"RADHA - KRISHNA & Our History

Our history is ancient. The 4000- year- old Vedas do not mention Radha & Krishna. The Upanishads mention Krishna & Devaki but whether these are the same figures as in the story we know, we can't say. Krishna is first mentioned in the Mahabharata, the 2000- year- old mahakavya. Here we hear about Krishna and his relationship with the Kuru clan. There is no description of him as a cowherd. Written as many as 1600 years ago, a poem, a mahakavya, called Harivansh first mention Krishna's childhood as a cowherd. In the Mahabharata Krishna as Gopala is mentioned only in the defeat of Shishupala. In the Bhagavata Purana of the tenth century, Krishna sings and dances with the Gopis. Here rasa- Leela is first mentioned and described. Here, too, Radha is not mentioned. Radha first appears in Prakritkavya. There's king called Hala who complied an anthology of prakritkavyas called Gothashabdashati. It talks about the love of Radha & Krishna. Here, Krishna is a cowherd, not God. In the evening, during a dust storm, a particle of dust enters Radha's eye and Krishna removes it. That's when the other Gopis realize she is his favourite. Later, in the Sanskrit poem Gita Govinda, Radha suddenly appears in a big way. She becomes the central character.

When we talk of Radha- Krishna we are in the sphere of love. Yogis and Rishis used the medium of Radha - Krishna to explain the subject of love. The subject of love and lust, the difference between the two and between love and desire, and the meaning of pure love - all are explored in detail in the Radha - Krishna relationship. So Radha and love are always spoken together. Love is not an easy subject. It's an abstract concept.

"How does one show it?"

What is the difference between love and lust, Prema and kama?'

There are similarities between Krishna and Kamadeva. In kamavasna it's "main bhog leta hun", "I take pleasure". In Prema, it's "main bhog deta hun", I give pleasure ". A person taking bhog is trapped in kamavasana. There's love when you are giving bhog to another. 

Radha is a poets creation. The poet's wanted to talk about love that is not bond by any rules. So the Radha - Krishna love has no niti, no riti, no rules. It's basically clandestine, breaking society's rules.

By: -

Devdutt Patnaik.