When Dev asked Rads to marry him the first time, he asks:
Will you marry me; will you become my other half (ardhangini)?
Finally today Rads answered:
From Dee's translation
my life's biggest happiness is that I am going to be called your wife, I will be called your ardhangini(other half), this is my good luck. Ek patni ke roop main jis pyaar pe sirf mera adhikaar hai, woh mujhe milne jaa raha hai (In the form of a wife, I am going to get the love on which only I have the right)
We always thought Dev's question was beautiful. The word ardhangini has a spiritual underpining. Dev had asked Rads would she be his partner, his soul-mate, his lifelong other half. Two bodies that are so entwined that we can no longer tell where one soul /life force ends and the other begins...that is what he asked her to be. In fact while half , the English word implies separation, here ardhangini implies no separation, no division between bodies.
Today however Rad's answer is just as beautiful. In fact, these lines have been with me all day'
my life's biggest happiness is that I am going to be called your wife
Here of course she confesses that her marriage is her biggest happiness in her life. These words are the most grand that have come from Rads. Usually she talks about happiness in duty and service.
She also mentions being "called wife." While she already is wife, the word "call" gestures to the fact that society, Dev, family has never "called" her wife. This is what she craves and what she wants. She then says:
I will be called your ardhangini(other half), this is my good luck.
Here she finally answers Dev's question. Yes, she will be his other half ardhangini and then adds that it is her good luck, the gift of her life and all her lives that her fate has been bound to his.
Finally, she says:
In the form of a wife, I am going to get the love on which only I have the right
The power of these words have been with me all day'
"In the form of wife'" Here Radhika says that their love has a large immortal span. Indeed, at this time, in this life-time, one face of that love is the present incarnation of Ra-Dev. "Wife" gives one form, one face to the immortal love that they share. Then she says "I am going to get the love on which only I have the right "
Fascinating. Radhika has a right on this love because she is already his wife? No I think it is because she is his immortal other half; his immortal beloved. The word right here is that she knows that only she can claim that place in Dev's life and heart. It is her right, because it is her place alone. There can never be anyone else's place in Dev's life. Wife is just the vessel, the incarnation that allows her to claim it in front of society.
Today Radhika accepted the powerful truth of who she is to Dev and who he is to her
I was blown away by Dev's question week's ago' but I am also blown away by Rad's answer today. Just stunning. Like him, she gestures to the eternal and mythic quality of their union. In this lifetime, in this incarnation we are seeing one interpretation of their lovestory and that is the Ra-Dev of this soap.
