COWHERD DAMSEL
By
reciting one Hari Krishna mantra a child is chosen to be the cowherd
damsel, another to be Mother Yashoda. The other players are gopis. They
form a circle while the cowherd damsel stands at a distance making
prasada for Krishna. Mother Yashoda secretly chooses one of the players
to be Krishna. She stands in the middle of the Circle and churns butter
while all the gopis dance around her. Everybody blissfully sings the
Hare Krishna mantra twice. Then the dancing and churning stop and all
the gopis and Mother Yashoda call, “Cowherd damsel!” The cowherd damsel
comes with her nice preparation. Mother Yashoda asks her, “Oh! What
have you brought for Krishna?” the cowherd damsel describes what she
cooked: some samosas, sweet rice, or rasagullas. She gives her
preparation to Mother Yashoda and then asks, “Have you seen Krishna?”
Mother Yashoda answers, “Yes”. Then the cowherd damsel asks, “What was
Krishna wearing?” Mother Yashoda (without looking at the person she has
chosen) describes the child who is Krishna. for example, “Krishna is
wearing a blue dress with a red blouse and two bracelets on His left
arm”. To make it difficult, she may give a very brief description. This
depends on the age of the child playing the cowherd damsel. The cowherd
damsel guesses and points at one child, saying, “Is he Krishna?” and
Mother Yashoda answers yes or no. if the guess is wrong, Mother Yashoda
adds more details to the description until the cowherd damsel discovers
who is Krishna. When she guesses right, she chases Krishna around the
circle while all the gopis chant Hare Krishna around the circle while
all the gopis chant Hare Krishna and clap to enliven them. In the next
game, the child who was Krishna plays the cowherd damsel, and the
cowherd damsel plays Mother Yashoda.