Chapter 2

5-A'Nd4s&r:{-

Contemporary Metaphor Theory and

Alternatiae Views of Krishna and Radha in
V aishnaaa S ahajiy a T antric Traditions
Gr.sN AlrxaNosR Havns

In this chapter I would like to consider how recent advances in the

study of metaphor can help us to appreciate alternative views of

Krishna among the Vaishnava Sahajiy6s of medieval Bengal, a Tantric

Yogic movement that flourished from the sixteenth through nineteenth
centuries CE.t Information gleaned from their wonderful if challenging esoteric texts can illustrate not only "alternative" views of Krishna
in a major vernacular literature, but also show how the use of modern
conceptual metaphor theories can help us to better understand the
imaginative worlds expressed by vernacular texts and traditions. Of
course, one may speculate just why Vaishnava Sahajiyds developed
"alternative Krishna traditions." What must they have found in the
classical stories of the Dark Lord and his consort Radha to have moved
them to create such alternative visions and ritual systems? Why did
they appropriate so much of the Caitanya movement and Gaudlya
Vaishnava rltgdnugabhakti sAdhana-causing so much controversy with
orthodox Vaishnavas?z We'll never know for sure, since most of the
hundreds of surviving Sahajiya manuscripts are concerned more directly with matters of ritual, gurus and students, visualization, and
subtle yogic physiology. But some, such as the Amrtaratnaaalt of
Mukunda-disa (ca. 1600 CE) and the Viaartn-aildsa of Akincana-dasa
(ca. 1650 CE) provide us with glimpses into this complex process of
appropriation and development of "alternative" traditions.

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