Narrate how devotion and love are portrayed in Songs of Radha: The Quest by Sarojini Naidu ?

Ans: 

The Quest is about the incomparable love of Radha and Krishna. In the poem Radha is searching for her beloved Krishna. Lord Krishna is the symbol of imperishable love who can provide the shelter of love to everyone. Radha has given the highest rank among the lovers of Krishna. It is not easy to define whether the passion she feels towards Krishna is love or devotion. According to the beliefs, the zenith of devotion is love. Radha searches her beloved Krishna. She asks the wind about him. But she cannot find him. Krishna has the habit of resting in the forest at the noon time. She searches for him in the forest too, but fails to find him out. At the late evening she enquires the grey coloured tide about the dwelling place of her dear

flute player. The waters, the wind and the woods do not give any answer to her questions. None of them know anything about him. She carries her crying face in her arms. She keeps weeping- where her Ghanashyam has gone.

Her search shows the passion in the heart of Radha towards Krishna. In the love for him, she becomes a silly girl who always makes complaints to her lover. Her heart is suddenly awakened like a boat which shook from top to bottom by his hidden laughter. He mocks her with the usual tricks of Krishna and honey bubbled in the chalice of her heart. She always thinks like every other girl and tries to find out some reasons to quarrel with him. Even then she realizes that all the silly thoughts raised in her heart are only because of the love hidden in her. Then he asks her why she is searching for him in the wind, wave and the flowering valley. He says that he belongs to her. She can look into the mirror of her heart to see him.

The Quest is about the love and devotion of Radha towards Lord Krishna. The image of Radha and Krishna is one of the most celebrated one in Indian mythology. We can see the concept of ‘Prakriti’ and ‘Purusha’ in the poem. Here Krishna stands for the concept of Purusha and Radha for Prakriti and this union is considered as the basics of life upon the earth. She uses the image of divine love to portray her concept of love. Hence the love in the poem becomes eternal. She narrates the poem according to the traditional concept of love in India. The poem is the transfer of personal love to the universal love. She brings oneness of the hearts of the idol and the devotee. She believes in the love before which everyone is compelled to surrender.

 In The Quest, the nightingale of India sings about love which is imperishable. She sings about the love of Radha and Krishna, the iconic couple of Indian Myths. She seeks him all over but fails to find him out. As in every love, she finds that her lover is always playing with her, but fails to accept the fact. She shares her complaints to herself. But at the same time she enjoys his teasing. In the end she realizes the fact that he resides in her mind and it is her fault that she could not identify the platonic love hidden in the mind of Krishna towards every woman who adores him. The love described in this poem is platonic in nature which refers to the union of the minds rather than the union of the bodies.