Bhawana Somaaya

These days I’m hooked on to tele-serial Sri Krishna on Colors channel. No matter where I am, I make sure to reach home before the show time 8.30. Not because it is the best serial on television but for the child star playing Krishna.

Unknowingly the little girl has a lot in common with her screen character. To begin with her real name is Krishna and was chosen for the role after 100 auditions were rejected by the producer. Like the deity the child has a purpose to her life- the serial. She is as much loved and pampered on the sets by the entire unit as perhaps little Kaanha was by the entire village in Gokul. Krishna was a saviour for his parents and the universe. The actor is a provider for his family and entertainer for the country. Krishna imparted his philosophy on the battle front. The child learnt to talk and walk on the sets of the serial…

There is a possibility that I see more meaning in to it than exists. There is a possibility that perhaps I’m obsessed with Krishna. That is why I was drawn to the book The God Who Lived As Man by Kaajal Oza Vaidya in Gujarati and translated it into English for Pustak Mahal. Reproducing below is my Foreword in the book.

Translator’s Note:
For years he was just an idol in our temple at home whom mother woke up every morning with a flame and a clanging bell.

Sometimes when she was occupied in her domestic chores, one of us sisters was instructed to follow the ritual which we did but we could somehow never match her fervour or her devotion for him.

The first time I struck an independent equation with Krishna was as a teenager when I was enrolled in Bharat Natyam dance lessons. In the five-year-long course of learning the art form, my colleagues and I were trained to sing paeans to the Lord and enact all the naayikas in his life – his mother, beloved, sakhi so much so that all of us unknowingly fell in love with him.

As I grew older, I learnt to decipher fact from fiction but the fragrance of the first crush lingered…

The reason I was attracted to translating Krishnaayan from Gujarati into English was because it explores Krishna as a man rather than as a God.

Lord Krishna is the most charismatic God of Hindu pantheon who was blessed with a boon to recreate his life in his last moments. After the torturous Yadava yatra to Somnath where Krishna witnesses the devastation of his entire lineage, he arrives with a bleeding foot to Prabhas Kshetra.

It is here resting beneath a peepal tree before the river Trivenisangam that Krishna reflects on the four most important relationships in his life – his wives (Rukmini and Satyabhama), beloved (Radha) and friend (Draupadi). Four contrasting personalities but bonded in a magnificent obsession, Krishna.

Borrowing from the fable but original in structure and content, the book is fictional and a chronicle of man-woman equations.

Did Krishna love these women as much as they loved him? Did he desire and yearn for them as much as they yearned for him? Who out of these four women was closest to his heart? Whom did he feel most secure with? Did he sometimes unknowingly discriminate one against the other or was he able to grant all of them equal justice always? Did the four women ever fantasise trading places with one another, only to scrutinise what went on in their beloved’s mind?

Was Krishna attracted to Rukmini, Satyabhama, Radha and Draupadi because they were extraordinary women or was it his halo that made them so special…? Would Krishna have been drawn to these women had he encountered them in different circumstances and surroundings?

Born in Mathura, reared in Gokul, ruled in Dwarika, was he content with his flow of life or did he secretly desire another life and a destiny for himself?

This book is not the love story of Krishna or any one God. It is the story of every charismatic individual in contemporary times that dared to love many and was in return clamoured by several. It is the story of any arresting and sensitive person, intensely involved with his life.

A wholesome relationship comes with requisite baggage of pathos and pain. But beneath the suffering are layers of happiness emanating from attachment. Love brings enrichment and enlightenment. It is our involvement with our dear ones that adds hues to our life… And that includes both the Supreme Entity and us ordinary mortals.

Krishna – The God Who Lived as Man is one such story of passion and pain.

Bhawana Somaaya