आमुक्तमाल्यदा (विजयनगर सम्राट् श्रीकृष्णदेवराय - गोदा देवी आण्डाल भक्ति एवं साम्राज्य-नीति)

44 Goda’s Garland of Devotion
is her astonished query. Why do they talk as if they were sages who
knew the past, the present and the future? Who was she in her life
past? One of her friends replies:
“Oh dear! Are you not the Satyabhama who was jealous
because your co-wife Rukmani received the Parijatha blos-
soms? Did you not make a mountain out of a molehill and
desire the Parijatha tree itself to be brought from the heavens
and planted in your private garden?”
These words are a revelation. As the objects in a house are
illumined when the lamp is lit, a new understanding comes upon
Goda Devi. The days of intense love spent in the company of
Krishna assault her being. Tears spring to her eyes. Her body
shudders and she falls down in a swoon. Frightened at her con-
dition, the friends blame themselves for having aided her collapse.
They cool her figure by using fans sprinkled with rose water. Goda
Devi opens her eyes but closes them again as if to hold on to the
memory of the Lord’s feet (tan Mukunda charanaamruti nischalatan).
Opening them at last she looks at her friends and asks them who
they are. “We are Naga Kanyas”. Goda Devi embraces them with
great love. Then she says:
“I was indeed the beloved of Murari in that past birth.
Now I am born in this Kali Yuga to undergo the tortures
of separation. If my father desires to give me away in marriage
to a human bridegroom, I will give up my life and reach the
feet of my Lord. The very thought of separation from one’s
beloved should help a woman give up her life. Of such stuff
are the truly chaste women”.
Taken aback by the intensity of her passion, the friends calm
Goda Devi. “Sri Krishna of Yadavas is now incarnated as the pre-
siding deity of Srirangam. You should worship Vatapatrasayi here
to gain Ranganatha as your consort”.
Goda Devi’s heart is a string of sapphires and pearls, assailed
by doubts and quietened by the loving words of the friends by
turns. However, as the days pass, she is increasingly victimised by
the arrows of Cupid. There is now only one way out. She must come
face to face with Krishna! Towards that end she decides to fix her