Close Reading

Bhagavata Purana 🚩(Skandha 10, Rasa Lila with the Gopis) Vishnu in his avatar as Krishna (considered an incarnation of Vishnu) plays the Rasa Lila with married women (the gopis). The text explicitly describes him drawing them away from their husbands at night, embracing, kissing, and engaging in erotic play. Traditional devotees interpret this spiritually, but on the literal level, it is sexual seduction of married women by a god. Harivamsa Purana (Appendix to Mahabharata, Vishnu Parva, Chapter 31–34) Krishna (Vishnu avatar) is described as bathing with the gopis. He steals their clothes and forces them to stand naked in the water until they come out to him. This episode is often taught as a “test of devotion,” but in plain reading, it depicts public humiliation and sexual coercion.