By Jai Sita Rani Devi Dasi
Photos By Shevaanni Pillai And Mayapur.Com
MAYAPUR – Shalini Radha, a 15 year old girl from China studying in the Mayapur International School is so talented and gifted that Jananivas prabhu (Chief Priest) has given her the opportunity to design the motifs on Radha Madhava and the Astasakhis’s outfits for Gopastami. Every gopi’s outfit had a slightly different design with beautiful intricate patterns weaved in shades of purple. She painstakingly drew every design and got a team of matajis to paint them. It was many long months of intense labour but it paid off in the end. She and her team were up until wee hours of the morning to put the final touches to these incredible outfits.
This talented artist comes up with amazing designs for rangoli just before the elephant procession every week. Every design is inspired by some quotes from the scriptures and you will feel you have missed so much even though you had read the exact scriptures before.
‘My dear gopis, what auspicious activites must the flute have performed to enjoy the nectar of Krishna’s lips independently and leave only a taste for us gopis, for who that nectar is actually meant ?
The forefathers of the flute, the bamboo trees, shed tears of pleasure. His mother the river on whose bank the bamboo was from, feels jubilations and therefore her blooming lotus flowers are standing like hairs on her body.’ – SB 10.21.9
“Ká¹›ishṇa and the gopÄ«s sang and danced these combined to appear like clouds, thunder, snow and lightning. Ká¹›ishṇa’s bodily features appeared just like a group of clouds, the gopÄ«s’ songs were like thunder, their beauty appeared to be just like lightning in the sky, and the drops of perspiration visible on their faces appeared like falling snow. In this way, the gopÄ«s and Ká¹›ishṇa fully engaged in dancing.” – Krishna Book, Description of Rasa Dance
