Devaki In Hinduism , Devaki is the wife of Vasudeva and mother of Krishna and Balarama . She was the daughter of Devaka , the younger brother of King Ugrasena of Mathura . Devaki and Vasudeva were imprisoned by her cousin , Kamsa , due to a prophecy that one of their sons would kill him . Kamsa then killed six of their sons . The seventh , Balarama , escaped death by being transferred to the womb of another woman , while a female child ( an incarnation of the goddess Yoga-Nidra or Maya ) was placed in Devaki 's womb . The eighth son , Krishna ( who was actually an avatar of Vishnu ) , was born at midnight and taken by Vasudeva to be raised by Nanda and Yasoda in the neighboring village of Gokul . It was believed that Krishna was born not from a sexual connection between Devaki and Vasudeva , but was transferred to Devaki 's womb . After he realised that Krishna had escaped alive , Kamsa released Devaki and Vasudeva , and they lived in Mathura . Vasudeva and his second wife Rohini had a daughter Subhadra , who married Arjuna and was the mother of Abhimanyu . Afterwards , they moved to Dwaraka with the rest of Mathura 's population . Reference Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend ( ISBN 0-500-51088-1 ) by Anna Dhallapiccola Hinduism | Hindu mythology | Itihasa Female Deities : Gayatri | Saraswati | Lakshmi | Dakshayani | Parvati | Durga | Shakti | Kali | Sita | Devi | Radha | Mahavidya | more ... Male Deities : Vishnu | Shiva | Rama | Krishna | Ganesha | Kartikeya | Hanuman | Lakshmana | Indra | Surya | more ... Texts : Vedas | Upanishads | Puranas | Ramayana | Mahabharata This box :   view • talk • edit  This Hindu mythology-related article is a stub . See the WikiProject Hindu mythology for article coordination . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . Categories : People related to Krishna | Hindu mythology stubs In other languages : Simple English 