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Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c11.s5: 5. Stotras, Gītas and Birudas

Early History of the Vaiṣṇava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c11.s5

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5. Stotras, Gītas and Birudas

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Like the regular Vaiṣṇava Kāvya, the Vaiṣṇava Stotra marks a departure from the staid and elevated tradition¹ of the reflective Stotras, of which the Vedāntic hymns ascribed to Śaṃkara may be taken as the type, by their erotic-mystic sensibility and by their more passionate and sensuous content and expression. If the traditional Stotra as poems of praise and panegyric derived its impetus from speculative thought, the quasi-amorous attitude of the Vaiṣṇava Bhakti movement shifted the basis of inspiration by transforming the mighty sex-impulse into an ecstatic religious emotion, and by relating the devotional literature very closely to the erotic; the religious longings being expressed in the intimate language and imagery of earthly passion. The apotheosis of the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa legend, with all its paraphernalia of impassioned beatific sports, was, no doubt, a literary gain of immense importance and lifted the devotional literature from the dead level of speculative thought to the romantic richness of an intensely passionate experience. But very soon subtle scholasticism laid its cold dry fingers upon the spontaneous blooming, not only of the regular Vaiṣṇava Kāvya but also of the devotional Vaiṣṇava Stotra; and the incubus of a long-established literary tradition retarded the growth of independent form and expression. As a result, rhetorical nicety and psychological refinement came to dominate. The technical analysis and authority of the older Poetics and Erotics had already evolved a system of meticulous classification of the ways, means and effects of the erotic sentiment, and established a series of rigid conventionalities to be expressed in stock poetic and emotional phrases, analogies and conceits. To add to this, the neo-vaiṣṇava theology and theory of sentiment brought in a further mass of well defined subtleties and elegancies. Neither the regular Vaiṣṇava Kāvya nor the Stotra could, therefore, escape refined artificiality* of sentiment and expression, as well as inevitable monotony arising from similar themes and motifs, similar series of words and ideas and similar method and treatment.

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¹ See S. K. De, *History of Sanskrit Literature* ch. vi, under Devotional Poetry, pp. 375-98.

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The Bengal Vaiṣṇava Stotra, therefore, exhibits practically the same set of characteristics as the regular Vaiṣṇava Kāvya which we have reviewed above, and they are also composed by the same set of writers with similar prepossessions. If the Stotra springs from a more personal religious consciousness and is not weighted entirely by the dry dogmatism of mere scholastic thought, the expression is too conventionally artistic and too subtly saturated with studied erotic niceties. In spite of the emotional inflatus, they are deliberate works with all the distinctive features of deliberate art. Nevertheless, the Stotras are comparatively short pieces and are generally not so dull and dreary as the laboured and extensive Kāvya. We often find in them a rare and pleasing charm, a luscious exuberance of pictorial fancy and a mood of sensuous sentimentality, which we often miss in the more ambitious and leisurely composed Kāvyas of massively erudite fancy. It is true that the reality of the personal emotion is too often lost in the repetition of conventional ideas and imageries, but the spring and resonance of the verses and the swing and smoothness of the comparatively facile diction, as well as the inherent passion and picturesqueness of the romantic content, frequently make these devotional efforts transcend the mere formalism of literary and emotional trivialities. According as the sentiment gains in ardour and the expression in concreteness, theology and rhetoric recede to background; but, at the same time, it must be admitted that it is not very often that these poems of adoration and eulogy rise above the level of modest mediocrity.

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It is not denied that some of the Bengal Vaiṣṇava Stotras maintain their popularity, being daily uttered and relished by innumerable devout minds, but popularity or devotional employment is no index to literary quality. They are popular, not because they are great religious poems, but because they give expression to cherished religious ideas. They have, therefore, different values for the devotee and the literary critic. They come within the purview of literary appreciation only when they are not merely liturgical verses, or strings of laudatory names and epithets, or metrical litanies of glory and greatness, or didactic dissertation of doctrinal matter. These effusions of the devout heart are, in a sense, beyond the scope of formal criticism; and it is perhaps difficult for the uninterested critic, who is apt to dismiss them as expressions of abnormal sentimentality, to realise the entire mentality of these devotee-poets, the earnestness of their creed and credulity, the exaltation of their refined emotionalism. But when these devout utterances represent a professional effort and not a born gift, a systematic exposition of religious emotions and ideas and not their automatic fusion in an instinctively poetical and devotional personality, they seldom reach the true accent of a great religious poem.

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Although ignored by orthodox opinion for some of its unorthodox views, the *Caitanya-candrāmṛta*¹ of the emotional ascetic Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī is a refinedly passionate adoration of Caitanya, which should not be ignored as a remarkable contribution to the Stotra literature of the sect, inspired by sincere personal devotion. We have already given above a brief account of the content of poem, but more than the content, the expression, in spite of conventional ideas and imageries, often rises, in its intensity of emotional ardour, much above the level of what one finds in ordinary poems of panegyric. In self-disparagement the poet exclaims:

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¹ See above p. 130.

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vañcito'smi vañcito'smi vañcito'smi na saṁśayaḥ/
viśvaṁ gaura-rase magnaṁ sparśo'pi mama nābhavat//.

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and laments:

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kair vā sarva-pumartha-maulir akṛtāyāsair ihāsādito
nāsīd gaura-padāravinda-rajasā spṛṣṭe mahī-maṇḍale/
hā hā dhin mama jīvanaṁ dhig api me vidyā
dhig apyāśramaṁ
yad daurbhāgya-parāvarair mama na tat-sambandha-
gando'pyabhūt//.

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The pictures he gives of Caitanya's ecstatic emotions, his frenzied dancing and singing, have a richness and reality which one often misses in the more laboured accounts. We can select here, at random, only one specimen, but it will be enough to indicate the tone:

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abhūd gehe gehe tumula-hari-saṁkīrtana-ravo
babhau dehe dehe vipula-pulakāśru-vyatikaraḥ/
api snehe snehe parama-madhurotkarṣa-padavī
davīyasyāmnāyād api jagati gaure'vatarati//.

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The personal note, however, which makes this short poem so enjoyable, is much less in evidence in the interminable elaborate Śatakas, called collectively Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛta,¹ which are ascribed to Prabodhānanda. The work is nothing more than a series of lavish description and reflection on the romantic associations of Vṛndāvana as the abode of Kṛṣṇa and the scene of his varied sports. It would have been a marvellous literary feat indeed if the author had fulfilled his alleged ambitious project of writing ten thousand verses in one hundred Śatakas, all on the same topic; but, as it is, the seventeen Śatakas, so far published, give us a total of 1871 stanzas composed in a large variety of metres. One need not, however, be surprised at this inexhaustible fertility, for the indomitable Sanskrit poet is inexhaustible in his resources; and to the devout mind, the charms of Vṛndāvana are inexhaustible. But literary fertility is seldom synonymous with poetical excellence; and however exuberant and amazing the devotional fancy might be, it can never dwell upon the same theme on such a minute and extended scale without producing a sense of monotony and futility. However vividly and variedly they might have been conceived by a devout mind of great affluence, a more or less abstract contemplation of the divine sports could hardly inspire the poet with the same emotional directness as his real experience and adoration of Caitanya's vital devotion. If one can leisurely wade through this long and laborious production, one will certainly come across verses, lines and phrases, richly yet elegantly expressed, some real flash and felicity of workmanship, as well as a pleasing and picturesque sensuousness of details; but the prevailing note of literary artificiality in matter and manner is unmistakable, and the modest poetic merit of the composition need not be piously exaggerated.

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¹ See above pp. 131-32. The authenticity of the ascription is neither proved nor disproved.

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The wistfulness and ecstasy of the erotic-mystic devotional attitude, inspired by the frankly sensuous Vṛndāvana sports of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, as well as its intensely passionate appeal, are best exemplified by a series of fervent poems of praise and prayer composed by Raghunātha-dāsa. The twenty-nine Stotras contained in his *Stavāvali*¹ are of varying lengths, diverse metres and unequal merit; but with the exception of the first two small pieces (*Caitanyāṣṭaka* and *Gaurāṅga-stava-kalpataru*),¹ which give expression to the author's reminiscence and loving obeisance to Caitanya, all the poems are concerned with the author's vivid and impassioned realisation of the beatific sports. We can, however, at once exclude the *Rādhikāṣṭottara-śata-nāma* and the *Premāmbhoja-makaranda*, which consist of nothing more than strings of descriptive epithets, in the Śloka metre, in praise of Rādhā, meant for devout recitation. The four short poems (two on the Govardhana hill,² one on the Rādhā-kuṇḍa and one on the Dānalīlā-kuṇḍa) are concerned with worship and adoration of the holy places connected with Rādhā's sports and the author's ardent desire to live in them; while the much longer *Vraja-vilāsa-stava* (107 stanzas in various metres) is practically a systematic devotional and descriptive catalogue of everything connected with Vṛndāvana which, as the divine domicile, is said to be superior to Mathurā and Dvārakā, because of the divine sports occurring eternally therein.³ It enumerates and describes elaborately, in the form of obeisance in consecutive stanzas, the parents, grandparents, relatives, friends, associates, servants, assistants (even the nurse and the priest) of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, the Gopas and Gopīs, the cows, bulls and calves, the flute, the pet peacock, the hills, groves, rivers, birds, bees, forests, trees,

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¹ See above pp. 121-122, where the names of the individual Stotras, number of stanzas in each and their respective metres are also given.

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¹ Although Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja thinks highly of these two Stotras and quotes them extensively, they are not impressive compositions. In verse 4 of the second poem the Gambhīrā episode and the miracle of extended limbs are referred to.

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² Raghunātha's blindness in old age is also mentioned in the last verse of the *Govardhanāśraya-daśaka* (see above p. 121).

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³ Verse 5. Also verse 7:

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*vaidagdhyottara-narma-karmathe-sakhi-vṛndaiḥ parītaṁ rasaiḥ*
*pratyekaṁ taru-kuñja-vallari-giridroṇīṣu rātrindivam |*
*nānā-keli-bhareṇa yatra ramate tan-navya-yūnor yugaṁ*
*tat-pādāmbuja-gandha-bandhurataraṁ vṛndāvanaṁ tad bhaje ||*

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creepers, various places of sports, and even the humble grass and dust of Vṛndāvana, as well as those people, devout or otherwise, who have the blessed fortune of residing therein today!

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But the remaining Stotras are of greater interest. They illustrate aspects of the realisation of the Rāgānugā form of Bhakti,¹ in which the poet imagines himself to be, not a Sakhī or companion,² but a Dāsī or humble handmaid of Rādhā, and passionately prays for a vision and vicarious enjoyment of the frankly erotic sports. In the first verse of his Sva-niyama-daśaka, Raghunātha clearly enunciates his creed by enumerating the objects of his adoration:

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¹ See above pp. 176-79.

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² Possibly the imaginery Sakhī of Rādhā, named Rūpamañjarī, whom Raghunātha addresses in some of his Stotras, may have been Rūpa Gosvāmin; and tradition may not be wrong in associating Rūpa with the form of Sakhī-bhāva realisation.

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gurau mantre nāmni prabhuvara-sachīgarbhaja-pade
svarūpe śrī-rūpe gaṇa-yuji tādīya-prathamaje |
girindre gāndharvā-sarasi madhu-puryām vraja-vane
vraje bhakte goṣthālayiṣu param āstām mama matiḥ ||.

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namely, the Guru, the Mantra, the blessed Name, Caitanya, Svarūpa Dāmodara, Rūpa,³ Sanātana, the Govardhana hill, the Rādhā-kuṇḍa, Mathurā, Vṛndāvana, the Goṣṭha, the devotee of Kṛṣṇa and the people of Vraja. But he also declares emphatically that the sole object of his prayer and praise is Vṛndāvana and its presiding deity, Rādhā. The ecstatic worship and adoration of Rādhā (Rādhā-bhajana).

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³ Stanzas 10 and 11 of the Prārthanāśraya-caturdaśaka appear to indicate that Rūpa was dead by the time when these stanzas were written. Also see his Sva-niyama-daśaka, verse 8. The Stotras must have been composed at different periods of time; for Raghunātha's Muktā-caritra makes a wholesale insertion of the Premāmbhoja-makaranda, while his Kusuma-keli is apparently a variation of the theme of the Muktā-caritra.

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therefore, becomes the predominating motive of almost all his Stotras; for he states (*Viśākhānanda-stotra*, 131):

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*bhajāmi rādhām aravinda-netrāṃ*
*smarāmi rādhāṃ madhura-smitāsyām|*
*vadāmi rādhāṃ karuṇā-bharārdrāṃ*
*tato mamānyāsti gatir na kāpi||.*

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The mode of worship that he prefers, however, is not Sakhya but Dāsya:

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*pādābjayos tava vinā vara-dāsyam eva*
*nānyat kadāpi samaye kila devī yāce|*
*sakhyāya te mama namo'stu namo'stu nityaṃ*
*dāsyāya te mama raso'stu raso'stu saryam||.*

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Hence, in his much praised *Vilāpa-kusumāñjali*, from which the verse quoted above is taken, his sorrow of separation from Rādhā and his intense longing for service and worship are expressed with great warmth and earnestness, the author conceiving himself as a handmaid of Rādhā,¹ and describing in detail how he would like to wait upon her, help her to dress and decorate her limbs and minister unto her love-affair. Rādhā and her divine lover are presented in these Stotras in a background of highly sensuous appeal; and the extreme asceticism of the author's personal life affords a strange contrast to the extreme eroticism of his devotional effusions. But the attitude is essentially one of pathetic supplication and surrender for being included in the divine entourage, for ecstatic vision of the erotic sports. The fervent prayers are addressed to Rādhā, more than to Kṛṣṇa, because without an adoration of Rādhā it is impossible, in the poet's view to attain Kṛṣṇa (*Sva-saṃkalpa-prakāśa*, verse 1):

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¹ *atyutkaṭena nitarāṃ virahānalena* *daṇḍahyamāna-hṛdayā kila kāpi dāsī|* *hā svamini kṣaṇam iha praṇayena gāḍham* *ākraṇanena vidhurā vilapāmi padyaṭhi||.*

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*anārādhya rādhā-padāmbhoja-reṇum*
*anāśritya vṛndāṭavīṃ tat-padāṅkam|*
*asambhāṣya tad-bhāva-gambhīra-cittān*
*kutaḥ śyāma sindho rasasyāvagāhaḥ||.*

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Hence, *snapayati nija-dāsye rādhikā mam kadā nu : rādhām kadāham bhaje ; kṣaṇam api mama rādhe netram ānandaya tvam ; bhaja mano rādhām agādhām rasaiḥ* ; such words and sentiment form the refrain of each stanza, as well as the theme, respectively of his *Rādhikāṣṭaka, Utkaṇṭhā-daśaka, Prema-pūra* and *Navāṣṭaka Stotras* ; while his *Abhīṣṭa-prārthana* and *Abhīṣṭa-sūcana* give expression to his eagerness to serve and worship Rādhā, and his *Nava-yuva-dvandva-didṛkṣāṣṭaka* as well as *Prārthanāmṛtā* to a longing to witness the divine sports. It is true that some of the Stotras are composed in direct honour of Kṛṣṇa (e.g. *Mukundāṣṭaka, Gopāla-rāja-stava, Madana-gopāla-stotra*),¹ but Rādhā figures in them very prominently. The more ambitiously elaborate *Viśākhānanda-stotra* is a panegyric of Rādhā (in 134 Śloka verses), in which she is described, in a highly rhetorical passage (77-86), as personified Victory in Love-sports (*Kandarpa-yuddha-śrī*), with all her paraphernalia of charming, yet deadly, weapons and battle-resources, and in which Kṛṣṇa throws out a single-handed challenge for love-fight, not only to Rādhā but also to all her companions ! The extensive *Rādhā-kṛṣṇojjvala-kusuma-keli* describes (in 44 Sikharinī stanzas with occasional intrusion of connecting prose) such a mild combat, but it is only a wordy warfare, a battle of erotic wit and raillery,² arising from a playful dispute over the ownership of the groves of Vṛndāvana, and ending in Kṛṣṇa's prescribing suitable, but audacious, punishment to Rādhā and the Gopīs for having, without title, plucked flowers from the groves which belong to him !

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¹ All these Stotras have the last Pāda of each stanza as a repeated refrain. In *Gopāla-rāja* (verses 13 and 14), Viṭṭhaleśvara, son of Vallabhācārya, is mentioned as a worshipper of the image of Gopāla at Vṛndāvana.

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² In theme and treatment, this Stotra is only a variation of the poet's *Dāna-keli-cintāmaṇi* and *Muktā-caritra*.

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In spite of an excess of sensuous sentimentality which, however, is an essence of the faith, the devout, yet passionate, personal note in these Stotras of Raghunātha-dāsa is certainly appropriate to this subjective type of devotional literature. It is a touching picture that he himself gives, in one of his smaller Stotras¹ of his own simple, ascetic life of humble devotion at Rādhā-kuṇḍa, near the alleged Govardhana hill, bereft of the companionship of his dear friends in old age, awaiting desirable death in the holy place and filled with nothing but an intense longing to serve and worship his deity:

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¹ Sva-niyama-daśaka 8-9.

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*parityaktaḥ preyo-jana-samudayair bādham asudhir*
*durandho nirandhram kadana-bhavakābdhau nipatitaḥ |*
*tṛṇam dantair daṣṭvā catubhir abhiyūce’dya kṛpayā*
*svayaṃ śrī-gāndharvā sva-pada-nalināntaṃ nayatu mām ||*
*vrajotpanna-kṣīrāśana-vasana-pātrādibhir aham*
*padārthair nirvāhya vyavahṛtim adambham sa-niyamaḥ |*
*vasānīśā-kuṇḍe giri-kula-vare caiva samaye*
*mariṣye tu preṣṭhe sarasi khalu jīvādi-purataḥ ||*

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It is not mere abstract contemplation, dogmatic exposition or artistic expression of the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa legend which interests him: he desires a rich and intimate realisation of all its romantic associations. And he has been able to communicate to his Stotras the rich and intimate picturesqueness of his devotional fancy and exuberant sentiment. The purely poetic merit of these passionate lyrical effusions is perhaps not very high, but they are comparatively free from mere dogma and rhetoric in their emotional exaltation and warmth of earnest belief.

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The Stotras, Birudas and Gitas of Rūpa Gosvāmin are of a somewhat different type. They have more rhetoric than reality, more wealth of words than fervour of faith, more artistic than human appeal. They are collected together by his nephew Jiva, in a volume entitled *Stava-mālā*.² With the exception of three opening Aṣṭakas on Caitanya (the first two composed in the Śikhariṇī and the third in the Pṛthvī metre, but showing no remarkable features), the entire body of some sixty separate Stotras. Birudas and Gītas are, of course, concerned with the various details, chiefly erotic, of the Vṛndāvana-līlā of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā. Most of the Stotras are small, and the Aṣṭaka form, in the smaller pieces, appears to have found much favour with our poet; he uses in them mostly short lyrical syllabic metres, each stanza often possessing refrain in the last foot. The jingle of rhyme is frequently melodious and the repetition of refrain pleasing, unless both are overdone: thus, in Svāgatā metre (Kuñja-vihāryaṣṭaka):

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² See above p. 153. The work is also edited (and printed in Devanāgarī) by Bhavadatta Sastri and K. P. Parab, with the commentary of (Baladeva) Vidyābhūṣaṇa (and not Jiva), Nirnay Sagar Press, Bombay 1903.

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indranīla-maṇi-mañjula-varṇaḥ
phulla-nīpa-kusumāñcita-karṇaḥ|
kṛṣṇalābhir akṛśorasi hārī
sundaro jayati kuñja-vihārī||
rādhikā-vadana-candra-cakoraḥ
sarva-ballava-vadhū-dhṛti-coraḥ|
carcari-caturatāñcita-cārī-
cāruto jayati kuñja-vihārī||

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Or, in Mālinī (Mukunda-muktāvalī¹):

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¹ This is, however, not an Aṣṭaka. Kavikarṇapūra, as we have seen, also uses middle- and end-rhyme throughout his Kṛṣṇāhnika-kaumudī, but Raghunāthadāsa does not affect these devices either in his Kāvyas or his Stotras.

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nava-jaladharu-varṇaṃ campakodbhāsi-karṇaṃ
vikasita-nalināsyaṃ visphuran-manda-hāsyam|
kanaka-ruci dukūlaṃ cāru-barhāvacūlaṃ
kam api nikhila-sāraṃ naumi gopī-kumāraṃ||.

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The Aṣṭakas concerning Kṛṣṇa are those on Keśava (Pṛthvī, with refrain), on Kuñja-vihārin (two Stotras in Svāgatā with refrain and rhyme and in Mālinī with refrain), on Mukunda (Mālinī, with refrain), on Vraja-nava-yuvarāja (Mālinī, with refrain) and on Kṛṣṇa-nāman (in varied metres). The Aṣṭakas concerning Rādhā are those on Rādhā (Mālinī, with refrain) and Gāndharvā-samprārthana (Vasantatilaka). There is only one Aṣṭaka concerning both, namely, on Vraja-navīna-dvandva (Pṛthvī). But there are several on places or persons connected with their sports, namely, those on Yamunā (Toṭaka), on Mathurā (Sragdharā and Śārdūlavikrīḍita, but it is not an Aṣṭaka, because there are only four stanzas available !), on the Govardhana hill (two Aṣṭakas in Mattamayūrā and Mandākrāntā respectively, both having refrains), on Vṛndāvana (Pṛthvī, with refrain) and on Lalitā (Vasantatilaka, with refrain). There is nothing very remarkable in these small supplicatory panegyrics of eight stanzas for mercy and beatific vision, except their verbal and metrical melody and gorgeous erotic fancy. The Hari-kusuma-stavaka and the Tribhaṅga-pañcaka are not technically Aṣṭakas, but are of the same character; the former consisting of 11 Toṭaka stanzas, and the latter comprising five rhymed moric stanzas of four feet of 32 syllabic instants (Mātrās)¹ in each foot. The two Aṣṭottara-śatanāma Stotras respectively on Kṛṣṇa (called Premendu-sāgara) and on Rādhā (named symmetrically Premendu-sudhā), both in the Śloka metre of 45 and 42 verses, are merely litanies, consisting of strings of descriptive epithets of the usual sensuous character. Of a similar type are the Cāṭu-puṣpāñjali, Praṇāma-praṇaya and Kārpaṇya-pañjikā which plead, in 24, 14 and 45 Śloka verses respectively, for favour of inclusion in the entourage of the divine sports.

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¹ The following will serve as a specimen of the Tribhaṅga stanza:

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Of greater interest, not only for their picturesque devotional-erotic fancy, but also for their extraordinary metrical

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yamalārjuna-bhañjanam ātrita-rañjanam ahi-gañjana-
ghana-lāsya-bharam
palupāla-puramdaram abhiṣṛta-kandaram ati-sundaram
aravinda-karam /
vara-gopa-vadhūjana-viracita-pūjanam urukājana-
nava-veṇu-dhāram
smara-narma-vicakṣaṇam akhila-vilakṣaṇa-tanu-lakṣaṇam
ati-dakṣataram //, etc.

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harmony and prodigality of verbal dexterity, are the more extensive *Mukunda-muktāvali*, *Utkalikā-vallari* and *Svāyam-utprekṣita-līlā* composed in varied metres; the two Biruda and Chanda-kāvyas, namely, *Govinda-birudāvali* and *Aṣṭādaśa-cchandas*; and the fine collection of songs in the moric metres, entitled the *Gitāvali*. Apart from their devotional merit, they are literary exercises of great ingenuity; but since they attempt to evolve new rhythmic and lyrical forms in verse, prose and song, they deserve a more detailed treatment. The *Mukunda-muktāvali*¹ consists of thirty rhymed or alliterative stanzas, eight being composed in the moric Pajjhaṭika of sixteen Mātrās, four in Mālinī, and two in each of the following short lyrical measures, namely, Citrā, Jaladharamālā, Raṅgiṇī, Tūṇaka, Bhujaṅgaprayāta, Sragviṇī, Jaloddhatagati, Śālinī and Tvaritagati. Some of these metres are of rare occurrence in general literature, but they are employed with great skill and fine adjustment of sound-effect, so much so that the work may be as well called, not inappropriately, *Vṛtta-muktāvali*. Take, for instance, the Vṛttyanuprāsa in the following stanza in Raṅgiṇī metre:

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¹ Also printed in Devanāgarī without the name of the author, in Kāvyamālā, Gucchaka ii, p. 157 f.

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*parva-vartula-śarvarīpati-garva-rīti-harānanam*
*nanda-nandanam indirā-kṛta-vandanam dhṛta-candanam|*
*sundarī-ratimandirikṛta-kandaram dhṛta-mandaram*
*kuṇḍala-dyuti-maṇḍala-pluta-kandharam bhajasundaram||*

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Or, the middle rhyme in Tvaritagati:

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*rucira-nakhe racaya sakhe valita-ratim bhajana-tatim|*
*tvam aviratis tvarita-gatir nata-śaraṇe hari-caraṇe||*

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Or, the end-rhyme in Sragviṇī:

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*ullasad-ballavī-vāsasām taskaras*
*tejasā nirjita-prasphurad-bhāskaraḥ|*
*pīna-doḥ-stambhayor ullasad-candanaḥ*
*pātu vaḥ sarvato devakī-nandanaḥ||*

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and continuous rhyming in Jaloddhatagati:

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vihāra-sadanaṃ manojña-radanaṃ
praṇīta-madanaṃ śaśāṅka-vadanaṃ|
urastha-kamalaṃ yaśobhir amalaṃ
karātta-kamalaṃ bhajasva tam alam||.

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Or, continuous alliteration and end rhyme in Toṭaka:

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tuṇḍa-kānti-daṇḍitoru-pāṇḍurāṃśu-maṇḍalam
gaṇḍa-pālī-tāṇḍavāli-śāli-ratna-kuṇḍalam|
phulla-puṇḍarīka-ṣaṇḍa-kḷpta-mālya-maṇḍanam
caṇḍa-bāhu-daṇḍam atra naumi kaṃsa-khaṇḍanam||.

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The same fondness for alliteration and rhyming is in evidence throughout in the Svayam-utprekṣita-līlā, (also called Vilāsa-mañjarī) which, however, is not formally a Stotra but a little sketch, describing the familiar episode of Rādhā’s plucking flowers in the groves of Vṛndāvana, with the full knowledge of Kṛṣṇa’s presence nearby. Kṛṣṇa’s playful obstruction and threat of punishment, and the inevitable erotic witticism and raillery. It is composed also in thirty rhymed and alliterative stanzas, the metres used being Dodhaka, Mattā, Sragviṇī, Bhramaravilasita, Jaloddhatagati, Bhujaṅgaprayāta, Toṭaka, Āryā (which is a rarely used metre in Bengal Vaiṣṇava Stotras), Pajjhaṭikā, Svāgatā, Rathoddhatā, Lolā, and Mālinī. It is not necessary to multiply examples; one in the rare Mattā and another in the common Bhujaṅgaprayāta metre will perhaps serve to illustrate the style:

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bhṛṅgīveyaṃ tam aparimeyaṃ
mugdhā gandham hṛdi kṛta-bandham||
vyagra-prāyā pulakita-kāyā
premodbhātā drutam abhi yātā||.

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and

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parijñātam adya prasūnālim etām
luṇīṣe tvam evam pravālaiḥ sametām|
dhṛtāsau mayā kāñcana-śreṇi-gaurī
praviṣṭāsi geham katham puṣpa-caurī||.

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The *Utkalikā-vallarī* is a much more extensive production of seventy verses, which are simultaneously addressed to Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, and express the poet's longing to serve and vicariously enjoy their sports. The poem does not employ rhyme and chiming, but the rhetorical and metrical display is equally prominent. The metres used are Upajāti, Mālinī, Śikhariṇī, Sundarī, Rathoddhatā, Puṣpitāgrā, Svāgatā, Vasantatilaka, Drutavilambita, Hariṇī, Śārdūla-vikrīḍita, Rucirā, Pṛthvī, Mandākrāntā, and Mattamayūra. The following stanzas in Sundarī and Rathoddhatā are normal specimens of its ornate expression:

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*dadhatam vapur amśu-kandalim*
*dalad-indivara-vṛnda-bandhurām |*
*kṛta-kāñcana-kānti-vañcanaiḥ*
*sphuritām cāru-marīci-saṃcayaiḥ ||*
*tvāṃ ca ballava-puraṃdarātmaja*
*tvāṃ ca gokula-varenya-nandinī |*
*eṣa mūrdha-racitāñjalir naman*
*bhikṣate kim api durbhago janaḥ || .*

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but we have also elaborate working out of rhetorical conceits and imageries, as in the following:

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*gopendra-mitra-tanayā-dhruva-dhairya-sindhu-*
*pāna-kriyā-kalaśasambhava-veṇu nādam |*

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The Biruda-kāvya, called the *Govinda-birudāvali*, illustrates the extreme limits to which can be carried the inexhaustible talent for ingenious verbal devices of alliteration, rhyming and similar tricks of rhythmical repetition of syllables. But it also makes a clever attempt to evolve an extremely original series of rhythmic and alliterative prose forms (the interspersed verse in orthodox form and metre being negligible), which certainly demand a more exhaustive study than what is possible here. Viśvanātha, no doubt, defines the Biruda-kāvya as a poem of praise in honour of kings, composed in prose and verse,¹ but he does not consider its characteristics, nor are earlier discussion of the subject and illustrative specimens available for our enlightenment. The Bengal Vaiṣṇava Biruda Kāvya, also composed in a somewhat unique kind of prose and nominal verse (or sometimes in nominal prose and unique verse), but dedicated to prayer and praise of deities, perhaps represent an original trend of literary composition. The credit of elaborating it should go to Rūpa Gosvāmin, although Kavikarṇapūra has one Stotra in the Biruda-form in his *Ananda-vṛndāvana Campū* (xv. 220-256). Rūpa also composed a work called *Sāmānya-birudāvali-lakṣaṇa*,² in which he defines and illustrates nearly fifty varieties of the form, and from which Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa quotes profusely in his commentary³ on the *Govinda-birudāvali*. Jīva wrote, in imitation, the *Gopāla-birudāvali*⁴ and inserted some Biruda-stotras in the last chapter of his *Gopāla-campū*; while Viśvanātha Cakravartin and Raghunandana Gosvāmin, in the 18th century, composed respectively the *Nikuñja-keli-birudāvali*⁵ and *Gaurāṅga-birudāvali*, which are highly ingenious imitations. In spite of these sectarian attempts, the form does not appear to have succeeded in obtaining popularity or currency, its elaborate artificiality probably standing in the way of general acceptance.

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¹ *gadya-padyamayī rāja-stutir birudam ucyate*, Sāhitya-darpaṇa, vi. 236, but nothing is known of the work, *Biruda-maṇi-mālā*, which it cites in illustration. The description of the *Birudāvalī* of Raghudeva of Mithilā, given by Aufrecht in his Oxford Catalogue of Sanskrit MSS. no. 224, is too indefinite for any conclusion.

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² See above p. 156.

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³ See Bombay ed. pp. 114-115; Berhampur ed. pp. 265-266.

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⁴ See above p. 157. It exemplifies only the varieties of the first Caṇḍavṛtta type, and therefore need not be separately considered here.

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⁵ Ed. Haridas Das, Navadvīpa 1940.

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The unit of the Biruda form consists generally of a measure of rhythmic and alliterative prose, called Kalikā, corresponding to the metrical foot or Pāda, but a number of each unit is often prefaced and concluded by some verses in the orthodox metre; or it may sometimes consist of units of verse Kalikās, with similar prefatory or concluding brief lines of prose. The measure of each Kalikā should generally be not more than sixty-four or not less than twelve Kalās, corresponding to Mātrās or syllabic instants of the moric metre, but the disposition of syllables generally follows the Gaṇa-scheme. In each piece or Vṛtta the number of Kalikās may extend from five to thirty. It should possess pomp of words (Śabda-ḍambara) and describe the valour, glory or beauty of the deity concerned. In effect, the long stretches of Kalikās are nothing more than strings of descriptive epithets, the chief object being to show verbal skill and subtlety in the manipulation of alliterative and rhyming ingenuities. Five varieties are distinguished, namely, Caṇḍa-vṛtta, Dvigādi-gaṇa-vṛtta, Tribhaṅgī vṛtta (all three having prose, often with preliminary and concluding verses), Miśra-vṛtta (having verse with lines of prose at the beginning and at the end) and Kevala-vṛtta (pure prose) : but the subdivisions are more minute and complicated¹

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¹ The details of characteristics must be sought in Rūpa's Sāmānya-birudāvali-lakṣaṇa and illustrations in these Biruda Kāvyas. But we may just indicate that the Caṇḍa-vṛtta is said to have two varieties, Natha and Viśikha, the former of which may have nine kinds (Vardhita, Vīrabhadra, Samagra, Cyuta, Utpala, Turaṅga, Guṇa-rati, Mātaṅga-khelita, Tilaka) and the latter eleven kinds (namely, Padma, Kunda, Campaka, Vañjula, Vakula, the Padma again being of six types, namely Paṅkeruha, Sitakañja, Pāṇḍutpala, Indivara, Aruṇāmbhoja, Kahlāra). The Dvigādi-gaṇas are of five kinds: Koraka, Gucchaka, Samphulla, Kusuma and Gandha. The Tribhaṅgī-vṛtta has six kinds. The Miśra may be Gadya-sampṛkta and Sāptavibhakṭika. The Kevala may be Akṣaramayī or Sarvalaghvī.

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The Govinda-birudāvali, which purports to be a series of Stotras addressed to Kṛṣṇa, is an ambitious literary feat deliberately composed to illustrate practically all the forty-nine varieties of the new form. It is impossible to indicate here the diversity of effects attained, but a few specimens of the prose Kalikās may be given here to illustrate the style and type of composition. Thus, Utpala of seventeen moras and minimum of five Kalikās of the Caṇḍa-vṛtta variety:

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*kānanārabdha-kākaliśabda-*
*pāṭavākṛṣṭa-gopikā-dṛṣṭa*
*cāturiṣṭa-rādhikā-tuṣṭa*
*kāminīlakṣa-mohane dakṣa*
*bhāminī-pakṣa mām amum rakṣa.*

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Or, the Guṇa-rati variety of Caṇḍa-vṛtta consisting of twelve Kalikās:

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*prakatīkṛta-guṇa śakaṭī vighaṭana*
*nikaṭīkṛta-navalakuṭī-vara vana-*
*paṭali-taṭa cara naṭa-līla madhura*
*surabhīkṛta-vana surabhī-hita-kara*
*murali-vilasita khuralī-hṛta-jagad-*
*aruṇādhara nava-taruṇāyata-bhuja*
*varuṇālaya-sama-karuṇā-parimala*
*kalabhātīya-bala-śalabhāyita-khala*
*dhavalā-dhṛti-hara-gavalāśrita-kara*
*sarasīkṛta-nara sarasīruha-dhara*
*kalaśī-dadhi-hara kala-śilita-mukha*
*lalitā-rati-kara lalitāvalī-para.*

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The illustrations of the much longer varieties of other types cannot be given here in full for want of space. But here is a string of succeeding Yamakas:

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*tvam jaya keśava keśa-bala-stuta*
*vīrya-vilakṣaṇa lakṣaṇa-bodhita*
*keliṣu nāgara nāga-raṇoddhata*
*gokula-nandana nanda-nati-vrata*

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and so forth. Or, an extraordinary jingle of sounds:

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*vraja-pṛthu-pallī-parisara-vallī-*
*vana-bhuvi tallī-gaṇa-bhṛti mallī-*
*manasija-bhallīyita-śivamallī-*
*kumuda-matallī-yuṣi gata jhillī-*

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pariṣadi hallīsaka-sukha-jhalli-
rata pariphullikṛta-cala-cilli-
jita-rati-mallī-mada-bhara, etc.

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Or, a succession of light syllables:

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kusuma-nikara-nicita-cikura
nakhara-vijita-maṇija-mukura
subhaṭa-paṭima-ramita-mathura
vikaṭa-samara-naṭana-catura
samada-bhujaga-damana-caraṇa
nikhila-paśupa-nicaya-śaraṇa, etc.

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Or, a row of phrases arranged according to the order of letters of the alphabet (Akṣaramayī variety):

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acyuta jaya jaya ārta-kṛpa-maya
indra-makhārdana iti-viśātana
ujjvala-vibhrama ūrjita-vikrama, etc.

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Or, all the seven case-endings illustrated serially (Sāpta-vibhakti-ka)¹:

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¹ The specimen is taken from Viśvanātha Cakravartin's Nikuñja-keli-birudāvali, which is much simpler than Rūpa's example.

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mukha-vidhur iṣṭaḥ sudṛg-abhimṛṣṭaḥ
smara-mada-dhṛṣṭaḥ sa bhavatu dṛṣṭaḥ/
suvalita-hastau kari-kara-śastau
rati-kala-tastau yuvatibhir astau/
śrita-bahu-dāsā jagad-abhilāsā
madhurimā-vāsāḥ syur iha vilāsāḥ//.

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and so on. There is no limit to these feats of clever verbal verbosity.

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The Aṣṭādaśa-cchandas, as its name implies, makes similar attempts at eighteen Chandas or rhythmic prose and verse forms, but it is more diversified in content inasmuch as it proposes, in the succeeding pieces, to deal with some of the episodes of Vṛndāvana-līlā, ranging from birth (Nandotsava) to the slaying of Kaṃsa (Raṅgasthala-krīḍā). The charming names of the eighteen Chandas are Gucchaka, Koraka, Anukula, Praphulla-kusumāvali, Kala-gita, Aśoka-puṣpa-mañjarī, Anaṅgaśekhara, Dvipadikā, Hārihariṇa, Indirā, Matta-mātaṅga-līlā-kara, Mugdha-saurabha, Samphulla, Lalita-bhṛṅga, Kānti-ḍambara, Mukhadeva, Gucchaka (different from the first-named) and Bhṛṅgāra, applied successively to the familiar eighteen topics of Nandotsavādi, Sakaṭa-bhaṅgādi, Yamalārjuna-mocana, Go-vatsa-cāraṇādi, Vatsa-haraṇādi, Tālavana-carita, Kālīya-damana, Bhāṇḍīra-krīḍādi, Varṣā-śarad-vihāra, Vastra-haraṇa, Yājñapatnī-prasāda, Govar-dhanoddharaṇa, Nandāpaharaṇa, Rāsa-krīḍā, Sudarśana-mocana, Gopikā-gīta, Ariṣṭavadhādi, and Raṅga-sthalakrīḍā, (=Kamsa-vadha). Although some of the metres, like Aśoka-puṣpa-mañjarī, Anaṅga-śekhara and Matta-mātaṅga-līlā-kara are included in the Daṇḍaka class of metres in such orthodox works on Prosody as the Vṛtta-ratnākara, most of them, not so reckoned, are of the Gaṇa-cchandas or Mātrā-cchandas type. But since the Gaṇa and Mātrā schemes are also the basis of the Biruda Vṛttas, this group of metrical and rhymed Chandas bears a close resemblance to the Birudas. The stretches of the stanzas, with their non-stop lines ranging from eight to sixty, are too lengthy for full quotations here, but we cite a few lines only from some of them to illustrate the variety of verbal melody which they attain:

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Gucchaka (11 lines):

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nija-mahima-maṇḍali-vraja-vasati-rocanam
vadana-vidhu-mādhuri-ramita-pitṛ-locanam
śrutinipuṇa-bhūsura-vraja-vihita-jātakam
tanu-jalada-tarpita-svajana-gaṇa-cātakam, etc.

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Anukūla (12 lines):

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dhṛta-dadhi-manthana-daṇha jananī-cumbita-gaṇḍa
pita-savitṛ-dugdha kala-bhāṣita-kula-mugdha, etc.

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Hāri-hariṇa (15 lines):

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megha-samaya-pūrti-racita vṛṣṭiṣu taru-kandara-cita
nīpa-kakubha-puṣpa-valita sāndra-vipina-labda-lalita

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bhakta-pariṣad-iṣṭa-varada hārī-vibhava-dhārī-śaradalamkṛta-bahu-pakṣi-bharita-kānana-kṛta-divya-carita, etc. Lalita-bhṛṅga (58 lines!): śarada-vidhu-vikṣaṇa-madhu-vardhita-mada pūra iṣṭa-bhajana-vallabha-jana-citta-kamala-sūra gopa-yuvati-maṇḍala-mati-mohana-kala-gīta mukta-sakala-kṛtya-vikala-yauvata-parivīta, etc.¹

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¹ There are also some three poems (Līlāntara-varṇana) which describe again in orthodox metres the Govardhana-dhāraṇa (1 Pṛthvī, 27 Bhujangaprayāta, 1 Sragdharā), Vastra-haraṇa (Biruda) and Rāsa (17 Pajjhaṭikā).

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The amazing versatility of Rūpa in weaving endless patterns of rhythmic richness is also exemplified by his Gītāvali. It consists of forty-one songs, set to musical tunes, and composed in moric metres after the Padāvalīs of Jayadeva. The songs deal with four picturesque topics connected with the Vṛndāvana-līlā, namely, the festivities and sports concerning birth of Kṛṣṇa, Vasanta-pañcamī, Dola and Rāsa, as well as give incidental musical word-pictures of Rādhā as the following eight types of heroine, namely, Abhisārikā, Vāsaka-sajjā, Utkaṇṭhitā, Vipralabdhā, Khaṇḍitā, Kalahāntaritā, Proṣita-patikā and Svādhīna-bhartṛkā. Rūpa always keeps in view the particular object of illustrating his Rasa-śāstra, but the rhetorician does not here overshadow the poet. The pieces are finely wrought as songs, but they are also enjoyable as little musical poems. One is tempted to quote extensively, but one specimen (on the Rāsa) will perhaps be sufficient to give an idea of the type of song affected:

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(Rāga Dhanāśrī)

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komala-śaśikara-ramya-vanāntara-nirmita-gita-vilāsa/
tūrṇa-samāgata-vallava-yauvata-vikṣaṇa-kṛta-parihāsa/ /
jaya jaya bhānusutā-taṭa-raṅga-mahānaṭa
sundara nanda-kumāra/
śarad-aṅgīkṛta-divya rasāvṛta maṅgala-rāsa-vihāra/ / (Dhruva)
gopī-cumbita rāga-karambita māna-vilokana-līna/
guṇa-garvonnata-rādhā-saṃgata-sauhṛda-sampad-adhīna/ /

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*tad-vacanāmṛta-pāna-madāhṛta valayīkṛta-parivāra|*
*sura-taruṇi-gaṇa-mati-vikṣobhaṇa khelana-valgita-hāra||*
*ambu-vigāhana-nandita-nija-jana maṇḍita-yamunā-tīra|*
*sukha-saṃvid-ghana pūrṇa sanātana nirmala nīla-śarīra||*¹

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¹ Although the name of Sanātana is cleverly inserted in every song, it does not occur as the technical Bhaṇitā, and there is no justification for the view that the Gītāvalī is Sanātana's work.

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There can be no doubt that this is a fine imitation of the spirit and style of Jayadeva's exquisite songs. In compositions like these Rūpa's art and humanism seldom yield place to mere academicism. For facility of phrase and marvellous modulation of sounds and syllables he had an undoubted talent; and, in spite of the fact that the songs of the *Gītāvalī* are imitative, their pleasing quality should not be depreciated. At the same time, neither sectarian estimation nor general literary appreciation would place them on the same level or consider them as having superseded the Padāvalis of the Gita-govinda.

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It will be seen that the Stotras, Birudas and Gitas of Rūpa Gosvāmin, however elaborate they may be, are not of the merely descriptive and reflective character, but that the fundamental characteristics of their picturesque devotionalism are saturated with erotic emotionalism, of which it is a transfigured expression. This is undoubtedly made prominent by the highly sensuous pictorial fancy and the inexhaustible lyrical and musical gift of the author; but profuse and overwrought rhetoric often obscures the reality of the emotion and gives it an appearance of spectacular sensibility. It is not the rhetorical habit by itself which annoys so much as its incessant and disproportionate employment; and the real grace of graceful poetry is too often smothered by overfertile prodigality and deliberate straining after purely verbal and metrical effect. No doubt, Rūpa's Stotras and Gitas bear witness alike to his devotion, learning and literary skill, but we miss in them the touching quality of self-expression, the flavour of a simple, lovable personality, which is so conspicuous in the less artistic efforts of his friend Raghu-nātha-dāsa. Rūpa is certainly a poet, but he is also a trained verbal specialist. His volume of vocabulary and richness of decorative devices become excessive and wasteful; the whole battalion of descriptive epithets, of alliterative and rhyming jingles is often too compactly and indiscriminately arrayed to give us convincing visual pictures. The exuberant verbal and metrical dexterity ceases to be a means of beautiful expression; it obstructs our sense of visualisation, although it pleases by its astonishing lavishness and endless ingenuity, not so much of sense as of mere sound. Rūpa possesses an irrepressible talent for such pleasing tricks, which he can accumulate untiringly in interminable series of fresh surprises. It makes his praiseworthy attempt to evolve new rhythmical prose and verse forms look plausible. To a certain extent, he is successful, but the effort fails by its outrageous tendency to prolonged elaborateness and meaningless pomp of brilliant, but hardly illuminating, gorgeousness. Rūpa, in his Stotras and Gitas, is not difficult and abstruse; nor is he didactic, nor prone to inane and recondite subtleties; but these tendencies of a scholastic training find expression in his inability to distinguish between art and artifice, between poetry and its make-believe.

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A brief reference in this connexion may be made to Rūpa Gosvāmin's *Padyāvali*,¹ which gives an anthological survey of Vaiṣṇava devotional verses, new and old, and is meant to illustrate the many nuances of the Bhakti-devoutness of Caitanyaism. Its content and arrangement are somewhat different from those ordinarily found in Sanskrit anthologies. All the verses are devoted to Kṛṣṇa-līlā; and they are arranged in sections in accordance with the different doctrinarian aspects of Kṛṣṇa-Bhakti and different episodes in the erotic career of the deity. The whole arrangement conforms generally to the rhetorical classification of the Bengal Vaiṣṇava Rasa-śāstra, to which the compilation may be regarded as an illustrative compendium. It gives us a selection of 386 verses from over 125 authors, including verses taken from the works of the compiler himself and his associates and contemporaries, as well as freely drawing upon Vaiṣṇava verses from the earlier Bengal anthology, the Sadukti-karṇāmṛta, of Śrīdhara-dāsa. Rūpa, however, does not confine himself to Bengal nor to Vaiṣṇava authors alone. He selects older verses from Amaru, Bhavabhūti and others and places them in a Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa context, sometimes even making changes in the text in order to make non-sectarian verses applicable to a sectarian purpose! The Padyāvalī, therefore, is a unique anthology in bringing together in one context a large variety of Kṛṣṇaite verses to explain the many aspects of the devotional emotionalism connected with Kṛṣṇa-Bhakti; but it is also important as bearing witness to a phase of literary activity in mediaeval Bengal which produced in Sanskrit a remarkable lyric literature peculiar to itself. The merit of this repository of single stanzas lies not so much in the selection of really great poems, but in its special object of preserving against oblivion a large number of fleeting, but fine, pieces of obscure and well-nigh dateless poets. Most of the verses reflect a charming quality of emotional directness, which one rarely finds in the more elaborate masterpieces; and they can be appreciated as much from the point of view of religious expression as from the standpoint of literary effort of a fervent lyrical character, which the emotional religious movement inspired. The purely poetic merit of the detached stanzas is unequal, and perhaps may not be high; but we often come across lines, phrases and even whole stanzas of undoubted charm, which fact indicates a general diffusion of the poetic spirit, capable of making even inferior songsters beautifully and passionately articulate.

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¹ Ed. S. K. De, Dacca 1934, of which see introd. for further details about the work. See above p. 153.

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P. 155, and p. 599. footnote 3. The eleven verses (in Sragdharā, except verse 4 in Śārdūlavikrīḍita) of Rūpa Gosvāmin's Smaraṇa-maṅgala, reconstructed from the somewhat corrupt MS belonging to the Vaṅgiya Sāhitya Pariṣad (Descriptive Catalogue, no. 1116, p 234), is given below. The MS consists of seven folios; and the colophon names Rūpa Gosvāmin as the author, and the work as Smaraṇa-maṅgalaikādaśa. But there is also a running gloss (not recorded in the Catalogue!) by one Rādhāvallabha-dāsa, which says at the end: इति सनत्कुमारसंहितापथानां चूर्णसहितानि व्याख्यानि समाप्तानि श्रीराधावल्लभदासेन विरचितानि।

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स्मरणमङ्ग्लैकादशम्

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श्रीराधाप्राणवन्धोश्चरणकमलयोः केशशेपायगम्या
या साध्या प्रेमसेवा व्रजचरितपरैर्गाढलौल्यैकलभ्या।
सा स्वात्माप्ता यथा तां प्रथयितुमधुना मानसीमस्य सेवां
भाव्यां रागाध्वपन्थैर्व्रजमनु चरितं नैल्यकं तस्य नौमि॥१
कुञ्जाद्रोष्ठं निशान्ते प्रविशति कुरुते दोहनान्नाशनाद्यां
प्रातः सायं च लीलां विहरति सखिभिः सङ्गरे चारयन् गाः।
मध्याह्ने चाथ नक्तं विलसति विपिने राधयाद्वापराह्ने
गोष्ठं याति प्रदोषे रमयति सुहृदो यः स कृष्णोऽवतान्नः॥२
रात्र्यन्ते त्रस्तवृन्देरितबहुविरवैर्वोधितौ कीरसारी-
पदैह्रैह्रैह्रैरपि सुखशयनादुत्थितौ तौ सखीभिः।
दृष्टौ दृष्टौ तदात्वोदिततिललितौ कुक्कु टीगीःसशङ्कौ
राधाकृष्णौ सतुण्णावपि निजनिजधाम्भ्यात्ततल्पौ स्मरामि॥३

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राधां स्नातविभूषितां व्रजपयाहतां¹ सखीभिः प्रगे तद्व हे विहितान्नपाकरचनां कृष्णावशेषाशनाम्। कृष्णं वृद्धमवासधेनुसदनं निर्व्यूहगोदोहनं सुस्नातं कृतभोजनं सहचरैस्तां चाथ तं चाश्रये ॥४ पूर्वाह्णे धेनुमित्रैर्विपिनमनुसुतं गोष्ठलोकानुयातं कृष्णं राधातिलोलं तदभिसृतिकृते प्राप्तकुण्डतीरम्। राधां चालोक्य कृष्णं कृतगृहगमनामायर्यार्चनायै² दिष्टां कृष्णप्रवतैं प्रहितनिजसखीत्वंनेतां स्मरामि ॥५ मध्याह्नेऽन्योन्यसङ्गोदितविविधविकारादिभूषाप्रमुग्धौ वाम्योत्कण्ठातिलोलौ स्मरमललिताचालिनर्माप्तसातौ। दोलारण्याम्बुवंशीहृतिरतिमधुपानार्कपूजादिलीलौ राधाकृष्णौ सतृष्णौ परिजनघटया सेव्यमानौ स्मरामि ॥६ श्रीराधां प्राप्तगेहां निजरमणकृते क्लप्तनानोपहारां सुस्नातां रम्यवेशां प्रियमुखकमलालोकपूर्णप्रमोदाम्। कृष्णं चैवापराह्णे व्रजमनु चरितं धेनुवृन्दैर्वयस्यैः श्रीराधालोकतृप्तं पितृमुखमिलित मातृमृष्यं स्मरामि ॥७ सायं राधां स्वसख्या निजरमणकृते प्रेषितानेकभोज्यां सख्यानीते सशेपाशनमुदितहृदां तां च तं च व्रजेन्द्रम्। सुस्नातं रम्भवेशं गृहमनु जननीलालितं प्राप्तगोष्ठं निर्व्यूहश्रेणिदोहं स्वगृहमनु पुनर्भक्तवन्तं स्मरामि ॥८ राधां सालीगणाम्तामसितसितनिशायोग्यवेशां प्रदोषे दूत्या वृन्दोपदेशादभिसृतयमुनातीरकल्यागकुञ्जम्। कृष्णं गोपैः सभायां विदितगुणिकलालोकनं स्निग्धमात्र यत्नादानीय संशायितमथ निभृतं प्राप्तकुञ्जं स्मरामि ॥९

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¹ व्रजपा=व्रजेश्वरी यशोदा।

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² आर्या=जटिला, अर्कार्चनायै=सूर्यपूजायै।

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तावुक्तौ लब्धसंज्ञौ बहुपरिवरणैर्वृन्दयाराध्यमानौ गानैर्नर्मप्रहेलीलपनसुनटनै रासलास्यादिवद्वैः । प्रेङ्खालिभिर्लसन्तो रतिगणमनसौ सृष्टमाब्बीकपानौ क्रीडाचार्यौ निकुञ्जे विविधरतिरसौ कृत्यविस्तारितान्तो ॥१० ताम्बूलैर्गन्धमाल्यैर्व्यजनहिमपयःपादसंवाहनाद्यैः प्रेम्णा संसेव्यमानौ प्रणयसहचरीसंचयेनातसातो । वाचा कान्तेरणाभिनिभृततिरसैः कुञ्जसुप्तालिसङ्घौ राधाकृष्णौ निशाय्यां सकुसुमशयनौ प्राप्तनिद्रौ स्मरामि ॥११ इति श्रीमद्रूपगोस्वामिना विरचितं स्मरणमङ्गळैकादशं संपूर्णम् ॥

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One wonders if these pedestrian verses were really composed by an accomplished writer like Rūpa Gosvāmin!

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