Radhavallabh Sampraday

Religious community whose members
are devotees (bhakta) of the god Vishnu
(that is, Vaishnavas), and whose founder
was the sixteenth-century poet-saint
Harivamsh. Harivamsh held distinctive
views on the status of Radha, which his
community has preserved. Whereas
earlier poetry had often portrayed
Radha as the god Krishna’s adulterous
mistress, the Radhavallabhans conceive
of her as his lawful wife and as a deity
whose status was equal with Krishna’s.
Their devotion was focused on Krishna
and on his status as the “beloved of
Radha” (Radhavallabh).