Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c8.s3.24

c8.s3.24

¹ The Sakhī is an important person in the Rasa-śāstra and theology of Caitanyaism. Without her the blissful erotic sport of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā is not nourished, nor does it expand. No one has access to the sport except the privileged Sakhīs and those devotees who imitate (through Rāgānugā mode) their attitude. Hence the devotional fancy of the faithful Vaiṣṇava adopts the way of the Gopīs and thinks on the sport, day and night, manifested in various erotic forms. It is for this reason that in the hagiology of the sect, as we have already noted, the great Vaiṣṇavas are figured as incarnations of the Sakhīs,—a curious sublimation of the Gopī-myth! In the Kāvyas, Nāṭakas, Stotras and Campūs of Kavikarṇapūra, Raghunātha-dāsa, Rūpa and Jīva, we shall see presently, the Sakhīs naturally play an important and ubiquitous rôle.