Radhe's Dance

A/N: When I wrote this story, it was during a kirtan that contained a chant to Radha that I found very moving. The story is one of the few that ever simply streamed out of my pen, already complete.. When I was polishing it, however, I discovered that some of the mythology I had been told about was incorrect. Not wishing to offend anyone, I have made changes, but still tried to retain the backbone of the tale. Please don’t flame—no offense or insult is meant. This story rose out of a very special moment in time—jozmyth.




“Radhe’s Dance”
By
Jozmyth

Once long ago,there lived a maiden named Obesa, who had a great misery. Her great misery was that she was the ugliest girl in her village. Indeed, she was the ugliest girl in all of the lands roundabout as well. When people spoke of her, they would cluck their tongues and say, “Poor Obesa, she will never marry. No one could ever love someone who looks as she does.”

She did not look like anyone else. The other maidens of her village were light and graceful; Obesa was fat and clumsy. They had smooth, soft complexions, while Obesa was riddled with every blemish and mark that could afflict human skin. Their hands and feet were small and delicate; Obesa’s were wide and strong. Her legs were short…in fact some people said she was as wide as she was tall. The only lovely things about her were her thick brown hair and her eyes, which were the color of amber. But even her eyes went unnoticed most of the time, squished as they were into her fat cheeks.

Obesa tried to change. She ate as little as she could. Her mother scolded her, her father threatened whipping, and Obesa strove to eat no more than three mouthfuls of food per meal, but nothing changed. She remained fat and round as a ball and as strong and clumsy as the oxen used to pull the plows at harvest time.

Seeing the other girls of her village and hearing the praise of their beauty might have given Obesa a heart full of hate—some days, it almost did—except for one thing: she loved to make people laugh. Obesa might have been ugly, but she was also witty and clever, and all but the most spiteful village girls enjoyed listening to her jokes and stories. The boys despised her ugliness, but even they enjoyed laughing until they cried at one of Obesa the Ox’s tall tales.

One day, when Obesa was drawing water from the well outside her family’s hut her sharp ears picked up the sound of a beautiful melody. She paused to listen. It was not a song, nor was it any instrument that she had ever heard. So lovely was the tune that Obesa just had to put her bucket down and follow the sound to see who was making it.

Obesa walked into the woods behind her hut. She walked and walked through the trees until she came to a clearing at the top of a hill. There, at the top, was a circle of maidens from the village, dancing around and around, and in the middle of them was the most beautiful woman Obesa had ever seen. The woman was tall, softly curved, and had large, dark eyes and long black hair as fine and smooth as silk. She was dressed all in red with a red veil on her head.

“Come and dance with us, little sister!” the woman called, but Obesa the Ox was shy and hid herself in the trees. She did not want the beautiful woman to see how ugly and fat and clumsy she was.

The woman laughed and returned to her dancing and the haunting tune started up again. The maidens danced and sang, but none of them seemed to be playing an instrument. Obesa soon realized the music was coming from the woman herself. She sat in the forest nearly all night, entranced with the dancing and the music; she thought she would remember the tune until the day she died. When the sky began to lighten, the woman clapped her hands and the maidens ran to her and embraced her. She gave each one a kiss and they scattered, giggling, into the forest.

A girl Obesa knew ran past and Obesa flew to catch up with her. “Sukina! Who was that woman who can make music without flutes or strings?”

Sukina laughed. “If you want to know, Obesa, come back to this place tomorrow night and next time dance when she asks you.”

“But I cannot dance!” cried Obesa. “I am Obesa the Ox! Big and clumsy, only fit to pull a plow!”

Sukina only laughed again and ran on. Obesa ran all the way back to her house. She was irritable and distracted all the next day. Her mother asked if she was ill. She counted the moments until the sun went down and she could slip away again to the hillside. When twilight came, Obesa once again heard the beautiful music and she made her way through the forest to the hilltop, where the maidens and the lovely lady were dancing again. When the lady saw Obesa, she beckoned and said, smiling, “Come and dance with us, little sister! Do not waste such a fine night hiding in the trees!”

Obesa felt her face turn as red as the woman’s dress, but she so wanted to dance to the exquisite music that she came out. “Someone like me can never truly hide, Lady” she joked. “But can you teach an ox to dance? For I am used only to pulling the plow and chewing my cud; neither of those things require much skill.”

“Nonsense!” the lady snapped her fingers. “Come!”

And because the music was so beautiful, Obesa squared her fat shoulders and resolved to join in and do her best not to knock anyone down. She expected the other maidens to perish with laughter when they saw her in their circle, but none of them seemed to take any notice of her. Each girl swayed and spun, eyes closed, deaf to everything but the music.

The woman took Obesa’s hands. “I am Radhe, little sister. What’s your name?”

“Obesa, Lady” she paused for a moment, “Obesa the Ox.”

“Is that the name your parents gave you?” the lady asked slowly.

“No. But everyone in the village and in the country around here calls me that.”

“Oh, the village” Radhe rolled her dark eyes. “Well, I shall call you just ‘Obesa’. Now come and dance with me.”

Keeping hold of Obesa’s hands, Radhe whirled her into the music. Obesa was surprised to see, after a few moments, that she was dancing every bit as gracefully as the other girls. The music grew fierce and wild as Radhe released her and moved once again to the center of the circle. She swayed from her hips and moved her arms and neck like she was moving through water; Obesa tried to copy the movements. Radhe sang:

“I am Radhe!
All men tremble before me!
I am Radhe!
All men tremble before me!
I am the Flame of Passion!
I am the Heart of Desire!
I bring dew to the peach,
I bring sap to the wood,
I bring verse to the poet,
I bring leaping to the dancer,
I bring pleasure to lovers,
and to artists, I bring color.
I bring music and song,
I bring longing to the heart.
I raise the hips and open the throat!
I call to the souls of men!
I am Radhe!
I am Passion!
All men tremble before me.”

The maidens in the circle whooped with delight and they were all so beautiful that Obesa almost didn’t recognize them. Energy thrummed through her body and she could not keep the smile from her face.

Radhe laughed. She came to Obesa and took a small, golden mirror from her belt. “Look at yourself.”

Obesa looked and was stunned by what she saw. Nothing about her face or form had changed, and yet it had. Her eyes blazed golden in her pale face; her thick, wavy hair flew like a live thing around her shoulders. She was as fat and round as ever, but her eye was not drawn in distaste to her bulging stomach. Instead, she noticed the round curve of her hips, and how her mouth seemed fuller and redder. She stared until Radhe gently took the mirror and smiled into her amazed eyes. “When passion is truly within you, you are beautiful”, she said. “And you will appear to others as the most beautiful woman in the world.”

Obesa threw back her head and spun around in delight. She danced and danced to the beautiful music until the sky grew light again. Then Radhe drew each girl to her and kissed them and said, “Run along, my little sisters! But don’t forget to dance here sometimes.”

The girls scattered into the forest, and Obesa saw that as they ran, their faces subtly changed. A dark-eyed beauty seemed to have a longer nose and thinner lips. A maiden with golden hair had crooked front teeth. They all seemed much more ordinary then they had when they danced in the clearing.

On the third night, Obesa returned and came directly into the circle of dancing maidens. Radhe greeted her warmly. “Tonight is special, little sister! Look there.”

Obesa looked. Figures were streaming from the trees. As they drew near, Obesa was shocked to see all the older women of the village—her own mother among them—coming forward to embrace Radhe, their faces full of joy. Even the old grannies came, hobbling on their sticks but beaming so brightly Obesa could see their young faces beneath the wrinkles of age. “It has been so long since you danced with us!”

“Tonight we will all dance, my sisters!” Radhe cried. “For see who comes to share this night!”

A beautiful smooth-skinned young man stepped out of the trees. Behind him came the men of the village, young and old, rich and poor. They saw the women, but not one of them spoke; they merely gazed as if they were bewitched. Obesa spotted her father in the crowd and saw that he was staring at her mother with a look hot enough to burn.

“Here, my brothers, is the temple of beauty” the young man said, sounding amused. To Radhe, he called. “I bring you a gift this night, my Lady. Do you find it good?”

“This night is a fine one for gifts” Radhe replied. “Yours is most good. And see: I have given mine to your daughters.”

“And I have given mine to your sons.”

“Let us share our gifts! Let us dance!” cried a man in the crowd. The young man laughed and so did Radhe. The music began, wild and strong with a fierce beat. The young man bounded forward, catching Radhe’s hands and whirling away with her. Obesa saw her father pick her mother up in his arms and swing her around. Couples formed and dissolved and the dance took shape. Obesa wondered, for a second, if she should leave. She had always avoided celebrations where couples were together; she felt it was somehow wrong for her to be there. But before she could leave, Radhe took hold of her on one side and the young man on the other and she was spun away into the dance.

As they whirled and leaped  around the circle, Radhe leaned close and whispered, “What do you truly desire, Obesa?”

Obesa stopped and stared into the beautiful face of Radhe. The young man chuckled at her expression, but he spoke kindly.  “Do not fear to speak.”

“You”, Obesa said.

Even as she spoke, Obesa was shocked to hear the words that leapt off her tongue. Her eyes widened and she felt her face grow scarlet with embarrassment, but she did not look away from Radhe. “You.”

The young man’s laughter pealed out like wild bells. “Wisely chosen, little sister!”

Radhe’s own smile was dazzling. She took Obesa’s hand and led her away from the circle of dancers and into the sheltering darkness of the forest.

Radhe gave Obesa many things that night: joy, pleasure, love…but best of all, She gave her this story to tell.

The End