जन्माष्टमी Janmashtami thoughts

जन्माष्टमी Janmashtami thoughts

On this auspicious day, I have decided to write something I wanted to for a while.

About 800 years ago, the great composer Jayadeva, in his magnum opus, Gita Govinda, described how mesmerized Radha was at the sight of the deep colored (neela kalevara), handsome Krishna (meaning the dark one):

ध्यायति मुग्ध वधुरधिकं मधुसूदन वदन सरोजं

dhyayati mugdha vadhoo radhikam madhusoodana vadana sarojam

Fast forward to 1978. Poet Narendra Sharma writes Yashomati maiyya se pooche nandlaala, Radha kyon gori aur mein kyon kala?!! Notice how the aesthetics of the post-colonial Indian mind made a 180 degree flip. The color which gave Krishna his name; on whose beauty, great poetry was penned; one whose complexion was compared with the beauty of the dark clouds (shyam rang), suddenly, in the modern era, has a complex and feels inferior in front of Radha's fair skin (a physical attribute of Radha that was hitherto absent in India's collective imagination).

Our literature shows how the Indian sense of aesthetics has changed. Woman bleach their skins, and dark skinned people are not considered beautiful (to put it mildly), and where 'fair & lovely' is sold and bought as though that were a natural ladder to ascend. Like many of us, a great poet like Narendra Sharma too was a victim of his time. Even Gulzar somewhere had fallen victim in his debut song when he wrote mora gora ang laile, mohe shyam rang daide. 

On this day, let us undo this perverted sense of beauty and celebrate the birthday of the handsome dark one: Krishna, one who most beautifully personifies the divine and whose union we all seek through the image of Radha!

Originally written on Janmashtami day, August 14, 2017