Lalita-mādhava

Author: Rūpa Gosvāmī

"The Charming Mādhava" — Rūpa Gosvāmī's great play in ten acts (1537). It opens in Vraja: young Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, their first meetings, the slaying of Śaṅkhacūḍa — then Kṛṣṇa leaves for Mathurā and Rādhā in despair throws herself into the Yamunā. The action moves to Dvārakā: Rādhā lives at court as Satyabhāmā, Candrāvalī becomes Rukmiṇī, and through Paurṇamāsī and Vṛndā the parted lovers find each other again, step by step, in the New Vṛndāvana built in Dvārakā — until at the end all return to their true selves. The heroines speak Prakrit, as the Sanskrit stage requires.