that desire is the source of suffering, that love binds one to the world of old age, disease, and death, and that sexuality, in maintaining that world, perpetuates death.

4.10 The god of Love ... becomes the god of Death: as Kama was equated with Mara in the previous canto, here he is compared to Yama, the lord and judge of the dead. Playing the tiger’s part is a pun on the name of the meter (sardula/vikridita) in which this stanza is composed.

4.19 Helping hand is for hastaka which is variously glossed by the commentators; it may be read as “suppliant” (“otherwise a suppliant will be abandoned”), indicating that Radha’s friend is reminding Krishna that it is dishonorable for him as a god to neglect the supplications of a devotee.

4.20 Indra’s Brother (Upendra), an epithet of Krishna, being more cruel than a thunderbolt (vajra) is again a pun playing on the name of the meter of the stanza (upendra/vajra).

4.22 Tips in bloom (puspit’/agra) is yet another play on the name of the stanza’s meter.

4.23 Mount Go·vardhana: jealous of Krishna because of the devotion of the people of Vrinda·vana to him, Indra caused a torrential storm. Krishna then lifted and held Mount Go·vardhana over the cowherds as an umbrella to protect them from the rains.

5.18 Pleasure ... tinged with embarrassment: the embarrassment of the lovers over the mistake they’ve made, turns the aesthetic sentiment (rasa) of love into that of comedy.

5.20 Devaki is the true mother of Krishna and cousin of the demon Kansa.

6.12 Radha’s secret message to Krishna, her invitation to an illicit rendezvous, is concealed in a double entendre that Nanda, as a simple cowherd, does not get: krsna/bhogin can mean both ________