Week 12 Story: Unconditional Love: Radha and Krishna

In the land of the Gopis, winter time passed in its somber majesty. This followed with bright lotus petals coloring the land for warmer days yet to come, waving in the breeze and radiating happiness in brilliant shades. The prancing peacock’s exuberant calls, the sweet fragrance of the lotus spreading on cool, gentle breezes, and the overall fresh springtime atmosphere all contributed the perfect touch to the most anticipated event in Vrindavan: the meeting of Radha and Krishna.

Krishna began playing flute as tribute to the spring day. Not too far away, the beauteous Radha was collecting water from the Yamuna river when she heard the melodious flute music. She ceased her water collecting and followed the sounds into the nearby forest. She let her eyes flow from tree to tree, noticing the buds ready to open into the light. Soon enough, the eyes of Radha met those of Krishna.

Sparks flew with great ferocity as the immediate passion both had for each other became obvious. Following their meeting, Krishna and Radha were inseparable. They spent every waking moment together. Krisha grew an unconditional love and charm for Radha, who reciprocated with equal feelings. The relationship between Krishna and Radha became the embodiment of the purest form of love.

Krishna charms Radha by playing the flute. Source: Quora.

However, in order to kill the evil King Kansa, Krishna soon had to leave Vrindavan. Krishna’s departure foreshadowed the inevitable separation of him from Radha. Although Krishna did not express his sorrow about leaving Radha, he was deeply sorrowed and seeing his beloved heartbroken worsened these feelings. As completely devastated as Radha was, however, she knew Krishna was destined to defeat Kansa and she would not prevent him in any way. Radha promised Krishna not to cry while he is away so long as he does not forget her love.

Krishna’s final day in Vrindavan soon arrived. After knowing her love and devotion for Krishna, the other Gopis were overwhelmed with curiosity as to why Radha had not yet shed a single tear for her one true love. The Gopis attempted to test Radha’s devotion for Krishna in attempt to determine if their love was really, in fact, true.

Before bidding farewell, Radha planned a feast for Krishna. As Radha poured her heart and soul into cooking, the Gopis had their eyes on the resulting exquisite dishes. They deviously caught Radha in a busy moment and quickly grabbed each and every dish, ultimately leaving nothing Radha originally planned to offer Krishna. Radha was left with a mere five ingredients in her kitchen: milk, curd, sugar, ghee, and honey.

What a disaster! Radha realized no time remained for her to gather ingredients or cook any more dishes. Without any hesitation, the wise Radha made the most of these few ingredients she possessed, mixing them together into a divine and sweet-smelling panchamrit.

Krishna's favorite: Radha's panchamrit. Source: Times of India.

The moment of truth neared as Krishna settled to dine on a simple bowl of panchamrit. To the surprise of the eavesdropping Gopis nearby, Krishna enthusiastically devoured all of the panchamrit Radha so hurriedly prepared. Krishna enjoyed Radha’s panchamrit so much, there was little left for anyone else! Radha’s panchamrit easily became Krishna's favorite food. Later, when Krishna arrived in Mathura, he began each day with a nourishing bowl of panchamrit, prepared exactly like Radha’s.

Author’s Note

Epified: Krishna - Radha’s Love

Epified: Krishna - Dreams and Music

Krishna’s Daily Activities - Spring Significance  

Wikipedia - Panchamrit

Across all the stories I have read thus far about Krishna and Radha, all of them have one thing in common: the love between these two is pure and eternal, regardless of when Krishna left for Mathura. Since my portfolio project is focused on retelling love stories of major characters in the Indian epics, this time, I specifically focused on Radha’s love for Krishna. The portion about Radha’s feast may seem silly but I wanted to emphasize how much Krishna loved Radha. In my opinion, only someone truly in love will appreciate the other’s food preparations so much, even if it is a simple panchamrit. Most of all, I hoped to highlight their love for each other even though they never married.

My retold story of Krishna and Radha’s love for each other follows this same key idea of the original story. I added my own details, such as their meeting and the farewell feast, to incorporate more cultural elements to their love story. After watching an epified Krishna video, I learned Krishna is a flute prodigy and I definitely wanted to include this in a romantic way. This inspired me to open the story with a beautiful spring setting and Krishna charming Radha with his flute music. I intended to be descriptive with spring to highlight the importance of lotus flowers, which I researched Krishna uses to make flower garlands for Radha. I wanted to bring appreciate the beauty of where they met. I also hoped to accentuate their eternal love, especially with describing how each of them felt about Krishna’s departure to Mathura. I researched one of Krishna’s favorite foods is panchamrit, literally translated as five nectars and known as food of the Gods, so I included the farewell feast to be able to write about this. Although Radha did not actually invent this dish, I thought it would be interesting to narrate the story that way and talk about the other jealous Gopis.