Spider Govinda - Jayadeva (XII century)

Literature of antiquity and the Middle Ages - Summary - 2019

Spider Govinda
Jayadeva (XII century)

In the flowering spring season in the forest of Vrndavana on the shores of Yamuna, the beloved Krsna Radha is dying in separation with her beloved. The girlfriend tells that Krsna leads a fun round dance with lovely shepherds, "hugging one, kissing another, smiling the third, pursuing a timid, charming charmer". Radha complains about Krishna's betrayal and his fate: it's bitter to look at the flourish shoots of a shark, to listen to the melodious buzzing of bees in the foliage of mango trees, even a slight breeze from the river gives her only torture. She asks her friend to help her to see Krishna, to quench the passionate heat of her passing.

Meanwhile, Krishna leaves the beauties of the shepherds and, recalling Radha, is tormented by repentance. He mentally portrays the features of her beautiful appearance and longs for her love to taste again. A friend of Radha comes and describes Krishna her jealousy and torment: Radha seems to be a bitter aroma of sandalwood, poison is a sweet wind from the Malaya Mountains, it burns cool rays of the month, and she can not stand alone, she thinks only about Krsna. Krishna asks for her friend to bring him Radha. But, persuading her to go, she assures her that Krsna is just as sad as she does: he makes heavy breaths, then looks for her, looking with hope on the sides, then despairingly falls on the flower bed, then breathless for a long time. However, Radha is in such an exhaustion from the torment of jealousy and passion that it is simply impossible to go to Krsna. And a friend returns to Krishna to tell him about Radha’s powerlessness to cope with himself.

The night comes, and, without encountering Krishna, Radha is still sad. She thinks that the deceitful and merciless Krsna is still delighted with the shepherds, and she is praying for the wind from the mountains of Malaya to carry her life, the god of love of Kama - to absorb her breath, the waters of the Yamuna River - to accept her body burnt by passion. The next morning, however, Radha suddenly sees Krishna in front of her, graciously bending over her. She is still full of indignation and drives him away, rebuking that his eyes are inflamed from the sleepless night of love with the shepherds, the mouth darkened with antimony from their eyes, the body covered with scratches left by their sharp nails during passionate eating. Krsna leaves, pretending to be offended, and her friend is persuading Radhu to forgive him, for a date with Krishna is the highest happiness in this world. And when, at the end of the day, Krishna reappears and assures Radha that she is the only adornment of his life, his treasure in the ocean of existence praises her beauty and asks for compassion, she, submissive to love, gives in to his prayers and forgives him.

Having the best decoration, a ring of bracelets on his hands and feet, with anxiety and bliss in the heart of Radha enters the arbour of liana, where she is waiting for her full joy and impatiently thirsting for the sweet embrace of Krishna. He invites Radhu to go along with him all the stages of love, and she responds with pleasure to his more and more daring caresses. Happy, he drinks a nectar of her indistinct biting lips, which is washed by the brilliance of pearl teeth, clinging to her mighty breast her tight hardened breast, spreading the belt on her hard hips. And when the passion of lovers is exhausted, Radha can not refrain from the enthusiastic praises of Krsna - the center of all earthly enjoyment, the keeper of the gods and people whose majesty and glory extend to all ends of the universe.