Radha as Krishna's gopi

January 5, 2003

The following is from; Farqjar JN. (1920: 237-40) “An Outline of the Religious Literature of India.” Oxford University Press

The reference numbers to notes have been changed by me.

5. Radha.

280. Neither the Blisgavatas, nor the MAdhavas recognise Radha. They 'do not go beyond what is contained in the Bhagavata. But all the later sects who depend on the great PurAna do recognize Radha. We must therefore ask whence her story came.

We have seen above that in the Bhagavata P. there is a gopi whom Krishna favours so much as to wander with her alone, and that the rest of the gopis surmise that she must have worshipped Krishna with peculiar devotion in a previous life to have thus won his special favour. This seems to be the source whence Radha arose, and it is probable that the name Radha comes from the root radh in the sense of conciliating, pleasing. She is thus the pleasing one. In what book she first appeared is not yet known, but an Indian

scholar [1] suggests to me that it may have been the Gopala-tipani-Upanishad, which contains an account of Radha--- and is reverenced by all RAdha-worshipping sects.

Two early sects recognize Radha, the Vishtiusvamis and the Nimbarkas, but the chronology and the relationships are still obscure. Tradition. sets the leaders in the following order, Madhya, Vishnusvami, Ninibarka; and that order seems to fit in with their. teaching; for Madhva does not recognize RadhA at all, and VishritisvAmi's theology is very similar to Madhya's, while Nimbarka strikes out quite a new line for himself. Yet the seemingly natural may not be the historical order. There is one historical fact which necessarily suggests a doubt. it is quite clear that RAdh5 was worshipped and praised in song in North India before Madhva's day; for jayadeva`s Gitagovida belongs to the end of the twelfth century. There is a tradition in Bengal that jayadeva was a Nambarkite; but in the Gitagovinda Radhi is the mistress, not the consort, of Krishna, as she is in Nambarka's theology[2]

Sufficient evidence does not seem to be available to settle the question, but we may conjecture that the myth of Radha grew up quite spontaneously at Brindaban on the basis of the narrative of the Bhdgavata P., and that her worship was organized there, perhaps about A. D. 1100, and thence spread to Bengal and elsewhere. If that is the history, jayadeva`s poetry, on the one hand, and the rise of the two sects, on the other, are easily explainable; and it is possible that Nimbarka may have developed his Radha-theology at Brindiban while Vishnusvami was forming his simpler system in the south.

6. The Vishnustdinis.

§ 281. Of Vishnusvami very little is known, but it is believed that he belonged to the South. His system is precisely like the Madhva system, except. that Radha is acknowledged. She is simply Krishna's favourite among the gopis, his mistress. Vishnusvami, like Madhva, is a dualist, quite as pronounced as Madhva, if not more so. Tradition states that he wrote commentaries on the Gita, the Veddnta-sutras, and the Blihgavata P. His Bhafavat bhasya is referred to by Sridhara SvArmi in his comment on Bhagavata P, .1. 7; and it is said that the work survives, but it has not been seen by any scholar. In Madhava's Sarvadarsanasangraha there is a reference to Vishnusvami's devoted adherent, Srikanta Misra,[3] and to a work by him named Sakara-siddla, the teaching of which is clearly dualist. The Bhakta-mdaa says that Vishnuswami was also the teacher of Jnanesvara, the Maratha bhakta; and the story is probably true.[4] In any case it is clear that the sect was widespread and popular for centuries.[5] The sectarian mantras are said to be Om Rama-Krislinaya namah, and Om Rama-KrishaaHari. The VishnusvAmis and all other RadhA-worshipping sects use the Gopalatapaniya U. and the Gopalasahasranama.

The Bhagavatas, the MAdhvas and the Vishnusvamis, like Ramanuja,[6] uphold the Sanmuchchhaya doctrine; i.e. they teach that, in seeking release, men should perform their full religious duty as Hindus as well as seek the knowledge of Brahman, while Sankara finds release in knowledge alone.

The Nimnbdrkas.

282. Nimbdrka was a scholarly BhAgavata from the Telugu country who settled at Brindaban, accepted the story, of Radha, and created a sect of his own. The date is uncertain.[7] NimbArka's philosophic position is bhedabheda, dualistic monism.[8] He was considerably influenced by Ramanuja, and, like him, laid great stress on meditation. He goes far beyond Vishnusvami in his account of RAdha. She is Krishna's eternal consort, and lives forever with him in the Cow-world, Goloka, far above all the other heavens. Like her lord, she became incarnate in Brindaban, and was his wedded wife there. The story of the gopis remains unchanged. To NimbArka Krishna is not a mere incarnation of Vishnu: he is the eternal Brahman, and from him springs Radha, and also uncounted gopAs and gopis, who sport with-them in Goloka. Nimbarka thus necessarily centred all his devotion on Krishna and his consort, to the exclusion of other gods. He thus gave up the SmArta. position of the Bhdgavatas, and became fully sectarian. All the later sects owe a great deal to him. He wrote a short commentary, a sort of vritti on the Vedanta-sutras called Vedanta-parijata-saurabha, and a poem of ten stanzas, the Dasasloki, which contains the quintessence of his system; out the Bhashya of the sect is SrinivAsa's Vedanea-Kausrtubha, a lengthy work of considerable merit. Later leaders also produced scholarly works. Nimbarkas use the Gautamiya S.[9] for their ritual; and 'the Krishna section of the Brahma-vaivarta P. seems to be an Nimbarka document interpolated into the PurAna. The sandilya-bhakti-sutra may be of Nimbarkite origin.[10]

[1] Pndita Radha Charana Gosvimi of Brindavana

[2] He lived under Lakstnana Sena, King of Bengal, who reigned c. 1170-1200 (Smith, E111~ 403) ; aAd, some of his verses appear in the Sadukti-larnamrita

an anthology by Sridhara Dasa, which dates apparently from A. D. 1205. The chronology is also opposed to his being a Nambarkite.

[3] Cowell1, P. 141.

[4] See § 278.

[5] For a suggestion with regard to the Narada Paicharatra See § 377.

[6] See § 285.

[7] See Bhandarkar, VS. 62.

[8] As Nimbirka's original name is said to have been Bh.Askara, it has been suggested that he is identical with Bhdskardchdrya, who wrote the Bkeddkk.da bhdskya about A_ D. 900: see § 26o. But the mere coincidence of name is scarcely sufficient to outweigh the following considerations. It is extremely unlikely that one man should write a pure VedAnta bbishya and also a sectarian Vritti; and, as our knowledge of the literature stands at present, it would seem probable that the name of RAMA and her worship appeared at BrindAban at a date considerably later than BbAskarichirya, say about A. D. 1100.

[9] Schrader, IPAS. 7, no. 44

[10] see 277

January 5, 2003

oooops not "Blisgavatas" but it should be "Bhagavatas"

Gauracandra · January 7, 2003

Doesn't Radha mean one who worships perfectly? It is interesting, but God's names are descriptions of His/Her qualities. So if the Bhagavatam mentions that one particular Gopi must have special status because of Her worshipping, that is Radha. For instance, the name Krsna means one who is all attractive. Now if you come across a verse describing a particular cowherd boy who was all attractive, that would be Krsna, regardless if the name is specified.

With regard to Visnuswami and Nimbarka, do these lines have particular or unique worship practices with regard to the divine couple?

January 7, 2003

I thought the word Krishna/Krsna in sanskrit mean 'BLACK'

January 7, 2003

Who was this SrinivAsa? (author of Vedanea-Kausrtubha)

He thus gave up the SmArta. position of the Bhdgavatas, and became fully sectarian. All the later sects owe a great deal to him. He wrote a short commentary, a sort of vritti on the Vedanta-sutras called Vedanta-parijata-saurabha, and a poem of ten stanzas, the Dasasloki, which contains the quintessence of his system; out the Bhashya of the sect is SrinivAsa's Vedanea-Kausrtubha, a lengthy work of considerable merit. Later leaders also produced scholarly works. Nimbarkas use the Gautamiya S.[9] for their ritual;