India, Aug. 4 -- As Janamashtami, the festival to celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna, approaches on August 16, I sometimes wonder how foreigners react to the massive Indian veneration of a God whose persona is so radically different to their concept of divinity. Here is a God who steals butter as a child, precociously flirts with the gopis when still in his teens, is the ultimate lover-Sringaramurtimam-in his raas with the gopis and his immortal love lore with Radha, plays a key role in the great battle of Mahabharata between the Pandavas and Kauravas-in which he is willing to unethically break rules so that ultimately Dharma wins, and-in an entirely different role-is the sage counsellor to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita.

Is Krishna one Go...