Krishna is often portrayed as a ‘lover boy’! Probably, in any other religion, thinking about God as a lover boy is blasphemous! But not so for most Indians.
They enjoy looking at Krishna as a very flirtatious, and even sometimes as a person who goes beyond all socially accepted norms when it comes to ‘love’.
This is because unlike the western world, where love often means ‘physical’ or carnal, it is not so in India. At least the Indian scriptures differentiate between physical, mental and spiritual forms of love. So, love is not a taboo word in Indian scriptures, not definitely in Bhagavata.
And we have our author Vyasa who started writing Bhagavata with the intention of conveying profound ideas in a language so close to the masses. So, obviously Vyasa cannot leave out ‘love’ even if it meant carnal, physical or even something that violates societal norms. That is because Vyasa’s audience is lay people for whom those things are very much part of their life.
But then, like a sugar-coated pill, Vyasa always makes it a point to turn the base level discussions into something very philosophical and thought provoking. Unfortunately, there are many who limit themselves to base level descriptions and either bring the God to their low level or start using God as an excuse for whatever transgressions they might indulge in. Many Gurus have fallen trap to such pitfalls and not only defamed themselves but also tarnished ancient Indian scriptures.
As I said earlier, Indians recognize various forms of devotion to God. It is not just the master-slave relation as commonly seen in non-Indian religions. It can be as a relation between two friends, between mother and her child, between teacher and disciple and so on. This relation can even be the relation between two lovers! Yes, between two lovers – lovers not in the general sense of the term but ‘lovers’ as often used in modern world between two adults.
That form of devotion is called ‘mdhura bhaava’ in ancient Indian scriptures. Literally it means romantic relation with God. The relation that a devotee has towards God as if the God were his/her lover – lover in the worldly sense.
There were many Indian saints, especially female, who worshiped God through this form of devotion. And that is never scorned upon in India. It is perfectly acceptable. Though many saints have warned that such a mode of devotion can be quite dangerous since it can derail a devotee and lead him/her more deeply into the worldly mire.
But Vyasa does not want to spare even such a strong emotion-based relation to God in his attempt to sugar coat his bitter philosophical pill.
With this in the background, let us move back to our Krishna story in Vrindavan.
Having performed several valorous acts, Krishna gradually became a hero in Vrindavan. More so among the young cowherd girls. These cowherd girls, though quite young, gradually developed infatuation towards Krishna. Without exception, all of them wanted Krishna to be their husband. They kept praying to God to grant them Krishna as their husband.
Bhagavata narrates one such occasion.
It was the Margashira month of the autumn season in Northern India. The winter season was yet to arrive. Full moon day of that month is considered to be auspicious to unmarried girls. They often observe rigorous religious vows and worship Goddess Katyayani. They make an earthen image of the Goddess and pray her to bestow them the husband of their choice.
But interestingly in this case, all these cowherd girls had the same wish. All of them were so enamored by Krishna that all wanted to marry him.! So, they marched towards the river early in the morning to worship Goddess Katyayani They sang in chorus, gathering more and more friends on the way to the river. They sang
“Hey girls, today is the most auspicious full moon day in the month of Margashira. Let us all go to the river and take part in the worship. The son of Yashoda, with such beautiful eyes, so powerful, whom we all love, would surely help us in fulfilling our dream. So, hurry, don’t waste your time”
Though externally they pretended to be worshipping the Goddess Katyayani, these cowherd girls were secretly praying to Krishna to be kind enough to accept them.
After they finished their worship, the girls entered the waters. Probably, given to their young age, these girls were so careless that they left their garments on the bank and entered the waters completely nude. They started playing by splashing water on each other.
At that very moment Krishna appeared there with his friends. Krishna gathered all their garments left behind on the bank, and climbed a nearby tree carrying the garments with him.
When the girls were tired of their sport, they were keen to get back to their homes. But they did not find their garments that they had left behind on the banks. They finally realized that Krishna had stolen their garments and was siting on a high tree mocking at them.
The girls begged Krishna to return their garments. They even told Krishna that whatever he was doing was not morally right. But Krishna was not prepared to return their garments. The girls could not come out of the waters since they were completely nude. Very soon they started to shiver due to the cold waters. But Krishna would not budge to their pleas. The girls even threatened to complain to the King if Krishna continued to harass them that way.
Krishna was not bothered about their threats. He knew very well that these girls were exhibiting false anger towards him and were actually loving him secretly. He kept teasing them. He reminded them that it was wrong to enter a public bathing place completely nude. He said that their act deserved a punishment. The punishment was that they have to come out of the waters one by one and prostrate before him. Only then he was prepared to give their garments back to them.
But how could the girls do that? If they came out of the water they would be completely exposed. If they did not, Krishna would not yield. They were in a fix.
Finally, the girls came out of water, very reluctantly, covering their nude body with their palms. But Krishna’s condition was that they should not only come out of the waters but also prostrate before him. In Indian tradition, prostration would imply raising both the hands with palms touching each other and lying down flat on the ground with hands stretched. That would expose them completely.
But the girls had no option but to do as Krishna demanded. Finally, they abided by his orders and Krishna gave back their garments.
This story of Bhagavata is often quoted by many later poets who portrayed Krishna as a very flirtatious person. Keep in mind that Krishna, as well as these girls were hardly 5 or 6-year-old at that time! If at all, it could have been an act of infatuation.
What could be Vyasa’s intention in portraying Krishna that way? Or was he really trying to portray Krishna that way? I will postpone this question to the next episode.
For now, let me talk briefly about the song of the cowherd girls that I mentioned earlier. I have taken this song from a popular composition called Tiruppavi. This is a composition in Tamil language by one of the earliest female poet saints of India, namely, Andal. Andal wrote this poem imagining herself to be one of the cowherd girls who lived during Krishna’s time.
Andal was a foster daughter of Vishnuchittar, a poet saint of Tamilnadu, a Southern Indian state. Right from her childhood days, Andal used to secretly imagine herself to be the wife of God. Or in other words, she was worshipping God in the madhura bhava that I talked about in the beginning. Like the cowherd girls in the Krishna’s story, Andal considered herself to be wedded to God. Being in such a mood, Andal wrote 40 verses in the Tamil language which later came to be called Tiruppavi.
Tiruppavi is quite a popular composition among Tamil speakers of India. Most Tamil families teach their female children to sing it melodiously right from their young age. In fact, the song that you heard in the background is the first verse of the Tiruppavi rendered beautifully by well-known Indian singer R. Vedavalli*.
I probably would be wrong if I don’t try to analyze the reasons why Vyasa could have narrated this incident in Bhagavata. What was Vyasa’s intention to include this story in his Bhagavata? Was he trying to portray Krishna as a very flirtatious person? Or was there any hidden meaning? We will discuss that in the next episode.
Credits:
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl-s9BhptiU
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