The First Song: The Ten Avatāras

by Heidi Pauwels

Late seventeenth-century Oriya palm leaf manuscript of Gītagovinda portraying avatāras 4 through 7 (Bonhams auction 29318 lot 123) https://www.bonhams.com/auction/29318/lot/123/a-palm-leaf-manuscript-of-the-gita-govinda-with-27-illustrations-orissa-late-17th-century/

 Introduction

The very first song functions as an auspicious beginning (maṅgalācaraṇa) of our volume. It also is the biggest hit of the work, ever popular for recitation in personal and temple worship given its refrain’s devotional attitude towards Keśava as Jagadiśa ‘Lord of the World’. Naturally, this song is immediately associated with the similarly named Jagannātha temple in Odisha, but there are multiple devotional and classical stage performances available on the internet in different settings. The sung recital linked here is a traditional Carnatic one in Rāga Mallikā by the famous South Indian singer and movie star M.S. Subbulakshmi (https://youtu.be/xwAcV9D3ajs last accessed May 24, 2026). Notable in this rendition is the singer’s loving repetition of ‘Keśava’, the name of God from the refrain. By inserting it after the first half of the first line in each stanza, Subbulakshmi follows longstanding performative tradition, as this practice was already noted by king Kumbha in his fifteenth-century commentary. The effect is to suffuse the song with devotional sentiment. To balance the classical with the popular, the second link is with a dance performance from the 1961 Telugu devotional movie Bhaktha Jayadeva directed by P.V. Rama Rao, with music composed by Saluri Rajeshwara Rao (https://indiancine.ma/JUX/player/00:25:00 last accessed May 31, 2026). Notably the tension between mundane and divine love crucial for Gītagovinda is dramatized here in Jayadeva’s diegetic performance of this devotional song with Padmāvatī’s ‘spontaneous’ enactment of it (the actress Anjali Devi in choreography by Vempati, Pasumarthi, and Gopikrishna). The dance results in Padmāvatī falling at Jayadeva’s feet, suggesting worship of the poet, rather than of the deity, worldly love, rather than bhakti. The scandal caused by her dancing for him however is properly resolved right after in the next scene with her father arranging their nuptials. This constitutes a happy wedded (svakīyā) ending of the episode, conforming to Indian cinematic norms. Love secular and sacred can be married after all.

This first song of Gītagovinda celebrates Vishnu’s ten avatāras, when he came down (ava-tr̥̄) to earth to save his devotees. While Jayadeva’s has become the classical set, there are others, as well as different characterizations of the avatāras. Several of the stories are attested (though not necessarily linked with Vishnu) as early as in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, such as that of Matsya, the fish (1), who saved legendary Manu from the flood, of Varāha, the boar (3), who saved the Earth from submergence, and of Vāmana, the dwarf (5), who tricked the demons into giving him land as much as he could cover in three steps (a feat possibly already alluded to in the Rigveda). The epics mention Kūrma, the tortoise (2), on whose back Mount Mandara rested as a churning stick during the Samudra-manthana, when gods and demons churned the milk ocean, as well as Narasimha, the man-lion (4), who saved the devotee Prahlāda from his father’s, Hiraṇyakaśipu’s wrath. The Rāmāyaṇa tells elaborately the classical tale of Rāma’s adventures (7) and defeat of the demon Rāvaṇa. Paraśurāma with the axe (6), infamous for his multiple attempts to extinguish the warrior class (kṣatriyas), appears in the Mahābhārata, as do Krishna and his brother Balarāma (8) who slay their usurper-uncle Kamsa. The Viṣṇu Puraṇa has the classical versions of most of these earlier stories, and also includes Vishnu’s avatāra as Buddha (9), the magic deluder of demons, and as Kalki (10), the final savior of the Kali Age.

With one stanza for each of Vishnu’s ten avatāras and a final signature line added, this song has 11 stanzas, the only one in Gītagovinda that is not strictly speaking an aṣṭapadī. Uniquely, it does not have an unchanging refrain (dhruvapada). Rather it works with a fixed pattern in the refrain, to express that Keśava undertook to descend in different forms, into which each time the name of the specific avatāra described is inserted. If the name in question counts for 3 mātrās, it is attached to the word śarīra ‘body’, but if it counts for 4, the latter word is shortened to rūpa ‘form’. The insistent repetition of dhṛta-X- śarīra/rūpa ‘assuming X body/form’ reinforces the performative aspect of the avatāras, as if Keśava is acting out his līlā as theatrical play.

Lyrics, Transliteration, and Translation

(slightly modified for conformity with the edition, but gratefully acknowledging the Devanāgarī https://sites.google.com/site/homage2mssubbulakshmi/home/jayadeva-geetha-govindham-by-ms, last accessed on May 24, 2026, and transliteration on the 2012–13 Blogpost by Mohan: https://gitagovinda.wordpress.com/, last accessed on May 20, 2026.)

Analysis

At the surface level, this song may seem to be a straightforward enumeration of the ten avatāras, an impression reinforced by the euphony of the verbal utterance, which works like a litany. Besides the refrain, there are recognizable patterns in the stanzas of this song that set up audience expectations. One such is the common feature that matches the address to the deity invoked in the refrain, with second person singular verbs, ‘O Keśava, you are…’, starting with the copula in the first stanza (asi). Notably all are in the present tense, stressing the eternal mythic occurrence of Vishnu’s līlā. Frequently these finite verbs occur in first position of the line (stanzas 5-9), making it easy to spot the verb. The fun though lies in the variations on a theme: there are many twists and turns to keep the audience alert to deeper meaning. Throughout the master-poet plays with expectations, deliberately refusing to deliver what the listener anticipates. This is done purposefully in order to draw attention to the intrusion of the unexpected: the deity always surprises.

The fireworks of sound (śabdālaṅkāra) in this song are truly impressive, with besides the end-rhyme (antyānuprāsa), frequent cases of alliteration (anuprāsa) as well as internal rhyme, often combined. This is not just empty window-dressing but serves often to draw attention to deeper connections. Thus, stanza 1 has veda…vihita-vahitra-caritram, where alliteration turns into internal rhyme, the latter underlining the performative character of the Fish avatāra, ‘acting like a boat’. Jayadeva also shows off his tongue-twisting skills in stanza 2 with the false doubling (semi-yamaka) of dharaṇi-dharaṇa: ‘bearing the bearer-earth’, accumulating two etymologically related words to highlight the meta-task of Keśava as upholding the Earth, which in turns upholds it all. This is combined with double-entendre (śleṣa) of gariṣṭhe, which can mean ‘most dense’ but also metaphorically ‘most venerable’ (as it is the superlative of guru). Enduring effort to save humanity is what makes the deity venerable.

Jayadeva does not neglect the figures of speech related to  meaning (arthālaṅkāra), frequently using comparisons (upamā), signaled by the comparative marker iva ‘like’. An example is the ingenious visual comparison of the earth perched on the boar’s shining tusk with the shadow of the moon sickle (śaśini kalaṅka-kalā) in stanza 3. By contrast in stanza 4, regarding the man-lion incarnation, the poet uses metonymy (rūpaka) equating a yellow-jacket with the demon slain, playing on the literal meaning of the name Hiraṇya-kaśipu ‘the golden-garbed one’. In case the listener were to miss this puzzling association, the refrain fills it in by using the unusual nara-hari instead of the expected nara-simha (man-lion). This draws attention to the incarnation, reminding the Sanskrit connoisseur (rasika) of this more unusual meaning of hari, namely ‘lion’, and simultaneously evoking another less common meaning ‘yellow-green’, a reminder to read color imagery in the stanza.

All of this is designed to evoke amazement at the unpredictability of the divine play. Jayadeva has after all worked into stanza 4 the name of the rasa, namely adbhuta, or ‘wonder’. He does so to describe the transformation into claws of Keśava’s lotus-hands, itself a hackneyed case of rūpaka. Indeed, the stanza invites reflection on how the seemingly banal can be transformed into an instrument of divine revenge. An extra element is the irony in the transformation of the lotus into the aggressor, crushing the bee who is usually seen as the wanton perpetrator. Such also constitutes another trope, that of apparent contradiction (virodhābhāsa). Amazement is prolonged with the repetition of adbhuta in the next stanza, stanza 5, driving home the point that appearances deceive, as in this case the Vāmana avatāra tricking Bali with an apparently easy to grant request of land that can be measured in three steps. This stanza also has the near-yamaka of janita-jana, to stress the benefit this avatāra produces (janita) for mankind (jana), namely sacred water for its purification. That same goal of ritual cleansing comes up again in stanza 6 in another near-yamaka of snapayasi payasi, ‘you cleanse with water’, but here the water contains the blood of the kṣatriyas slain by Paraśurāma, whose ancestry is stressed in the epithet of the refrain, Bhrigupati. Stanza 7 also has a repetition, namely of dikṣu in dik-pati, reinforcing the completeness ‘in all 10 directions’ of Rāma’s sacrifice of the ten-headed demon. In addition, the poet adds a double-entendre or śleṣa in mauli, which can mean ‘crown’ as well as ‘head’, surely both are intended here, the former to go with the word just before it in compound, mukha, to render ‘crowned head’ the latter with bali ‘sacrifice of the head’. This reflects on the instability of kingship: a crowned head invites beheading.

The real twist comes in stanza 8. In the first place it belies the Vaishnava’s expectation to hear about the Krishna avatāra. Given that Krishna as Keśava is the avatārin, or ‘the origin of all the other descents’, instead Krishna’s brother Balarāma is featured. On the level of word play too there are some unexpected turns: in this line, the word repeated as a yamaka is the last part of the compound that constitutes the rhyme, ābham, which fittingly means ‘reflection’ as well as ‘shade’, and –at the end of a compound– ‘resembling’. In each case, it qualifies objects that conventionally evoke Krishna’s dark skin tone, in the first line jalada or water-giver, that is, ‘cloud’, and in the second, the Yamunā river. They also denote romantic settings closely associated with Krishna, respectively in time, the monsoon season, and space, the locale of trysts. To that extent, the Vaishnava expectations of hearing about the Krishna avatāra are fulfilled. Still, there is a twist because in the case of Balarāma, it is not his skin tone, explicitly specified to be ‘fair’, but his garb that is cloud-like, and he is associated less romantically with the Yamunā by forcing the river to change course to lessen his thirst after a hangover.

Stanza 9 features the Buddha, who is viewed often as a trickster, leading the unworthy astray, away from Vedic orthodoxy. Yet Jayadeva’s verse seems provocative in decrying (ahaha) blood sacrifice even if Vedic in the context of the rules of the ritual. Jayadeva emphatically characterizes the Buddha’s denunciation of it as compassionate, ‘tender-hearted’, again with internal rhyme to draw attention to the compound sadaya-hṛdaya. Some commentators have tried to read the verse in irenic fashion, but in the light of Jayadeva’s repeated deliberate defiance of conventions, that interpretation seems far-fetched. Again, the poet keeps his audience on its toes. The last avatāra is Kalki, the horseman of the apocalypse, still to come. Stanza 10 immediately foregrounds the barbarian enemy here, starting the first line with mleccha. Yet the verse is not in the future tense, but a pertinent present tense. It is tempting to read in here the political situation with the threat in 1205 of Bakhtiyar Khalji on Jayadeva’s patron, King Lakṣmaṇa Sena. Is Jayadeva prophesying relief for the looming disaster in the form of the Kalki avatāra? Stanza 11’s happily alliterating and internally rhyming  sukhadam subhadam ‘providing joy and auspiciousness’ seems to promise that the soothing smoothness of Jayadeva’s own words spells a happy ending. Can words stave off physical threats?

While the brilliance of Jayadeva’s alaṅkāras in the individual verses is widely admired, it has not often been recognized that there is a subtle, nearly subconscious thread running through the whole poem, looping each verse back to the previous one by playing on shades of alternative meaning of words sometimes verbally repeated. Thus, the first word of stanza 2 is kṣiti, one of the meanings of which can be ‘the end of the world’. After stanza 1 on the disastrous pralaya, where the fish-avatāra saves the day, that is perhaps first what comes to the listener’s mind, only to realize quickly, that here, the more common meaning ‘Mother Earth’ is intended, as she finds support on the tortoise-avatāra’s back. Stanza 3 continues the theme of rescuing the earth, repeating the word dharaṇī from the second stanza, but this time it is the boar-avatāra’s turn to lift her on the tip of his tusk. The tip (śikhara) of stanza 3 is echoed in śṛṅgam in stanza 4, but here the intended meaning is ‘tip’ as ‘sharp point’, in context referring to the man-lion’s ‘claw’. The stanza explicitly expresses amazement (adbhuta), whether at the Lord’s miracles or Jayadeva’s poetic brilliance. This is picked up again with its reoccurrence in stanza 5, this time referring to the Vāmana-avatāra. The avatāra’s release of purifying waters is carried on in stanza 6, but here mixed with blood from Paraśurāma’s extinction of kṣatriyas. The theme of sacrificial bloodshed is continued in the blood sacrifice (bali) of all ten of Rāvana’s crowned heads by Rāma in stanza 7, incidentally also recalling the demon of that name, Bali, of stanza 5, an extended repetition (yamaka). The violence carries over even in stanza 8 with the third ‘Rāma’, Balarāma’s heavy-handedness with Yamunā. While briefly reversed in stanza 9 by the kind-hearted Buddha’s critique of the Vedic sacrifice’s harm of animals, slaughter reemerges in the arrival of mleccha hords in stanza 10, which provokes the ‘somewhat more’ (kim api) terrible sword of Kalki. Running through the Lord’s seemingly timeless and mythical engagement with humanity then runs an ever-present urgency of cataclysm and violent threats, a seemingly never-ending cycle of aggression that demands counter-aggression. And yet, the signature verse by Jayadeva is offered as the key to the secret of unstable earthly existence with the promise of a happy ending at last.

 Discussion Question

Which of Jayadeva’s avatāra descriptions surprised you most? Why? Do you think the poet did this on purpose? Why (not)?

Wordlist

v. 1

प्रलयः pralayaḥ 1 Destruction, annihilation, dissolution. -2 The destruction of the whole universe (at the end of a kalpa), universal destruction. -3 Any extensive destruction or devastation. -4 Death, dying, destruction;. -5 Swoon, fainting, loss of consciousness, syncope. -6 (In Rhet.) Loss of consciousness, considered as one of the 33 subordinate feelings. -7 The mystic syllable om. -8 Spiritual unification. -9 Sleepiness. -Comp. -पयोधिः the ocean at the dissolution of the world.

विनिहत vinihata p. p. 1 Struck down, wounded. -2 Killed. -3 Completely overcome. -तः 1 Any great or unavoidable calamity, such as that inflicted by fate or heaven. -2 A portent, comet

वहित्रम् vahitram, वहित्रकम् vahitrakam, वहिनी vahinī [वह्-इत्र Uṇ.4.181] 1 A raft, float, boat, vessel. -2 A square chariot with a pole.

चरित्रम् caritram [चर् इत्र] 1 Behaviour, habit, conduct, practice, acts, deeds. -2 Performance, observance. -3 History, life, biography, account, adventures. -4 Nature, disposition. -5 Duty, established or instituted observance. -6 A foot, leg. -7 Going.

v. 2

क्षितिः kṣitiḥ f. [क्षि निवासे आधारे क्तिन्] 1 The earth, soil of the earth. -2 A dwelling, an abode, a house. -3 Loss, destruction. -4 The end of the world.

विपुल vipula a. 1 Large, extensive, capacious, broad, wide, spacious. -2 Much, ample, copious, abundant. -3 Deep, profound. -4 With the hair standing on end, thrilling. -लः 1 N. of the mountain Meru. -2 Of Himālaya. -3 A respectable man

किणः kiṇaḥ 1 A corn, callosity, a scar. -2 A wart, a mole. -3 An insect found in wood.

गरिष्ठ gariṣṭha a. 1 Heaviest. -2 Most important; (superl. of गुरु a. q. v.).

v. 3

शशिन् śaśin m. [शशोऽस्त्यस्य इनि] 1 The moon. -2 Camphor. -3 N. of the number 'one'

[शशः śaśaḥ 1 A hare, rabbit. -2 The spots on the moon (which are popularly considered to resemble the form of a hare). -3 One of the four classes into which men are divided by erotic writers; thus defined. -4 The Lodhra tree. -5 Gum-myrrh. -6 An antelope.]

कला kalā [कल्-कच्] A small part of anything; a sixteenth part; a symbolic expression of the number sixteen; Hch. -2 A digit of the moon (these are sixteen). -3 Interest on capital (consideration paid for the use of money). -4 A division of time variously computed; one minute, 48 seconds, or 8 seconds. -5 The 60th part of one thirtieth part of a zodiacal sign, a minute of a degree. -6 Any practical art (mechanical or fine); there are 64 such arts, as music, dancing &c. -7 Skill, ingenuity. -8 Fraud, deceit. -9 (In Prosody) A syllabic instant. -10 A boat. -11 The menstrual discharge. -12 A term for the seven substrata of the elements of the human body. -13 An atom. -14 A term for the embryo. -15 A fleshy part near the tail of the elephant (also कलाभागः). -16 Enumeration. -17 A form (स्वरूप. -18 Prowess

v. 4

शृङ्गम् śṛṅgam [शॄ-गन् पृषो˚ मुम् ह्रस्वश्च Uṇ.1.123] 1 A horn. -2 The top or summit of a mountain. -3 The top of a building, turret. -4 Elevation, height. -5 Lordship, sovereignty, supremacy, eminence. -6 A cusp or horn of the moon. -7 Any peak, point or projection in general. -8 A horn (of a buffalo &c.) used for blowing. -9 A syringe. -10 Excess of love, rising of desire. -11 A mark, sign. -12 A lotus. -13 A fountain of water. -14 Pride, self-respect. -15 The stick (काण्ड) of an arrow with a horn-like knob. -16 A particular military array; Mb.6. -17 The female breast

कशिपु kaśipu m. or n. 1 A mat. -2 A pillow. -3 A bed. -पुः 1 Food. -2 Clothing. -3 Food and clothing

भृङ्गः bhṛṅgaḥ [भृ-गन् कित् नुट् च Uṇ.1.122.] 1 A large black bee. -2 A kind of wasp. -3 A kind of bird. -4 A libertine, dissolute or lecherous man; cf. भ्रमर. -5 A golden vase or jar. -6 The fork-tailed shrike. -7 A kind of measure (in music)

हरि hari a. [हृ-इन्] 1 Green, greenish-yellow. -2 Tawny, bay, reddish-brown. -3 Yellow. -रिः 1 N. of Viṣṇu. -2 N. of Indra. -3 N. of Śiva. -4 N. of Brahman. -5 N. of Yama. -6 The sun. -7 The moon. -8 A man. -9 A ray of light. -10 Fire. -11 Wind. -12 A lion. -13 A horse. -14 A horse of Indra. -16 The cuckoo. -17 A frog. -18 A parrot. -19 A snake. -20 The tawny green or yellow colour. -21 A peacock. -22 N. of the poet Bhartṛihari. -23 The sign of the zodiac, Leo. -24 An organ of sense

v. 5

विक्रमणम् vikramaṇam A stride (of Viṣṇu). -2 Heroism. -3 (With Pāśupatas) Supernatural power.

वामन vāmana a. 1 (a) Short in stature, dwarfish, pigmy. (b) (Hence) Small, short, little, reduced in length. -2 Bent down, bent low (नम्र). -3 Vile, low, base. -4 Venerable. -नः 1 A dwarf, pigmy. -2 N. of Viṣṇu in his fifth incarnation, when he was born as a dwarf to humble the demon Bali. -3 N. of the elephant that presides over the south. -4 N. of the author of the Kāśikāvṛitti, a commentary on Pāṇini's Sūtras. -5 The tree called अङ्कोट.

v. 6

अपगत apagata p. p. 1 Gone away, departed, passed away, gone off; being remote; oft. as first member of comp. in the sense of 'free from', 'devoid of'. -2 Dead, deceased.

पयस् payas n. 1 Water. -3 Semen virile. -4 Food. -5 Ved. Night. -6 Vital spirit, power, strength (Ved).

v. 7

वितॄ vitr̥̄ 1 P. 1 To cross or pass over, go beyond. -2 To give, grant, impart, confer or bestow on, vouchsafe, favour with. -3 To cause, produce. -4 To carry over, ferry over. -5 To give (as medicine), apply a remedy. -6 To do, perform. -7 To forgive, pardon. -8 To increase, enhance

दिश् diś f. [दिशति ददात्यवकाशं दिश्-क्विप्] (Nom. sing. दिक्- ग्) 1 A direction, cardinal point, point of the compass, quarter of the sky. -2 (a) The mere direction of a thing, hint, indication (of the general lines). (b) (Hence) Mode, manner, method. -3 Region, space, place in general. -4 A foreign or distant region. -5 A point of view, manner of considering a subject. -6 A precept, order. -7 The number 'ten'. -8 A side or party. -9 The mark of a bite.

[N. B. In comp. दिश् becomes दिग् before words beginning with vowels and soft consonants, and दिक् before words beginning with hard consonants.]

 -Comp. -पतिः, -पालः the regent or guardian of a quarter.

मौलि mauli a. [मूलस्यादूरभवः इञ्] Head, foremost, best. -लिः 1 The head, the crown of the head. -2 The head or top of anything, top-most point. -3 The Aśoka tree. -लिः (m., f.) 1 A crown, diadem, tiara. -2 Hair on the crown of the head, tuft or lock of hair. -3 Braided hair, hair braided and ornamented

v. 8

विशद viśada a. 1 Clear, pure, pellucid, clean, spotless.12. -2 White, of a pure white colour;. -3 Bright, shining, beautiful. -4 Clear, evident, manifest. -5 Calm, free from anxiety, at ease. -6 Tender, soft (to the touch). -7 Skilled in; fit for. -दः 1 The white colour. -2 A kind of smell (गन्ध). -3 A kind of touch

आभा ābhā [भा-अङ्] 1 Light, splendour, lustre. -2 Colour, appearance, beauty. -3 Likeness, resemblance; oft. at the end of comp. in these two senses. -4 A reflected image, shadow, reflection.

हतिः hatiḥ f. [हन-भावे-क्तिन्] 1 Killing, destruction. -2 Striking, wounding. -3 A blow, stroke. -4 Loss, failure. -5 A defect. -6 Multiplication.

v. 9

अहह ahaha, अहहा ahahā [अहं जहाति, हा-क-पृषो˚] A particle or interjection implying (a) sorrow or regret ('alas', 'ah'). (b) Wonder or surprise. (c) Pity. (d) Calling. (e) Fatigue.

दर्शित darśita p. p. [दृश्-णिच्-क्त] 1 Shown, displayed, manifested, exhibited. -2 Explained, demonstrated, proved. -3 Apparent, visible.

v. 10

निवहः nivahaḥ 1 A multitude, collection, quantity, heap. -2 N. of one of the seven winds. -3 N. of one of the seven tongues of fire. -4 Killing, slaughter. -a. Bringing, causing

निधन nidhana a. [निवृत्तं धनं यस्मात्; Uṇ.2.81] Poor, indigent. -नः, नम् 1 Destruction, annihilation, death, loss. -2 The concluding passage at the end of a Sāman sung in chorus, the fifth of the five parts of Sāman. -3 The finale (in music). -4 N. of the eighth lunar mansion. -5 Conclusion, end, termination. -6 Ved. Residence; receptacle. -नः The head of a family. -नम् Family, race.

कल् kal I. 1 Ā. (कलते, कलित) 1 To count. -2 To sound. -II. 10 U. (कलयति-ते, कलित) 1 To hold, bear, carry, wield, have, put on. -2 (a) To count, reckon. (b) To measure. -3 To assume, take, have, possess. -4 To know, understand, observe, take notice of, think of. -5 To think, regard, consider. -6 To undergo, be influenced by. -7 To do, perform. -8 To go. -9 To attach to, tie on; furnish with. -10 To urge on, impel, incite. -11 To utter a sound, murmur. -12 To take hold of the die called Kali

कर kara a. (-रा or -री) [करोति, कीर्यते अनेन इति, कृ-कॄ-अप्] (Mostly at the end of comp.) Who or what does, makes or causes &c.; दुःख˚, सुख˚, भय˚ &c. -रः 1 A hand. -2 A ray of light, beam. -3 The trunk of an elephant. -4 A tax, toll, tribute. -5 Hail. -6 A particular measure of length equal to 24 thumbs. -7 The asterism called हस्त. -8 A means or expedient. -9 A doer. -Comp. -पालः, -पालिका 1 a sword. -2 a cudgel

धूमः dhūmaḥ [धू-कम्पे मक्] 1 Smoke, vapour. -2 Mist, haze. -3 (a) A meteor. (b) The fall of a meteor. -4 A cloud. -5 Smoke inhaled (as a sternutatory). -6 Belch, eructation. -7 A place prepared for the building of a house. -Comp. -केतनः, -केतुः 1 fire. -2 a meteor, comet, falling star. -3 Ketu. -4 a kind of horse. -5 N. of the sun; Mb.

कराल karāla a. 1 Dreadful, formidable, frightful, terrible. -2 Gaping, opening wide. -3 Great, large, high, lofty. -4 Uneven, jagged; pointed. -5 Harsh. -6 Wide, spacious. -7 Deformed. -8 Having projecting teeth

v. 11

उदार udāra a. 1 Generous, liberal, munificent. -2 (a) Noble, exalted, dignified. (b) High, lofty, great, best, illustrious, distinguished. -3 Honest, sincere, upright. -4 good, nice, fine. -5 Proper, right. -6 Eloquent. -7 Kind, soft, agreeable. -8 Rich, plentiful. -9 Large, extensive, grand, splendid.6 richly dressed. -10 Beautiful, charming, lovely. -11 Unperplexed. -12 Exciting, driving forth (Ved.). -रम् ind. 1 Loudly. -2 By means of arguments. -रः Ved. 1 A rising fog or vapour. -2 A sort of grain with long stalks. -3 A figure in Rhetoric which attributes greatness to inanimate objects 

Acknowledgements and Sources

Kāvyatīrtha, Nārāyaṇa Rāma Ācārya, ed. 1989. Jayadevaracitaṃ. Gītagovinda-kāvyam Śrī Kumbha-nṛpati-praṇīta-Rasikapriyā-vyākhyayā, Mahāmahopādhyāya-Śrī Śaṅkara-Miśra-nirmita- Rasamañjarī-vyākhyayā, Dīpikā-Pada-dyotanikā-Sañjīvini-Bālabodhinī-vyākhyā-viśiṣṭāṅśai, tat-pāṭhāntaraih, pariśiṣṭaiśca samanvitam;  Nārāyaṇa Rāma Ācārya "Kāvyatīrth" ityanena saṃśodhitam. New Delhi: Meharcand Lachmandās.

Knutson, Jesse Ross. 2014 Into the Twilight of Sanskrit Court Poetry: The Sena Salon of Bengal and Beyond. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Matchett, Freda. 2013. Kṛṣṇa: Lord or Avatara? The Relationship Between Kṛṣṇa and Viṣṇu. London: Routledge.

Miller, Barbara Stoler, ed. and trsl. 1977. Love Song of the Dark Lord: Jayadeva’s Gītagovinda. New York: Columbia University Press.

Pauwels, Heidi. 2021. The Vernacular Pulse of Sanskrit: Metre and More in Songs of the Gītagovinda and Bhāgavata Purāna. The Journal of Hindu Studies 14: 294–319

Siegel, Lee. 1978. Sacred and profane dimensions of love in Indian traditions as exemplified in the Gītagovinda of Jayadeva. Delhi: Oxford University Press.