An annotated translation of Nandadasa’s poetic rendition of the five chapters of rasa-lila in the Bhagavata, highlighting the text’s musical legacy, devotional worship, and Vedantic foundations.
Maharasa Manjusa: Sacred Poetry of the Divine Dance provides translation and scholarly commentary of Nandadasa’s five chapters of rasa-lila, collectively known as the rasapancadhyayi.
In the Vaisnava tradition propounded by Vallabhacarya, Nandadasa is considered to be one of the eight devotional poets, whose compositions are exquisitely detailed with description of both Krsna’s cosmic form and his divine play. This gradually developed into a distinctive style of performing art, haveli-sangita, which is practiced even today. Maharasa Manjusa: Sacred Poetry of the Divine Dance brings out the poetics, narrative style, and idiosyncrasies of the recitation of devotional poems from the region of Vraja in the 16th Ce
