Sri Krishna, the ninth incarnation of Lord Vishnu is the most popular avatar and is regarded as purna avataar(complete incarnation). All other deities are regarded as his manifestation. His story and his exploits(leela) are numerous and very well known. To the Hindu, he is the supreme statesman, warrior, hero, philosopher, teacher and God himself. He is the great exponent of Bhagavadgita, the "song celestial".

The Bhagavata or the Pancharatra sect preaches the cult of Vishnu-Narayana-Krishna. lt states that Lord Vishnu manifests in four ways: para (supreme) in all his glory; four vyuhas or emanations, hence the terms chatur-vyuhas, chatur-murthis represented by Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. In Vaishnava mythology, Krishna is Vasudeva, Balarama is Sankarshana; Pradyumna and Aniruddha are Krishna and his grandson, respectively. Historically, it is possible that the Yadava heroes were, in time, apotheosized into these vyuhas.

Symbolically, they represent the four stages of psychological evolution: Vasudeva for chitta (mind), Sankarshana for ahankara (ego), Pradyumna for buddhi (intellect) and Aniruddha for manas (mind). These vyuhas were later increased to 24. Iconographically, all the vyuhas are identical except for the arrangement of the four emblems - shankha, chakra, gadha, and padma; vibhava or incarnations or avatars; arca is the descent of the lord into the icon (vigraha), installed and worshipped ceremonially in the temples. Jagannath of Puri in Orissa represents Sri Krishna with similar images representing Balarama and Subhadra (Krishna's sister).

Krishna is the ideal of divine love. His vishvarupa (universal form) makes us exclaim like Arjuna "oh lord! thou art everything! infinite in power and infinite in prowess, thou pervadest all"