Śrī-Śrī-Gaura-Govinda-Līlāmṛta Guṭikā 19

Vrajadhāma: Śrī Rādhā’s Bath and Hiraṇyāṅgī’s Stories About Kṛṣṇa 

Śrī Rādhā and her sakhīs were happily watching the birds play in Yāvaṭa. Meanwhile, the dāsīs placed the articles for Śrīmatī’s bath on her bathing platform and have been waiting for her. After Śrī Rādhā sat on the bathing platform, Lalitā Sakhī lovingly removed her ornaments as though plucking flowers from a golden creeper. The sakhīs and mañjarīs felt great joy at seeing the astonishing beauty of her unadorned limbs. Then two washerman’s daughters named Mañjiṣṭhā and Raṅgavatī arrived with Śrī Rādhā’s bathing garment. Śrīmatī looked timidly in all directions and then put it on. It seemed as though the soft rays of a full moon had covered a statue of lightning. Then Śrīmatī sat on a soft seat and Rati Mañjarī removed her veil, untied her braid and moistened her curly locks with fragrant oil. She groomed her hair with a jeweled comb and then retied it. At Śrī Guru Mañjarī’s signal, the sādhaka-dāsī massaged Śrīmatī’s beautiful limbs with fragrant nārāyaṇa oil. Then she anointed her with a mixture of red powder, saffron, camphor, sandalwood paste and rosewater, as though sanctifying a statue of lightning. After massaging and anointing her, the sakhīs and mañjarīs began to bathe Śrī Rādhā. From a crystal pitcher they poured water scented with roses and other flowers on her head. That crystal pitcher appeared as blue from the luster of Śrī Rādhā’s hair, golden from the luster of her face and ruby-red from the luster of her lips. After Rādhā’s bath, the kiṅkarīs wiped the drops of water from her body with soft white towels. They appeared to be gently removing pearls from a steady streak of lightning using fragments of autumnal white clouds. One kiṅkarī began to carefully squeeze the water from Rādhā’s hair with a white towel. It seemed as though intense darkness veiled by moonlight white as a lotus fiber were shedding tears. Then, to remove the remaining water, Śrī Rādhā held the two ends of a towel and repeatedly struck bunches of her hair with it, scattering tiny drops into the air. After that, the sakhīs adorned her with a red undergarment and lovely blue dress. The deer of Kṛṣṇa’s eyes get willingly entangled in the beautiful net of that blue dress.

Then Śrī Rādhā sat on the dressing platform and a sakhī dried and scented her hair with the smoke from aguru incense. Sudevī arranged Śrīmatī’s hair with a jeweled comb, making a part in it like a Gaṅgā of sweetness, and then tied her braid like a snake to attract Kṛṣṇa’s mind. Lalitā attached an ornament made of cornflowers atop Śrīmatī’s head and a string of nine pearls in the part of her hair. Then with her left hand she slightly lifted Śrīmatī’s moonlike face and with her right painted a beautiful kāma-yantra on her brow. She first drew a circle of musk mixed with liquified aloeswood (aguru). Within that, she drew a delicate lotus with strokes of vermilion and within that, a dot of sandalwood paste mixed with camphor to create the beautiful tilaka. She then made collyrium paint with the glossy lampblack from a camphor lamp and applied it around Śrīmatī’s large eyes. It seemed as though dense darkness had enclosed a pair of lotuses beloved of Sūrya with the net of its own blackness! On Śrī Rādhā’s nose, lovelier than a sesame flower, Lalitā attached an amazing pearl nose-ring, like a seed from a creeper of beauty strung on a golden thread. After that, with Śrīmatī’s smiling face slightly bowed in shyness, Lalitā placed a drop of musk on the middle of her chin, like a baby bee on a golden lotus. Citra Devī painted beautiful leaves on Śrī Rādhā’s breasts with liquified camphor, aloeswood, sandalwood and vermilion. It seemed that by Kandarpa’s desire a charming pair of ruddy geese had risen from a lake of rasa adorned with moss. Indulekhā Sakhī placed jeweled bracelets on Śrīmatī’s arms that resembled full moons divided in two and tied with lotus fiber creepers. Then Campakalatā placed sapphire bangles on Śrī Rādhā’s wrists, nine-jeweled armlets on her lotus-stalk arms and jeweled rings on her leaflike fingers. Viśākhā placed a pearl-decorated crimson bodice on Śrīmatī’s bosom, along with a jeweled necklace and a throat ornament made of golden lattice. Tuṅgavidyā Sakhī then placed a lovely sash on Śrīmatī’s broad hips. It appeared as though Madanarāja had built a jeweled archway on the gateway to his home. Raṅgadevī placed jeweled anklets and toe-rings on Śrīmatī’s lotus feet and a sādhaka-dāsī then painted them with lac-dye. Rasa Mañjarī applied an ointment of camphor mixed with sandalwood paste to Śrīmatī’s beautiful limbs. Tulasī Mañjarī placed a garland of mādhavī flowers around Rādhā’s neck and a līlā-kamala(1) in her hand. Then Raṅgaṇamālā (Rūpa Mañjarī) placed a large jeweled mirror in front of her. When Śrīmatī saw the flawless beauty of her sweet form reflected in the mirror, she was amazed and began to consider, “My sweetheart floats in an ocean of bliss when he perceives only a particle of the luster of my unadorned body. When he sees this elegant, well-dressed and well-decorated beauty, his joy will be immeasurable. If he were to not enjoy this beauty, it would all be in vain.” In this way, Śrīmatī anxiously waited to see Kṛṣṇa. Then a sādhaka-dāsī placed the articles for ārati in Lalitā’s hands and she offered them to Śrī Rādhā.

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1. A lotus used as a plaything