Text 166

Sugandhi udvartana refers to a paste made of several perfumes and fragrant oils. This paste is massaged all over the body, and in this way the body’s dirt and perspiration are removed. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s body is automatically perfumed, but when Her body is massaged with the scented paste of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s affection, Her entire body is doubly perfumed and made brilliant and lustrous. This is the beginning of Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī’s description of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s transcendental body. This description (found in verses 165-181) is based on a book by Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī known as Premāmbhoja-maranda. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s translation of the original Sanskrit reads as follows:

“The love of the gopīs for Kṛṣṇa is full of transcendental ecstasy. It appears to be a brilliant jewel, and enlightened by such a transcendental jewel, Rādhārāṇī’s body is further perfumed and decorated with kuṅkuma. In the morning Her body is bathed in the nectar of compassion, in the afternoon in the nectar of youth, and in the evening in the nectar of luster itself. In this way the bathing is performed, and Her body becomes as brilliant as the cintāmaṇi jewel. She is dressed in various kinds of silken garments, one of which is Her natural shyness.

“Her beauty is more and more enhanced, being decorated with the red kuṅkuma of beauty itself and the blackish musk of conjugal love. Thus Her body is decorated with different colors. Her ornaments embody the natural symptoms of ecstasy — trembling, tears, jubilation, stunning, perspiration, faltering of the voice, bodily redness, madness and dullness. In this way Her entire body is bedecked with these nine different jewels. Over and above this, the beauty of Her body is enhanced by Her transcendental qualities, which constitute the flower garland hanging on Her body. The ecstasy of love for Kṛṣṇa is known as dhīrā and adhīrā, sober and restless. Such ecstasy constitutes the covering of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s body, and it is adorned by camphor. Her transcendental anger toward Kṛṣṇa is embodied as the arrangement of the hair on Her head, and the tilaka of Her great fortune shines on Her beautiful forehead. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s earrings are the holy names of Kṛṣṇa, as well as the hearing of His name and fame. Her lips are always reddish due to the betel nut of ecstatic affection for Kṛṣṇa. The black ointment around Her eyes is Her tricky behavior with Kṛṣṇa brought about by love. Her joking with Kṛṣṇa and gentle smiling constitute the camphor with which She is perfumed. She sleeps in Her room with the aroma of pride, and when She lies down in Her bed, the transcendental variety of Her loving ecstasies is like a jeweled locket in the midst of Her necklace of separation. Her transcendental breasts are covered by Her sari in the form of affection and anger toward Kṛṣṇa. She has a stringed instrument known as a kacchapī-vīṇā, which is the fame and fortune that actually dries up the faces and breasts of the other gopīs. She always keeps Her hands on the shoulder of Her gopī friend, who represents Her youthful beauty, and although She is highly qualified with so many spiritual assets, She is nonetheless affected by the Cupid known as Kṛṣṇa. Thus She is defeated. Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī offers his respectful obeisances to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, taking a straw in his mouth. Indeed, he prays, ‘O Gāndharvikā, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, just as Lord Kṛṣṇa never rejects a surrendered soul, please don’t reject me.’ ” This is a summary translation of the Premāmbhoja-maranda, which Kavirāja Gosvāmī quotes.