Word

Gopikas

Sanskrit

गोपिका

IAST

gopikā

In General

The Village girls of Ambadi and Vrindavan are called Gopikas. All of them were very good friends of Krishna. The playful lover life of Gopikas with Krishna are called as Rasakrida. Radharani was the chief among the gopikas. She felt an in describable longinig for Krishna. Krishna use to play flute and the gopikas used to dance around him in the sacred groves of Vrindavan. During these occasion of playing with the Lord of the universe, they felt spiritual ecstasy. When Krishna came back from Madhura he further developed the spiritual awareness in these village girls.

Purana

Krishna was the best friend to all boys and girls of his age group. The Lord incarnated on earth as Krishna had many features to attract the whole humanity and beyond. His flute rendered magic not just to the men and women but to the whole nature; every animate and inanimate felt themselves merge into its melody. The Gopikas, most of them were married (because of the custom of proposing a boy at a very early age) loved him passionately. Krishna was around eleven years then and his friends are of the same age group.

The friendly relationships of Gopikas are known to the world after Urdhava met the Gopikas when he was sent to Ambadi by Krishna from Madhura. The romantic life of Krishna was a prominent part of Bhagavata Purana and the later poets like Jayadeva developed a bhakti cult out of it. There was many takers for this cult and poets found a great opportunity to develop spiritual ecstasy in a devotee by portraying Krishna as an enigmatic lover committed to his lovers. All the aspect of lovers like separation from the loved ones and longing for his visit and sharing of the thoughts with friends are added into the story by some creative poets. In spite of many women loved Krishna, he was always devoted to the welfare of all and followed Dharmic-spiritual life.

Krishna never married any of the Gopikas or had any sexual relationship with them. Rasaleela was only a child play at the early teen age. Krishna married two of his cousins Mitravinda and Bhadra but they were not included in the list of Gopikas of Vrindavan.