The Great Goddess and Fulfilment in Love: Rādhā Seen Through a Sixteenth-Century Lens

Abstract

In the Hindu pantheon the goddess Rādhā, Krsna's milkmaid lover and consort, is a relative newcomer. Notwithstanding her ‘youth’, she has already attracted scholarly attention (Hawley and Wulff, 1982; Olson, 1983; Kinsley, 1986 and 1989). The interest in this goddess has to do with her ambiguous relation with the male god with whom she is associated; though she has no independent existence from her ‘Viṣṇu’, she is not completely submissive to him either. In fact, Rādhā's devotees affirm her superiority over Kṛṣṇa. The relation between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa certainly is not always portrayed as one eternal happy fulfilment (saṃbhoga-śṛṅgāra). One of the basic traits of this goddess is her suffering, mainly on account of his (real or imagined) unfaithfulness. It is in fact the very stubborn strength of her love that forms the basis for Rādhā's exaltation as a model of devotion. Ironically, with the rise her status, the need to provide an end to her suffering increases. Blissful union with her lover is clearly felt to be the prerogative for a great goddess, and with that the inevitable marital status is only one step away. In this paper I propose to discuss the historical moment when this ‘happy ending’ becomes important.