Radha-Krishan jaisi jodi hai!! But Why?

I was with couple of my friends on a trip earlier this month, when we landed on the topic of Radha while listening to the song “Radha on the dance floor, Radha wants to party…” from the movie Student of the Year. My friend suddenly told “Isn’t our culture a little strange? Although Radha and Krishna were never married, every time people see a good couple they say “RadhaKrishan jaisi Jodi hai!”(ie. Couple like Radha-Krishna).”

For those who aren’t familiar with Hindu mythology; Radha & Krishna appear in the Dvapara Yuga which is the 3^rd out of four yugas (4^th one being Kali Yuga, the current one that we all are part of). Radha is considered an incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi and Krishna is the Eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Radha and Krishna are most popularly known and worshipped as RadhaKrishna – in one form. Radha is Krishna’s supreme beloved and his childhood friend.

Acrylic Painting of Krishna with his Flute - By Me.

The Lord and His consort are referred to as the Divya Dampati, the divine couple. Very popular divine couples in Hinduism are Shiva-Parvati (Gouri-Shankar), Lakhsmi-Narayana , Sita-Ram, and so on. Now why is Radha-Krishna a strange couple? All the couples I mentioned earlier were actually married to one another. But Radha was never married to Krishna. Krishna’s top 2 wives were Rukmini and Sathyabhama amongst his 16,108 wives. (Yep; even I wonder how did he manage?? People here struggle with just 1 wife:) Well, there’s another story behind the 16,100 wives, he had just 8 princely wives.). Radha was also known to be elder than Krishna(Some scriptures state her to be older than him by 12 years and some by 10 years; whatever be the actual number, she was believed to be elder to him by quite a few years). There are many ancient scriptures referring to their spiritual love affair as more intimate than the rest of the divine couples. Krishna would play his flute and Radha would dance for him; they would spend time together; there are references to a special dance - Rasa Lila where Krishna dances with Radha and her friends.

Now that you have the background; let’s talk about the present and why my friend referred to the whole concept as weird. Our society; does not approve of any of these in today’s world. Concept of love between youngsters is tabooed – still 90% of the society does not support love marriages. A guy cannot marry a girl elder than him – whether it be love or arranged. Having a girlfriend/boyfriend is considered as a black mark on one’s character. Yet whenever they have to refer to a good couple they bless them as Radha-Krishna jodi; there never is a Krishna-Rukmini or Krishna-Sathyabama reference.

Pencil Sketch of Krishna & Radha - By Me.

 I wouldn't have been surprised if Radha-Krishna were popular in western culture; which treat boyfriend, girlfriend, and lover as respectable relationships. But that’s not the case in our society. So it really forces me to think; that on one hand you worship a God with his GIRLFRIEND, and on the other hand you are tying down generations after generations by practicing a complete opposite philosophy. Hello!!! Get your concepts clear! What exactly do you want us to infer from our culture? What learning do you want us to take from RadhaKrishna’s stories?

Before you start thinking that I condemn Hindu culture; let me clarify; I am not against our culture and I respect a lot of things in Hinduism. There are so many good things to derive from millions and zillions of these mythological stories.  Our Hindu culture follows monogamy, the principle of Lord Ram who had vowed to have only one wife; that’s ek patni vrata; and hence “Ram-Sita jaisi jodi” is also a popular compliment. I read the stories of different avatars of Lord Shiva, Vishnu, Lakshmi, Shakti, Parshuram, Hanuman, Ganesh and the list goes on. Most of those stories are clear on what message they convey; but few stories like this one; is pretty confusing. I fail to understand, that Radha gets all the respect and popularity even today; where as a girl like Radha in today’s world will be called characterless.

I have an interest in all these cultural and religious beliefs; questioning and trying to understand why they originated and what their role in today’s society is. I always have a tough time with people who just try to say; it’s been followed from thousands of years; it is supposed to be like that; it is always right, you can’t question its credibility! Well, that’s bullshit. If there is a custom, there has to be a reason why it was started. And if did start at some point in time, it was due to the need of the society of that age. One needs to review those customs and see if today’s society still needs them. If we don’t need them and it is just becoming an unbearable burden, a high maintenance commodity, those rules should be relaxed.

For Example; maybe it’s time that our society starts taking the hints from Radha-Krishna story. Why something as unorthodox as this is part of our rich ancient culture? Couldn't it mean that there really is no age bar between a man and a woman to fall in love? And if a man & woman want to continue a relation without giving any name to it (Live in relationship); maybe it’s alright? May be it’s alright to be in love and remain unmarried? May be it’s not just the system of marriage that gets woman a respectable position in the society? Well, if Radha and Krishna were proud of each other as lovers and always flaunted their love; then maybe it isn't a bad thing after all; you know the thing that our society dreads and warns their kids against – LOVE. My point is - Don't confuse your ideologies. If you think that the points mentioned here are RIDICULOUS then stop popularizing and worshiping Radha-Krishna. And if you do worship them, which means you approve of their relationship, then have the guts to stand by it and practice it in real.

-Sarita

Dated - 22nd April 2014