Jagat

So I spent my day like old times... typing out Bhagavata commentaries. Did the entire Vaishnava-toshani for 10.39, simply because two verses were cited from it in Krishna Sandarbha. It is not a chapter I had previously tasted deeply because of the mood... Who wants to read about the gopis' suffering when Akrura comes to take Krishna away? That huge "non-cruel" form that Fate takes to destroy the hopes of the Lovers. And so soon after that apogee in the Rasa-lila! What struck me as I went through the chapter [this typing is not deep penetration, just overviewing] was how the cowherds are all gung-ho and Krishna himself is quite ready to leave. "It is going to be jolly good fun, we go to the big fair in Mathura, we sell some milk products, make a few bucks, watch the rasslin', do a little rasslin', maybe knock off Kamsa, then come back." Only Krishna and Balaram are a little more serious while talking to Akrura -- recognizing the moment for t...

Krishna has left for Mathura in a manner quite different from the Bhagavatam. No Akrura, no scene of desperation at his departure, no invitation from Kamsa or wrestling match, no sense of heroic destiny. Krishna has said he needs to be pure in order to carry out his mission of killing Kamsa and the demons and so must abandon Radha. He seems to have not given up his deep-seated grudge at Radha's resistance to his earliest advances and other offenses she has committed. He seems to have stopped identifying himself as a cowherd; he says he is the son of Vasudeva and Devaki and that he has no further use for a cowherd woman. Even though both Krishna and Radha still refer to him as Narayan or Jagannath, or any of the other names of Vishnu, Krishna is using this in the way that any unscrupulous powerful person might use his status: to serve his own interests. Nevertheless, at Barai's request, after repeated refusals, Krishna finally agreed to meet Radha and the two made love, but...

We finished Part I of this review of the last chapter of Śrī-kṛṣṇa-kīrtana (SKK) in the middle of a bhāva-parīkṣā ("test of love") series of songs. Radha has met Krishna and is appealing to him to accept her, but Krishna steadfastly refuses, ironically reprising many of the arguments that Radha herself used in the very beginning of the book to state the impossibility of their affair. Now Radha appeals again to Krishna, begging him not to be cruel. She concludes, bujhiteṁ nārila tiri puruṣa jāti la : "Seeing the effects this is having on my body, your heart still remains so hard. Women have not been able to understand the male species." [Of course, this line could be read the other way round: "Men have not been able to understand women." Amitrasudan Bhattacharya has the strange, "I haven't been able to understand whether you are a man or a woman." Which is also the way that Basantaranjan Ray also seems to reads it: "If you were a wom...

So we start the last of the chapters ( khaṇḍas ) of Śrī-kṛṣṇa-kīrtana , called Rādhā-viraha . I have already discussed this chapter to some extent in a previous article . That article is from two years ago, so it really shows how long I have been doing this... I have reposted some of the quotes from that here again, but will give a more detailed summary. As we have already mentioned, the last few pages (how many we don’t know) are missing from the manuscript. The most valuable introductory and concluding portions of the work are both lost and this is deeply frustrating, for reasons that will be evident. Rādhā-viraha is the second longest portion of the book, with 68 extant songs and who knows how many went missing with the last pages? As was stated with regards to the dāna-keli chapter, the length likely reflects the popularity of the theme itself. And indeed, the theme of Radha’s separation from Krishna is one that continues to influence Bengali Vaishnavism in ways that other fo...

We left Radha at the end of the previous khaṇḍa having been pierced by the arrows of love fired by Krishna, seemingly the last vestiges of resistance having been erased. This khaṇḍa begins with Radha going with the other girls to the Yamuna to bathe and fetch water. Krishna is there playing various musical instruments and putting on a show, amusing the gopi girls. Radha remains strangely indifferent until Krishna makes himself a bamboo flute that is inlaid with gold and encrusted with diamonds. Krishna fills the flute with the omkara and this has a devastating effect on Radha. ke nā bāṁśī bāe baḍāyi kālinī na:i kule | ke nā bāṁśī bāe baḍāyi e goṭha gokule || ākula śarīra mora beākula mana | bāṁśīra śabadeṁ mo āūlāiloṁ rāndhana || ke nā bāṁśī bāe baḍāyi se nā kona janā | dāsī haāṁ tāra pāe niśiboṁ āpanā || ke nā bāṁśī bāe baḍāyi cittera hariṣe | tāra pāe baḍāyi moṁ kailoṁ koṇa doṣe || ājhara jharae mora nayanera pāṇī | bāṁśīra śabadeṁ baḍāyi hārāyiloṁ parāṇī ākula karite...

The Yamunā Khaṇḍa is the next section of the SKK. It is somewhat different as it has three divisions. Kāliya-damana-khaṇḍa, Vastra-haraṇa-khaṇḍa and Hāra-khaṇḍa . The section covers folio leaves 133/1 to 152/2. Kāliya-damana-khaṇḍa (“The repression of Kaliya, from 127.2 to 133.1 (songs 245 to 254) Vastra-haraṇa-khaṇḍa (“The stealing of the clothes”), 133.1 to 144.2 (songs 255 to 276) Hāra-khaṇḍa (“The necklace episode”), 144.2 to 152.2, but with 145-151 missing, so only 5 songs are left, 2 of which are incomplete. Probably 8-9 songs are missing. This means that there would have been around 40 songs in the pālā , so I think we can imagine that these were meant to be performed on three separate nights. The events described do not take place on the same day. They simply have some continuity in terms of the plot. Some features of this section are that there is a wider range of participants than the three (Radha, Krishna and Barai) plus the other gopis, which we have become ac...

Śrī-kṛṣṇa-kīrtana by Chandi Das is quite a fascinating piece of literature. Despite what are obvious flaws to those who belong to later Vaishnava traditions, there is little doubt about its entertainment value. The Vṛndāvana-khaṇḍa has 30 songs, which appears to equal the approximate number intended for a single night's performance. I think they pretty much sang the whole way through without commentary. Maybe two or three people performing taking the different parts. Anyway, the  Vṛndāvana-khaṇḍa  is interesting because it has elements of Gīta-govinda and the Rāsa dance woven into something quite different. I have been operating under the presumption that SKK was written without much knowledge of the Bhāgavatam, but this may be called into question as at least one or two unique features of the Bhāgavatam account are found here, though most of them are found in the Viṣṇu-purāṇa also. Nevertheless, the use of these elements is contextually so different from the origin...