𝐢𝐤𝐬̣𝐮-𝐝𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐬

Radhashtami 2021, and a century of Bharati I have returned to this blog after a hiatus of several months. Today is Radhashtami  –  the birthday of Radha. Ashtami means eighth [day]. In each lunar month, there are two ashtamis: one in the krishna paksha ( dark half/ waning moon)  and the other in the shukla paksha ( bright half/ waxing moon). If one goes by the north Indian calendar, the krishna ashtami of the month of Bhadrapada is Krishna Janmashtami, the birthday of Krishna. The shukla ashtami of the same month is Radhashtami. This year, Janmashtami was on August 30, and Radhashtami is today, September 14, 2021. On this occasion, I present to you  Mahakavi C. Subramania Bharati (11 December 1882-11 September 1921)'s song to Radha, with music by me. Interestingly, the song does not feature Krishna's name anywhere. Bharati was mainly a Tamil poet. However, he was a polyglot. This song begins in Sanskrit and ends with three couplets in Tamil. The Sanskrit part is mor...