Mathura. Uddhava reassures them that
Krishna is the indwelling God and is
omnipresent. For the gopis, this abstract
concept is a poor substitute for the
sweet boy they know so well. Their
attention remains focused on the
charming child of Braj, who never grows
up, never grows old, and who invites his
devotees to share his world.
The worship of Krishna emphasizes
relationship and communion, both
with the deity and one another. In the
most elaborate forms of worship,
Krishna’s devotees envision themselves
as entering Krishna’s world and spend-
ing the day doing the ordinary activities
of a village cowhand, such as getting up,
eating, taking the cows to pasture,
and bringing home the cows. Some
devotional manuals give detailed daily
calendars, for which the devotees
can visualize themselves going to par-
ticular places and doing particular
things at certain times—building a rela-
tionship with God through sharing the
mundane parts of everyday life.
Another common practice is communal
singing, usually collections of the divine
names known as kirtans, as a way to
build relationships and communion
among the devotees.
Another feature of Krishna’s charac-
ter and worship is the notion of lila or
“play.” As David R. Kinsley points out,
the infant Krishna dispatches the demon
assassins as a form of play, and they
never pose any serious threat. His rela-
tionship with the people of Braj is also a
sort of play. He comes as the divine pres-
ence in their midst, but keeps them
completely unaware of this, occasional-
ly hinting at it through his wondrous
deeds, but unwilling to ruin their natur-
al interactions with him by revealing
their difference in status. In the same
way, he is believed to be active in the
lives of his devotees, always present, but
dropping only teasing hints of his pres-
ence. Finally, lila is the name for a series
of dramas performed during the mon-
soon seasonin the town of Brindavan.
These productions, known as the ras lila,
are not mere drama but combine both
liturgy and drama. Krishna and his com-
panions are played by local brahmin
boys. While in costume, the boys are
believed to have become the characters
they portray. Part of the program is wor-
ship. The players, known as svarups
(“own-forms”), gather on stage to give
darshan to the audience. The most
common religious act in modern popu-
lar Hinduism, darshan allows direct eye
contact between the devotee and the
image of a deity, which is considered to
be a conscious, perceiving being. The
second part of the program is the lila, a
rendition of some episode in Krishna’s
mythology. The audience participates
by virtue of its presence, making
Krishna’s lila part of present-day experi-
ence by performing or attending these
productions. Given his stature as a
Hindu deity, there are many works on
Krishna. For further information see
Milton Singer (ed.), Krishna, 1966; David
R. Kinsley, The Sword and the Flute,
1975; Barbara Stoller Miller, The Love
Song of the Dark Lord,1977; and John
Stratton Hawley, Krishna: The Butter
Thief, 1983. See also Vaishnavism.Krishnadas
(early 16th c.) One of the ashtachap, a
group of eight northern Indian bhakti
(devotional) poets. The compositions
of these eight poets were used for
liturgical purposes by the Pushti
Marg, a religious community of devo-
tees (bhakta) of Krishna. In the
Pushti Marg’s sectarian literature, all
eight are also named as members of
the community and as associates of
either the community’s founder,
Vallabhacharya, or his successor
Vitthalnath. Traditionally, Krishnadas
is associated with Vallabhacharya. Little
is known about Krishnadas, although
traditional accounts hold that he was
born in 1497. His poetry describes the
physical beauty of Krishna as an object
of aesthetic enjoyment. Within the
Pushti Marg, he is remembered as a
capable administrator and a defender of
the sect’s interests in Brindavan,Krishnadas