Kresna was cousin to both sides in the war between the Pandavas and Kauravas. He asked the sides to choose between his army and himself. The Kauravas picked the army and he sided with the Pandavas. He agreed to be the charioteer for Arjuna in the great battle. The Bhagavad Gita is the advice given to Arjuna by Kresna before the start of the battle.Following the war Kresna lived at Dwaraka for thirty-six years. Then at a festival, a fight broke out between the Yadavas who exterminated each other. His elder brother Balarama then gave up his body using Yoga. Kresna retired into the forest and sat under a tree in meditation. A hunter mistook his partly visible foot for a deer and shot an arrow wounding him mortally. According to the Mahabharata, the death of Kresna was due to a curse by Gandhari. Her bitter anger after witnessing the death of her sons caused her to utter this curse, because Kresna did not do enough to stop the war. Upon learning of the curse, Kresna smiled and accepted it, stating that his duty was to fight for the righteous side, not to prevent the war.According to references in the Bhagavata Purana and Bhagavad Gita it has been interpreted that Kresna died around 3100 BCE. This is based on the description of Kresna's leaving Dwarka thirty-six years after the Battle of the Mahabharata. The Matsya Purana says that Kresna was eighty-nine years old when the battle was fought. Thereafter the Pandavas ruled for a period of thirty-six years, their rule was in the beginning of the Kali Yuga.
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