Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c8.s3.6

c8.s3.6

The Ālambana Vibhāva, or the material ground and object of this feeling, is supposed to be Kṛṣṇa himself and his beloved Gopīs (vallabhāḥ). As the Nāyaka or hero of this feeling, a long list of Kṛṣṇa's twenty-five attributes as a lover is given, although most of these are already included in the previous list of his sixty-four general excellences which we have mentioned above. The orthodox classification³ of the hero, appearing as the beloved (kāntatvena sphuran, Jiva), into Dhīrodātta etc. is accepted; but Kṛṣṇa may figure either as Pati (husband) or Upa-pati (lover), and it is on the latter aspect that the excellence of his love is supposed to rest.⁴ As an amour with a married woman is hardly permitted by orthodox theory⁵ to form the dominant theme of a play or poem, Rūpa Gosvāmin cites Bharata in support, and states that if some older authorities have spoken lightly of the Upa-pati, such remarks should be understood to have an application to the ordinary hero (prākṛta nāyaka), and not to Kṛṣṇa, who incarnated himself for tasting the essence of the Rasa.⁶