y adored in the form known as Makhan
Chor or the Butter Thief.[389] This represents him as a crawling child
holding out one hand full of curds or butter which he has stolen. We
speak of idolizing a child, and when Hindu women worship this image
they are unconsciously generalizing the process and worshipping
childhood, its wayward pranks as well as its loveable simplicity, and
though it is hard for a man to think of the freaks of the butter thief
as a manifestation of divinity, yet clearly there is an analogy
between these childish escapades and the caprices of mature deities,
which are respectfully described as mysteries. If one admits the
worship of the Bambino, it is not unreasonable to include in it
admiration of his rogueries, and the tender playfulness which is
permitted to enter into this cult appeals profoundly to Indian women.
Images of the Makhan Chor are sold by thousands in the streets of
Muttra.

Even more popular is the image known as Kanhaya, which represents the
god as a young man playing the flute as he stands in a careless
attitude, which has something of Hellenic grace. Krishna in this
form is the beloved of the Gopis, or milk-maids, of the land of Braj,
and the spouse of Radha, though she had no monopoly of him. The
stories of his frolics with these damsels and the rites instituted in
memory thereof have brought his worship into merited discredit.
Krishnaism offers the most extensive manifestation to be found in the
world of what W. James calls the theopathic condition as illustrated
by nuns like Marguerite Marie Alacoque, Saint Gertrude and the more
distinguished Saint Theresa. "To be loved by God and loved by him to
distraction (jusqu'a la folie), Margaret melted away with love at the
thought of such a thing.... She said to God, 'Hold back, my God, these
torrents which overwhelm me or else enlarge my capacity for their
reception'."[390] These are not the words of the Gita-govinda or the
Prem Sagar, as might be supposed, but of a Catholic Bishop describing
the transports of Sister Marguerite Marie, and they illustrate the
temper of Krishna's worshippers. But the verses of the Marathi poet,
Tukaram, who lived about 1600 A.D. and sang the praises of Krishna,
rise above this sentimentality though he uses the language of love. In
a letter to Sivaji, who desired to see him, he wrote, "As a chaste
wife longs only to see her lord, such am I to Vitthala.[391] All the
world is to me Vitthala and nothing else