Dāna-keli-kaumudī

Autor: Rūpa Gosvāmī

"Moonlight on the Toll-Game" — a one-act comedy (bhāṇikā) by Rūpa Gosvāmī, written in 1549 at Nandīśvara. Rādhā and her friends carry fresh butter to a sacrifice; at the foot of Govardhana Kṛṣṇa stops them, declaring himself King Cupid's toll-collector, and demands his due. The play is their quarrel — puns, taunts and hidden tenderness; the friends hold their ground, Madhumaṅgala reckons up the "tax", and Vṛndā and Paurṇamāsī see to it that the game ends in a meeting. The heroines speak Prakrit, as the stage requires, and turn to Sanskrit at the moments that matter.