Hare Krishna (or just the Krishna) is a gang featured in Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2.
Description[]
They are featured as pedestrians in the original Grand Theft Auto and then become a gang that Claude Speed can take missions from in Grand Theft Auto 2. Krishna's leader, Sunbeam, is one Claude's three potential contacts in the Industrial District. The Krishna are at war with the Zaibatsu Corporation and the Russian Mafia and hang out in Narayana, Maharishi and the Vedic Temple.
They are known to have problems with the Anywhere City Police Department, with Sunbeam tasking Claude to crush several of their cars at their car crushers. Next, Claude is asked to destroy the Zaibatsu Corporation's construction site, which he successfully does. In the next missions, Claude is tasked to kidnap Russian Mafia members so they can be converted into Hare Krishna members, lure out Russian assassins who are planning to kill the Grand Master of the Krishna, Master Lepus, and rescue several Krishna who were kidnapped by Zaibatsus in order to test drugs on them. The last 2 missions involve Claude saving some more Hare Krishna and destroying the Russian-owned Power Plant.
In return, the Krishna are targeted by the Zaibatsu Corporation leader Uno Carb, who tasks Claude to steal their Jefferson. Later, an associate of the Krishna is poisoned by Claude with hot dogs on their territory and 50 of their members are murdered by him in order to further increase gang violence between the Hare Krishna and the Russian Mafia.
The Russian Mafia leader Jerkov in turn asks Claude to kidnap Hare Krishna members via their Karma Bus and take them to a meat processing plant, where they are turned into hot dog meat which will be eaten by his troops. This mission only appears on the PlayStation 1, in other versions, it's regular pedestrians who have to be kidnapped. Jerkov is later targeted by the Krishna hitman Nova Bright, who is killed along with some of his hitmen by Speed. The last time they appear is during the mission Vedic Massacre!, during which Claude mercilessly murders hundreds of Hare Krishna members with Ivan's crew.
A group of men dressed as Asian monks appears briefly in GTA 2: The Movie, and they are saved by Claude under orders of a Yakuza boss. These are Yakuza members being converted into Hare Krishna. In-game, Claude Speed is also tasked with kidnapping a group of Russian Mafia members to be converted into Hare Krishna under orders of Sunbeam.
Trivia[]
General[]
- The chanting sound of the Hare Krishna in GTA is from a real Hare Krishna group recorded by Colin Anderson using a handheld tape recorder while in Dundee City Centre for lunch with Mike Dailly, one of DMA Design founders.[1]
- The chanting sound was later reused as ambience sound in GTA 2 at the Vedic Temple.
- In GTA, the player received a 'GOURANGA' bonus for running over an entire procession of Hare Krishna. 'GOURANGA' is actually a term that was popularized as use by the Hare Krishna movement during the 1970s. It is often used to describe happiness. This is also a cheat code in the PC version of GTA 2.
- The name Hare Krishna is derived from Hindu gods Lord Hari and Lord Krishna.
- When dialing '1-999-GOURANGA' in Grand Theft Auto V, players will hear a dial-up tone.[2]
Grand Theft Auto[]
- 'GOURANGA' can also be achieved by lining up the Hare Krishna and gunning them down with a machinegun, also resulting in a full wanted level from the police as if doing it with the car.
- If the player gets close to the lead member of a group, the Krishna can run around the player character or stop and have him walk up behind them. If done correctly, they will begin to follow the player, and the rest of the group also follow. They will leave the player if they get scared by gunfire or if they get scared from vehicles, and they won't follow the player again after they flee in fear. This can also be done with the Football Hooligans in GTA London 1969/1961.
- When they are following the player, they can lead them into danger such as falling from a great height or onto rail tracks.
- The Krishna can also have fist fights with them and end up having a massive brawl, with Krishna even fighting each other. Also after a fist fight, they won't hold anything against the player and will follow them. If they already were following the player, they will continue to do so.
- They won't follow the player into vehicles or trains if they enter one. Instead they will walk around it trying to get in until the vehicle or train moves, which will scare them away.
- When the player drives a Model Car into them, the player will gain a much bigger amount of money.
Grand Theft Auto 2[]
- Their favorite radio station is Heavenly Radio, which broadcasts from the Hare Krishna's Vedic Temple.
- In the GTA 2 manual, it is said that their criminality is entirely based around stealing and destroying technology, due to the fact that they are tired of being run over by cars with nothing but tambourines to defend themselves (a reference to the first Grand Theft Auto, where the player was rewarded for running them down). This statement is pretty ironic, seeing as in-game they carry powerful weapons like Molotov Cocktails or Flamethrowers and are one of the biggest criminal organisations in the city, using mind-altering techniques to gain new members.
Gallery[]
See Also[]
- Football Hooligans - Another group of people in Grand Theft Auto: London 1969/1961 which the player can get a bonus (KEEP LONDON TIDY!) from by running over them.
- Military (2D Universe) - Another group of people in Grand Theft Auto which the player can get a bonus (BOOT CAMP BONUS!) from by running over them.
- Elvis Impersonators - Another group of people in Grand Theft Auto 2 which the player can get a bonus (ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING!) from by running over them.
References[]
- ↑ “When we were making Grand Theft Auto in the mid-1990s smartphones didn't exist. The idea of being able to use your phone to record ideas for songs as a solution to the eternal composer's problem of forgetting your great, new song was science fiction. Instead, I used to carry a small, handheld tape recorder with me all the time. I used it to opportunistically capture random sounds or pieces of music I heard that I liked or found interesting. Most famously, I used it to capture the sound of a visiting Hare-Krishna group while in Dundee city centre for lunch with (fellow GTA creator) Mike Dailly, and we ended up using that sound for the chanting sound of Hare-Krishna's in the game.
- ↑