One of the most famous images associated with Krishna is that of the ra ̄sa-
lı ̄la ̄, the “circle dance,” where Krishna, surrounded by the circle of cowher-
desses, or gopı ̄s, in the forest, not only dances with all of them, including Radha,
but also multiplies himself many times over so that he can take each one of them
into his intimate embrace. Some contemporary textual sources link Ka ̄rtik with
thera ̄sa-lı ̄la ̄episode, citing in particular the night of S ́arat Pu ̄rn.ima ̄, the full
moon night with which the month begins, as the night that the ra ̄sa-lı ̄la ̄took
place in ancient times, or locating it during the last day or days of the month
(e.g., Underhill 1921: 83; Mukherjee 1989: 210ff; Raghavan 1979: 172).
The Devı ̄-Bha ̄gavata Pura ̄n.a maintains that the Ganges herself first appeared
in the ra ̄sa-man.d.ala(the dance circle) on the last night of Ka ̄rtik, the night
of Ka ̄rtik Pu ̄rn.ima ̄ (full-moon), and remains in the ra ̄sacircle on that night
(851; 854–5). Popular traditions in Benares, however, tend to associate
the entire month of Ka ̄rtik with the ra ̄sa ̄-lı ̄la ̄episode.
Participants in Ka ̄rtik pu ̄ja ̄, the pu ̄ja ̄that Hindu women perform on the banks
of the Ganges River throughout the month, consider it to be a version of the
ra ̄sa-lı ̄la ̄transfigured into a form appropriate for human women and enacted
each year in celebration of the earthly ra ̄sa-lı ̄la ̄of ancient times. The songs sung
during the pu ̄ja ̄tend to invoke the term sakhı ̄or “female friend,” a term used to
refer to the gopı ̄companions who accompany and serve Radha and Krishna in
their love play, and in the pu ̄ja ̄circles women refer to themselves and each other
with the same term. In interviews, several informants compared their role in the
pu ̄ja ̄to that of the sakhı ̄sand described themselves as repeating or imitating the
sakhı ̄s’ devotions to Krishna.^9 As one informant explained it,
Krishna-jı ̄ did ra ̄swith the sakhı ̄s, and that is why all we sakhı ̄s get together and make
Bhagava ̄ n and put Him in the middle....Whatever they did in the past, we are
doing the same thing in the pu ̄ja ̄.Without sakhı ̄s, thispu ̄ja ̄cannot be done....In
reality, we cannot get Lord Krishna himself, so we do this. It is the very same thing
(asra ̄s-lı ̄la ̄).Bhagava ̄ n is in the middle of us, and we are doing ra ̄sall around him.
We say that we are Krishna’s sakhı ̄sand that we are doing ra ̄s, we are doing his lı ̄la ̄.This informant draws a clear link between the pu ̄ja ̄ and the circle dance
episode. It was not uncommon, however, for informants to use the term “ra ̄sa-
lı ̄la ̄”to refer not only the specific episode of the ra ̄sa-lı ̄la ̄, but also to Krishna’s
entirelı ̄la ̄, his entire playful life on earth, and they understand their role in the
pu ̄ja ̄as related to this more expansive sense of the term as well.^10 Several infor-
mants likened their role in the pu ̄ja ̄to that of the gopı ̄s who cared for and played
with Krishna throughout his many years in Vrindavan. Within Ka ̄rtik pu ̄ja ̄, this
role takes on a progressive character and concludes in the arrangement and cel-
ebration of Krishna’s wedding to Tulsi. Hence while the understanding ofra ̄sa-
lı ̄la ̄as the circle dance that facilitates the love-play between Krishna and Radha
in the forests of Vrindavan remains, it is here supplemented by a vision of the
ra ̄sa-lı ̄la ̄as the nurturing of Krishna from childhood to adulthood, a nurturing
that culminates in the fulfillment of parental responsibility through the arrange-
ment and execution of his marriage to a socially acceptable wife.
the month of ka ̄rtik and women’s ritual devotions 333