Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c11.s3.32

c11.s3.32

The commentary, which is anonymous, explains that the object of the drama is to illustrate the main features and characteristics of Samṛddhimat Sambhoga defined by Rūpa in his *Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi*;² but the Vipralambha aspect of the erotic Rasa is as prominent in it as the Sambhoga is in the *Vidagdha-mādhava*. It describes not merely the episode of Kṛṣṇa's erotic sports at Vṛndāvana (Acts I-III), but also comprehends Kṛṣṇa's erotic career at Mathurā (Acts IV) and Dvārakā (Acts VI-X). But since the theology of the Bengal Vaiṣṇava school regards the moments of the Vṛndāvana-līlā and Kṛṣṇa's sports with the Gopīs to be of supreme importance, a complicated scheme is ingeniously evolved, by a daring modification of the old legends and by the employment of the familiar Kathā-device of rebirth and change of personality, to prove that Candrāvalī, Rādhā and other Gopīs of Vṛndāvana were no other than Rukmiṇī, Satyabhāmā and other princesses, whom Kṛṣṇa abducted and made his queens at Dvārakā.