Kṛṣṇa Steals the Gopīs' Clothes: A Folktale Motif

A unitary theology is achieved for the Kṛṣṇa cycle of myths only with the greatest difficulty, if at all. This article examines one of the themes dealing with Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs, the cīraharaṇa, the stealing of the clothes. Peripheral to this is the hero's climbing a tree and observing the gopīs thence. The ensuing discussion leads to the conclusion that the cīraharaṇa is a floating motif of sexual fantasy, of ancient date, as attested by its wide dispersion throughout India and by its occurrence in the Kathāsaritsāgara. It was seized first by the Kṛṣṇa bhakti movement of south India as early as the 5th century A. D. and then by the composer of the Sanskrit Bhāgavatapurāṇa in the 9th or 10th century. The motif, including the detail of the climbing of the tree, then became a firmly fixed part of the Kṛṣṇa cycle first in Tamilian and then Caitanya bhaktism.