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EVENING BLOSSOMS
THE TEMPLE TRADITION OF SANJHI IN VRNDAVANA
ASIMAKRISHNA DASA
1996, 63pp., col. and b&w
ills., notes, bibl., ISBN: 91-207-1645-0, Rs. 750(HB)
Book Review - Article
published in Newsletter

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The temple tradition of Sanjhi in Vrindavan
describes the transformation of a folk tradition. Sanjhi was originally a ritual
worship undertaken by unmarried girls throughout northern India to obtain a suitable
husband. It became a temple tradition in the 17th century when the devotional bhakti
movement linked it to the games played by Radha and Krsna as children in Vraja, the cowhered camp where God was pleased to reside as
Sri Krsna in the previsous era. The devotional verses of the next two centuries
describe these games and evoke Sanjhi as a ritual design made with forest flowers in the
autmn after the rains. Thus Radha Krsna's ahladinisakti or joy going potency, who is
also Prakrti, nature is engaged in her own beautification.
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| ASIMAKRISHNA DASA, born in
New York City as Allan A. Shairo, he initially came to India in 1969. In 1971, having been
seen to Vrindavana by Swami Mukunda Hariji, he received intiation from H.H. Tridandi Swami
B.H. Bon Maharaj, founder of the Institute of Oriental Philosophy, Vrindavana. He
remained in India until 1975 under the guidance of Baba Shripada Ji Maharaj. He then
completed an undergraduate degree at the City of College of New York. |
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