Posted:
.Originally posted by: metacrisis
The thread looks really sweet Kusum! ❤️
In the Bengali legends though the story goes very differently, I still like both versions.
Then please share those stories with us too😳
.Originally posted by: metacrisis
The thread looks really sweet Kusum! ❤️
In the Bengali legends though the story goes very differently, I still like both versions.
Then please share those stories with us too😳
This Radha Ashtami, enjoy soulful songs on our dear RadhaRani😳
Nahi mil raha😒 Sab jagah dhundh liya jahan ho sakta tha
Sure! This is mostly from what I remember from my childhood, so others if you know more about these, please do pitch in. ❤️
In my understanding, Radha is an exceptionally dynamic character, who dared to control her own life and succeeded, despite her contemporary societal norms.
For us, Krishna and Radha exist outside the confines of the Mahabharata timeline, and they exist throughout time and space, revealing themselves in every song, and prayer, and prose ever written. They appear as imagined by Jayadeva, Chandidas, Rami, Govindadas, Vidyapati, Lalon Fakir, Karim Das and Rabindranath Tagore. Each of these poets (and more) express their Radha glowing in defiance of their contemporary society.
In Bengali mythology, there are a few different streams the story takes:
- Radha is Shiva's avatar, and Krishna is Kali's. This happened as a result of Shiva and Kali both challenging each other by taunting that they won't be able to survive as a person of the other gender. This I believe is a fantastic example of Bengal's rich Shakti traditions mixing sweetly with its Vaishnav roots.
- Radha is married to Ayan Ghosh, a soldier in Kamsa's army, and she is an aunt of Krishna by marriage. Here, Radha is older than Krishna, and she is the one that drives this relationship.
Radha in these traditions, is stronger, older, much more assertive in her pursuit of Krishna and defiant of the unfair societal norms. In these stories, she is not a daughter of some fancy King, but just a random gopi from a village in the middle of nowhere. This ends up especially significant, as this girl from nowhere becomes the very foundation of Krishna's overall personality.
This is the same Radha that wears the name kalankini as a badge of honour. She doesn't just stand quietly beside Krishna being a prop to his shenanigans, but she actually goes out and fights for him. Now, that's a woman to look up to!
In most Bengali traditions, Radha-Krishna's separation is final. One fine morning, Akrura comes in with the truth about Krishna's parentage and by evening Krishna is gone forever, and that is the end of their relationship. This separation of theirs is almost sacred, to the point that making them meet, even decades later seems somewhat of a snub to their great sacrifice.
- I've also read another version, which pretty much recreated Ramayan's Uttara Kand with Radha-Krishna and Radha's twin manasa sons Suchitra and Vichitra. In this version, though Krishna meets the kids after the Kurukshetra war, Radha still refuses to meet him.
As far as I remember (I might be dreaming this part also), Krishna and Radha just sit on opposite sides of a wall without ever talking, until Krishna has to finally go back to Dwarka.
Radha is Shiva's avatar, and Krishna is Kali's. This happened as a result of Shiva and Kali both challenging each other by taunting that they won't be able to survive as a person of the other gender. This I believe is a fantastic example of Bengal's rich Shakti traditions mixing sweetly with its Vaishnav roots.
Absolutely love this version!!
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