Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c11.s5.104

c11.s5.104

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: