The night Sri Krishna was born in prison, Yashoda had given birth to a
girl child at Gokul across the Yamuna River. Vasudeva placed baby Krishna, who was dark as the darkest night,
near Yashoda and took the girl child to the prison.
Kansa who arrived at the prison was surprised to see a girl
child instead of a boy, who was to annihilate him. Kansa lifted the girl child
to smash it on the ground. But the child slipped out of the hands of Kansa and
flew up into the sky.
Suddenly the girl child turned into a goddess whose luster
was like a million suns. Her eight arms held eight different weapons.
She announced that the killer of Kansa was still alive and Kansa
would die as foretold.
There are some stories in certain regions which believe that
the little girl was later reborn as Devaki and Vasudeva daughter – Subhadra.
Some stories suggest that the girl child was later reborn as
Draupadi, wife of the Pandavas. This folklore is prominent in Puri in Odisha.
It must be noted here that the girl child who flew into the
sky is believed to be Yogamaya. She is Mother Goddess Shakti.
It is equally interesting to note that Subhadra is
worshipped along with Balarama and Sri Krishna (Jagannath) in the world famous
Puri Jagannath Temple.
So it is certain that Yogamaya later appeared as the sister
of Krishna.