Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Minor Religious Systems v2.c13.60

v2.c13.60

There is another historical significance in this legend, and that appears to be this. At first, no woman was connected with the Kṛṣṇa worship, as we have seen in the case of the pure Pāñcarātra or Bhāgavata system. Then came Rādhā to be associated with him in the north, as we have seen, in the systems of Nimbārka, Vallabha and Caitanya, while Rukmiṇī, the lawful wife, was united with him in the Marāṭha country. The Kṛṣṇa of Paṇḍharpur is almost exclusively known by the name of Viṭṭhala or Viṭhobā, and Rukmiṇī by the name of Rakhamāī or Rakhamābāī. In the religious literature of the country Viṭṭhala, or Kṛṣṇa, is almost exclusively spoken of as Rukmiṇīpati or Rukmiṇīvara, the lord or husband of Rukmiṇī, and not as Rādhāvallabha, or the lover of Rādhā. Thus the Vaiṣṇavism of the Marāṭha country, associated as it is with these two names, is more sober and purer than that of the three systems named above. Rāhī, the Marāṭhī form of Rādhikā, is not unknown, but an insignificant place is assigned to her. The sports of Kṛṣṇa in Gokula are also represented occasionally in the mode of worship, but very little importance is attached to them. This Vaiṣṇavism of the Marāṭha country found a fertile soil among the lower classes, though it has had followers among Brāhmaṇs and other higher classes also. Like the Vaiṣṇavism of the disciples of Rāmānanda, it had no learned or Sanskrit-knowing promulgators, but its prophets were Śūdras, who, however, had the true religious instinct and possessed a clear spiritual insight. Such were Nāmdev and Tukārām.