Legend has it that Lord Krishna used to visit his beloved Radha and tease her and her sakhis (friends) on the day of Holi, which is celebrated all over the country. Over the years, the Holi celebrations of Barsana acquired a unique flavour and came to be known as ‘Lathmar Holi’. On the first day of Holi, gopas (shepherds) from Nandgoan (Krishna’s village) come to Barsana to play Holi with the gopis (shepherdesses) of the village. The gopas from Nandgoan are greeted with sticks and most of them run away. The ones who are caught by the women are then made to wear women’s clothing and dance in public.
Apart from Holi, Radha Ashtami is also an important festival to celebrate the birth of Radha. Braj, Vrindavana and Rawal are also some of the prominent places where Radha Ashtami is celebrated on a grand scale after fifteen days of Krishna Janmashtami. It is celebrated in the Bhadrapada month on the Ashtami of Shukla Paksha. As part of the festivities, women keep a fast to seek the blessings of Radharani. To please Radha, the temples are beautifully decorated and the idol of Radha is dressed in new attire with jewellery.
This essay focuses on a set of theories pertaining to Advaita (oneness), bhakti (devotion) and samprada (sect), where the merging of Radha into Krishna and Krishna into Radha is validated. In the Indic tradition ‘itihas Puranas’ follow a trajectory parallel with historical narratives and literary traditions. Whilst Bhakti literature is flooded with myriad examples of the ‘becoming’, the most lyrical observation on cross-dressing emerges from bhakti poetry, which often forms the sahitya (literature) of Indian classical dance and music. Numerous questions confront us about Radha: Was Radha a reality? Did the divine lovers Radha and Krishna actually cross-dress? Was it only a figment of the imagination of artists and poets alike? With this set of questions, this piece is an attempt to find their answers.
LEELA HAVA
Leela Hava emerges from the Indic philosophical concept of Advaita (oneness). Radha is the highest exemplary figure of true devotion and immortal love. She spends her entire life in the memory of Lord Krishna. Her fervent devotion of the Lord remains unmatched in the legends. An unknown poet in this verse says:
She wears his peacock feather;
She sports his yellow garment,
He wraps himself in her beautiful sari
How charming the very sight of it . . .
The daughter of Vrishabhanu [Radha] turns [into] Nanda’s son [Krishna], and Nanda’s son, Vrishabhanu’s girl.
The bodies of Radha and Krishna veiled under lotuses, except the faces, reinforces the Leela Hava, which is the archetypical artistic representation of Lord Krishna in a sportive mode. It highlights the state of mind rather than a physical act of the divine lover. To borrow from Dr Daljeet and P.C. Jain: ‘The Lord of Creation, in Krishna’s case hava is the ultimate for in his case hava does not precede leela—an act, hava itself is leela and itself the expression of joy of which Creation is the manifest form. Thus, Krishna, the Creator, does not create by act—leela but the Creation evolves out of his joy, and his joy seeks its expression in his leela hava.’ Popularly, Krishna is depicted with the lotus flower. The lotus stands for the three cosmic spaces: earth (roots under the earth), water (body spread across the water) and sky (flower headed to the sky). Thus Krishna embraced with a lotus flower signifies that the entire Creation is part of Leela Hava. Radha as a manifestation of a dutiful devotee partakes in the pleasure of Leela Hava with Krishna. With the same dimensions as Krishna, Radha is an equal participant in this cosmic play.
Following the same concept is Leela Hava as espoused by Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada. Of the many sampradas, such as the Swaminarayan Samprada, the Nimbarka Samprada and the Vallabharcharya Samprada, within bhakti is the Chaitanya Samprada which has ‘sakhi bhava’ as part of its core philosophy, where even the male bhakta is a woman, i.e. Radha. Vidya Dehejia opines that the erotic aspect of Krishna is evident when he cross-dresses as a woman on numerous occasions to meet his beloved Radha: disguising himself as a bangle seller to be near his beloved or participating in the all-women Holi celebrations.
Among the many legends that prove Radha’s oneness with Krishna, this story once again illustrates the eternal love shared between the two. In order to put the love between them to the test, Krishna’s wives gave boiling hot milk to Radha, saying it had been sent by Krishna; Radha, without any sign of reluctance, drank it. But the prank took an ugly turn when Krishna started suffering from ulcers in his throat. This episode once again ascertains the fact that Radha and Krishna were the same. Radha was ready to do anything for Krishna and the latter was willing to undergo any kind of pain for Radha.
Swami Prabhupada in his philosophical interpretation of Radharani in the 20th century expresses the Leela Hava. The Hare Krishna movement follows the sampradaya system of passing Vedic knowledge from guru to shishya. Srila Prabhupada, as the founder of the movement, represents the Brahma–Madhva–Gaudiya sampradaya, which begins with Lord Krishna. In one of the lectures by Srila Prabhupada on 30 August 1968, he said: ‘Srimati Radharani is as fully spiritual as Krishna. No one should consider Her to be material. She is definitely not like the conditioned souls, who have mental bodies, gross and subtle, covered by material senses. She is all-spiritual, and both Her body and mind are of the same spiritual embodiment. Because Her body is spiritual, Her senses are also spiritual. Thus Her body, mind and senses fully shine in love of Krishna.’
Moreover, according to Vedic scholar Nagaraj Paturi, in the Brahma–Madhva–Gaudiya sampradaya, there is a huge aradhana of Radha and Krishna where Krishna is not the avatar of Vishnu but Bhagwan (God) himself. According to Paturi, ‘The relishing of Krishna comes from Radha herself. Radha is the relishability of Krishna. Krishna without Radha is unrelishable.’
STRI-VESHA
In Indian literature this exchange of clothes between Krishna and Radha is vividly expressed and narrated. As an identity marker of the couple, the exchange is not limited to the surface but stands as a personification of the deep Vaishnava philosophy of Advaita. Moreover, in Hinduism this sublime Oneness further subscribes to the concept of God as the simghata or sammisrana, the coalescence of male and female principles. It visualized God as being ardhanara (half man) and ardhanari (half woman), and this imaging was given the name Ardhanarishvara. The duality of the male and female principles has been recognized and paid due cognizance in literature, myths and in the mythological representation of the ancient and known world. In India itself there has been a variation in the themes that have influenced religious and philosophical projections in history and mythology. A perfect example is that of the akshara, or a letter of the Devanagari script. The akshara is understood to be mostly representative of the combined form of Shiva and Parvati, the letter representing the presence of Shiva, and the horizontal support indicating the presence of Parvati.
Indologist Devdutt Pattanaik states, ‘[I]n temples across India, amongst the many attires of Krishna is one called stri-vesha, where he dresses as a woman. Krishna is shown wearing a saree and women’s jewellery. Some identify this as a form of Mohini, the divine enchantress, an avatar of Vishnu and Krishna. Some say this is Krishna dressing up like his mother, Yashoda, to amuse her. Some say this is Krishna being “punished” by the gopikas.’ According to legend, the women of Gokul could not bear the mischievousness of Krishna and decided to take revenge by dressing him as a woman. The popular lyrics of the thumri ‘Nar Ko Nari Banao’ (Make the Lad a Lass) illustrate this. To dress him up as a woman, they make Krishna wear a ghaghra and choli. His hands are made red with alta, but instead of getting miffed with the gopis, Krishna goes with the flow and partakes in the pleasure. He eagerly demands jewellery and asks for shringara. In Indian literature the sixteen traditional adornments of a woman do not merely enhance her beauty—they are also an arpana (offering) for her beloved. This is an important aspect of shringara rasa. The retribution turns into a play, or leela, between the gopis and Krishna. In order to commemorate Krishna’s love for Radha, he dons the stri-vesha. To give one more ins
tance of cross-dressing, during ‘Gore Gvala Ki Leela’ (The Game of the Fair Cowherd), since Radha insists on feeling like Krishna, both of them exchange each other’s clothes. Krishna is clad as Radha and Radha as Krishna. However, Radha declares, ‘Oh, Krishna you can look like me but you will never know the pain in my heart when we separate.’
It cannot be denied that Radha and Krishna are one and not two different individuals. As Radha and Krishna are discussed in the light of the legendary donning of each other’s garments, they become a symbol for the united self, and not two figures. Make-up becomes an important part of cross-dressing. It also comes in handy for the visual and literary depiction of the erotic shenanigans of Krishna and Radha since their entanglements inevitably involve Krishna dressing up as a woman—complete with make-up and flowers in the hair—in order to meet Radha. Pahari art form is passionately pursued by the Basohli artists of the 17th century and later in the 18th century by the artists in Kangra. The use of human forms adorned with lotus flowers largely prompts the artists to take Krishna and Radha as their immediate medium of expression. Closely, the rendition of Krishna and Radha is a point of emphasis of the same. It cannot be denied that there are several variations on this theme within the gamut of Kangra paintings (Menon 2002).
CROSS-DRESSING
Cross-dressing is given a legitimacy in the bawdy exchange through song and colour. The power play between the two genders is yet another assertion of authority. It is imperative to discuss the act of cross-dressing as prevalent across the Western world and Indian tradition to have a better understanding of it. Cross-dressing may seem like a mainstream idea in the current times. But it is important to note that the idea that seems so normal today had undergone strict scrutiny in both India and the Western world. The Western notion of cross-dressing is more about gender power-play, while on the other hand the Indian cultural thought about cross-dressing is embedded with the philosophical notion of oneness that comes from the fusion of the two gender identities: male and female. Interestingly, when Judith Butler, as the forebear of the critique on cross-dressing, states that heterosexuality is ‘both a compulsory system and an intrinsic comedy, a constant parody of itself’, she deploys the term ‘comedy’ to reinforce how the society, like theatre, through repetitive attempts, gauges gender norms. For occidental thought, the audience reaction or spectacle plays a significant role in setting the definition of cross-dressing. If Indian culture still shies away from cross-dressing, Western culture is replete with artists who have cross-dressed to make a statement of gender fluidity. For instance, Prince, Harris Glenn Milstead, Nan Goldin, David Bowie, David Armstrong, to name a few, have blurred and redefined gender notions. Artists have, time and again, proved that gender identity does not remain confined by the apparent form but is fluid.
Looking at traditional cultural practice, Koothandavar, in Tamil Nadu, is famous for its annual festival of transgender and transvestite individuals, which takes fifteen days in the Tamil month of Chitrai (April/May). Here, the story of Aravan, a warrior who had to be sacrificed during the battle at Kurukshetra, is pertinent to understanding the different forms that Krishna may take. However, Aravan did not wish to die without a wife who would mourn him. No woman wanted to marry a eunuch, so Krishna took on the female form named Mohini and became his beloved wife, who later wept copiously on becoming his widow. In the temple of Koothandavar, the sacrifice of Aravan and Krishna, in his role as Mohini, is enacted every year with full fervour near Pondicherry. The fluidity of gender is something that is still not accepted under the societal structures in much of India but Krishna easily broke this structure to reinforce the importance of the man–woman bond. Another old custom is known in Maharashtra, where Krishna is popular as Vitha-ai, Mother Vithal, thanks to the poet-saint Tukaram.
The act of cross-dressing, to a large extent, has been used as a representation of the unity of atman and paramatma, of oneness, particularly in the path of devotion or bhakti (Wulff 1982). So deep is the love of Radha and Krishna that it transcends gender identity. It is while role playing that Radha dresses Krishna as a woman, and Radha becomes Krishna, complete in their understanding of a shared unity. These two images from miniature handheld paintings, which suit the intimacy of bhakti, have been selected to illustrate the complete surrender to paramatma through the shringara bhakti of Krishna, when he becomes Radha, beyond gender. He is no longer the male god Krishna but one who has morphed into his Shakti Radha, who is within him.
THE EMERGENCE OF RADHA
16,000 gopis are mentioned in the Skanda Purana, with 108 gopis as the noticeable ones. However, from this lot of 108, eight gopis were further considered as the chief gopis, with Radha being the numero uno. The names of the eight gopis were Lalita, Vishakha, Champakalata, Chitra, Tungavidya, Indulekha, Rangadevi and Sudevi. It is believed that goddess Radha’s love for Krishna is at the scale of spiritualism which is nothing short of divinity. Radha embodies true love. She is the individual soul and Krishna is the universal soul. And their union is the ultimate union of the atman and the paramatma. It is believed that like Brahma created the world through maya (illusion), maya also becomes the Shakti energy of Brahma. Similarly, Radha is the energy of Krishna. However, Radha is also the epitome of true love.
Radha and Krishna Dressed in Each Other’s Clothes, circa 1800–25, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, 8 x 5 1/2 in., displayed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
(Kangra, Himachal Pradesh)
Leela Hava: Krishna and Radha Exchange Clothes, 1825, opaque watercolour, silver and gold on paper, 21.2 x 16.9 cm, displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
(Attributed to the family of Nainsukh; Kangra or Garhwal style, Punjab Hills, northern India)
This brings me to the question of whether there was a real gopi named Radha, or whether Radha is a metaphor for Krishna’s shakti (power). While Krishna is a major figure in the Indian epic Mahabharata, Radha appears as an individual figure much after Krishna. It is only as late as the Puranic period—in the Brahma Vaivarta Purana—that Radha is mentioned as a relative of Krishna’s father. But it was the 12th-century poet Jayadeva who actually visualized Radha as a beloved, as a nayika with his verses in Gita Govinda. Following Jayadeva was the trajectory of Bhaktivedanta, where, in the Sanskrit commentary Chaitanya Charitamrita, Radha is shown as the most devoted of the devoted devotees. And ever since Radha lives on as the muse of the innumerable artists—for instance, Suhas Roy from Kolkata, who has painstakingly painted innumerable Radhas. Radha epitomizes bhakti and love in every aspect from spiritual to physical. So intense is Radha’s identification with Krishna that often the two are inseparable and devotees use a greeting in which the names are fused—Jai Radhey Krishna—with Radha being the prefix rather than the suffix.
The Bhakti movement started in south India with the Nayanars (worshippers of Shiva) from the 5th to 10th century AD and with the Alvars (worshippers of Vishnu) from the 6th to 9th century AD. By the 12th to 18th century AD the movement had spread across the nation. The Bhakti movement, as a spiritual movement in Hinduism, opened up ways to everyone to worship a particular deity, irrespective of caste and gender. The legacy of Bhakti literature reinforces the diversity: Meera Bai, Tulsidas, Kabir, Surdas, Lal Ded, Akka Mahadevi, to name a few. What makes this religious movement stand apart from the rest is the importance given to the presence of female devotees.
The Ashta-Nayika (‘eight nayika’), or classification nayika-bheda, was first documented by Bharata in the Natyashastra, a key Sanskrit treatise on Indian performing arts, in the 2nd century BC. The subject of nayika is discussed in literary works such as Kuttanimata by Damodaragupta (8th century), Dasarupaka by Dhananjaya (10th century), Gita Govinda by Jayadeva (12th century), Sahityadarpana by Viswanatha Kaviraja (14th century) and Rasikapriya by Keshav Das (16th century). Even if Radha takes on the multiple role of nayikas, her nayaka remains Lord Krishna. Apart from canonical texts talking about Ashta-Nayika, the Indian arts, comprising painting, sculpture
s and dance, widely illustrate the Ashta-Nayika, which are:
Vasakasajja Nayika (‘one dressed up for union’)
Virahotkanthita Nayika (‘one distraught by separation’)
Svadhinabhartruka Nayika (‘one having her husband in subjugation’)
Kalahantarita Nayika (‘one separated by disagreement’)
Khandita Nayika (‘one infuriated with her lover’)
Vipralabdha Nayika (‘one deceived by her lover’)
Proshitabhartruka Nayika (‘one with a sojourning husband’)
Abhisarika Nayika (‘one who goes to rendezvous with her lover’)
Ritikavya is the genre of romantic poetry in Indian literature which, as opposed to the bhakti kavya, added a worldly and sensuous dimension to the earlier devotional Radha–Krishna poetry. Radha in the hands of the Riti Kal poets became the principle of shringara. In the Indian tradition, Radha is not an individual, rather she is a universal figure who has become depersonalized and symbolizes every woman who is in love. Riti poetry reached great heights with the works of the 16th-century poet Keshav Das. His Rasikapriya is a celebrated treatise on erotic love. The expression of shringara comes to the fore in the poet’s description of the nayika:
O sakhi, the nayika resembling the flame of the lamp ran to hide herself in the grove of sandal trees entwined by lovely clove creepers of undimmed leaves where she conceals the lustre of her limbs in her blue garment. Waiting for Krishna in the bower she looks like a caged bird.
In the 16th century, the Bhakti movement gave the shringara rasa further impetus in music. The Bhagavata Purana had already established Krishna as the prototypical romantic figure, but with Surdas’s Sursagar, bhakti took a new direction, giving equal importance to the romantic, human and divine aspects of Krishna, investing the concept of devotion with a greater intimacy. Here Krishna stands as a divine form of love, with Radha’s devotion as an earthly form of love. Their relationship is seen as the unity between the god and lover, the ultimate supreme divinity. This verse from Surdas says it all:
Finding Radha Page 7