Śrī Śrī Rādhā Mādhava & Aṣṭa-sakhīs History
History
It wasn’t until 1980, however, that Prabhupäda’s desire to see life-sized deities in Mäyäpur would come to fruition. Jananiväsa Prabhu takes up the story: “Big Rädhä-Mädhava were installed on Gaura-pürnimä of that year (1980). The temple was in the Lotus Building then, and They were worshipped there until 1986 (View Photo Album), when the first four gopis (Lalitā Sakhī, Campakalatā Sakhī, Citrā Sakhī and Tuṅgavidyā Sakhī) arrived. The other four (Viśākhā Sakhī, Indulekhā Sakhī, Raṅgadevī Sakhī and Sudevī Sakhī) arrived in 1992."
“Then he made a gesture with his hands, the same gesture as Rādhārāṇī, and he said, 'Rādhārāṇī will be dancing, because when She is dancing, Kṛṣṇa can never leave Her.' He then gave the dimensions for Radha-Madhava and the other deities. He said, ‘Kṛṣṇa will be six feet four inches. Rādhārāṇī should be five foot ten inches.' ('He' refers to Srila Prabhupada)
(Article Full of Abundant Grace', Mayapur Magazine 2006)
In 1978, while in Calcutta, Jayapataka Swami paid a visit to Radhapada Dasa, a wealthy industrialist and ISKCON devotee, who told him that in a dream he had seen a young sadhu who asked him, “Do you recognize me?” Radhapada replied, “No.” “Sometime ago you gave me some money,” the sadhu said, “and I’ve come to repay it.” Radhapada said, “If I give money to a sadhu, I don’t expect it back. No, I cannot accept it.” “Are you sure you don’t recognize me?” the sadhu asked. “No,” replied Radhapada. Suddenly the sadhu assumed the form of an elderly man. “Now I recognize you,” Radhapada said. “You’re Srila Prabhupada.” “Now my disciples are having problems,” Srila Prabhupada said. “After a while everything will be all right, but you should help them now.” As a result of this dream, Radhapada said he wanted to buy Deities for ISKCON. When asked if he would pay for the large Deities of Radha-Madhava for Mayapur, he agreed.
The Deities were carved in Jaipur by the Pandays, a renowned family of sculptors. One day a member of the Birla family (India’s wealthiest family) came and fell in love with the Deities. He offered to pay 100,000 rupees for Them, which at that time was about $12,000 much more than ISKCON was to pay. The Pandays refused to sell the Deities, however, explaining that they had carved Them for ISKCON and would never be able to duplicate Them. One of the sculptors told the devotees that the marble was different from any he had worked with before. “When we carve,” he said, “a beautiful ringing sound comes out of the Deities.” When the sculptors were doing the final polishing, a white line appeared around Madhava’s body, like the sacred thread worn by brahmanas. Then two lines appeared on His forehead, like tilaka.
Once a devotee asked, “Srila Prabhupada, we’re sitting in these rice fields, and you’ve asked us to build a city. Where is all the money going to come from?” Srila Prabhupada laughed. “You are always worried about where the money will come from. Here we have Radha-Madhava. ‘Madhava’ means the husband of the goddess of fortune. You just worship Radha-Madhava nicely, and everything will come by Their mercy. You don’t have to worry about money.”
(The Center of Attention: Radha Madhava, Jananivasa Dasa (ACBSP), BTG 1999)
History - The Arrival of the Eight Gopīs
It wasn’t until 1980, however, that Prabhupāda’s desire to see life-sized Deities in Māyāpur would come to fruition.
Jananivāsa Prabhu takes up the story:
“Big Rādhā-Mādhava were installed on Gaura-pūrnimā of that year (1980). The temple was in the Lotus Building then, and They were worshipped there until 1986 (View Photo Album), when the first four gopis (Lalitā Sakhī, Campakalatā Sakhī, Citrā Sakhī and Tuṅgavidyā Sakhī) arrived. The other four (Viśākhā Sakhī, Indulekhā Sakhī, Raṅgadevī Sakhī and Sudevī Sakhī) arrived in 1992.”
Source: Article "Full of Abundant Grace", Mayapur Magazine, 2006
Radhapada then sponsored the carving of the eight gopis. Four were installed in 1986, and four in 1992.
Source: The Center of Attention: Radha Madhava, Jananivasa Dasa (ACBSP), BTG, 1999
Based on the recollections of devotees who were present in Śrī Māyāpur during the installation:
In 1986, a set of eight Gopī Deities arrived in Śrī Māyāpur. According to the recollections of Dayārāma Dāsa, the Deities were transported to Māyāpur by train. Upon their arrival, the Deities were inspected, and it was found that four of them had sustained damage during transit. These four Deities were therefore not installed at that time. It was later understood that these four Deities may have already been broken and repaired with glue before beginning their journey. The movement and handling during the train journey may have caused the previous damage to become visible again. As a result, only the remaining four Gopī Deities were installed in Śrī Māyāpur that year. Replacement Deities were subsequently prepared, and in 1992 the remaining four gopīs were installed, completing the full group of eight gopīs on the altar.
In the present altar arrangement, the four gopīs installed in 1986 are situated on the right side of Śrī Mādhava, while the four gopīs installed in 1992 are situated on His left side.
Information - Jananivasa Dasa recalled this conversation at the Yamuna Dasi Memorial in Vrindavan in 2013.
There was once that, when she came, after she left India with Prabhupada, she didn’t come back for many many years. And then finally she came, and she came to Mayapur, and she was, she said,” I have to tell you a story.” She said, “ When I was in Vrindavan with Gurudas, we were making Krsna Balarama temple. And then I went to Bombay to see Srila Prabhupada to ask him some instructions.”
So she started to explain, and Srila Prabhupada said,” So you can make Radhe Shyamasundar, They can be life-size.” And she said, “ But Srila Prabhupada, They are already made.”
“You can’t make life-size?”
“No, Srila Prabhupada.”
“ You can get the Astha Sakhi then. You can make Astha Sakhi life-size.”
She said, “But, Prabhupada, the deities have already been made, the altar has been made and…”
“Vishaka and Lalita, you can make life-size.”
“ No, Prabhupada, everything has already been made, and it’s all small size.” Then Prabhupada didn’t say anything else, about this. Then she told me, she said, “ Here look, there is Radha Madhava, and the Astha Sakhis. This is what Prabhupada was talking about. This is what Prabhupada was visualizing. Because Vrindavan and Mayapur are non-different,” She said, “ This is exactly what Prabhupada told me he wanted, life-size Radha Krsna and Asta Sakhi.”
History
It was that same year, 1972, that small Radha-Madhava came to Māyāpur. "There were three sets of Deities made, paid for by one of the Birlas," Bhavananda says. "One set is in Boston, and these Deities here in Māyāpur, small Rādhā-Mādhava, were the ones Śrīla Prabhupāda took on pandals. These Deities were the ones he sang Jaya Rādhā-Mādhava to for the first time, then he said, 'Keep Them here always.' We built Them a little shed and Jananivāsa started worshipping Them."
(Article: Full of Abundant Grace, Mayapur Magazine, 2006)
After the tour, Prabhupāda brought Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava to the Calcutta temple. When we had our first Gaura Pūrṇimā celebration in Māyāpur in March 1972, Prabhupāda said that Rādhā-Mādhava should come to the program. We put up a tent (pandal), and They stayed there, presiding over the festival. When the program ended and the devotees were ready to take the Deities back to Calcutta, Śrīla Prabhupāda said that the Deities should stay in Māyāpur.
The only building on the ISKCON property at that time was a temporary structure of thatched split-bamboo walls, where Śrīla Prabhupāda and his disciples lived. Rādhā-Mādhava took up residence in the same building. I had just received my second initiation, entitling me to worship the Deities. Because we were living so close to Rādhā-Mādhava in the thatched building, I could see everything the pūjārī was doing. I thought, “I'd like to spend my whole life serving the Deities. It's such a wonderful way to become Kṛṣṇa conscious.” A few days later the pūjārī decided to leave, and I was chosen to replace him.
(The Center of Attention: Rādhā-Mādhava, Jananivāsa Dāsa (ACBSP), BTG 1999)
On the third morning after introducing Jaya Rādhā-Mādhava, Prabhupāda again sang it with the devotees responding. Then he began to explain it further. Rādhā-Mādhava, he said, have Their eternal loving pastimes in the groves of Vṛndāvana. He stopped speaking. His closed eyes flooded with tears, and he began gently rocking his head. His body trembled. Several minutes passed, and everyone in the room remained completely silent. Finally, he returned to external consciousness and said, “Now, just chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.” After this, the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deities of Gorakhpur became known as Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava.
(Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta, Volume One, Chapter 33 – “A Lot of Ground to Be Covered”)
Once, at one program at Hyderabad, they wanted some Deities for the pandal program. First they thought of taking the smaller Deities from Calcutta, which were about 6 inches high. But then they considered Them too small, because hardly anyone could see Them. So they came up with the idea of taking Rādhā-Mādhava from Mayapur, since they had a nice size for darśana. At that time matajis were looking after Them, Kausalya and Malati. So devotees came to Mayapur and brought small Rādhā-Krishna Deities from Calcutta. Taking Rādhā-Mādhava from Mayapur, they put the other Deities on the altar.
When Śrīla Prabhupāda found out that Rādhā-Mādhava were in Hyderabad, presiding over a program, he said: “Why have you taken Rādhā-Mādhava from Mayapur? You cannot do this.” He was very angry. “You cannot start changing Deities around like this. When They go back, They have to stay in Mayapur. They should remain there. You cannot move Deities around like this!” Śrīla Prabhupāda was really upset.
On the 24th of March, 1984, at 12:20 a.m., thirty-five dacoits armed with weapons and bombs attacked Śrī Māyāpur Chandrodaya Mandir. They harassed the devotees and treated them with derision. But the greatest shock came when the dacoits decided to steal the Deities of Śrīla Prabhupāda and Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Fearlessly, the devotees challenged the attackers. How could they see Śrīla Prabhupāda and Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī carried away? Shots were fired, a few dacoits fell, and their plans were foiled. Śrīla Prabhupāda was rescued, but that beautiful form of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī would no longer grace the main altar.
(The Appearance of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva in Māyāpur, p. 8)
According to Śyāmasundara Dāsa and Pankajāṅghri Prabhu, Mādhava's Rādhā was replaced on Rādhāṣṭamī, September 2, 1984.
Śatadhanya Prabhu’s Recollections
Published by Śyāmasundara Dāsa based on a telephonic conversation in 2018.I went with the police, it was a long boat ride and finally we came to a place. There was a crude thatched mud hut on some agricultural land. The police advanced with stealth and arrested the man inside the hut. They interrogated him using their own “methods” until he admitted that the Deity was buried under the earth near the hut. The police dug Her up but an arm was cut off and, if I recall correctly, part of the leg. The dacoit admitted that they had cut the arm and part of the leg to get it to a “fence” to find out the value because they were thinking it was gold. Because a crime had been involved the police wanted to keep the Deity as evidence. In police jargon it is called Jimba, legal custody. But I convinced them that since She was the Deity of the temple that She should go with me to ISKCON Mayapur whether She is cut or not. So they put Radharani in my legal custody and I would have to produce Her if needed in the court. Anyway we got her back. In fact Jananivasa still has that Deity today stashed somewhere in the Deity department.