhood and divine birth in Hindu tradition.