Chapter Eight: Literature of the Rasika Tradition in Hindi

With laughing skill she feigns distress, blushes, and grows shy.
Victory to the nectar of Janakiraman’s divine play, the aspiration in which Ali Nivas forever dwells.

Friend, the nectar-filled lovers sleep upon a bed in the divine palace.
The beloved holds her upon his lap in the ocean of rasa, as though they had stirred a pool of saffron through the night.
Her lover’s chest and arms form a lake of adornment in which the supreme creeper lies submerged.
Their two faces are like twin moons meeting and becoming absorbed in perfect love.
Fair and dark forms shine intermixed, as though the most excellent lovers had become a single company.
Kripanivas says: I have sewn my own eyes into this pleasure-loving Couple.

Sri Swami Janakrajkishori Sharan, “Sri Rasik Ali”

1. Siddhānta-muktāvalī

For the benefit of those thirsting for the nectar of Rama’s rasa, Seth Chhote Lal Lakshmichand of Bombay had this work printed and published by the Jain Press in Lucknow in 1907. It contains approximately fifty-two pages and 157 dohās and soraṭhās.

Subject

The work begins with homage to the guru and then describes Rama’s form as possessing an attraction surpassing even Krishna’s. Although Putana saw Krishna in his infant form, she still fed him breast-milk mixed with poison. Surpanakha, by contrast, was the sister of Rama’s enemy, yet she became enchanted by his beauty—which captivates the three worlds—and wished to choose him as her husband. Women were enchanted by Krishna’s form, but the ascetic sages of the Dandaka forest also became attached to Rama’s form and desired to embrace him. Rama’s form is thus supremely captivating.

The text next demonstrates the distinctive qualities of the devotional identities of male servant and female servant, male friend and female companion. In the Holi play, the rāsa, the swing festival, the palace, and the adornment service, one should adopt whichever service-disposition is dearest, become inwardly constituted by the corresponding relationship, and remain forever intoxicated by the nectar of love.

Thereafter comes a discussion of practice, devotional feeling, and love. All three are explained with great feeling and supported by examples. The text then establishes the divisions of steadfastness and the nature and discipline of affection. In its account of devotional rasa, the treatment of the supporting subject and object is extensive; among the rasas, service, friendship, parental affection, and amorous sweetness receive particular description. In short, this is a magnificent and delightful work on the doctrine of Rasika worship: the ocean is truly contained within a pitcher.

Siddhāntānanya-taraṅgiṇī

A handwritten copy is held at Pramod Rahasya Bhavan in Ayodhya. It contains sixteen “waves” and 550 dohās. Its principal subject is bhāvanā, contemplative or mental worship.