Verses 86-99 Necklaces that decorate Radha
Decorating Radha's hands
Necklaces that decorate Radha
Verse 86
Padma-lochana (lotus eyed) Radha's neck is contoured like a conchshell. And Krishna's hand
is marked with a symbol of a conchshell. Anticipating that Krishna might grab
Radha's neck (because its beauty defeats his hand symbol), Vishakha covers it
with a special ornament that resembles a row of golden leaves inset with gems.
Verse 87
At the base of Radhika's neck, Vishakha places a golden swan locket having a
chain of diamonds and blue sapphires that offset Srimati's beautiful face.
Verse 88
Vishakha places Sri Radhika devi's renowned pearl necklace named gostana (looking
like the teats of a cow) over her chest. And patterned with the pearls are
blue sapphires having a gold bead on either side.
Verse 89
Next Vishakha places another necklace over Srimati's heart made from
beads of sapphire, moon stone, pearls, coral, gold and padmaraga.
Verse 90
She takes the necklace named Guccha and places it around Rai Kishori's neck.
This dazzling ornament is made from pearls with vaidurya mani and
alternative golden beads molded in the shape of amalaki fruits.
Verse 91
Once during Rasa lila, Rai binodini's spectacular dancing completely
overwhelmed Krishna! Thus he took off his own gunja-mala and placed it around
her neck (to honor her as Raseshwari). This reputed mala, (celebrated as
Raja-Lakshmi herself), is placed by Vishakha around Srimati's neck.
Verse 92
Next Vishakha decorates the sky of Radhika's chest with the shining pearl
necklace called 'ekabali.' The pearls resemble a galaxy of stars joined
with a huge pearl in the center that looks like the full moon.
Verse 93
At last Vishakha adorns Rai-mani's chest with a golden swan locket enlaid
with diamonds and padmaraga gem stones. This decorative piece has a large
blue sapphire in the center and hangs from a golden chain.
Rasa-tarangini Tika:
A locket is called a padak. In Krishna-bhavanamrita, this particular padaka is
called the Dhruva-padaka. Because Krishna occasionally appears in Dhruva-loka,
it is called Hari-dhama (the residence of Hari). Similarly, owing to its
mirror-like surface, Krishna's reflection often appears within this
Dhruva-padak.
Verse 94
All of these necklaces are tied in the back with silken tassles placed one over
the other. The colorful tassles look so beautiful, as though the Creator built
a stairway from her nitamba-parvat extending up her snake-veni to her head.
Decorating
Radha's hands
Verse 97
Lalita next decorates Radha's wrists with golden bangles inset with pearls. Now
it appears that the sun, the moon and Rahu have all merged together.
Verse 98
From the center, numerous silken tassles attractively dangle; they are tied to
an array of glittering jewels and a golden madhulika.
Rasa-tarangini Tika:
Here the sun is compared with Radha's golden bangles, their inlaid pearls are like
many moons, and the indra-nilamani bracelets represents Rahu. A madhulika (or
maduli) is a small canister-shaped amulet inside where sacred articles are placed.
Mother Yashoda also ties a maduli around Krishna's arm that carries the
Nrisingha mantra to protect him.
Krishna-bhavanamrita tells that the black tassles dangling from Radha's bangles
are named pahuchi. They resemble the net of bird hunter. This interesting net
is bound to Radha's golden creeper-like wrist by the hunter named Madan (Cupid)
who is eager to capture the chakora bird of Krishna's mind.
(Krishna-bhavanamrita 4.85)
Verse 99
Radharani wears a fine golden chain on the back side of her hand that is
fastened to her rings and the bangles on her wrists. In the center, her own
name Radha is inscribed. This ornament is called vipaksha-mada-mardini because
its elegance destroys the pride of all Radhika's beautifully dressed rivals
like Chandravali and others.
Rasa-tarangini Tika:
In Krishna-bhavanamrita, some details about Radhika's rings are mentioned:
Radha wears rings on every finger except the middle, index, and thumb of her
right hand.
Her fingernail moons take shelter of her lotus hand. If someone should ask,
"The moon is the lotus flower's enemy, so why does it take shelter of it?" The
answer is that Radha's lotus hand awards auspiciousness. Therefore, the
greatness of these two lotuses and their superior strength cause these moons to
fearfully surrender. When the stars, Radhika's rings, see the behavior of their
husbands, Radhika's fingernail moons, they take the lotus petals', Radhika's
fingers', shelter also. (Krishna-bhavanamrita 4.86)