Chapter XLVIII

2. 'A wife,'--the original signifies 'woman' or 'wife.' In any case, the reader will observe (Nos. LXXX, LXXXVI and CXVII) that Vidyāpati writes of Rādhā as a _svakīya_ heroine, whereas a majority of Vaishnava writers further emphasize the conflict between Love and Duty by making her _parakīya_, the wife of another. But as Rādhā's was at best a Gāndharva marriage (according to Vidyāpati's indications), ratified at first only by mutual consent (as in the case of Shakuntalā), and willingly accepted by the family, we should perhaps call her _anūdha_ (unmarried) rather than _svakīya_ (_Vāgbhaṭālaṅkāra_, V, 12,13). It is the yielding before or without marriage which Rādhā often speaks of as her shame and sin, and for which she is blamed by her family. None the less, much of what is here related is quite true to everyday Indian life, where courtship normally follows marriage, and public flirtation is always considered disgraceful.

ABHISĀRA

(Rādhā's) Going-forth (to visit Krishna)

The Abhisārikā heroine is one who goes from her home to visit her belovèd, careless of danger or shame. The Abhisārikā is a favourite subject of Pahari painters (see Coomaraswamy, '_Journal of Indian Art_, October, 1914). An English example in John Davidson's 'A Ballad of a Nun.'