Aug 27, 2009, 12.00am IST
HIMANI DALMIA.
Radha is an elusive heroine. Ducking behind trees and hiding in bowers, she has managed to dodge definition for long.
At the same time, her very elusiveness has made her a muse for some of the greatest Sanskrit and Braj bhasha poets. Theologists, too, have repeatedly tried to glean more about her, with varying degrees of success. Radha is less a character, more an idea. At the same time, to her devotees, she is much larger than the male god she usually appears with, inspiring a passion and attachment similar to the one she kindled in Krishna himself.
Until Jayadevas masterpiece, the Gitagovinda, on the raas dance of Krishna and the gopis or cow herding girls, Radha was an obscure figure, turning up sporadically in stray verses of the puranas and in Prakrit and Sanskrit poetry. Some believe that the arrogant girl in the Bhagavata Purana who wants Krishna all to herself is really Radha. Even if this were so, there are many different interpretations of Radha by poets and writers.
Jayadeva, presented Radha as Krishnas partner in a secret, intense and exclusive love relationship. At the end of the raas, Jayadevas Krishna disappears with Radha, `deserting the other gopis. Barbara Stoler Miller, a leading scholar of the Gitagovinda, suggests that in Jayadevas view, the profound intimacy of Krishnas union with Radha -- in contrast with the diffusion of erotic energy in his play with the other gopis -- is symbolic of the perfection of Krishnas nature. Thus, Krishna and Radha are at the pinnacle of the love spiral created by the raas. The point of their union becomes the central point at which devotion can be concentrated.
Jayadevas use of the conventional medium of Sanskrit love poetry creates an aesthetic atmosphere of eroticism. The shringara rasa in Sanskrit poetry had two aspects: sambhoga-shringara or consummation and vipralambha shringara or separation. It is the interplay of these two modes that lends spiritual import to Jayadevas work, as well as to the poetry of bhakti saints.
The theme of separation dominates the poetry of Surdas. Simply put, this mode is based on the idea that distance makes the heart grow fonder and therefore, separation from their Lord would only intensify the gopis (unconditional) love.
Swami Haridas, Hita Harivansha and Hariram Vyas were contemporaries of Surdas. They were known as the rasik-trayi or trio of connoisseurs because they delighted in rasa or aesthetic delight and focused their poetry on the theme of consumnation. In their works, Radha stands out as the undisputed heroine amongst the many anonymous gopis. In Hariram Vyas Mann ki Shrinkhala, Radha is the cruel lover who frequently rejects Krishnas affections. His other important work, the Raaspanchadhyayi, is an eternal Radha-Krishna merry-go-round. Even though the happy couple is separated momentarily, that separation only serves to heighten the ecstasy of their reunion.
Depictions and descriptions of Krishnas interplay with the gopis are so rich in emotion and symbolism that they have lent themselves to infinite reinterpretation in the arts, inspiring great interest among devotees. Radhas portrayal is ambiguous and so seems quite dispensable in the story of Krishna. Radha has nevertheless captivated poets, artists and devotees for centuries. Jayadeva fleshed her out as the penultimate devotee but the rasik-trayi developed her into a phenomenon. Radha became a goddess, not because she was a character with a strong storyline, but because she was the embodiment of a profound aesthetic idea: the agony and ecstasy of union and separation from the Lord.
Today is Radha Ashtami.
No comments:
Post a Comment