Jagat

This is the paper I presented in New Delhi on March 10, 2010, at the Jawarhalal Nehru University Centre for Historical Studies conference named "Devotion and Dissent in Indian History." Introduction: Symbol as Dissent Generally speaking, when talking about the relationship of religion to revolution, we are talking about some relationship of the ideal values inculcated in religious movements and their relationship to social justice. In this paper, I would rather like to discuss the relationship between such values as represented by the religious symbol of Radha and Krishna and what it can tell us of sexuality and sexual relationships, including the status of women. I am adopting a Jungian view of religious symbols as products of the collective unconscious, by which I mean that they spring from a non-verbal fountain of ideas, and have sustained power to provide meaning and a sense of the sacred. As such, they may produce a huge theological and hermeneutical superstructure aroun...

In keeping with classical Sanskrit dramatic forms, Dāna-keli-kaumudī (DKK) begins with a nāndī of two verses, the equivalent of a maṅgalācaraṇa in other Sanskrit texts. Both of these verses are quoted in Caitanya-caritāmṛta , which will give us some clues as to their significance and in turn help us to determine which elements make Rupa Goswami's vision of the dāna-līlā differ from that of Chandidas (SKK) and Devakinandan Singh in Gopala-vijaya (GoVi). Some of these differences will appear completely predictable to many readers, others not. At any rate, let us carry on with this exercise with the goal of enriching our reading of DKK and increasing our devotion to our Prema Thakurani, Srimati Radharani. What is immediately noticeable in the first verse is how Rupa Goswami unabashedly indicates his has adapted a longstanding description of the dramaticians. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta , when Mahaprabhu and his associates are appreciating Rupa's plays, Ramananda Raya (who h...

Tāmbula-khaṇḍa I would like to continue with the second section of Śrī-kṛṣṇa-kīrtana by Chandi Das. The previous section ended with Radha being turned over to Baḍāi who is to supervise her. The pālā contains 26 songs, with one MS leaf missing, which since the first and last are partially represented in this number, probably means that there were 27 or 28 songs in all. I am assuming this would have been one evening of song. Nowadays a three-hour Bengali līlā-kīrtana pālā usually only has 8-10 songs with a lot of narration in between. Songs also are broken up with akhars and so on. But the older style of maṅgala-kīrtana , which would have been the model for a lot of the texts that come out of the 15th and 16th centuries (e.g., Mānasā-maṅgala, Caṇḍi-maṅgala, Caitanya-maṅgala , etc.) were sung more or less without a break. There were still some people doing this kind of performance 25 years ago, but it was pretty rare. I don't know if anyone has kept up the tradition. It requi...

Altogether, SKK contains 13 chapters, which I would call pālās , or programs for performance. These have only limited connection to the familiar Puranic accounts of Krishna’s life, hence their great interest. Some of these themes, such as dāna , have subsequently found their way into the Sanskrit literature. All have continued to find a place in the popular Bengali līl ā -kīrtana . Here are the names of the chapters and a brief description of the contents: Janma-khaṇḍa (the reasons for Krishna’s incarnation, etc.); Tāmbula-khaṇḍa , (Krishna offers Radha pan through Baḍāi, which Radha refuses); Dāna-khaṇḍa , (Krishna waylays Radha on the road and demands toll fees); Naukā-khaṇḍa , (Krishna poses as a boatman, taking Radha across the Yamuna); Bhāra-khaṇḍa , (Krishna poses as a laborer to carry Radha's wares to market) Chatra-khaṇḍa , (a supplement to the previous. Very incomplete. Radha asks Krishna to hold a parasol for her, which he refuses to do without compensation)...

Some observations: I remember the first time I read Śrī-kṛṣṇa-kīrtana , I immediately sensed the discomfort that Gaudiya Vaishnavas post-Rupa Goswami would have felt with some aspects of the story. But I also recognized what they would have liked, and that is really what this whole reading of the book is about. Here are some preliminary observations: First of all, Rupa Goswami states in Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi that the pūrva-rāga of the nāyikā is usually described first. Here it is Krishna who is overcome with desire and Radha who resists. In Vidagdha-mādhava , for instance, it is Radha who is affected and she sends sakhīs to Krishna, who refuses her. This gives an opportunity to describe Radha's disillusionment and distress... the intensity of her love. In the second chapter we will learn that Radha is only 11 years old. We don't know how old Krishna is, but he sounds like a real brat, with very little redeeming about his character. He is full of lust and when he gets turned ...