A highly improbable story from Bhaktiratnakar.

[Jagannāth Miśra Dās]

HareKrishna. A common characteristic of Sanskrit literary works, both in prose and verse, is the use of phrases and words with double meanings, and the language has quite an unequalled capability for punning in an extensive measure. Rupa and Sanatana Goswami both make liberal use of many puns and harness them artfully in order to weave the mythology/theology of Krsna into their works. Another feature of Rupa and Sanatana’s poetry, and all Sanskrit poetry, is the invariable repetition of stock comparisons; the lady’s face is the moon, her eyes lotuses, to mention only two of the more frequent. Another example is the walk of a young woman, which is sometimes compared with that of an elephant; and even the western reader, if he has seen the grace and majesty of the elephants slow gait, might admit that the comparison is by no means derogatory to the lady. But I confess that it is difficult to use such a comparison in English verse without the result seeming comic or worse. The extreme delicacy and grace of an elephants movements impress Indians far more than its bulk. hamsa-gamini, “walking like a swan” is an epithet for a graceful woman; and her braided hair is often compared to a black cobra. Literally dozens of examples are found of the ladies braid being compared to the cobra; the hair on her head being the cobras hood, and the red line in the parting of her hair being the snakes tongue. Reading through Narahari Cakravartti’s Bhaktiratnakar we come across the well know story of Sanatana Goswami feeling disturbed upon reading a verse by Rupa wherein he employs this frequently used stock comparison; and compares Radha’s braided hair to a cobra. Yet how could Sanatana, who knew Sanskrit and Persian, possibly have found this classical Sanskrit metaphor objectionable or inappropriate? Perhaps there is a story of some vaisnava, who found the metaphor somewhat troublesome and not befitting (maybe from a fear of snakes etc) but a seasoned poet of Sanatana Goswami’s calibre would not find this comparison disturbing, as the comparison of a ladies plated braid to a snake is a standard metaphor for Sanskrit poets. It’s kind of obvious; how could Sanatana be disturbed by something like that? Only someone who knows nothing about Sanskrit poetry would derive some entertaining value from a tale like this. Then as this story goes, Sanatana Gooswami didn’t just cast a negligent glance, but was intently gazing at some ladies bathing…..It’s easy to attribute stories like this to an exalted personality. The story of Bilvamangala Thakura and Cintamani, exactly the same story exists for Tulsi Das (who wrote ramacaritamansa) and for a south Indian saint called Tukarama. Maybe exactly the same thing did actually happen, by way of extraordinary coincidence, to these three saints. Maybe not. But this story of Sanatana is the most unlikely tale I’ve read so far in Bhaktiratnakar. Any Thoughts?