This fall, if you’re looking for an exciting holiday, look no further than Janmastami, advent day of Lord Krishna, the ancient Sanskrit name for God. With 930 million Hindus and devotees around the world celebrating, including two million in America, it’s a colorful whirlwind of festivities. Images, or deities, of Krishna and his divine consort Radha are bathed in auspicious liquids, devotional songs are sung with musical accompaniment, sacred texts are read aloud and traditional Indian dance and drama are performed. Finally, tired but happy, celebrants break their day-long fast with a delicious feast at midnight, the exact time that Krishna is said to have appeared.

That’s today. But according to Vaishnavas – Krishna worshippers and members of Hinduism’s largest sect – we must go back five thousand years to find out where it all began.

Krishna’s parents, Vasudeva and Devaki, were imprisoned by the tyrannical ruler Kamsa when a prophecy predicted that their eighth child would kill him. Not wanting to take any chances, the wicked king held them in captivity and slaughtered each child as it was born. The eighth child Krishna however, at his concerned parents’ request, hid signs of his divinity so that they could smuggle him out of jail.

Naturally, being God, Krishna did not need to be rescued. Yet this paradox only serves to highlight a unique quality of Krishna that makes him the most adored deity in Indian spirituality: a son to some, a friend to others, and a lover to still others, he reciprocates every devotee’s love in very human ways.

The celebration of Janmastami continued on in some form or other since the time of Krishna’s appearance. But it was the Bhakti renaissance, or resurgence of Krishna worship, between the 11th and 16th centuries, that gave birth to the festival as we know it today. This culminated with the appearance of the great saint Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Bengal in 1486 – a mere six years before Christopher Columbus mistakenly discovered America, thinking it to be India. Revered by Vaishnavas as Krishna Himself, Chaitanya inspired love of God in many and brought attention to the forgotten historical site of Krishna’s childhood activities, Vrindavana.

Krishna worship continued to flourish over the next hundred years as Chaitanya’s immediate disciples, the six Goswamis, carried on his teachings and built many temples.

But then the Muslim regime invaded.

Muslim emperor Aurangzeb had his men destroy the top four floors of the magnificent seven storey Govindaji temple. Other places of worship were similarly attacked. This triggered a mass exodus, and over the next eighty or ninety years, many major deities of Vrindavana were moved to surrounding areas to protect them -- some, like Govindaji, as far as Jaipur in Rajasthan.

Krishna worship faced more opposition in the 19th century, when British Christian missionaries traveled to India with the goal of converting the ‘heathens’. Upon arriving, however, they were amazed at the rich and complex theology that they found. Furthermore, rather than converting to Christianity and replacing what they already had, the Indians, with trademark hospitality, simply included Jesus. Somewhat disappointed at this, the missionaries returned to England. It was their subsequent determination to understand this new mysteriously knowledgeable people, that yielded some of the best indological scholarship in history.

In more recent times, America and the rest of the Western world experienced a strong influx of Indian thought. The 1960s, in particular, saw an abundance of Gurus and holy men peddle their teachings. Standing out from the crowd was A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, a monk in the direct disciplic line of Shri Chaitanya. Soon he had established hundreds of Krishna temples and introduced the celebration of Janmastami to the Western world.

At the same time, Indian immigration into the U.S. began again after a lapse of about 40 years, bringing with it a flood of culture and spirituality.

Today, an estimated seven hundred thousand Indian and western pilgrims pour into Mathura, Krishna’s birthplace, every year. Millions around the world celebrate Janmastami in their homes and temples. And website Krishna.com plans to hold the first online Janmastami celebration, with stories, information and festive e-cards.

Five thousand years on from Krishna’s birth, the ancient festival of Janmastami is still as alive, and still as relevant, in the digital age as it was all those years ago.