Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c11.s3.36

c11.s3.36

with a reference to Kṛṣṇa's nocturnal sports with the Gopīs, and gives the poet an opportunity of presenting Padmā and Śyāmalā, the two companions of Candrāvalī, as Vipralabdhā and Svādhīna-bhartṛkā heroines respectively. In the meantime, the demon Śaṅkhacūḍa is sent by Kamsa to carry away Rādhā, who is reported to have been married to Kṛṣṇa, and who is enthroned as the chief of the Gopīs. She goes to worship the sun-god; Kṛṣṇa, in disguise, appears as a Brahman priest to officiate at the ceremony; but the little comedy is upset by the reported arrival of Śaṅkhacūḍa whom Kṛṣṇa duly kills behind the scene. This is the only demon-killing in the play, and the Act is called Śaṅkhacūḍa-vadha from this incident. In Act III, Akrūra comes to fetch Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma to Mathurā, and the sorrows of the various Gopīs at their departure are described; but the main theme of the Act, which is called Unmatta-rādhikā, consists of Rādhā's wailing and mad search after Kṛṣṇa, somewhat after the manner of Purūravas's demented search after Urvaśī, Rādhā's condition being described in the Vaiṣṇava Rasa-śāstra as Divyonmādamayī Udghūrṇā Daśā¹. She jumps into the river Yamunā and becomes lost with Viśākhā, but a voice in the air reveals that she has gone to the other world by passing through the orb of the sun. Lalitā, her other companion, also jumps from the top of a hill to kill herself.