Gopala Campu: by Srila Jiva Gosvami and Translated by H H Bhanu Swami

 
A new edition of Srila Jiva Goswami’s Gopala-champu, translated from the original Sanskrit by ISKCON guru and GBC Bhanu Swami, has just been published by ISKCON Chennai.
 
The task of translating a revered ancient text by a philosophical and spiritual giant of the Vaishnava tradition is not new to Bhanu Swami. Proficient in Sanskrit and Bengali, he also  translated Jiva Goswami’s commentaries on Bhakti-Rasamrita Sindhu और Brahma Samhita, as well as Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakura’s commentaries on भागवद गीता और Srimad-Bhagavatam.
 
Yet in its own way, this new book is a unique effort.
 
“A champu is a literary composition mixing poetry and prose,” Bhanu Swami explains in his preface to Gopala-champu. “Displaying literary ornaments and various verse forms, it often uses words with double meaning.”
 
The book certainly isn’t for newcomers to the Vaishnava tradition, delving deep into the esoteric  pastimes of Krishna—from his appearance until his return to Vraja, his home town. “Though Kavikarnapura has written Ananda-vrindavana Champu on the same topic,” Bhanu Swami writes, “The unique feature of this champu is that the whole story has been arranged to lead to Krishna’s final union in marriage to the gopis [cowherd girls].”