Pratha lila 77-80 Decorating Rādhā I
Verses 77-80 Decorating Rādhā I
Painting Rādhā’s forehead
Verse 76
karpūrāguru-kāśmī ra-paṅka-miśrita-candanaiḥ |
samālipya viśākhā’syāḥ pṛṣṭ haṁbāhu-kucāv uraḥ ||76||
Vishakha prepares a body powder of camphor, aguru, kunkum and chandana; then she anoints Rādhā’s arms, chest, breasts and back with this fragrant mixture.
Verse 77
kastūrī -patra-vallī -samudaya-khacitaṁpārśvayor ākapolaṁ
bhāle śrī khaṇòa-bindūtkara-vṛ tam abhitaḥ kāma-yantrābhidhānam |
antaḥ-kastūrikodyan-malayaja-śaśabhṛ l-lekhayādhaś citaṁsā
cakre sī manta-rekhānvitam atha tilakaṁsāndra-sindūra-paṅkaiḥ ||77||
Vishakha paints the Kama-yantra tilak on Rai Kishori’s forehead.
It has a large dot of red kunkum surrounded by small dots of chandan;
and at its base is a larger circle of chandan having a small black spot of kasturi in its center.
On both sides of the tilak, Vishakha uses kasturi to paint pictures of leaves that extend to Rādhā’s cheeks. At last, a brilliant red line of kunkum is placed between the part in Rādhā’s hair.
Rasa-tarangini Tika:
Sri Yadunandana Thakur says:
kāma-yantra nāma ei lalita tilak heriyä kṛṣṇera hoy sarvāṅge pulaka
When Krishna sees this beautiful Kama-jantra tilak, his hairs stand erect!
Krisha-bhavanamrita adds: After defeating Uma’s husband Shiva, Rādha captured the moon-sliver from his head and placed it on her forehead! Now Sringara Rasa has personally appeared in the form of this Kama-yantra!
As Lalita Devi uses kasturi to paint dolphins on Rādhā’s soft cheeks, she calls out to Cupid, who is also known as Makara-ketana or Makara-dhvaja, meaning the one who has dolphins on his standard, and says: “Hey Kandarpa! Come and sit on this asana! Then you’ll see that during raho keli (intimate pastimes), you will be worshiped by Sri Krishna’s red tongue!”
Lalita then instructs the two dolphins: “Oh Makari-yugal! When Krishna’s dolphin earrings touch you-marry them! As they serve the ears of the killer of Aghasura, they destroy all sins and thus your lives will be successful!” (Krisha-bhavanamrita 4.66-68)
Decorations of Rādhā’s breasts
Verse 78
puṣ pa-gucchendu-lekhābja-makarī -cūta-pallavam |
lilekha citraṁkastūryā citrā tat-kucayos taṭ e ||78||
mī nī prasūna-nava-pallava-candra-lekhā
vyājāt sva-cihna-śara-kunta-dhanūṁsi kāmaḥ |
tad-bhrū-dhanur-dhavana-mātra-nirasta-karmā
manye nyadhatta nija-tat-kuca-koṣ a-gehe ||79||
Chitra Sakhi takes up a brush to paint kasturi flower clusters, lotuses, dolphins, mango-buds and moon silver above Rādhā’s kucha yugala. One might conclude that when Kamadeva saw the mere arching of Rādhā’s eyebrows, he instantly fled love’s battlefield, abandoning all his weapons in this kucha yugala storehouse!
Rasa-tarangini Tika:
The dolphin is Kamadeva’s carrier. The clusters of flowers mentioned are
ashoka and nava-mallika. The lotus is the pink species (aravinda).
When mango buds are included, these ingredients form Cupid’s panca-bana (five flower arrows) which cause
allurement, intoxication, torture and paralysis.
The sliver moon is Kandarpas bow.
Seeing Rādhā’s arching eyebrows, however, Cupid became afraid, dropped his bow, and admitted defeat-placing his weapons in the storehouse of Rādhā’s breasts!
Hence, all of Cupid’s powers lie here!
In Rādhā-rasa-sudha-nidhi, Prabodhananda Saraswati advises:
“Oh mind! Just go to Vrindavan and meditate on Sri Vrishabhanu-nandini’s golden jug-like breasts, for they have the power to subjugate a million Cupids! Thus, Gokula-kishor-chandra’s life and soul are preserved within these two indescribable treasure chests!”
Verse 80
citrārpitāneka-vicitra-ratnamuktācitā rakta-dukūla-colī |
kucau bhajālendra-dhanur-vicitrā
tastāra śailāv iva sāndhya-kāntiḥ ||80||
Chitra Devi covers Rādhā’s breasts with a red kanchuli embroidered with jewels and pearls. It looks like a rainbow in a star-clustered sky with the sun setting over two mountains.
Rasa-tarangini Tika:
The embroidered gems are compared to a rainbow, the red blouse to the sky at sunset; the pearls are like the stars and her kucha yugal like two mountains.