Chapter Seven: Literature of the Rasika Tradition

—that Rama enjoyed the rāsa with many heroines. In this way, Madhuracharya supplies numerous proofs that Sri Rama is the one hero of a multitude of heroines.¹

If Rama and Sita are eternally united, what can statements of separation and absence mean? Resolving this question is the principal subject of the tenth ullāsa. Madhuracharya cites the Jānakī-vilāsa to establish that Rama cannot remain for even a moment without Sita, nor Sita without Rama.²

The eleventh ullāsa calculates the chronology of Rama’s līlā and shows that Madhuracharya was also a formidable scholar of astrology. The twelfth resolves the doubt concerning Lava and Kusha. The thirteenth establishes the eternity of the līlā, citing several verses from the Ayodhyā-māhātmya of the Skanda Purāṇa.³ Madhuracharya’s Rāmatattva-prakāśa, like the Sundaramaṇi-sandarbha, is therefore regarded as an exceptionally authoritative work.

Śrī Rāma-navaratna-sāra-saṅgraha

The Śrī Rāma-navaratna-sāra-saṅgraha was compiled by Paramahansa Swami Ramcharandas “Karunasindhu.” Gokul Press, Ayodhya, printed it in Vikrama year 1985 with the Ratna-prabhā commentary of Pandit Ramvallabhasharan, and Sri Awadhsharan of Jānaki Ghat published it.

The work has nine chapters and gathers evidence from different scriptures to strengthen the various limbs of rasa-upāsanā. It shows Sri Ramcharandas Karunasindhu to have been a saint of lucid and well-balanced thought. He displays neither sectarian insistence nor any marked forcing of interpretation. His gaze rests more upon devotional feeling than upon words, and the work gives a beautifully harmonious demonstration of his gift for apprehending feeling. Among these nine jewels—