religious or political. Golwalkar is a piv-
otal figure in RSShistory. He took office
in 1940 upon the death of its founder,
Dr. K. B. Hedgewar, and guided it
through the tumultuous years sur-
rounding India’s independence. After
Mohandas Gandhi’sassassination by
the Hindu nationalist Nathuram Godse
in 1948, the RSSand several other organi-
zations were briefly banned. Despite ini-
tial suspicions, the RSShas never been
implicated in Gandhi’s death. During
the ban the RSScontinued to function
underground, and many of its leaders
became more politically active, a trend
that Golwalkar had earlier discouraged.
When the ban was rescinded in 1949,
the RSSbegan to exercise greater influ-
ence by forming and sponsoring affiliated
organizations, such as trade unions, stu-
dent organizations, charitable institu-
tions, and political parties. This trend
continued throughout the rest of
Golwalkar’s tenure, although he was far
less activist than his successor,
Balasaheb Deoras. For further informa-
tion see Walter K. Andersen and
Shridhar D. Damle, The Brotherhood in
Saffron, 1987; and Tapan Basu et al.,
Khaki Shorts and Saffron Flags, 1993.
Gond
Tribal (adivasi) community in central
India. The Gonds are concentrated in
the state of Madhya Pradesh, particu-
larly in the hills on both sides of the
Vindhya Mountains, in the Kaimur
Range at the eastern border of Madhya
Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, and in the
RamgarhHills on the border of Madhya
Pradesh, Orissa, and Bihar. Like most
tribal peoples, they tend to be quite
poor and eke out a living from subsis-
tence agriculture.
Gopala
(“protector of cows”) Epithet of the god
Krishna, reflecting his childhood occu-
pation as a cowherd. See Krishna.
Gopi
(feminine of gopa, “cow-keeper”) In
Hindu mythology, the gopis are the cow-
keeping women who are the god
Krishna’s companions in Braj, the
region south of Delhi in which Krishna is
believed to have spent his early life. The
gopis are the simple village women of
Braj, who keep the village cows, churn
the milk into butter for sale, and provide
Krishna with an adoring and familiar
presence as he grows up. They exclaim
over his beauty as an infant and they
endure his boyhood pranks—particu-
larly his continual theft of their hard-
earned butter. When he becomes an
enchanting adolescent, they respond
to the nightly call of his flute to join
him in the circular dance(ras lila) on
the shores of the river Yamuna.
Although the gopis are completely
devoted to Krishna and love him above
all else, their relations with him are
also devoid of any affectation or awe.
The gopis are simple country women,
and they treat Krishna as one of their
own. For example, they feel no qualms
about scolding him when he has stolen
their butter. Their intimate but unaffected
relationship with Krishna makes them
paradigms for the ideal devotee (bhakta).
For his part, Krishna is said to prefer this
sort of natural and spontaneous rela-
tionship to any sort of calculated wor-
ship. Krishna loves Braj more than any
other place on earthbecause the people
there treat him as one of their own.Gopichand
Princely protagonist of The Song of
Gopichand, an allegorical adventure
that is much beloved throughout
northern India and has even spread to
Bengal where it is called The Song of
Manik Chandra. The story tells of the
trials of Gopichand, who loses his king-
dom through the vicissitudes of fate
but eventually regains it after numer-
ous trials and setbacks. Aside from the
song’s story, it is also embedded with
the ideas of the Nathpanthis, an ascetic
community supposedly founded byGopichand