Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c5.s1.13

c5.s1.13

But Rādhā, Kṛṣṇa's eternal consort in the Vṛndāvana-līlā, appears to enter into the Vaiṣṇava emotionale at a much later date. We may leave aside the neo-Vaiṣṇava *Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad*, as well as the apocryphal *Nārada-pañcarātra* (i. 12) and its original, the *Kapila-pañcarātra*, mentioned therein (ii. 6); for the admitted uncertainty of the dates of these works precludes any definite chronological conclusion. But we find that Rādhā is distinctly mentioned in connexion with Kṛṣṇa as early as the Prakrit *Sapta-śataka* of Hāla. Such stray references, however, do not prove much; and the name as well as the cult of Rādhā appears to be unknown in early Vaiṣṇava literature. She is unnamed in the earlier Purāṇas, although the *Śrīmad-bhāgavata* refers to a favourite Gopī with whom Kṛṣṇa wanders and sports alone. She is extolled in the *Padma-purāṇa*, but it is in the Uttara-khaṇḍa of the *Brahma-vaivarta* that Rādhā reappears against the vivid background of rich and sensuous imagery. Of the mediaeval sects the Vallabhācāris and Nimbārkas appear to recognise Rādhā as an incarnation of Kṛṣṇa's energic power (Śakti) and his spouse in the divine sport. In some sects joint worship is accorded to Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, while in others¹ she is the object of independent worship and is sometimes exalted even over Kṛṣṇa, who figures under the title of Rādhā’s Beloved (Rādhā-vallabha). As the highest fruition of devotion is the admission to the eternal sports of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā, the dangerous tendency towards erotic mysticism markedly develops as a creed, and the highly erotic possibilities of such a belief are sometimes carried to a lamentable extreme.