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38 Translating Medieval OrissaAmong the translations available, Trilochan Das’sGobindagita is the earliest. By caste, Trilochan was a barber, abackward caste in the caste hierarchy, which normally had no accessto the Sanskrit language. According to K.C. Sahoo, Trilochan was atranslator belonging to the late 16 th century (1981: 53), but there area number of references in Manibandha Gita and Kabikalpa Tika byAchyutananda Das to this text and its author. Das’s translationalintervention was revolutionary in many ways. First, he conceives thetext as being multi-layered in significance. For him, while the outererotic surface is meant for the plebeian reader, the inner subtext ofthe core is metaphysical. Radha and Krishna, the amorousprotagonists of the source text, become the ‘Jiva’ (‘the essentialcreated being’’) and ‘Parama’ (‘the supreme absolute’) in thetranslated one. Therefore, we see a simultaneous literal renderingalong with a kind of inverted Bhasya, which instead of simplifyingthe complex, transforms the ordinary into an abstract metaphysicaldiscourse. This construction of a metaphysical discourse aroundGeeta Gobinda through translational practice unalterably afforded asecular text a spiritual significance and set the trend for allsubsequent translations of the text. Though many subsequenttranslations confined themselves to the rendering of only the eroticouter surface, in the popular perception, this continued to be a sacredtext. Moreover, this is the earliest instance of an ‘iconic’ translation(as characterised by Ramanujan). Ironically the translational strategyadopted by Das saves it from degenerating into pornography, theinevitable risk a translation runs when such a text is mediated in apeople’s language.The next important translation of Geeta Govinda isBrindabana Das’s Rasabaridhi. The title he chooses for his text isdrawn from the Vaishnav aesthetics where Krishna is theembodiment of all the aesthetic pleasures. Any aesthetic enterprisehaving Krishna at its center is therefore full of ‘rasa’, the essence ofaesthetic enjoyment. He calls his translation ‘Rasabaridhi’, which