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