Krishna

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In later Hindu myth., a much-worshiped deity, son of Devaki, appearing also as a leading character in the great epic of the Mahā-bhārata, as chief of a people and charioteer of Arjuna, to whom he addresses the philosophic poem called Bhagavad-Gītā. The grounds of his deification are obscure. He is worked into the general system of Hindu religion as an incarnation of Vishnu.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun (Hindu Myth.) The most popular of the Hindu divinities, usually held to be the eighth incarnation of the god Vishnu.
• noun A popular name for the group International Society for Krishna Consciousness (abbreviated ISKCON), devotees of Krishna, founded in 1966 by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (born 1896, died 1977). They are called thus because of their frequent public chanting of the words “Hare Krishna”.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• proper noun Hinduism A deity worshiped across many traditions of Hinduism. Krishna is often depicted as a young cowherd boy with a dark or blue complexion playing a flute (as in the Bhagavata Purana) or a youthful prince giving philosophical direction and guidance (as in the Bhagavad Gita) He is the divine speaker of the Bhagavad-gita and the eighth avatar of Vishnu.
• proper noun A river in southern India.
• proper noun A district in South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
• proper noun A male given name and a surname used in India.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun 8th and most important avatar of Vishnu; incarnated as a handsome young man playing a flute