Moods of the ‘Madhusudana’ in Jayadeva’s ‘Gita Govinda’: a Theological Analysis

Jayadeva’s ‘Gita Govinda’, a text of great literary value in the Sanskritic corpus, is not without a very interesting theological dimension to it. Often overlooked, it is in this text that we find the human-like ‘God-man’ protagonist Krishna dependent on Radha, his romantic interest, for feeling what the poet says he feels. Through a close analysis of the moods of Krishna, as detailed by Jayadeva, after which the poetic sargas are oftentimes named, this paper tries to shed light on the concept of ‘avatar’ as can be seen from Jayadeva’s work and if his Krishna is indeed the ‘avatar’ of Vishnu, the ‘God’, as stated by the poet in his Vishnuite hymn earlier. Are not Jayadeva’s Krishna’s emotions contrary to the doctrine of impassibility, that ’God’ is often attributed to, by the Abrahamic ways of life? If so, who or what, then, is Krishna? This paper also sheds light on questions that might be of some interest to readers in the process of decoding the theological aspect of the text. Conclusively, it attempts to draw a parallel between Jayadeva’s depictions of his Krishna and Megasthenes’ Herakles, and point to how the godliness attributed to Krishna, the avatar of ‘God’ is but a figment of devout imagination and an add-on to the tales and folklores about the human Krishna, immortalising him in truth. Keywords: Jayadeva, Gita Govinda, Theology, Krishna, Radha, Edwin Arnold

贾代瓦（Jayadeva）的《吉塔·戈文达》（Gita Govinda）作为梵语典籍总集（Sanskritic corpus）中极具文学价值的文本，实则兼具极具趣味的神学面向。这一维度常被忽视，但正是在该文本中，我们得以窥见其拟人化的“神人”主角克里希纳（Krishna）需依赖恋人罗陀（Radha），方能体会诗人笔下的情感。
本文通过细致剖析贾代瓦所刻画的克里希纳心境——这些心境往往成为诗歌诗章（sarga）的命名依据——旨在阐释贾代瓦作品中所体现的“化身（avatar）”概念，并探讨其笔下的克里希纳是否如诗人早前在毗湿奴派（Vishnuite）颂歌中所述，确为“至高神”毗湿奴（Vishnu）的化身。
贾代瓦笔下克里希纳的情感，是否与亚伯拉罕诸宗教传统常赋予“至高神”的“无情感性”教义相悖？若果真如此，那么克里希纳究竟为何？本文在解码该文本神学维度的过程中，亦探讨了若干可能引发读者兴趣的相关问题。
最后，本文尝试将贾代瓦对克里希纳的刻画，与麦加斯梯尼（Megasthenes）笔下的赫拉克勒斯（Herakles）进行类比，并指出：赋予“至高神”化身克里希纳的神性，不过是虔诚信仰催生的想象虚构，是附着于凡人克里希纳的传说与民间叙事之上的附加设定，实则借此赋予其不朽之名。
关键词：贾代瓦（Jayadeva），《吉塔·戈文达》（Gita Govinda），神学，克里希纳（Krishna），罗陀（Radha），埃德温·阿诺德（Edwin Arnold）