RASA-ORIENTED NARRATIVES IN ŚRĪMAD BHĀGAVATAM AND GOPĀLA-CAMPŪ (A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ŚRĪLA VYĀSADEVA AND ŚRĪ JĪVA GOSVĀMĪ)

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and Gopāla-campū represent two distinct yet complementary modes of narrating Kṛṣṇa-līlā within the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava tradition. While both texts recount the same divine events, especially those related to vātsalya, sakhya, and mādhurya rasas, their narrative strategies differ fundamentally. Śrīla Vyāsadeva, writing the Bhāgavatam, adopts a restrained, philosophically regulated approach to rasa, ensuring that emotional intensity never eclipses metaphysical clarity or scriptural authority. Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, composing Gopāla-campū, assumes the acceptance of Bhāgavatam theology and expands the same events through poetic elaboration and psychological depth, thereby enabling contemplative relishing (rasa-āsvāda). This paper undertakes an event-wise comparative analysis of key rasa-oriented līlās, demonstrating that the difference between the two texts lies not in doctrine but in pedagogical and aesthetic intention. Together, they form a unified elucidative model in which tattva is first established through śāstra and subsequently internalized through rasa.