The Divine Consort, Radha and the Goddesses of India

by John Stratton Hawley, Donna Marie Wulff (Editor)

Papers presented at a conference held June 1978 at Harvard University, sponsored by the Center for the Study of World Religions.

Genres: Hinduism, Religion, India

414 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1982

About the author

John Stratton Hawley is Professor of Religion at Barnard College, Columbia University.

Reviews

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Radha, as we all know, is an enigma. According to most ancient Puranic traditions, she didn’t exist. But later, especially since the composition of Jayadeva's "Geeta Govindam", Radha came to epitomise the Divine Feminine as per Vaishnava tradition. Ever since the rise of Chaitanya, Radha is recognised as the " Hladini Shakti" or the spontaneous and beatific flow of energy that signifies a devotee.
The book under review doesn’t seek to understand this evolution. For that purpose, Shashibhushan Dasgupta's work is indispensable. The book under review seeks to place the rise of Radha against the backdrop of Indian patriarchy and the psychological role of the Divine Feminine.
Most of the essays included in this book are solid and comprehensive in terms of their stated goals. Obviously, like almost every Western treatise dealing with Eastern concepts, they are obsessed with sex. But by describing some of the 'independent' aspects of the Supreme Goddess like Kali and Ganga, parallel to Radha, this book aims to establish Radha as someone independent of Krishna. That is problematic, since such supersession on part of Radha is a distinctly recent phenomenon, and comes nowhere close to the Devi Mahatmya and consequent tradition.
Also, the astrological aspect of Radha vis-a-vis Krishna, hasn’t been mentioned at all.
This is a good book and hence recommended. But it’s not comprehensive, like the Bengali book penned by Sri Dasgupta, I must state.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Divine Consort: Radha and the Goddesses of India edited by John Stratton Hawley and Donna Marie Wulf - the edition on my bookshelf is from Motilal (1995) – a 400-odd page hardback, with four colour plates (it was first published back in 1982, from Berkeley). The book is divided into two main sections. The first half of Divine Consort provides a multidimensional analysis of Radha, the consort (or mistress) of Krishna, ranging from early references to goddesses within Krishna-oriented religosity, Radha-Krishna as divine duality in Jayadeva’s Gita-govinda; examination of Radha in Puranic texts, plays; through to representations of Radha in modern Hindi poetry. These essays shed much light on Radha and her relationality to Krishna, showing for example, that she is much more than a subordinate consort (see in particular Donna Wulff’s essay on Radha in relation to the 16th century plays of Rupa Gosvami and modern kirtan performances). C. Mackenzie Brown for example, examines the emerging theology of Radha in the Puranas, noting the influences of both Samkhya and Sakta theology, whilst Shrivatsa Goswami reflects on views of Radha from the perspective of the Caitanya Sampradaya and the aesthetic play of Rasa.

The second section of the collection features essays on a diverse range of Indian Goddesses – some of which are said to be “consorts” – others, considered to be “independent”. Highlights (for me) are Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty’s considerations of the power-plays within Siva and Parvati’s marriage, Thomas Coburn’s introduction to the Devi-mahatmya, Diana Eck’s examination of the Ganga as river/goddess; Edward Dimock’s “A Theology of the Repulsive: The Myth of the Goddess Sitala” and Vasudha Narayanan’s introduction to the goddess Sri. There are also contributions from well-known scholars such as David Kinsley (Kali) A. K Ramujan (women saints) and Frederique Marglin (“Types of Sexual Union and their Implicit Meanings”).

The Divine Consort is an excellent anthology of essays. If there’s one central theme here, its the emphasis on the goddesses in relation – to other deities or to devotees – and its expression through the love-play of the goddess’ power. Something I’ve occasionally found in pagan or occult texts which mention Indian deities is that whilst there’s a strong focus on Siva or Kali, and much writing on either the (supposedly) “antinomian/transgressive” elements of Saivite tantra or goddess-focused Sakta tantra, the Vaisnava-Krishna-Radha oriented material, by contrast does not seem to be so “popular”. I do find this rather strange, as its in the Vaisnava or Krishna texts, poems and plays that one can find some of the most extensive theological expressions and considerations of the power of love, longing and erotic mutuality and union. For an introductory glimpse into the rich love-play of Radha, as well as a wealth of fascinating essays on the diverse aspects of goddess traditions and praxis in India, The Divine Consort is a good place to start. There’s a new version of this book out now, titled Devi: Goddesses of India (Univ. California Press, 1996) – however, only two of the essays from the edition I’ve reviewed here – the contributions of Diana Eck and the late David Kinsley are unchanged. Thomas Coburn, Donna Wulff and Vasudha Narayanan’s essays have been re-written, and there are seven new essays. The focus of this new edition has shifted somewhat too – whereas the contributors to The Divine Consort are mostly working out of textual analysis, this new edition is more oriented towards ethnographic accounts of lived practice.

[Salvatore Familia]

The Bhoga Karika is a collection of Sanskrit verses by the renowned Saivite teacher and writer Sadyojyoti of the eighty century A. D. This translation of the Bhoga karika also includes a short commentary by the similarly renowned Aghora Siva of the twelth century. In a lively and engaging manner the Bhoga Karika defends the Agamic Saivite theology epistemology and ontology of bhoga or mundane worldy experience against the attacks of rival schools notably the Naiyayikas Samkhyas carvakas and Buddhists.