Ahead of Valentine’s Day, looking at how a 12th‑century poem continues to evoke the many shades of love

Ahead of Valentine’s Day, Ileana Citaristi looks at how Gita Govinda continues to evoke the many shades of love

Love — tender, yearning, playful, devotional — has always been at the heart of Indian art and ancient literature. Across poetry, painting, sculpture and classical dance, love is celebrated not just as an emotion but as a powerful metaphor for human longing, spiritual seeking and the relationship between the mortal and the divine. It is this seamless blending of the earthly and the transcendental that gives Indian aesthetics its distinctive depth and beauty.

It is within this vast and layered tradition that Jayadeva’s Gita Govinda stands as a luminous milestone. My book Odissi and the Geeta Govinda is, in essence, a work of love — an offering to Odisha’s rich cultural heritage. When I first came to the State 45 years ago, I knew almost nothing about it. I had only heard of its classical dance form. Jayadeva’s Gita Govinda was one of the things that fascinated me from the very beginning. At first as a compelling romantic tale, and then as an allegorical, philosophical, sensual and spiritual work; all rolled into one.

I was fortunate to learn exquisite dance choreographies of the ashtapadi directly from my mentor and guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, whose renditions of the same have become legendary. Through his guidance, the poetry revealed itself to me not only as literature, but as a living tradition — where love flows into movement, devotion into rhythm and art into a universal language.

The poet’s vision of Radha and Krishna’s love has been interpreted in many ways over the centuries, with scholars and commentators adapting it to align with their individual philosophical perspectives.

Italian-born Odissi dancer and choreographer Ileana Citaristi | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives

Over time, their divine union came to symbolise many profound ideas: the merging of the atma with the paramatma, the longing of the individual soul to unite with the universal one, the devotee’s desire to become one with God, and even the rising of kundalini towards spiritual awakening.