Studies in the Epics and Puranas c12.86

c12.86

Vraja-lilā: Then came the great dance, the Rāsa, about which so much has been written. Among the Yādavas it was usual to engage in dance and song in which youths and maidens participated. The Harivaṃśa represents the Rāsa as a maddening love of youthful maidens for a young man; in the Bhāgavata, it is the deep sensual love of passionate and sprightly girls for a passionate youth; while the Brahmavaivarta describes it as a gross carnality. It may be observed in this connection that Kṛṣṇa was hardly a boy of eleven in Vṛndāvana. He had the usual Gopa taste for group dancing and singing, and these dances, as already stated, are rather a precocious manifestation of Kṛṣṇa's richly artistic and vital nature. Kṛṣṇa taught the herdsmen the principle of true Kātyāvanipūjā that without absolute surrender of self to Him, worship of Kātyāyanī was of no avail. The Rṣinatnyākhyāna teaches that God hankers after true love.⁵⁴