Natyasutra Online

The Theme

For centuries, the Bhagavata Purana was arguably the only text depicting Lord Krishna as a dominant figure and poorna avatar [complete incarnation] of Lord Vishnu. It took Jayadeva’s magnum opus, the Gita Govinda to give a deeper insight into the Lord’s divine charisma. The twists and turns in the relationship between Lord Krishna and Radha emboldened an entire generation of believers to revisit their previous feelings on the concepts of worship and romance. The special appeal and USP of Jayadeva’s poem is that it humanized God and made humans (like Radha) worthy of divine attention and love.

For one, the range of hues in which Jayadeva depicts the character of Radha in the Gita Govinda is truly mesmerising. Radha’s transformation is masterful throughout, as each stage of the text shows us a wide variety of emotions that are all manifestations of the single feeling of love. Radha’s place in literature is cemented with this work. In the critic, Sisir Das’s estimate, Jayadeva’s original contribution to the Krishna lore lies in the dexterity with which he ‘Sanskritized’ Radha and assured her immortality in Indian life and literature. Strange as it may seem, until the Gita Govinda, none of the texts had detailed the relationship between the Lord and His greatest devotee. Even in the Bhagavata Purana, we find no mention of Radha. However, the Gita Govinda highlights the trials and tribulations of the divine couple and gives common folks a story to rally around.

Hence, the Gita Govinda became a rallying call for medieval India, regardless of the socio-economic status of its citizens, to find faith in the love story of a divine being who freely roamed among them and never chose to show discrimination. The village setting of the poem added to this charm, as it further emphasised its relatability with the masses. Radha's pain, passion, devotion, mirth, trauma and eventual triumph turned her into an icon of Indian folklore.