Whenever we hear, read or feel the words “Love ” the images of Radha Krishna come in front of our eyes, our heart and mind.

“Finding Radha ,The Dance Of Love”, is a tribute to Radha, whose character has remained a mystery and captured the imagination of many writers across centuries.

This book is a collection of poetry, prose and translation focussing on Radha, the epitome of love. Who, according to authors, defies all conventional codes and transcends social prohibitions through the power of the spiritual and the sensual, the sacred and the erotic.

The author says, no other goddess combines the elements of Bhakti and Shringara quite as exquisitely as Radha.  She spans a vivid range imagery, from the playfulness of the Raas Leela to the soulfulness of her undying love.

The book deals with the historical as well as the artistic dimensions of the eternal romance of Radha and Krishna. 

Gokhale, in the introduction, describes Radha as “an all-too-human goddess, a sublime yet sensual emblem of mortal and divine love.”

“Radha is subversive, she possesses an autonomy rarely available to feminine deities. She lives by her own rules and not those by the world. She is the essential Rasika, the aesthete of passion, and her wild heart belongs only to herself,” Gokhale writes.

As many as 22 scholars and writers have contributed their perspectives of Radha in this book. According to them, the essence of the relationship between Radha and Krishna resides in its spontaneous acquiescence to the moment of joyous union.

Radha follows the dictate of her heart, of her instincts, her passion, to seek union with her innermost self. She is her own mistress even in the act of surrender to her beloved. And it is this aspect of her, according to the author, that is always worshipped.

Among the contributors, Devdutt Pattanaik, points out the composition of ‘Gita Govinda’, a Sanskrit song written by Jayadeva in the 12th Century AD, which celebrates the passion of the cowherd god, Krishna and his beloved milkmaid, Radha in a language and style that took all of India by storm.

The other contributor, Shrivatsa Goswami believes Radha and Krishna, the subject and object of love, provide absolute bliss to each other through their lovely dalliance (rasa). Their mystical union is the ultimate rasa. 

“Finding Radha ,The Dance Of Love”, is thus an amazing book for anyone with interest in mythology. It delves deeper into Radha and her quintessence in Krishna’s life, her devotion, her sacrifice and her love. Telling us more and more about Radha and Krishna, the most worshipped divine lovers all over India.

©️✍️Sheetal Pradhan Deshpande