'Devak' was the brother of the emperor 'Ugrasen'. Devaki was his daughter. The demon king 'Kansa' was Devaki's cousin and was elder to her. So Kansa had great affection towards her and loved her very much.

Devaki was married to Vasudev, the descendant of the Yadava clan.

After the marriage, when Devaki was being sent off to her in-laws house, Kansa drove the chariot carrying Vasudev and Devaki.While Kansa was riding the chariot, suddenly he heard a voice from the sky: " O fool Kansa, your sister's chariot which you are riding with so much love, her eighth child would kill you."

Hearing this, Kansa became sad. The love and affection, which he had towards his sister vanished immediately and his heart was filled with anger. He jumped down from the chariot and caught Devaki by her hair, took out his sword and thought that it would be better if he kills Devaki because then there will be no possibility of her, giving birth to any child.

Vasudev, with great patience, begged Kansa and promised that if Devaki's life was spared then each child born to them would be brought to him, so that he could kill them one by one.

Kansa believing Vasudev's words, spared Devaki's life but after thinking for a while, decided to put both of them in prison. Devaki gave birth to seven children in the prison and the cruel Kansa killed all one by one. Lord Vishnu manifested himself as the eighth child of Devaki, in his full glory and form. Devaki had a mixed feeling of joy and sorrow. She was filled with joy as Lord Vishnu himself had taken birth as the eighth child and she was sad as Kansa would kill him.

Lord Vishnu showed Devaki his divine appearance. Devaki being fearful of Kansa, requested him to conceal his divine form. Lord Vishnu then asked Vasudev to carry him to Nand's house at Gokul and bring the girl child which was born from Lord Vishnu's own illusionary powers from there.

Vasudev followed the instructions by carrying Lord Krishna (Vishnu) to Nand's house and returned back with the girl with him.

When Kansa came to know about the birth, he came to the prison and as soon as he lifted the girl to kill her by dashing her against a rock, the girl slipped away from his hands, went up in the sky and warned Kansa of his imminent death by saying: " Kansa! Your assailant has already taken birth."

Lord Krishna grew up at Gokul. Devaki lived in separation with her heart always longing for Krishna's sight. Later, when Krishna grew up, he killed Kansa and freed his real parents. He asked his parents to forgive him for causing them pain and anguish due to the separation and for non-fulfillment of his duties towards them. In this way, Lord Krishna had shown his devotion and respect for his parents.

Later on when Lord Krishna had left Mathura and started living at Dwarka, Devaki lived with him. Though Krishna had grown up as a young man by that time, but for Devaki he was still a small child. She still treated him like a small child by feeding him with her own hands. Lord Krishna also acted like a small child. Devaki had forgotten about the divine appearance of Lord Vishnu that he had shown to her at the time of his manifestation.

But Lord Krishna wanted to help Devaki in attaining real knowledge. When Devaki heard that Krishna had brought the dead son of his 'Guru' (teacher) back to life to pay his ' Gurudakshina', she insisted him to bring all his previous seven dead children back alive. Krishna along with Baldev went to the Paatal Loka (nether world) and brought back all the seven dead children. All of them were alive and in the same state of infancy.

Devaki was filled up with emotions of motherhood, fed all the seven children with her milk. After being fed, all of them went to the world of the deities.

Now, Devaki had realized that her son was not any ordinary soul but the Lord of the whole universe. She became free from all kinds of attachments and illusions and with this blissful knowledge, her mind was absorbed in meditation of the Lord. In the end, Devaki and Vasudev came to know about the death of Lord Krishna from 'Daruk', while fighting among themselves in the region of Prabhas (presently in Saurashtra) and Lord Krishna annihilated the Yadavas and he too departed to his 'Vaikuntha' (abode of Lord Vishnu),

Both of them reached 'Prabhas' and not finding Krishna there, left their bodies made up of five elements and went to the abode of their dear son Krishna.