Radha
Radha, also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. In scriptures, Radha is mentioned as the avatar of Lakshmi and also as the Mūlaprakriti, the Supreme goddess, who is the feminine counterpart and internal potency of Krishna. Radha accompanies Krishna in all his incarnations. Radha's birthday is celebrated every year on the occasion of Radhashtami.
In relation with Krishna, Radha has dual representation—the lover consort as well as his married consort. Traditions like Nimbarka Sampradaya worship Radha as the eternal consort and wedded wife of Krishna. In contrast, traditions like Gaudiya Vaishnavism revere her as Krishna's lover and the divine consort.
In Radha Vallabha Sampradaya and Haridasi Sampradaya, only Radha is worshipped as the Supreme being. Elsewhere, she is venerated with Krishna as his principal consort in Nimbarka Sampradaya, Pushtimarg, Mahanam Sampradaya, Swaminarayan Sampradaya, Vaishnava-Sahajiya, Manipuri Vaishnavism, and Gaudiya Vaishnavism movements linked to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
Radha is described as the chief of Braj Gopis and queen of Goloka and Braj including Vrindavan and Barsana. She has inspired numerous literary works, and her Raslila dance with Krishna has inspired many types of performance arts.
Etymology and epithets
The Sanskrit term means "prosperity, success, perfection and wealth". It is a common word and name found in various contexts in the ancient and medieval texts of India. The word appears in the Vedic literature as well as the Hindu epics, but is elusive. The name also appears for a figure in the epic Mahabharata. Rādhikā refers to an endearing form of Radha.In chapter 15th, Goloka khanda of Garga Samhita, Sage Garga elaborates the complete meaning of Radha. In Radha, 'R' signifies Rama, goddess Lakshmi, 'a' means Gopis, "dh" signifies dhara, goddess Bhudevi and last 'a' symbolises River ''Virājā.
The fifth chapter, Fifth night of Narada Pancharatra mentioned 1008 names of Radha under the title Shri Radha Saharsnama Strotam. The 68th chapter, Tritiya paad of Narada Purana also listed 500 names of Radha. Some of the common names and epithets are:
Literary sources and symbolism
Radha is an important goddess in the Vaishnavite traditions of Hinduism. Her traits, manifestations, descriptions, and roles vary by region. Radha is intrinsic with Krishna. In early Indian literature, mentions of her are elusive. The traditions that venerate her explain this is because she is the secret treasure hidden within the sacred scriptures. During the Bhakti movement era in the sixteenth century, she became more well known as her extraordinary love for Krishna was highlighted.Radha's first major appearance in the 12th-century Gita Govinda in Sanskrit by Jayadeva, as well as Nimbarkacharya's philosophical works. Thus in the Gita Govinda Krishna speaks to Radha:
However, the source of Jayadeva's heroine in his poem remains a puzzle of the Sanskrit literature. A possible explanation is Jayadeva's friendship with Nimbarkacharya, the first acharya to establish the worship of Radha-Krishna. Nimbarka, in accordance with the Sahitya Akademi's Encyclopaedia, more than any other acharyas gave Radha a place as a deity.
Prior to Gita Govinda, Radha was also mentioned in text Gatha Saptasati which is a collection of 700 verses composed in Prakrit language by King Hāla. The text was written around first or second century AD. Gatha Saptasati mentioned Radha explicitly in its verse:
Radha also appears in the Puranas namely the Padma Purana, the Devi-Bhagavata Purana, the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, the Matsya Purana, the Linga Purana, the Varaha Purana, the Narada Purana, the Skanda Purana and the Shiva Purana. The 15th and 16th century Krishnaite Bhakti poet-saints Vidyapati, Chandidas, Meera Bai, Surdas, Swami Haridas, as well as Narsinh Mehta, who preceded all of them, wrote about the romance of Krishna and Radha too. Thus, Chandidas in his Bengali-language Shri Krishna Kirtana, a poem of Bhakti, depicts Radha and Krishna as divine, but in human love. Though not named in the Bhagavata Purana, Visvanatha Chakravarti interprets an unnamed favourite gopi in the scripture as Radha. She makes appearances in Venisamhara by Bhatta Narayana, Dhvanyaloka by Anandavardhana and its commentary Dhvanyalokalocana by Abhinavagupta, Rajasekhara's Kāvyamīmāṃsā, Dashavatara-charita by Kshemendra and Siddhahemasabdanusana by Hemachandra. In most of these, Radha is depicted as someone who is deeply in love with Krishna and is deeply saddened when Krishna leaves her. But, on contrary, Radha of the Rādhātantram is portrayed as audacious, sassy, confident, omniscient and divine personality who is in full control at all times. In Rādhātantram, Radha is not merely the consort but is treated as the independent goddess. Here, Krishna is portrayed as her disciple and Radha as his guru.
Charlotte Vaudeville theorizes that Radha may have inspired by the pairing of the goddess Ekanamsha with Jagannatha of Puri in Eastern India. Though Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is not known to have worshiped the deity couple of Radha-Krishna, his disciples around the Vrindavan region, affirmed Radha as the hladini shakti of Krishna, associating her with the Primordial Divine Mother. While the poetry of Jayadeva and Vidyapati from Bengal treat Radha as Krishna's beloved, the Gaudiya poetry elevates her to a divine consort. In Western India, Vallabhacharya's Krishna-centric sampradaya Pushtimarg, Radha is revered as the Swamini of Krishna, who is worthy of devotion.
According to Jaya Chemburkar, there are at least two significant and different aspects of Radha in the literature associated with her, such as Sri Radhika namasahasram. One aspect is she is a milkmaid, another as a female deity similar to those found in the Hindu goddess traditions. She also appears in Hindu arts as Ardhanari with Krishna, that is an iconography where half of the image is Radha and the other half is Krishna. This is found in sculpture such as those discovered in Maharashtra, and in texts such as Shiva Purana and Brahma Vaivarta Purana. In these texts, this Ardha Nari is sometimes referred to as Ardharadhavenudhara murti, and it symbolizes the complete union and inseparability of Radha and Krishna.
D.M. Wulff demonstrates through a close study of her Sanskrit and Bengali sources that Radha is both the "consort" and "conqueror" of Krishna and that "metaphysically Radha is understood as co-substantial and co-eternal with Krishna." Indeed, the more popular vernacular traditions prefer to worship the couple and often tilt the balance of power towards Radha.
Graham M. Schweig in his work "The divine feminine theology of Krishna" in context with Radha Krishna stated that, "The divine couple, Radha and Krishna, comprise the essence of godhead. Radha is therefore acknowledged by Chaitanyaite Vaishnavas to be part of very center of their theological doctrine. Sacred images of the forms of Radha Krishna, standing together side by side, are elaborately worshiped in the Indian temples. Through her image, her divine character and her amorous and passionate relations with Krishna, Radha is the constant meditation of practitioners.
According to William Archer and David Kinsley, a professor of Religious Studies known for his studies on Hindu goddesses, the Radha-Krishna love story is a metaphor for a divine-human relationship, where Radha is the human devotee or soul who is frustrated with the past, obligations to social expectations, and the ideas she inherited, who then longs for real meaning, the true love, the divine. This metaphoric Radha finds new liberation in learning more about Krishna, bonding in devotion, and with passion.
An image of Radha has inspired numerous literary works. For modern instance, the Shri Radhacharita Mahakavyam—the 1980s epic poem of Dr. Kalika Prasad Shukla that focuses on Radha's devotion to Krishna as the universal lover—"one of the rare, high-quality works in Sanskrit in the twentieth century."
Radha and Sita
The Radha-Krishna and Sita-Rama pairs represent two different personality sets, two perspectives on dharma and lifestyles, both cherished in the way of life called Hinduism. Sita is traditionally wedded: the dedicated and virtuous wife of Rama, an introspective temperate paragon of a serious, virtuous man. Radha is a power potency of Krishna, who is a playful adventurer.Radha and Sita offer two templates within the Hindu tradition. If "Sita is a queen, aware of her social responsibilities", states Pauwels, then "Radha is exclusively focused on her romantic relationship with her lover", giving two contrasting role models from two ends of the moral universe. Yet they share common elements as well. Both face life challenges and are committed to their true love. They are both influential, adored and beloved goddesses in the Hindu culture.
In worship of Rama, Sita is represented as a dutiful and loving wife, holding a position entirely subordinate to Rama. However, in the worship of Radha Krishna, Radha is often preferred over to Krishna, and in certain traditions, her name is elevated to a higher position compared to Krishna's.