("companion," "friend")
The followers (bhakta) of the deity Krishna, and to a lesser degree, devotees
of the god Rama, created the concept of friendship as a religious ideal.
Both of these gods are avatars (incarnations) of Vishnu, and
Vaishnava devotion emphasizes not just the worship of the chosen deity, but
also the concepts of connection and community—both between the deity and the
devotee and among devotees themselves.
Extensive visualization exercises were common in Vaishnava
devotional practice, in which followers imagined the deity's everyday
activities—for Krishna, the modest life of a rural cowherd, and for Rama, the
life of a prince.
To aid this visualizing process, some devotional guides
include comprehensive daily timetables of the deity's activities.
Devotees were able to symbolically join the deity's universe
and participate in the deity's divine play (lila) on earth, allowing them to
create a connection with God by sharing the ordinary elements of daily life.
Devotees often saw themselves as the deity's sakhis or
friends—in some instances, male companions, and in others, female companions of
the deity's consorts, Radha and Sita—in this kind of vision.
Taking on the identity of a sakhi gave a devotee a tangible
presence in the heavenly realm, allowing him or her to both see and participate
in the god's earthly activities.
