Dharabasi’s Radha: A Critical Introduction

Mahesh Paudyal

Radha, the award-winning novel by master novelist Krishna Dharabasi, presents a bottom-up perspective on Krishna, perhaps the most multifarious metaphoric figure from Hindu scriptures. The largest part of the novel is a diary entry by Radha, Krishna’s lifelong sweetheart, and it presents Krishna’s story from her perspective. In doing so, the novel dispenses with most of the eulogies and divination culturally accorded to Krishna. From the realm of God, Krishna is brought down to the realm of a human male, and by that very token, all his mortal weaknesses as a man are exposed.

The novel opens with the author visiting an excavation site after hearing rumors that some metallic plates with an ancient and almost obsolete script have just been excavated by the Department of Archaeology at Keechak Badh, a site of mythological importance in Jhapa, the easternmost district of Nepal. The novelist visits and does see the plates but is dismayed to find that there’s no one in that part of the world, who can decipher the script, which is evidently very old and is no longer in vogue at present. Finally, in the midst of utter confusion and loss, an old sage offers to read it, and the rest of the novel is the reading of the same, which is Radha’s account of her and Krishna’s life in fine details. Incidentally, the reader happens to be Aswatthama, the accursed and immortal sage, who was wronged and cursed by Krishna way back in Dwapar era, and left to wander around the world carrying festering wounds on his forehead. This sage, who’s the son of Guru Dronacharya, had sided with the Kauravas in the battle of the Mahabharata, and defeating him and his father was key to the Pandavas’ success. Dronacharya, the father, was the architect of the Kaurava’s war strategy, and so eliminating him was imminent for the Pandavas. Realizing this fact, the Pandavas created the rumor that Aswatthama was dead, following which his father, Guru Dronacharya, died of shock. Enraged, Aswatthama butchered the five sons of the Pandavas—while they were asleep—to take revenge of the intrigue the Pandavas had resorted to, to eliminate Dronacharya. His plan was to make the Pandavas feel what it feels like to bear the shock of the death of one’s own child. Krishna, on charge of this infanticide, planted a wound on Aswatthama’s forehead, never to be healed. He is thus doomed to hover around the world forever—as blessed with immortality he is—with the festering wound always bothering him. The same man incidentally appears here at the excavation site to read the ancient script, but his identity is revealed only at the end of the reading.

Radha’s diary entry calls for a non-normative reading, strewn with her discontentment at so many decisions that have been taken up at the cost of many feminine interests merely to groom Krishna for kingship. There was a prophecy that Kansa, the demon king of Mathura, would be killed by a male child born to Devaki, his own sister. So Kansa had jailed Devaki and her husband, Basudev, so that he would be able to grab and eliminate any child the moment it is born to Devaki. This happens with the first seven kids of the couple. Krishna would be the eighth child; so, they want to save him at all cost. According to an arrangement, Basudev sneaks out of the jail at the dead of the rain-drenched night of Krishna’s birth in August with just-born Krishna and reaches Braja, where a daughter has just been born to his friend Nanda. They exchange the kids, and Basudev returns to Mathura with the girl, where she could be eliminated at any time. Krishna grows in Braja as Nanda’s son. Radha, in her diary, attacks this act, flaying it as an act of belittling a girl child and offering her to be killed merely to save Krishna, the male child.

This exchange of kids takes place without the knowledge of Yashoda, Eknamsha’s mother. The fact is revealed years later when Sage Garga tells the story to Krishna and Krishna lets Yashoda know. Yashoda takes Nanda headlong for deceiving her all these years. She complains that people in the village had questioned her fidelity, as her son did not have his parents’ looks and did not resemble any of the Gopas living in Braja. Nanda is left speechless, though his act later proves a noble one, helping Krishna grow with safety to kill Kansa and free the kingdom from his reign of terror.

Strewn with such feministic entries, the novel criticizes every initiative taken to groom and educate Krishna for kingship and heroism. Krishna, as revealed by Radha’s diary entry, appears licensed to be willful, who could get any of his wishes fulfilled. His faith in love with Radha too is flayed on the grounds that he maintains relations with many concubines and marries eight queens one after another, barring Radha, whose claim for love is unconditional. Radha remains unmarried all her life, waiting for Krishna to come in person and take her to Dwarika, where he has established his new capital, but this does not happen. Krishna pretends to be ‘too busy’ in his state affairs and has no time to come back to Radha. Out of frustration, Radha chooses to be an ascetic and moves from place to place, preaching lessons of love, celibacy, and spiritualism.

The novel is set primarily in three locations: Braja, where Krishna and Radha pass much of their childhood; Dwarika, where Krishna establishes the new capital of this kingdom; and Himvatkhanda, the region south of the Himalayas—a long stretch of land strewn across hills and plains—where Radha visits as a pilgrim.

The story that is set in Braja prepares the readers for two important developments: love between Krishna and Radha, and myths circumscribing Krishna that propel him to become a warrior and political personage. The rural, cow-rearing, and sylvan landscape of Braja provides ample opportunities for boys and girls to meet and mix prodigally among themselves, swimming in Yamuna, moving after cattle in Gokul, and organizing group dance called Raas Leela, usually in the region demarcated as Raas Mandal—the dancing ring. This mixing culminates in enforced love between Krishna and Radha, which at times becomes scandalous, especially after a night picnic partaken by many Gopini maids and Krishna, the lone male member in the group. The entering of Radha and Krishna into the depth of the forest in the night and their passionate love sharing becomes viral among the participants. This leads to serious doubt and surveillance from the rest of the villagers. Radha and most of her girlfriends in Braja are kept under virtual house arrest, while conspiracies are made to send Krishna away from Braja so that he won’t be able to meet the girls anymore.

Krishna moves away on the pretext of higher studies but is in reality preparing a fighting squad to attack and kill Kansa, his nemesis. As the preparations get under way, many boys and girls from Braja, including Sushila, a girl who is silently in competition with Radha to win Krishna’s love, join Krishna and become his fighters, who attain martyrdom later. Radha, however, is left back in Braja to assist her ailing father to supervise the village activities as the king’s representative. She is thus barred from meeting Krishna. Too busy, Krishna does not return to Braja, and their love is left astray. Occasionally, Krishna sends messages to Radha, reassuring her of his untiring love, but Radha is smoldered by flames of doubt, as she is aware of the licentious character of Krishna.

War preparations continue. Krishna’s squad prepares for the final attack. They have the support and blessing of Sage Garga, a learned hermit, and Akroor, a minister in Kansa’s palace who is secretly plotting for the king’s elimination.

Back in Braja, Radha collects taxes and fetches it to Kansa merely to abide by the rules but sends a major portion of the same to Krishna to assist his war preparations. Radha herself walks out to Mathura and meets Kansa; she also meets Minister Akroor and Eknamsha, the girl with whom Krishna was exchanged in infancy. Radha is suddenly made aware of the violence that had been meted out to Eknamsha merely to save Krishna for the fact that he was a male child. This apparent infanticide moves Radha to utter distress considering how male-centered society considers girls as dispensable.

Back in Braja, Radha waits for Krishna to win the battle and return. Krishna does win it, kills Kansa, reinstates his jailed father, Ugrasen, to the throne of Mathura, and becomes his regent. However, instead of returning to Braja, he sets out on an “educational mission.” Soon there are rumors that Jarasandha, the father-in-law of Kansa, is making attacks on Mathura to avenge for the assassination of Kansa. So Krishna decides to shift the capital of his kingdom from Mathura to Dwarika. Thereafter, it is said that Krishna is now busy with his new missions—construction, embellishment, and fortification of Dwarika—and once again, his return to Braja is deferred. Instead, Krishna sends a message to the people of Braja, including his parents, to come to Dwarika and reap the harvest of its development and affluence there. Accordingly, most of the people, including close friends of Radha, move to Dwarika, but Radha decides to stay back, hurt and frustrated. She is unhappy that Krishna did not keep his promise; he did not come even once to meet her.

As time passes, Radha hears about Krishna’s marriage with Rukmini and then with seven other wives in a row. Soon, she hears that Krishna has 16,108 wives altogether. Her infatuation for Krishna finally breaks, and Radha decides to set out on a pilgrimage never to return to married life again. She urges her mother, Kalawati, to join Nanda and Yashoda—Krishna’s foster parents—and go to Dwarika, and she moves out of Braja together with her friend Vishakha on pilgrimage across unknown terrains, topographies, and kingdoms.

The only development on Krishna’s part during this period is that he is heard moving all over Bharatvarsha—the northern belt of India—to find Radha, whose locations are unknown once she moves away from her permanent location in Braja. Radha moves from place to place with Vishakha until the latter, tired of the painstaking and cumbersome journey, makes up her mind to settle at some place and abandon the absurd journey.

Radha and Vishakha, in the course of their journey, reach a hut where an old widow and her widowed daughter-in-law are living their poverty-stricken lives. After staying there for a few days, they move out together with Pilli, the daughter-in-law. Pilli comes in quite handy for her knowledge of the local dialect and her expertise in herbs that cure them of many ailments on the way.

At one of their stops, they come to a shrine where people have gathered in a huge number for a religious fair. There, they incidentally meet Krishna, who has come together with his eight wives. Krishna introduces all of them to Radha and reiterates his faith in her love, claiming that she is still the queen of his heart. Radha also holds a brief discussion with Rukmini, who confirms Krishna’s unflinching faith in and obsession for Radha. Convinced, Radha rinses herself of all the doubts she had against Krishna.

Radha yields to Krishna’s urge and gets ready to move to Dwarika. She is offered a seat on the same chariot where Krishna sits. Together, they ride toward Dwarika.

Radha is flabbergasted to see the affluence and radiance of the newfound city. The most striking thing for her is a mansion called Radha Bhavan, which Krishna has built in her name; the mansion is the spot where Krishna retires to his solitude and loses himself in memory of his soul mate, Radha. Radha is moved to the deepest crevices of her heart on seeing this rare dedication. But then, people in Dwarika, especially Eknamsha, remark that menfolk can never be relied upon—not even Krishna, who has so many wives and leaves them sexually unsatisfied, or spreads sexually transmitted disease, as he has sex with so many partners. Provoked, Radha decides to leave Dwarika and moves north toward the Himalayan Mountains. When Krishna knows that Radha is leaving, he is crestfallen; yet he cannot stop her. He offers her a ride up to Hastinapur, where he too is going on his chariot to try to make peace between Kuru princes Pandavas and Kauravas, who have had a row on land division issue. Radha accompanies Krishna up to Hastinapur.

By this time, the game of dice has been over, and the Pandavas have been living in the forest, exiled for twelve years of sylvan life and one year of life in disguise. Krishna rushes to the forest where the Pandavas are, while Radha passes her time with Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas. Kunti and Radha engage in a passionate discussion about women’s plight and non-reliable nature of the menfolk; this further provokes Radha to loathe men, including Krishna, and strengthen her determination to be a celibate and a recluse. Kunti tells the circumstances under which she conceived before marriage and threw her firstborn baby Karna into the river; she tells how she later had to compromise her life with an impotent prince Pandu, who could never impregnate her but accused her of being barren instead. Later, under immense pressure to beget sons, she had to involve in extramarital sexual relations with Dharma, Vayu, and Indra, the fathers of her sons, Yudhisthir, Bhim, and Arjun, respectively.

A few days later, Radha visits the forest resort where the Pandavas have been passing their days. There, she meets Draupadi, who explicates her mind, complaining that she was divided and devoured by five brothers against her will, consent, and practice. She criticizes Yudhisthir—the so-called emblem of righteousness—for agreeing to marry the wife of his younger brother. She also criticizes Krishna, who, instead of offering himself as her suitor, allows Arjun—guised as a Brahman—to try for Draupadi’s hand, thereby making her life doomed forever. The two women share their distaste for men and shed tears of frustration in the secluded spot of the forest for a long time.

Moving out of Hastinapur, Radha moves north with Pilli. They accompany the Tibetan traders moving north and reach the Himalayas, where they come to see the Tibetan people’s social life and gender equation. They too are polygynous, ordained by the practice that the wife of the eldest brother is, by default, the wife of all his younger brothers as well.

Studying various facts about the Sherpas, Radha and Pilli reach Muktinath shrine and then return south. They pass through the plains of Nepal and move east, across the great river Koshi, and visit Bishnu Paduka and Danta Kali shrines, where they meet the Koch king Bir Singh, who offers them a ride to Biratnagar. They accept the offer because from Biratnagar, they would find the way to Dwarika shorter. Biratnagar is in turmoil, as Keechak, the king’s brother-in-law, has just been killed by an unknown Gandarva man who happens to be none other than Bhim, the second of the Pandava brothers. On that charge, even Draupadi, living there in disguise, is charged and punished. This incident moves Radha even more and is deeply pained to see how the male-centered society wrongs innocent women, who have, otherwise, no say in the men’s affairs.

Soon they meet toward Kochnagar, the kingdom of Bir Singh.

During her stay here in Kochnagar, Radha is offered metal sheets and pen to write her travel account. Instead of sticking to the experiences of her travel, she recounts her life right from her childhood days in Braja and reads the same to some of King Bir Singh’s queens and to Pilli. After she has finished her account, she bequeaths the sheets with one of the queens and decides to leave for Dwarika because she has regained her desire to meet Krishna again. In the meantime, she hears that Krishna is not in Dwarika but in Kurukshetra, helping the Pandavas in the great battle of Mahabharata against the Kauravas. King Bir Singh, who too has received a call from the Pandavas’ side to join the war, is preparing to move toward Kurukshetra with an army. Radha thinks going to Dwarika would be futile at a time when Krishna is away at Kurukshetra. So she too decides to accompany the army of King Bir Singh to go to Kurukshetra. Accordingly, they move.

On the way, they see deserting soldiers who have run away from war considering this mad game of killing and dying absurd. They also meet women urging the moving soldiers to hold back, as war is blind and kills their sons and husbands in vain while the gain goes to a few kings and princess. Such public revolt, once again, stirs Radha to emotionality, and she again dwells on the futility of masculine thinking that drives the world mad for petty gain. In spite of all these, they reach Kurukshetra only to find the war already over and the battlefield reeking with the smell of petrified human carcass being rummaged by vulture.

After reading this much account of Radha from the metal sheet, the sadhu continues the story from his memory. People in the audience question the authenticity of the story further, as he was not reading from Radha’s sheets but telling from his own memory. When the questions pour in, he confesses that he is the same Aswatthama who has seen the battle of Mahabharata and is convinced that the account written by Veda Vyas is wrong and lopsided, and he has his own version of the Mahabharata. The novel ends when the sadhu asks, “If you can endure, listen now to my version of the Mahabharata.”

Though many think Radha is a feministic novel, it is more than that. The very act of telling Krishna’s tale from a woman’s perspective questions the traditional notions of truth-making and encourages a new historical, contrapuntal reading of a text against the grain. Second, by suggesting that the fact changes its color when one changes the vantage, Dharabasi is making use of the theory of leela. Leela, a Nepali school of critical thinking, claims life is a leela—a play of illusions—as is the life of Krishna himself. Take Krishna’s life, for example; his hectic political engagements are all justified. It therefore looks normal that Krishna does not find time to visit Radha at Braja. Radha’s complaints too are genuine; in a matter of so many years, Krishna’s inability to visit her even once and, instead, getting married to one wife after another in succession invites doubts from Radha. However, as the novel ends, both Radha and Krishna have understood the circumstances thoroughly, and they bear no grudge or complaint against each other. Therefore, it’s not a feministic approach; rather, it is a deconstructive approach that lays bare the paradoxes that underscore the formation of mythological truths; it questions the finalities of established truths—mythological, scriptural, religious, or historical—and proves they are constructs of a logo-centric mindset, which is always under eraser—to borrow Derridean term—and thus always prone to subversion.

Radha therefore offers an alternative reading of Krishna’s life from Radha’s point of view. The novel is the first of its kind in the world, making such an off-the-beat and subversive representative of Krishna perhaps the most popular mythological character in the Orient. At a time when the popularity of Krishna is still so high, the risk Dharabasi has taken is interesting. The appearance of this book in English, therefore, will have a lot of theoretical and literary implications, as it shall open a debate whether characters as popular as Krishna—who has been accorded a position of god—can be dragged down to the rank of an ordinary mortal and tried in a court of moral and social laws, citing evidences of his misogynist moves and gross political malpractices on one pretext or the other. The reading of the novel shall, therefore, incorporate feminism, new historicism, and deconstruction simultaneously, in the meantime offering a claim in favor of leela, a new perspective to look at the world as a play of illusions and functions of fleeting vantages that alter with the change of circumstances and points of view.

Central Department of English

Tribhuvan University