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Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c11.s4: 4. Kāvyas and Campūs

Early History of the Vaiṣṇava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c11.s4

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English

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4. Kāvyas and Campūs

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If the dramatic writings of Caitanyaism deserve such measured praise, its elaborate poetical productions, in spite of their stylistic elegancies and sentimental subtleties, cannot be rated at a much higher value. All of them select Kṛṣṇa-līlā, especially the Vṛndāvana-līlā, as their theme, and present different aspects of it in a background of highly sensuous charm; but whatever may be their devotional value, they are laborious products of artificial and erudite fancy, rather than poetic creations of spontaneous inspiration. In their highly impassioned treatment of an erotic-mystic theme, these devotional poems pass through the whole gamut of erotic motif, imagery and expression, and no one can deny the exquisite verbal melody and pictorial fancy which they often attain; but, apart from the fact that they are composed with a deliberate doctrinarian purpose, they do not escape the taint of artificiality which, with the general subsidence of the creative impulse, characterises the entire Sanskrit poetry of decadence. The vivid exuberance of the erotic-mystic fancy and the emotional inflatus which the legendary and romantic theme supplies, no doubt, afford great poetic possibilities and make these works stand apart; but it is unfortunate that they seek and receive applause more by a meretricious display of rhetorical and emotional contrivances in the conventional form and diction, than by genuinely emotional and poetic quality of an independent and original character.

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We have already noted that these devotional poems, dramas and Campūs of Caitanyaism give expression to a phase of the mediaeval Bhakti movement which was essentially emotional, and base the religious sentiment, mystically, upon the exceedingly familiar and authentic intensity of transfigured sex-passion. There can be no doubt that such an attitude brings about a new development in Sanskrit religious poetry, which had hitherto confined itself to a more staid and sober kind of speculative emotion, and relate it very closely to erotic poetry. This is done to such an extent that poems like Jayadeva's *Gita-govinda* would appear, from different aspects, both as a religious and an erotic work. The new standpoint vivified religion, as well as its poetry, with a human element by lifting one of the most powerful impulses of the human mind into a means of glorious exaltation. It involved an assertion of the emotional and aesthetic in human nature against the hard intellectuality of dry dogmas and doctrines. But we have also seen that the new movement, in its turn, created its own dogmas and doctrines; and if its ecstatic emotional inclination precluded intellectual virility, it was certainly marked by great intellectual subtlety, which was characteristic of the scholastic age. Along with its philosophy and theology, the sectarian devotionalism elaborated its appropriate system of emotional analysis, its refinements of psychology and poetics, its subtleties of phraseology, imagery and conceits. As the sentiment of Bhakti or religious devotion is approximated to the sentiment of literary relish,¹ called Rasa, the whole apparatus of Alaṃkāra, as well as of Kāma-śāstra, and their technicalities are ingeniously utilised and exalted. The new application becomes novel, intimate and inspiring; and the erotic sensibility in its devotional ecstacy often rises above the formalism of its rhetorical and psychological banalities, of its metaphysical and theological niceties. But this is more true of the detached poems and Stotras, of which we shall speak presently and which perhaps afford greater scope for personal feeling, than of the artificially sustained Kāvya works, with which we are at present concerned, and which conform deliberately not only to their own mass of newly created conventionalities, but also to the entire literary resources of the older traditional Kāvya technique in their method, manner, form and diction.

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¹ See above p. 166 f.

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The spirit and outlook were changed, but the new movement, even with the accession of romantic, emotional and legendary material, failed to break away from the extreme and affected classicality of the decadent Sanskrit Kāvya and evolve its own independent and appropriate form of expression. The attempt was obviously discouraged by the older recognised Kāvya tradition, which had its established modes and models, laws and means; and it was certainly not assisted by the creation of a fresh series of rhetorical and psychological formulas and dogmatic theological shibboleths. There was, therefore, no freedom of conception and treatment, but a methodical practice of conventional art and artifice, as well as conformity to an elaborate system of sectarian commonplaces and conceits. Suckled in a poetic creed outworn, as well as in a theological creed newborn, the writers seldom create new poetic forms, which would admit of beautiful expression of memorable poetic thought and feeling. With inherited affluence and considerable talent for elaborate composition, they are assiduous, erudite and conscientious; but the greatest of them is scarcely a poet; he is a consummate versifier who sums up all the tradition of poetic art that can be learnt by a clever and industrious artisan. They suggest craftsmanship rather than creation, facility rather than freedom, immense and varied learning rather than vigour and versatility of spontaneous inspiration.

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It would seem, therefore, that, apart from a certain dubious gain in emotional content, the Vaiṣṇava devotional Kāvya, from the point of view of literary form and expression does not mark any striking departure from the time-honoured tradition of the literary Kāvya. Its treatment, therefore, of the new theme and shaping of the new emotion are narrowly conditioned by inherited ideas of pseudo-classicism, for the deadly weaknesses of which the romantic subject and sentiment could hardly prove a solvent. The passion in these poems is genuine, but is too often artistic, rather than personal; the pictures possess delicacy of feeling and gracefulness of touch, but the reality and richness of the emotion is too often obscured by a deliberate load of bad pedantry and worse rhetoric, and the elegance is too often the product of mechanical adroitness. There are, no doubt, abundance and variety of talent and effort, but there is also a strange combination of elaborate pains and insufficint accomplishment, of interminable ingenuity and endless dreariness. With ready-made words and ideas, forms and themes, it is not difficult to acquire impressive facility and respectable wormanship; but, being fashioned after a standardised pattern, the productions are too much alike, the subjects have too little variety, the treatment is glaringly similar, and the style and diction employ the same system of decorative devices, the same commonplaces of words, ideas, epithets and conceits. It cannot be denied, however, that in the extraordinary command of a rich and recondite vocabulary, in the grace and fluency of phrasing, in the elaborate adjustment of sound and sense, in ingenious and incessant rhetorical ornamentation, in the skilled use of difficult and diverse metres, in the elegant wielding of a weighty, embellished and complex diction, the Vaiṣṇava Kāvya, like the average Sanskrit Kāvya, reveals a degree of massively and mechanically finished efficiency, which is indeed astonishing. But its method and manner are too favourable to literary pedantry not to be perilous to limpid poetry.

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That the Kāvya of this period, devotional or otherwise, is the product of high cultivation, meant for a highly cultivated audience, is, as we have already said, a natural corollary of the fact that it flourished in an age in which the scholastic cultivation of learning was almost universal. The really creative age in every sphere of knowledge or of art was over; it was now a stage of critical elaboration, of fertile but fruitless erudition, of prolix but uncreative subtleties, and of endless but wearisome acumen for trivial niceties. All these learned and laborious tendencies reflected themselves in the literary works of the period. At no stage of its history, indeed, the Sanskrit Kāvya was a spontaneous product of poetic inspiration; much culture and practice, and not inborn gift alone, went into its making; it was wholly dominated by a self-conscious idea of art and method and was not meant for undisciplined enjoyment; its supernormal or super-individual character is recognised both by theory and practice, which rule out personal interest and emphasise purely artistic emotion. But the assiduous cultivation of the cult of style, which believes that nothing great can be achieved in the ordinary way, becomes naturally concomitant of a scholastic age, in which industry was reckoned higher than inspiration, and in which a normative doctrine of technique replaced free exercise of the poetic imagination, a respect for literary convention ousted individuality of poetic treatment. The result, on the one hand, was a severe restriction of poetic imaginaion and expression by a ponderous establishment of its unalterable norm and mechanism; on the other hand, there was a correspondingly high proficiency in the attainment of mechanical excellence. There is, therefore, much excellent writing in this period, but not much excellent poetry. The works will perhaps never lack their fit readers, though few, but they will never possess a wider appeal nor attain more than a limited currency.

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In spite of its romantic charm and lyric affluence, the general theme of the devotional poetry of Caitanyaism lacks variety and strikingness of inventive thought. The general poetic spirit of a newborn religious enthusiasm may be admitted, but the exaggerated consciousness of art and the monotonous sameness of characteristics inevitably suggest a sense of artificiality. There are indeed some variations in the detailed working out of the Vṛndāvana-līlā of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā, but the form and expression are not sufficiently varied. We meet over and over again with the same set of situations and descriptions, the same subtleties and refinements, the same tricks of expression, the same strings of nouns and adjectives, the same group of conceits and the same system of emotional analysis. Two aspects of the Vṛndāvana-līlā, however, are generally distinguished, namely the perpetual or Nitya and the occasional or Naimittika sports; and the two aspects of the erotic sentiment, namely, the Sambhoga or love in union and the Vipralambha or love in separation, find expression in the Nitya sports, the Sambhoga alone being prominent in the Naimittika. The theme of the Nitya sports is generally concerned with what is called the Aṣṭa-kālikā-Līlā, or sports and pastimes during the different parts of the day, beginning from the morning to the end of the night. The eight parts of the day, according to the Vaiṣṇava theology, are: Prātar (morning), Pūrvāhṇa (forepart of the day), Madhyāhna (midday), Aparāhṇa (afternoon), Sāyāhna (evening), Pradoṣa (first part of the night), Madhya-rātra (midnight) and Niśānta (end of the night). The Naimittaka sports, on the other hand, comprises such occasional or detached erotic episodes as Dāna-līlā or Puṣpa-haraṇa.

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The Nitya-līlā of the Aṣṭa-kālika type forms the subject-matter of the Kṛṣṇāhnika-kaumudī of Kavikarṇapūra and the Govinda-līlāmṛta of Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, as also of the much later Kṛṣṇa-bhāvanāmṛta of Viśvanātha Cakravartin. We have seen¹ that the uninterrupted recollection (Smaraṇa) and contemplation (Bhāvanā) of Kṛṣṇa's erotic sports with his beloved Gopīs form the essence of the Rāgānugā Bhakti; the present works intend to supply the basis of such recollection and contemplation by a minute portraiture of the sports occurring interruptedly for the whole day and night. A brief outline of the Aṣṭakālika- or Naityaka-Līlā is given in the Pātāla-khaṇḍa of the Padma-purāṇa¹. But it was the Smaraṇa-maṅgala of Rūpa Gosvāmin which, in eleven verses,² formed the rubric developed by Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja in his extensive Kāvya in twenty-three cantos. It is, however, not known if Kavikarṇapūra, who for the first time appears to have composed a regular Kāvya on the subject, was aware of this hint supplied by Rūpa Gosvāmin.

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¹ See above, pp. 176-177.

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¹ Ed. Ānandāśrama, Poona 1894, Pt. ii, Pātāla-khaṇḍa ch. 83, pp. 624-626.

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² See above, p. 155. If it really contained eleven verses, as the Bhakti-ratnākara states, then it cannot be identified with Haraprasad Sastri's MS which is said to contain thirty-five verses, but the Vangiya Sāhitya Pariṣad MS (Catalogue, p. 235, no. 103/1116) contains exactly eleven verses. For the text of this unpublished work, edited from the latter MS, see below, under Additions and Corrections.

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The Kṛṣṇāhnika-kaumudī³ of Kavikarṇapūra is a comparatively short Kāvya in six Prakāśas and 705 rhymed stanzas. The first Prakāśa, in depicting the Nisānta-līlā, describes the awakening of Rādhā (st. 1-16) and Kṛṣṇa (17-29) by talking parrots (sent by Vṛndā), who for that purpose recite twenty-one luscious verses; Rādhā's déshabillé appearance after the nocturnal sports, her indolent erotic gestures (Rasālasa) and leaving of the bed (30-37), which bears evidence of their sports (38-39); their leaving of the grove in which they lie and return to their respective houses (40-45). The entire canto, which is, however, the shortest in the poem, is composed in the Mālinī metre, and each stanza attempts Pada-madhyāntānuprāsa, in which the middle and end of each foot rhyme together, thus:

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³ See above, p. 46, footnote.

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rājanī carama-yāme stoka-tārābhirāme
kim api kim api vṛndādeśa-jātābhinandā|
vitatir akṛta rādhā-kṛṣṇayoḥ svāpa bādhā-
mati-mṛdu-vacanānāṃ sārikāṇāṃ śukānām||

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The second Prakāśa is written in Vasantatilaka metre (with a concluding Puṣpitāgrā verse) composed with end-rhyme¹. It is devoted to the Prātar-līlā, in which Yaśodā awakens the boy Kṛṣṇa, who has slyly crept from the grove into his own bed at home (1-6); maid-servants attend upon him during his washing of face and other morning ceremonies (7-19); then we have Kṛṣṇa's milking of cows (Go-dohana) and mock-fight (Malla-yuddha) with his boy-friends, bath, dress and breakfast (20-46). Similar descriptions follow regarding Rādhā's morning activities, which are assisted by her companions, involving a somewhat heightened, but interesting, account of the lady's dress, ornament and decoration (47-79). Rādhā, summoned by Yaśodā, goes to Nanda's house; she assists (80-85) Rohiṇī, like a dutiful daughter-in-law, to cook the morning meal consisting of a large number of delicious dishes, which are described in detail with great relish (86-118). It is curious that in the long list of the various vegetables, we find the familiar modern dialectical names of ālu, kocu, paṭola, mocā, diṇḍisa ( ढें ड़श ), karkarola ( काँकरोल ) and varavaṭi ( बरबटी ), as well as the words tarkārī (vegetable), kharcura ( खजुर ) and dadhi-ghola-vaḍā! The third Prakāśa, composed in the long and sonorous, but end-rhyming, Śārdūlavikrīḍita metre, completes the Pūrvāhṇa-līlā, and just commences the Madhyāhna-līlā. The Pūrvāhṇa-līlā comprises the topic of serving of the morning meal to Kṛṣṇa and his companions, after which Rādhā and others eat (1-1), and Kṛṣṇa's going out with his friends to tend the cows, followed by a description of their dress and various sports (15-36). The Madhyāhna-līlā begins with a description of the bewitching

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¹ As for instance (ii. 70):

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maulau babandha katamā sumaṇi-pravekam
san-mālati-kusuma-garbhaka-kānti-sekam/
dhammillam ullasita-lohita-paṭṭa-dāmnā
lamba-pralomba-yugalena maṇidra-dhāmnā//-

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Rūpa Gosvāmin uses middle-rhyme in his Mukunda-muktāvalī Stotra (see below).

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sweetness of Kṛṣṇa's flute and of the beauty of the forest (including a pedantic list of the names of trees in five verses!) in the six seasons (37-56) and ends with the topic of sylvan sports (57-73).

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The fourth Prakāśa, in which the Svāgatā metre is employed with end-rhyme, continues the topic of the Madhyāhna-līlā in 298 stanzas. It is the longest canto in the poem, which depicts in detail and with great zest Kṛṣṇa's midday erotic sports with Rādhā and the Gopīs. It describes Kṛṣṇa's youthful beauty of limbs (4-34), the Abhisāra of Rādhā accompanied by the Gopīs and their witty erotic raillery (35-70), Kṛṣṇa's playing on his flute which brings on sentimental helplessness (Bhāva-vaikalya) in the Gopīs (71-82), Kṛṣṇa's pleasantries and sportive dispute regarding the ownership of the forest, ending with dalliance on land and in water (83-200), dressing after bath (201-212), picnic with a detailed description, again, of the food taken (213-238), and dice-play with erotic jests and wagers (239-298). The fifth Prakāśa, in which we have Puṣpitāgrā metre with end-rhyme, describes the Aparāhna and Sāyāhna-līlās. It depicts Kṛṣṇa's return home in the afternoon with his herd of cows (1-14) and the consequent sorrow, poetically exaggerated, of all animate and inanimate things of the forest at parting from him (15-23), as well as Kṛṣṇa's appearance as he returns (24-43), and his milking of cows (44-47). In the Sāyāhna līlā, we have Kṛṣṇa's change of dress, massage of limbs, bath and rest, assisted by attendants (48-62), taking of the evening meal (63-73), going to the cow-shed (74-87) and retiring to his bed-room (88-97). The six and last canto, in Mandākrāntā metre (also with end-rhyme), begins with the Pradoṣa-līlā, in which Kṛṣṇa in bed is tended by his mother Yaśodā, as well as by attendants (1-11), and which is followed by the Abhisāra of the Gopīs (12-20) and union with Rādhā (21-31). In the Naiśa-līlā the love-sports in the grove (32-37) begin with the drinking of light and sweet wine made from the honey of flowers (Madhu-pāna, 38-65), playful stealing of Kṛṣṇa's Syamantaka jewel (66-69), with just a brief concluding reference to amorous dalliance (70-71), which in the reticent opinion of the poet¹, is incapable of proper description, and which, therefore, makes him hush and bless himself with silence²!

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¹ It is not that the poet is always reticent; witness, for instance, the fulsome description of erotic acts, gestures and jest in cantos i, iv, and vi! Or, as a particular instance, Rādhā's joke in iv. 47, for which even the editor feels that some apology is necessary!

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² There are three concluding verses, two in Śloka and one in Śārdūlavikrīḍita, in which the author gives a brief account of himself. The last verse states:

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Such is the luxuriously sentimental picture of Vṛndāvana, a veritable paradise of unalloyed sports, pastimes and pleasantries—and of gorgeous feeding! In depicting it, Kavikarṇapūra displays considerable literary skill, but his mediocre poetic powers do not improve by the selection of a fanciful and romantic theme, nor by the strenuous application of all the resources of traditional technique. He is not entirely graceless in bringing out the succulent possibilities of his highly erotic subject, but they are obscured by a prodigious amount of pedantry and rhetorical refinement. A pleasing variation is introduced by the employment of middle and end-rhyme³ in the verses, obviously through the influence of vernacular poetry: the stanzas undoubtedly possess swing, smoothness and melody; but the interminable and wearisome use of such rhyming device becomes singsong. Kavikarṇapūra possesses a considerable vocabulary of fine words; he is a clever artisan in the employment of conventional imageries, expressions, ideas, and conceits; he is a talented master of verbal and metrical contrivance; but in verse after verse his constant straining after purely rhetorical

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³ The end-rhyme, as well as middle-rhyme, is extensively used by Rūpa Gosvāmī in many of his well-known Stotras e.g. Mukundamuktāvalī, Svayaṃ-utprekṣita-līlā, Kuñjavihārī-stava, etc.

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śrī-gaurāṅga-kṛpāmayo'vani-tale śrīmac-chivānandakaḥ
seno'mbatha-kulodbhavaḥ sukṛtibhiḥ sārdhaṃ sadā gauradṛk|
tat-putraḥ kavikarṇapūra-rasikācāryāgraṇīr nititām
śrī-kṛṣṇānika-kaumudīti viditaṃ kāvyaṃ su-kāvyaṃ vyadhāt||

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effect¹ gives us a prodigality of literary ingenuity instead of a profusion of poetic beauty.²

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1 We must not forget that Kavikarṇapūra was also the author of an elaborate rhetorical work, entitled *Alaṃkāra-kaustubha*, which deals, not with Bhakti-rasa, but with Kāvya-rasa. It is curious, however, that in his illustrations he does not quote his own Kāvyas, although two verses of his drama, *Caitanya-candrodaya* (cited by us above) are quoted anonymously (ed. Radharaman Press, Berhampur-Murshidabad, 1898, pp. 630-631).

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2 It is doubtful if the *Camatkāra-candrikā*, which is sometimes ascribed to Kavikarṇapūra (see above, p. 46, footnote), really belongs to him. There is no proof of authorship to be found in the body of the work; and the name of the author is missing in the colophon of the printed text as well as of the India Office (Eggeling, vii, no. 3882/1177e), Tübingen (Roth, p. 9), Bengal Asiatic Society (H. P. Sastri, vii, no. 5200), Vaṅgīya Sāhitya Pariṣad (C. H. Chakravarti, p. 186) MSS, although it appears as Kavikarṇapūra in that of the single MS of R. L. Mitra (vi, no. 2150). The testimony of the five Dacca University MSS, which we consulted, is conflicting; three of them (nos. 2412, 2465, 2770) contain no name of the author; the colophon of one (no. 2387), which is a modern MS (dated Śaka 1740=1818 A.D.) ascribes the work to Kavikarṇapūra-gosvāmin; while that of another (no. 2657) definitely names Viśvanātha as the author. The printed text, according to tradition, ascribes it to Viśvanātha Cakravartin; and this is more likely. It is, however, a small and simple Kāvya of little importance on some curious love-intrigues of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā, divided into four Kutūhalas (of 37, 33, 101 and 55 verses respectively=226 verses in total), the verses being composed in each canto (except canto iii, which is entirely in Upajāti) in a variety of metres. In the first Kutūhala, Kṛṣṇa stealthily gets into a box of clothes and ornaments, which Yaśodā wants to send to Rādhā, and which Rādhā's husband, Abhimanyu, not knowing, carries on Yaśodā's request to Rādhā's bedroom to the great amusement of Rādhā and her companions; the second Kutūhala describes how Kṛṣṇa, in the disguise of Abhimanyu, succeeds in deceiving Jaṭilā, Rādhā's mother-in-law, and obtains her permission to sport with Rādhā in her own house; in the third Kutūhala, Rādhā pretends snake-bite, Kṛṣṇa arrives in the disguise of Vidyāvalī, daughter of the sage Garga, who is supposed to be a snake-doctor, and manages to spend the night with Rādhā in the art of curing her; in the fourth Kutūhala, Kṛṣṇa, failing in the disguise of a girl to propitiate Rādhā, deceives Jaṭilā into the belief that he is a girl-cousin, and at her direction Rādhā is obliged The *Govinda-līlāmṛta*¹ of Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja contains a more extensive treatment of the same theme. It is a long and laborious production of a subtle pedant, rather than of a sound or even sophisticated poet. Whatever may be its value to the devotee of the faith, the stupendous work is not a poem but a poetical curiosity of Śāstric knowledge, legendary lore, salacious fancy, technical facility and uninspired ingenuity. It is the longest Bengal Vaiṣṇava Kāvya in verse the number of cantos being 23 and of verses 2488.² It falls, according to the accepted scheme of day-and-night sports and pastimes of Kṛṣṇa and the Gopīs, into the following divisions:³ Prātar-līlā i-iv; Pūrvāhṇa-līlā v-viii; Madhyāhna-līlā ix-xviii; Aparāhṇa-, Sāyam-, and Pūrva-niśā-līlā xix-xxi, including Rāsa-līlā xxii; and Rajanī-līlā xxiii. We have already noted that the work was composed, as the author himself tells us (xxiii. 94), on a hint supplied by Rūpa Gosvāmin in a work, entitled *Smaraṇa-maṅgala*;⁴ but it is not clear if Kṛṣṇadāsa also knew Kavikarṇapūra's *Kṛṣṇāhnika-kaumudī*. Probably he knew it: for he certainly utilised Kavikarṇapūra's biographical poem and drama in his Bengali biography of Caitanya. The present work was avowedly intended as a *vade mecum* for those to accept his companionship for the night. It is a work of little poetic merit or theological pretension, and the somewhat trite stories are not very amusingly told.

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¹ See above, p. 54, footnote 1

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² The figure does not include 23 colophon-verses, repeated with some variations at the end of each canto. These would make the total 2511. In the India Office MS of the work, the number slightly varies in each canto as well as in the total.

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³ The actual title of each canto, with the respective number of verses, is as follows: I Kuñja-niśānta-keli-racana 116; II-III Kalya-vilāsa-varṇana 105 and 113; IV Prātar-bhojana-līlā 77; V-VIII Pūrvāhṇa-līlā 80, 86, 132 and 115; IX-X Madhyāhna-līlā 106 and 149; XI Rādhā-tanu-varṇana 146; XII-XVIII Madhyāhna-līlā (continued) 105, 114, 112, 146, 110, 68 and 98; XIX Aparāhṇa-keli 109; XX Sāyam-keli 77; XXI Pūrva-niśā-vilāsa 127; XXII Rāsa-līlā 101; XXIII Rajanī-vilāsa 96.

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⁴ For this work see below, under Additions and Corrections.

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who want to practise Rāgānugā Bhakti (*rāgādhva-sādhaka*); the descriptions are, therefore, made deliberately detailed and circumstantial, in conformity with the dictates of Vaiṣṇava Rasa-śāstra.¹ But the work was also meant for the conscious display of the author's extraordinary learning and skill in grammar, rhetoric, prosody, erotics, music, poetics and theology!

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¹ A reverential mention is made of the Vṛndāvana Gosvāmins, namely, Rūpa, Jīva, Raghunātha-dāsa and Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa, whose works the author follows. As Sanātana is not directly mentioned, it is probable that he was dead at the time of the composition of the work (see above, p. 55, footnote 2).

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It is not necessary to summarise the details of the openly erotic sports, which are elaborately and lusciously depicted. Kṛṣṇadāsa being not at all squeamish or observing the greater reticence of Rūpa, Jīva and Karṇapūra; but some interesting features may be briefly indicated. The Niśānta- and Prātar-līlās, in the first two cantos, include description of the awakening of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā from sleep by speaking parrots sent by Vṛndā, the raillery of Rādhā's companions, Kṛṣṇa's pretended sleep after Rādhā leaves and formal awakening by Yaśodā, his going out with his companions and milking of cows, and Rādhā's morning ablution, dress and decoration. The third and fourth cantos on Pūrvāhṇa-līlā continue the last topic but they also describe the cooking of food by Rādhā and her companions at Yaśodā's direction.²

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² The ingredients of the food, as well as the delicious dishes prepared, are elaborately mentioned in iii. 4-5, 39-54, 58-59 and 87-108. We know from C-C that Kṛṣṇadāsa never misses an opportunity of giving, with great relish, long lists of gorgeous delicacies: see, for instance, Caitanya's taking meals at Advaita's house after Saṃnyāsa, Madhya iii. 43-55; Jagannātha's Prasāda sent by Pratāparudra, Madhya xiv, 25-34; Caitanya's meals at Sārvabhauma's house at Purī, Madhya xv, 207-218 etc. It is interesting to note that on the last occasion, Sārvabhauma's son-in-law, Amogha, is said to have commented upon the amount of food taken by the ascetic Caitanya: एइ अन्ने तृप्त हय दश बार जन । अकेला संन्यासी करे एतेक भोजन ॥ The scoffer, we are told, was conse-

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Kṛṣṇa's bath, dress and partaking of the food and going out again with his boy-friends, after which Rādhā and others take their meals. The fifth and sixth cantos describe Kṛṣṇa's Goṣṭha-līlā or tending of cows and incidental erotic adventures. At Jaṭilā's direction Rādhā prepares to go to worship the sun (Sūrya-pūjā), but she is full of love and longing for Kṛṣṇa, makes garlands and betels for him and sends her companion, Tulasī, with them. After partaking of food again, brought by Dhaniṣṭhā, Kṛṣṇa finds Tulasī and sends a message to Rādhā to meet at the Rādhā-kuṇḍa. In the meantime Śaivyā brings a message from Candrāvali, whom also Kṛṣṇa arranges to meet at Gauri-tīrtha (this theme, however, the author does not develop later on!). The seventh canto concludes the Pūrvāhṇa-līlā by describing Kṛṣṇa's visit to the Rādhā-kuṇḍa, where he waits expectantly for Rādhā; and the poet takes the opportunity to describe the Rādhā-kuṇḍa, as well as the Śyāma-kuṇḍa nearby, and the adjoining grove, which contains an arbour with a swing in it.

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The Madhyāhna-līlā, which describes the lovers' meeting and their various sports, naturally takes larger space for elaborate erotic descriptions. The eighth, ninth and tenth cantos depict Rādhā's visit, on the pretext of Sūrya-pūjā, accompanied by Vṛndā and her companions, her meeting with Kṛṣṇa, her erotic feelings and gestures, and the witty but always erotic jests, innuendos, fun and merriment with Kundalatā and other Sakhīs, including the playful stealing of Kṛṣṇa's flute; which last incident gives Kṛṣṇa an opportunity, on the pretext of a search for his lost flute, to touch and embrace the Sakhīs individually and ultimately come to Rādhā in the arbour for a brief sexual enjoyment. A part of the ninth canto appears to be intended for a minute and systematic illustration, by a series of verses bearing on Rādhā, of

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quently afflicted with cholera! These, as well as the exceedingly salacious erotic passages from the ascetic Gosvāmins, will perhaps afford an interesting study of inhibitions to the modern psychologist!

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the generous set of graces, qualities and excellences of the conventional Nāyikā prescribed by the Rasa-śāstra.¹ There is also a brief inventory (ix. 35-38), in the form of a comparison of Rādhā to the forest, of the detailed beauty of her limbs,² made by Kṛṣṇa himself! We have a repetition of the familiar motif of the sportive dispute with regard to the sovereignty of the forest, but the author also makes fun of the Smārta Pañcopāsanā (i e. worship of the five deities, Gaṇeśa, Sūrya, Śiva, Viṣṇu and Durgā) and the Nava-graha-pūjā (worship of the nine planets) by an unwarranted erotic application in viii. 11 f and 82 f. In the eleventh canto, Kṛṣṇa, after enjoyment, replaces Rādhā's displaced clothes and ornaments and decorates her afresh, while the curious Sakhis peep with evident pleasure! We have also an elaborate and luscious description, which omits nothing, of the beauty of Rādhā's youthful limbs. But the canto is also meant to illustrate serially the various poetic figures of word and sense, as well as the various metres, as defined by rhetoricians³ and prosodists,⁴ the object being to astonish us with incredible feats of verbal and metrical jugglery. In the twelfth canto we have renewed dispute about the theft of the flute and description of the grove by Vṛndā; in the thirteenth, we find Kṛṣṇa's description of the six seasons, the play of the talking parrots, and Kṛṣṇa's erotic repartee with Rādhā; in the fourteenth, the topics are Rādhā's Prema-vaicittya, the sport of throwing fragrant and coloured water, the game of the swing (Hindolārohaṇa), drinking of sweet wine (Madhu-pāna)¹ and lying down in the grove; while the fifteenth proceeds to the natural climax of Sambhoga, or unalloyed sexual enjoyment, in the course of which Kṛṣṇa, at Rādhā's request, assumes multiple forms and enjoys all her companions simultaneously! This is followed by sports in water, picnic of fruits and herbs, and midday sleep. The sixteenth and seventeenth cantos describes the awakening of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā from sleep, in which the motif of parrots singing their praise is repeated. The wise parrots, like the learned author, appear to be well versed in Alaṃkāra-śāstra, and illustrate in each verse of two extensive cantos the different poetic figures! They are also adepts in the art of composing devotional Stotras and recite a Kṛṣṇāṣṭaka and a Rādhāṣṭaka! The eighteenth canto illustrates what isknown as Bhāṣā-sama (in which a verse would read the same in Sanskrit and Prakrit) and all kinds of verbal trick (Dyakṣara, Samaka, etc.) and Prahelikā (Kriyā-gupta, Sambandha-gupta, etc.); but it concludes the Madhyā-

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¹ The author not only illustrates the characteristics, but scholastically mentions them in three verses (ix 3-5), namely, the eight Sāttvikas, the Udbhāsvaras, the seven effortless (Ayatnaja) graces, the ten natural (Svabhāvaja) and three physical (Aṅgaja) excellences, and twenty-two Bhāvas or expressions of feelings!

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² In this, as in everything else, Kṛṣṇadāsa is not original, for a similar descriptive simile of the physical charms of Rādhā will be found in Raghunātha-dāsa's Kṛṣṇojjvala-kusuma-keli Stotra (Stavāvalī pp. 12-22) and in Muktā-caritra, pp. 166-172.

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³ It is difficult to say what rhetorical treatise Kṛṣṇadāsa follows. The commentator, named Vṛndāvana Cakravartin, who describes himself as a pupil of Kṛṣṇadeva Sārvabhauma, informs us (on xi. 13) that the Alaṃkāras are illustrated in accordance with Kavikarṇapūra's Alaṃkāra-kaustubha, but he refers also to the interpretation of his own Guru, Kṛṣṇadeva.

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⁴ Practically the whole of the Chando-mañjarī of Gaṅgādāsa is illustrated, beginning from metres of two (striṣu śreṣṭhā citrā cakhyau), three (nārīṇāṃ mūrdhanyā/ śrī-jyeṣṭhā sāvādī), four (bhānoḥ kanyāṃ dhānyāṃ etāṃ/ sā paśyantī vāsantyākhyāt), five (hāsa-vikāsa-śrī-rada-

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¹ Rādhā's intoxicated stuttering is imitated in xv. 5 in Druta-vilambita metre: *ma ma mā pi pi pi spṛia māṃ hare, ki ki kiṃ vidhātum ihechasi| śa śayitum da da dehi mama kṣaṇam, ka kalitākṣi-yugāsmi ghu ghūrṇayā//*. But this is, again, not original; cf. *Kṛṣṇāhnika-kaumudī* vi. 62 and *Kavīndra-vacana-samuccaya*, no. 39.

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paṅktiḥ| kṛṣṇa-mude sā prāha vilākhā) and six sabhāṃ priṇayanti sakhīṃ lajjayanti| sva-vānyā kavitā vadat tuṅgavidyā) syllables, which are not commonly used, and ending with every variety of metre, common or uncommon, defined by metrists! Not only in this canto; but a general feature of the work is that the same metre is not employed throughout any canto. There is another series of short-syllable metres exemplified in xiii. 73-103.

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hna-lilā by describing dice-play with its attendant pleasantries and erotic wagers. The inevitable spoil-sport Jaṭilā appears on the scene; Rādhā pretends to be engaged in sun-worship; Kṛṣṇa deceives Jaṭilā by entering in the disguise of a priest, and later on of a sooth-sayer versed in palmistry; and the whole comedy ends by Kṛṣṇa's boy-friends plundering the offerings to the sun-god!

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The Aparāhna-lilā takes up the nineteenth and twentieth cantos, in which Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā return to their respective homes and engage in their usual duties. Rādhā again prepares various kinds of delicacies, of which a minute list is given (xix. 50-58), and sends them to Kṛṣṇa for feeding. But the author cannot divest himself of his scholastic pedantry. We are told, for instance, that Kṛṣṇa, in his boyish conversation, becomes engaged with boy-friends in Ālāpa, Anulāpa, Pralāpa, Vipralāpa, Saṃlāpa, Supralāpa, Vilāpa, and Apalāpa¹, as well as in the employment of words which are Grasta, Avispaṣṭa, Nirasta, Avajñā, Vitatha, Saṃgata, Sopālambha, Sotprāsa, Vyāja-stuti-garbha and Narmāñcita-gūdha, or characterised by Citra-kāvya and Samasyā-dāna-pūraṇa—an elaborate summary of conversational attributes! The twenty-first canto is devoted to Pradoṣa-lilā. There is an evening assembly of dancing and singing in Nanda's place, which Kṛṣṇa attends, and soon pretends to retire to sleep; but he really slips away and unites with Rādhā, who has gone in the approved style of an Abhisārikā to a grove on the banks of the Yamuna. This, of course, gives an opportunity to the author to describe the river and its surrounding scenery in the conventional manner, and furnish lists of trees and shrubs (xxi. 30-36, 50-53), birds (xxi. 66-67, 89 water-birds) and animals (xxi. 90)! One would expect that the twenty-second and twenty-third cantos, which are concerned with Rāsa-lilā at night, would make the author shed his pedantry and give evidence of poetry; but much of the two cantos is taken up with a dry display of the author's knowledge of Saṃgīta- and Nāṭya-śāstra, in the course of which he mentions 22 Śrutis, 59 Tānas, 21 Mūrchanās, and 15 Gamakas (xxii. 79-81)! A discourse on music follows, in which we have a list of Rāgas or melodies (xxii. 85-87), of musical instruments (xxii. 88-90), gestures and Mudrās (xxii. 91-92) and Tālas (xxii. 97-101; xxiii. 7-14), as well as of Mārga and Deśī class of songs. Here is a specimen of the dancing Tāla versified:

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¹ Cf. Amara-kośa i. 6. 15-16 and Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi pp. 264-267.

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*dhāṃ dhāṃ dṛk dṛk caṇa caṇa niṇāṃ nam niṇāṃ nam*
*niṇāṃ nam*
*tuk tuk tum tum guḍu guḍu guḍu drāṃ drāṃ guḍu drāṃ*
*guḍu drāṃ|*
*dhek dhek dho dho kiriṭi kiriṭi dho drāṃ drimi drāṃ*
*drimi drāṃ*
*āgatyaivaṃ muhur iha mudā śrīmad-īśā nanarta||*

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After the dancing and singing, feeding follows with a list again of various delicacies, the whole being rounded off with Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā retiring to bed; which last theme, Kṛṣṇa-dāsa, like Kavikarṇapūra, does not, demurely enough, work up any further. The end of a perfect day and night!

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The extremely artificial and learned character of this astonishing literary atrocity is obvious. When a scholastic mind writes verse, we can expect nothing better; and further comment is needless. The effort is stupendous, but puerile. The frank object is not narrative, nor poetry, but direct illustration of technical niceties, highly erotic refinements, and rhetorical and metrical ingenuities. The imposing magnitude, sheer erudition and profusion of elaborate skill are admitted, but the work also illustrates a curious combination of the laboured volubility of a bad poet with the clever prolixity of a subtle pedant. While it is highly artistic in the extremely narrow sense, and perhaps esoteric and devotional, the work is remarkably sensuous in spirit and treatment, and suggests nothing but erotic interest. We are assured that despite apparent sensuousness, the theme is spiritual. But the glorification of the sex-impulse, which occurs from page to page, is frank, supreme and all-absorbing. This remark applies not merely to the present work, which perhaps deserves it more than any other, but to almost all the literary productions of Caitanyaism. The glowing description of erotic acts, feelings, gestures and repartees, and evident relish in them, make it difficult to interpret them as mere symbol or allegory. Apart from the usual portraiture of lovers' dalliance, which is an established convention in the Kāvya, the unveiled succulence of the ubiquitous and interminable series of erotic passages cannot be taken as mere practical illustration of the knowledge of Kāma-śāstra and Rasa-śāstra. Notwithstanding the grace of a complex diction, the passages are too often graceless. One may make a desperate attempt to read a supersensuous meaning, but what we have here is plainly and emphatically the language of the senses. To justify it in any other way would be futile; for the whole Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa legend in these work is treated more as a literal fact than as an elevating allegory. There is no suggestion in the works themselves that they are allegories; they are manifestly presented as religious history. If one says that all this is, therefore, more than literature, criticism ends there; but if there is any spiritual foundation, one must say it is too insecure for the excessive load of sexual passion. If this extreme sensuousness be not an acquisition to religion, it may be urged that it is a gain to literature; but even from the literary standpoint, the frank naturalism of physical passion cannot be the only interest or inspiration in literary works, nor can it possess more than a limited appeal.

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The Saṃkalpa-kalpadruma¹ of Jīva deals with the Nitya-līlā (Prakaṭa and Aprakaṭa) at Vṛndāvana, but it is not so much a poem as a versified theological summary of the author's conception of the Nitya-līlā, expressed in his much more extensive Gopāla-campū, both parts of which were composed some time before the present work (i. 264).¹ Kṛṣṇa is the Kalpadruma or the heavenly tree fabled to fulfil all desires; the roots are his Līlās like birth etc. (Janmādi-līlā); the stem or trunk is his eternal sports (Nitya-līlā); the branches are the verses which describe the sports at different seasons (Tat-tad-ṛtu-śloka); and the fruit is the attainment of divine love.² The work is accordingly divided into four parts; Janmādi-līlā, Nitya-līlā, Sarvartu-līlā and Phala-niṣpatti.

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¹ See above, p. 157.

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¹ Jiva Gosvāmin must have been well advanced in years when this work was written, for he says (i. 4): vṛndāranye jaraḥ jivaḥ kaścit prāha manaḥ prati/ mriyate'sāmpratam mūḍha guḍhām etām sudhām piba//.

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² mūlam janmādi-līlāsya skandhaḥ syān nitya-līlatā/ śākhā tat-tad-ṛtu-ślokāḥ phalam premamayī sthitiḥ//

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The first part, consisting of 275 verses (of which 264 are in Śloka), makes a devout enumeration of the incidents of birth and allied topics in the form of praise (Stuti), the account being rounded off with eleven stanzas in Puṣpitāgrā metre. The account is practically a theological résumé of the entire career of Kṛṣṇa, but it emphasises the Vṛndāvana-līlā, to which Kṛṣṇa is said to return after his Dvārakā-līlā in accordance with his promise made to the Gopīs. The second part, in which the Puṣpitāgrā metre continues, is concerned with the eternal sports with the people of Vraja (Nitya-līlā), which are said to occur in a non-manifest (Aprakaṭa) form in the manifest (Prakaṭa) Vṛndāvana. The Vṛndāvana described is a divinely sublimated replica of the actual or ideal Vraja with its cow, cowherd and cowherdess (Go-gopa-gopī), as well as with the friends, relatives and associates of Kṛṣṇa. Here Rādhā is the foremost beloved (prathamatamā khalu tāsu saiva saiva, ii. 33), with whom Kṛṣṇa sported alone for a long time during the Rāsa-līlā. We are told at the beginning of the work that Kṛṣṇa is indeed the husband of the Gopīs from time eternal (anādijanma-siddhānāṁ gopīnāṁ patir eva saḥ, i. 2). The erotic acts and feelings of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are described, as well as parental affection (Vātsalya) of Nanda and Yaśodā and friendship (Sakhya) of the Gopas. The various sports with the Gopīs, tending and milking of cows, bath, meals¹, evening entertainments and union with Rādhā and the Gopīs are also briefly described. The total number of verses in this largest section is 315. The third part of the work, also in Puṣpitāgrā metre (131 stanzas), relates a conversation between Rādhā Kṛṣṇa on the effects of the various seasons and describes their entertainments with the Gopīs. The fourth and last section on Phala-niṣpatti, consists of ten verses in Sragdharā and two in Śārdūlavikrīḍita, which constitute a Stuti or panegyric of the united form (Yugala-mūrti) of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa; for Jiva has already inculcated (ii. 206) this united, and not separate, worship:

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¹ The question of the number of meals taken by Kṛṣṇa appears to have worried the dogmatists, inasmuch as somewhat divergent accounts are found in different works! Jiva Gosvāmin lays down (ii. 172 f) that Kṛṣṇa took four meals in all; morning meal served by his mother, the second meal in the forenoon with his companions, the third meal at midday with his beloved Gopīs, and the fourth meal after dusk with his elderly relatives! Even such minute details appear to be of importance! Jiva gives a list of the food brought by the ladies (ii. 190, 195), but it lacks the variety and richness of Kṛṣṇadāsa's description. —Regarding differences in the description of details in the day-and-night sports, see the remarks of the editor of the Kṛṣṇāhnika-kaumudī, pp. iv-v, where he points out several discrepancies in the various accounts of Kavi-karṇapūra, Kṛṣṇadāsa and Viśvanātha Cakravartin.

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śṛṇu hṛdaya diśāmi rādhikāyām|
harim abhisāraya tatra tām kadāpi|
dvayam idam anu pūjanam tad eva|
dvayam anu yat puruṣa-toṣa-poṣa-kāri||.

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The section is concluded with seven more verses which pay homage of the author to his two uncles (pitṛvya-yugalam). The work is written in a much more simple style and diction than what is usual with its learned author, and its devotional attitude is unmistakable; but it would be proper to regard it as a metrical doctrinarian treatise rather than as a poem in the real sense.

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The general topic of Kṛṣṇa's sports with Rādhā in the Vṛndāvana-līlā also forms the theme of the *Saṃgita-mādhava*¹ of Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī. The inspiration, however, does not come directly from the theology of the Vṛndāvana Gosvāmins, but proceeds from the poetry of Jayadeva, upon whose *Gita-govinda* Prabodhānanda deliberately models his lyrical poem. It is, therefore, a relief to turn from the literary lucubrations of Jīva and Kṛṣṇadāsa to this more lively composition. The work certainly belongs to the Caitanya sect, for the author pays a concluding homage to Caitanya in a graceful stanza.² As against Jayadeva's twelve cantos, Prabodhānanda has fifteen; the theme however, as in Jayadeva's work, is, slight. But, while Jayadeva develops his meagre theme through poetical situations and motifs of separation, sorrow, longing, jealousy, penitence and joy of reunion, and invests it with unparallelled pictorial richness, verbal harmony and lyrical splendour of finely interwoven narrative, dialogue, song and description, Prabodhānanda is only an ingenious imitator and a poor poet. Even the framework of his poem is flimsy and unconvincing. Some Sakhī (presumably the author himself in his Sakhī-bhāva!), singing, in the first canto, the praises of Vṛndāvana and of the sports of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa which occurred therein, is filled with longing, and addresses, in the second canto, some more experienced companion to relate them to her in detail. This starts the poem; but the episodes, described in song and verse, are really detached, and include such topics as Rādhā-dāsya or Kṛṣṇa's becoming a humble servant of Rādhā (iii) : Mitho-darśana or first sight of each other (iv) : Sakhyanunaya or entreaty of the Sakhīs (v) : Rādhā's clever repartee (vi) : the various amatory-conditions of Kṛṣṇa, love-sick (Mugdha, vii), impetuous Rasoddhata, viii), pleased (Mudita, ix), excited (Uttarala, x) and afflicted (Vihvala, xi) : as well as the joy of perfect union and Rāsa-vilāsa (xii-xiv), with a concluding expression of the author's own ecstasy over the beatific sports. The number of songs (in musical modes) introduced,¹ in the manner of Jayadeva's Padāvalis, is twenty-eight, which to a certain extent relieve the monotony of the stereotyped erotic scheme : but they are closely imitative, even if melodious, and some of them are exuberantly lengthy. The work is readable, and perhaps enjoyable, in spite of its somewhat cloying and langourous eroticism : but it is the besetting weakness of an unoriginal epoch to produce literary counterfeits which seldom become current coins of poetry.

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¹ See above, p. 131. The *Rādhā-rasa-sudhānidhi* is wrongly ascribed to Prabodhānanda, see above, p. 132, footnote 3.

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² *asraughair makaranda-bindu-nivaham nisyandibhiḥ sundaram* *netrendivaram ādadhat su-pulakotkampam ca bibhrat vapuḥ|* *vācaś cāpi sagadgadā hari-harityānandinīr udgiran* *premānanda-rasotsavam diśatu vo devaḥ śacī-nandanaḥ||*

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¹ Their length forbids extensive quotation here, but the few opening lines from a song, openly imitative of one of the famous songs of Jayadeva (x. 1-8), will suffice as specimen:

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Of the Naimittika or occasional Līlās of Kṛṣṇa, the theme which appears to be highly favoured is the Dāna-līlā or pastime of gift, which forms the subject-matter of the inset-play in Kavikarṇapūra's Caitanya-candrodaya,² of Rūpa's short play Dāna-keli-kaumudī,³ Raghunātha-dāsa's short poem Dāna-keli-cintāmaṇi⁴ and, in a sense, of his Campū, Muktā-caritra, of which we shall speak presently. The incident is slight and the theme slender in such compositions.

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² See above, pp. 570 f.

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³ See above, p. 581.

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⁴ See above p. 124.

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tava lalita-kuṇḍalam vidhuta-vidhu-maṇḍalam cāru-mukham
amṛta-nidhi-sāram|
smarati mama mānasam kim api rati-lālasam syandi-mṛdu-hasita-
madhu-dhāram|
priye kvāsi rādhe, dehi mayi kim api śubha-dṛṣṭim|
tava nimeṣa-kautuke kirati mayi dāruṇo viṣama-viṣa-jara-
vṛṣṭim| (Dhruva), etc.

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but the most interesting feature—in fact, the only feature—is the lively picture of Keli-kalaha or pretended love-quarrel between Kṛṣṇa and the Gopīs, involving good-humoured pleasantry, light repartee, and youthful teasing and banter. The ready wit and smartness of the chaffing dialogues and speeches are often enjoyable, but invariably the jests are flagrantly charged with erotic words, ideas, imageries and suggestions, sometimes too vivacious to be strictly decent. There is, no doubt, delicacy of feeling and expression, but there is hardly any sense of squeamishness in the fulsome acts, gestures, words and innuendos.¹

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¹ With due deference to Vaiṣṇava sentiment, one must say that some of the dubious acts and jests, which are frank expressions of physical passion, appear out of place in what is supposed to be the witty repartee of a polished and cultured society. However esoteric the sense may be, they are presented as literal facts, of which sex, and sex alone, supplies the incentive; but there is no point in going beyond the limits of natural modesty. It is extraordinary that such things should come from the highly pious Gosvāmins. Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, who must have known Raghunātha-dāsa quite intimately at Vṛndāvana, speaks of the severely ascetic days and nights the Gosvāmin spent in study and meditation, his dressing himself in rags, avoiding rich food, and spending not even three or four hours in sleep or rest.

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As borne out also by tradition, there can be doubt that Raghunātha-dāsa's Dāna-keli-cintāmaṇi was directly inspired by Rūpa's Dāna-keli-kaumudī. It keeps to the same general scheme and incident, the only notable variation being the slight introductory framework of making Kuṇḍalatā, wife of Nanda's nephew and Upananda's son Subhadra, the curious enquirer and her Sakhī, Sumukhī, the narrator of the erotic episode. Bhāguri is performing a sacrifice on behalf of Vasudeva : Rādhā, with the Gopīs, is carrying fresh ghee in pitchers to the sacrificial ground; and Kṛṣṇa, with his array of Gopas, form an octroi (Ghaṭṭipaṭṭa) on the top of Govardhana hill for the levy of toll for passage.² The usual dispute follows regarding the right of demand, nature, amount and mode of payment, and the usual erotic railleries in which Kṛṣṇa describes the physical charms of the youthful limbs, not only of Rādhā, but also of her Sakhis, and expects payment in terms of lively enjoyment. The Gopīs reply with equal zest, pretend helpless anger and sit down at the foot of the hill. The elderly Nāndimukhī appears on the scene; and through her arbitration, the dispute is settled satisfactorily by the arrangement of a meeting next day for gratifying payment in a grove near the Mānasagaṅgā. Raghunātha-dāsa can write facile and elegant verses of the erotic kind, and his metrical skill is considerable;¹ the dialogues and speeches are lively and witty with erotic suggestions; the small poem is not too much loaded with literary² or theological pedantry:

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