“Udayji, you have written in many articles that Krishna was a historical character. What about Radha? Was she also a historical character?” a question from Mahesh Singh.
The question was genuine. Krishna’s name is always paired with Radha (Radharani). You can see most of the new generation Krishna temple with Radha. A large section of Vaishnavites (who considers Vishnu as the Supreme Lord) worship Radha. And is some Vaishanava traditions, Radha has even a greater significance than Krishna himself.
Though we have 33 crore (330 million) Gods in Hinduism, most popular Gods worshipped are Rama, Krishna, Vishnu, Shiv, Hanuman, Ganesha, Muruga, Durga, Ayyappa etc. Among them, some are historical character while many others are concepts or imaginary characters.
For instance, Rama, Krishna, Ayyappa etc are historical characters whereas Vishnu, Shiva, Ganaesh, Durga etc are concepts of god.
“Now, why do you worship Rama and Krishna?” I asked.
“Udayji, quoting from your articles, we are worshipping them because they have elevated to the status of Avatar of the Cosmos (Vishnu) by their deeds,” Mahesh said.
“Right. We worship the idealism behind them. Ram is worshiped because he was considered “Maryada purshottam”. Krishna is worshiped because he is said to have mastered all “16 kalas” (kala = divine arts or attributes ) and hence was the Poorna (complete) Avatar.”
“Okay”
“Radha is a divine symbolism of extreme love devotion and complete surrender. She represents the pure love and devotion that humans possess. So isn’t she worthy of worship?”
“Yes, she is definitely worth worship. But that doesn’t answer my question. Was she a historical character?”
“My first answer would be NO. But then, probably I would add, probably.”
“What do you mean by that? Why would you say NO?”
“There are three contemporary literature related to Krishna. All three of these were written at about the same time and cover the life and work of Krishna. They are Shrimad Bhagvatam, Mahabharata and Harivansham. The character Radha is NOT mentioned any of these scriptures.”
“ … From my book: “The Secret of Krishna’s Birth: Deciphering The Krishna Code”
For further reading: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B091YP2GWS
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Udaylal Pai
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