Rohini Devi

In Hinduism, Rohini (Sanskrit: रोहिणी, rohiṇī) is a consort of Vasudeva. She is the mother of Balarama and his sister Subhadra, the siblings of the god Krishna. She played a prominent role in the nurture of Krishna. She was a partial incarnation of Surabhi, the mother of the cows.

Vasudeva's imprisonment

Rohini's husband, Vasudeva, was also married to another lady, Devaki. Immediately after the wedding of Devaki and Vasudeva, a divine voice from the sky (also called "Akashvani" predicted the death of Devaki's evil brother Kansa at the hand of "the eighth son of Devaki". Kansa then resolved upon killing all the progeny of Devaki immediately upon birth, and imprisoned the newly-wed couple without further ado. This left the distraught Rohini alone, albeit at liberty.

Kansa proceeded to personally kill each child born to the imprisoned couple immediately after its birth. In due course, Devaki found herself pregnant for a seventh time. However, this seventh child was not to meet the fate of the six previous infants; the unborn child was miraculously transferred from the womb of Devaki to the womb of Rohini, who had long been craving a child of her own. The child thus born was named Balarama, and grew to be a great warrior and support of his younger brother Krishna.

Nurture of Krishna

Krishna, who was the much-anticipated eighth child of Devaki, was moved immediately after birth to Gokula in secrecy. Rohini also then moved to the same region, to be able to keep an eye on her beloved stepson Krishna, who was raised in another family due to the threat of him being killed by Kansa. It is due to this proximity that the two brothers, Balarama and Krishna, grew up together.

Posterity

After the slaying of Kansa by Krishna and the consequent release of Vasudeva and Devaki from prison, her son married Revati the daughter of king Kakudmi and had sons Nisstha and Ulmuka and a daughter Vatsala.Both sons Nisatha and Ulmuka were killed in the Yadu fratricidal war, after which Balarama also ended his earthly incarnation in meditation by the sea.