Śrī Kṛṣṇa Sahasranāma
The thousand names of Kṛṣṇa — 201 verses, 965 names, each rendered verbatim with its meaning and the story it recalls.
About this edition
A sahasranāma — a “thousand-name” litany — gathers the epithets of a deity into a single garland for recitation and contemplation. This is the Parāśara recension of the Kṛṣṇa Sahasranāma, preserved in the Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa. Unlike a bare list of names, this edition restores to each epithet the līlā — the episode of Kṛṣṇa's life — that the name recalls, drawing on the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, the Mahābhārata, the Harivaṃśa, and the Bhagavad Gītā.
Every Sanskrit string, transliteration, gloss, and citation here is reproduced exactly as transmitted. Nothing is paraphrased, abridged, or invented.
The line of transmission
The hymn descends through six teachers:
How the garland is arranged
The 201 verses are grouped into five movements that follow the arc of Kṛṣṇa's life — from the cosmic prologue to the eternal return. Each verse page gives the Devanāgarī, its transliteration, the story behind the verse, and every name within it.
I–IV Gokula
The cosmic prologue through the Gokula infancy
Verses 1–40
V–VIII Vṛndāvana & Kāliya
The forest years, calf-tending, and the conquest of Kāliya
Verses 41–80
IX–XIII Flute · Rāsa · Mathurā
The Veṇu-gīta, the Rāsa-līlā, and the journey to Mathurā
Verses 81–120
XIV–XVIII Dvārakā · Mahābhārata
Dvārakā, the queens, and the turn toward the great war
Verses 121–160
XIX–XXII War · Departure
The Mahābhārata war and the eternal return
Verses 161–201
Where to begin
Read the garland from Verse 1, browse the complete table of verses, or look up any epithet in the A–Z index of all 965 names. The ritual preface — dhyāna, viniyoga and nyāsa — and the closing phalaśruti and uttarāṅga complete the recitation. New to chanting? Start with how to chant.