Cite
MLA
“Shri Radha.” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/devata/radha/. Accessed .
APA
Hindu History. (2026). Shri Radha. Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/devata/radha/
Fair, young, in a lehenga and odhni, standing at Krishna’s left in the yugal murti of Radha-Krishna, often with a lotus or with folded hands. Pahari painters of Kangra and Guler showed her meeting Krishna in groves, on balconies and under monsoon clouds. At Banke Bihari in Vrindavan the two are worshipped in a single form.
01In the texts
The Bhagavata Purana does not speak her name, yet in the Rasa chapters (Bhagavata 10.30.28) the gopis, searching the forest, find the footprints of one gopi whom Krishna has taken away with him, and say, anayārādhito nūnam, surely by her he has been worshipped. Braj has always read Radha in that line. Her name stands in the Prakrit Gatha Saptashati gathered under King Hala, and in the 12th century Jayadeva made her the heart of the Gita Govinda, twelve cantos of longing, quarrel and reunion sung in temples to this day. The Brahmavaivarta Purana worships Radha-Krishna together as the Supreme, and the Padma Purana calls her a form of Lakshmi.
02Barsana, her village
Braj tradition says Radha appeared at Rawal and grew up at Barsana, where her father Vrishabhanu settled on one hill while Nanda settled at Nandgaon a few miles off. On the crest of Bhanugarh, about two hundred stone steps above Barsana, her temple holds Radha and Krishna together as Ladli Lal, the darlings of the village. Narayan Bhatt, a 16th-century saint who searched out the leela-sthalis of Braj, is remembered for restoring the worship there. Radhashtami, on Bhadrapada Shukla Ashtami, fifteen days after Janmashtami, fills the hill. In spring the men of Nandgaon come to tease the women of Barsana, and the women meet them with long bamboo sticks: the Lathmar Holi.
03The sampradayas of Radha
Nimbarkacharya is remembered as the first acharya to set up the worship of Radha and Krishna together. For the Gaudiya Vaishnavas who followed Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to Vrindavan, Radha is Krishna’s own hladini shakti, his joy given a form, and every devotee’s bhakti is a share of hers. Two Braj traditions go further: in the Radha Vallabh Sampradaya and the Haridasi line of Swami Haridas, Radha herself is worshipped as the Supreme. Vrindavan’s old temples carry these lineages: Radha Raman, where Krishna is said to have shown himself from a shaligram, Radha Madan Mohan and Govind Dev. Greeting a stranger in Braj, people still say ‘Radhe Radhe’.
In the texts
- Bhagavata Purana, Skandha 10, chapters 29–33 (Rasa Panchadhyayi)
- Gita Govinda of Jayadeva
- Brahmavaivarta Purana, Krishna Janma Khanda
- Padma Purana
