Radha
Radha ( Sanskrit , f., राधा, Rādhā also Radhika ) is the eternal companion, Shakti and lover of Krishna in Hindu mythology . She is the goddess of devotion ( bhakti ) and adulterous and illegitimate lover of Krishna. She is married to the cowherd Ayanagosha , whom she did not love and often described as stupid.
Legends
Radha was one of the gopis ("cowherdesses") who, according to the stories, lived in Vrindavan , the place of Krishna's childhood. Her relationship with Krishna is mentioned in the Puranas , especially the famous Bhagavatapurana and the Mahabharata , as well as in various other scriptures. She was his favorite gopi. Radha regulates the love affairs in the magic forest Vrindavana. The other gopis are her servants and friends. Krishna would at times do anything to please Radha. In all traditions their fate is inextricably linked with that of the seductive Krishna. Although she is married to another man, she succumbs to Krishna and willfully and knowingly violates all social norms in order to get involved with the youthful God with her whole existence. As a result, she forms the opposite of the faithful Sita , which stands for the classic ideal of a Hindu woman. The god Krishna himself is also already married to Rukmini at this point , which means that there is a double adultery. When Radha meets with Krishna in the moonlight at night, she consciously accepts to be discovered and excluded from society. The myths of Radha and Krishna have a pronounced erotic and sexual component. One day the two were discovered almost in tender union by the jealous and angry Ayanagosha, who learned of the adultery, but Krishna took the form of the goddess Durga and was able to escape the shepherd's wrath. At the center of their relationship is the theme of love-in-separation - according to tradition, their love is short-lived. She is the counterbalance to the passion and ecstasy of her union with the shepherd god. When Radha is separated from Krishna, she longs for him and he longs for her. Radha embodies the pious devotion ( bhakti ) and the longing of the human soul for God, for whom everything is given up and from whom an irresistible attraction emanates, especially when she dances with him or listens to him playing the flute. In doing so, she forgets all social obligations and immediately rushes to him. She embodies the ideal believer. While the other Gopis stand for the external life of God's work, Radha embodies the internal view. The myths often tell of the magic of their first encounter, of Radha's jealousy of having to share her beloved Krishna with the other Gopis, whom she would like to have all by herself, but accepts this in order not to lose him or of Krishna's strike that he played Radha. One day he stole her clothes and those of the other Gopis and hid in a tree from which he hung them while they were bathing in the river. He didn't want to give them back until they came out naked, hands clasped over their heads, and appeared in front of him one after the other. Or else he steals her hair accessories. When Radha is proud of himself and believes that he can possess and touch God all to himself, Krishna disciplines her and leaves her temporarily, which is to express that God does not bind himself and loves all his followers equally. As they prank, she pouts at his late arrival and pretends that she doesn't want him anymore, but at the same time longs for his hug. This is called the purple ("game") of the two. Even if he often leaves her for other Gopis, he always returns to her.
As Krishna gets older, he leaves Radha to go to Dvaraka to become king there. He leaves behind a desperate, sad and crying Radha who is paralyzed for a short time with grief and can no longer speak. She constantly longs for a reunion, waits for him and goes in search of Krishna. In the Hindu movement of the Gaudiya Vaishnavas , Radha is considered the personified power of the unlimited and unconditional love of God ( Hladini-Shakti ). She is the incarnated goddess Lakshmi , who stands by her husband Vishnu in every incarnation . In various directions of Hinduism ( Sampradayas ) it is not Krishna but she who is at the center of worship. For example, Nimbarka , one of the best-known Vaishnava theologians of the 13th century, declared that Radha and Krishna together proclaim the absolute truth and, in their union, bring about the creation of the world and of men. Krishna is often considered the father of men , while Radha is considered their mother and cosmic queen. Both are so inextricably linked that Radha is understood as part of Krishna. There are representations of Krishna and Radha, similar to the Ardhanarishvara of Shiva and Parvati , in which she embodies his feminine side. The 16th century Indian mystic Chaitanya from Bengal saw himself as the incarnation of Krishna and Radha, inwardly as Krishna and outwardly as Radha, so he often dressed like them.
meaning
Radha and Krishna are considered the classic lovers of the Hindu religion and still play an important role in all branches of Indian art. Together they embody man's longing for God and God's love for man. Many pictures show intimate moments of Radha and Krishna, for example, as at night under the moonlight together at the Yamuna walking along and the clothes have changed, he into her sari helps them unite in the rain under the protection of a tree or Krishna Radha painted toenails, she listened reverently to his flute playing while she was doing the toilet or he was combing, braiding and pinning her hair.
The Gitagovinda of Jayadeva from the 12th century describes the erotic and intimate stories between Krishna and Radha and has contributed much to their worship. Radha's epithet Gaurangi means the gold-colored in Sanskrit .
literature
- David Kinsley: Indian Goddesses. Female deities in Hinduism. Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1990, pp. 118 ff., ISBN 3-458-16118-X .
- Rachel Storm: Encyclopedia of Eastern Mythology , Reichelsheim 2000, ISBN 3-89736-305-4 .
Web links
- Sri Radha in detail
- Sri Radha the supreme power Radhavallabh homepage
- Celebrating Radhastami
- Sri Radha rani's 100 essence filled divine names.