CHA I TANYA

AND

H I S COMPAN I ONS

(W ith Two Tr i - co lou r

B eing Lectures del i vered at th e Un i versi ty of

Cal cu tta as Ramtan u Lah i ri Research Fei iow

for l 913= l 4

By

RA I SAHIB Dl NES l l CHANDRA SEN , B .A

Fe l low and Head Exam iner , Calcutta Un iversity, AssociateMember ,—As iat icSocietyof Bengal , Aut h or of

‘Historyof Benga l i Language and Literature ’

Typical Se lect ions from Benga l i Li terature ’

,

‘Banga Bh asa=0 =

Sah i tya’

, Vaisnava L iterature of Mediaeval Bengal ’ ,and oth er works .

Publ ish ed by th e

UN IVERS ITY OF CALCUTTA

I N TRODUC T I ON

I n the vast l iteratu re of the Vaisnavas, a

stress is laid on Prema or spiritual love . It is

not that roman tic sen t imen t which a man feels

for a woman ,nor that a mother feels for her

chi ld,thou gh for the pu rpose of expressing it

in l iteratu re , i t becomes inevitable to adopt the

phraseology of human passion . The Chai tanya

Ch ari tamrta says that an earth ly passion is

‘Kama’

and not‘Prema.

’ The former l im its

th evision to a narrow place,nay darkens i t ; it

does not

{

al low a person to see beyond h is self,

wh ile the latter (Prema) is l ike the glorious su n

i llum inating the tru ths of the Un iverse .

1 Chai

tanya himse lf said “the roman ce of sexual love ,often confounded with Prema

,is not tru e love .

It is when sexual fee ling is total ly extinct that

tru e love wi l l grow in the sou l .”2

Prema or spiritual love may grow fromearthly passions even in their debased form

,

1 “W cm:mam fifi-Baaw &c.amWar

” w e camfria e m

Ch ai tanya Ch ari tamrta, Adikh anda.

2cm cm W W : cm W W i ll I

cam fir 6a? i saimcmam am 212maffirm I

can cam w W I Hafiz uW e; affirmWi fe at?! cm i s :

of53mcm W feats 7c: n

Kadach a byGovinda Dasa.

v ii i INTRODUCTION .

as i t did in the case of B i lvamangala Thaku r .

But in its fu l l blown aspects,it presen ts an

unearthly beau ty , as the li iv does, growing from

the fi l thy underground soi l

W hat then is th is Prcma of th e Vaisnavas ?

The image of Krsna is worshipped by them .

W hether i t be a Christ or a Krsna or some

othe r defied Man,no matte r

,bu t the image in

the temple h as some power to attract the sou l

and lead it to the real ization of the h ighest

spiritual j oy . When the bells of the Even ing

Service are ru ng,the incense is bu rn t and five

l ights are waved before the image , th e sou l

endowed with fine susceptibi li ties often drinks

deep j oy from an inward sou rce,the natu re of

which cannot be we l l defined . To a lover and

poet,the image appears not as a gross th ing bu t

as someth ing immaterial , a foun t of joy and

beau ty for ever .

Such joys have been tasted by the mystics

al l ove r tne world . The experiences of S t .

Theresa,S t . John of Cross

,Suso , Catherine of

S iena,S t . Juan and other mysti cs of E u rope

offer poin ts of close affin i ty to those of

Crnivasa,Narottama, Cyamananda and other

Vaisnavas of Bengal . W hat matter, whether

i t be a Christ or Krsna ? The spiritual ex

perience , the ecstasies of j oy , th e exalted emotions

and th e pain of separation are the same in each

case .

INTRODUCTION. ix

To Chaitanya th e image of h is Krsnaflashed from al l directions in whatever h e saw

around h im . He savs

Everywhere is the image of Krsna

presented to the eye . On ly those wh o have

attained a clear v ision are privi leged to see the

glorious sight .” l

Beyond the phenomena of the world,there

is a higher plane , the paradise of the mystics.

There a hundred lyres sound the melodiousmusic of a strange land, there a hundred flowers

of u ndecayed blossom send forth their sweet

fragrance, and there Beau ty herself opens her

doors and enters the sou l of Man overwhelming

it with tender emotions and ecstasies.

Read the portion of Chaitanya Chari tamrta

where Chaitanya at the sight of the temple of

Jagannath a wept alou d and u ttered ‘

J ag’ ‘Jag

’

‘Ja,

’ half broken words, in h is attempts to u tter

Jagannatha,’

and faltering in h is speech fe l l

senseless on the ground in the height of h isemotional fel icity . Recovering , he recited

before Svarupa Damodara a glolca of Kavya

Prakaca, which mav be thu s free ly translated .

I remember the day when we loved each

other on the banks of the Reva. To - day the

1 am acaewfiem amaa l

caattain fitsme: vi ii? ! fiflfl '

c’l uKadach a byGovinda Dasa.

I NTRODUCTI ON .

sweet breeze blows. Th e Malat i blooms around

and the Kadamva flower,drenched with dew

,

sends i ts fragrance , and you my bel oved , are

presen t before me here,and so am I before you ,

the same that I ever was. B ut yet doesmy heart

long for a u n ion with you in the shades of the

cane - bowers on the banks of the Reva.

” l

This language of earthly passion h as borne a

spiritual interpretation . The palace of a powerfu l

Raja was near the temple of Pu ri . J agannath a

was worshipped with great array and pomp .

God - v ision was beheld by Chai tanya there thou gh

in the m idst of earthly splendou r ; bu t h is sou l

yearned for it in the sweet retiremen t of the

woodland bowers of Vrndavana.

This vision kept h im in a highly strung sta te

of emotional j oy du ring h is l ife , and it proved

to be the greatest sou rce of attraction to those

wh o beheld it in h im . W hat tru th there is in

this mystic V ision—whether it is the resu l t of a

frenzied brain or the disease ‘cal ipathy

’

,the name

with which W estern rational ism h as branded i t,is a problem wh ich is not for me here to solve .

The psychologists wil l find ou t the tru th on th is

poin t . Bu t if i t be a d isease , h ow cou ld i t

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“

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Th e Ki wya Prukaqa.

Quoted byC h ai tanya Ch ari tamrta,Madhya ,18 th Ch apter .

I NTRODUCTI ON . xi

pu rify hundreds of lives ? Those wh o were

wicked,became good

,

—the cru el hearts became

tender,—the u ncharitable hands learnt to distri

bu te charity,and the false became tru e u nder

i ts spel l . Cou ld a disease ever do that ? A

man iac and a diseased brain are despised every

where . Even the dogs of the streets bark at

them . Bu t the mystics are worshipped and

their influ ence works wonders in the moral

world .

The vision which the Indian mystics saw was

not a matte r of chance - acqu isi tion to them .

The Vaisnavas have laid down the laws to be

observed for the attainm en t of the plane from

which these v isions may be beheld , in a com

prehensive manner . The moral developmen t

shou ld be first of al l perfect in one . The next

stage i s to train the sou l to humi lity and

I'GVCI

'BH CG.

One shou ld be humbler than a straw, more

meek - and patient than a tree,and withou t seek

ing honou r for one’

s ownse lf freely give it to

others and in humble spirit sing the praises of

Krsna.

” l

The psalm XXI I says B u t I am a worm

and not a man—a reproach of man and despised

of the pe0 p1e .

”

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"

fil fl ifii 'l lmm st i fli ng art atrian

I NTRODUCTI ON .

This Christian hum i l ity is simi lar to th at

enj oined in the Vaisnava scriptu res.

The tree is the great emblem of religious

meekness and sacrifice in the eves of the

Vaisnavas. Chai tanya Ch ari tam i ta detai ls

some of i ts featu res which shou ld be the gu ide

of al l seekers of the myst ic l ight .

“The tree does not wan t a drop of water

from anyone though i t dries up . It does not

speak of the wrong s i t su ffe rs,bu t g ives shelter

even to one wh o cu ts i t with h is axe . It

exposes i tse lf to sun and ra in on l y to give fru its

and flowe rs to others.

”

I s not Chr ist the Tre e thu s spoken of in Chai

tanya Ch ari tamrta P and here also the Vaisnava

ideal h as a paral lel in Christian i ty . The tree

i t m ight be fu rther said , nou rishes i tself by the

sweet j u ice it draws from the mother earth , al l

unseen by others. This is the spring and

fou ntain of i ts al l - sacr ificing love . If one

nou rishes h is sou l secret l y wi th god ’

s love,l ike

the tree wi l l i t give i ts highest gift to human ity

withou t complain ing against the wrongs i t may'

su ffer . E ven the enem ies wi l l have nothing bu t

love from su ch a sou l . W hen this al l - sacrificing

love and meekness have been deve loped in the

sou l,i t wi l l be privi lege d to enter the mysti c

plane from which it wi ll see sights of imperish

able beau ty and hear the sound of that mu sic

which never dies away .

I NTRODUCTI ON . xii i

My lectu res in connection with Ram tanu

Lahiri Research Fel lowship and as a Un iversi ty

Reader wi ll u n fold the history Of the mystics of

Bengal derived main ly from the sou rces Of Old

Bengal i l iteratu re . I have also tried to draw

paral le ls from the history Of W estern mystics in

several places. As the whole Of the past

Bengal i Literatu re is permeated by a religious

elemen t,I may not

,I ven tu re to presume

,be

blamed,while exploring this l i teratu re

,for

laying stress on i ts predom inan t ideas, which

are not confined merely to those of a l iterary

natu re .

These lectu res were del ivered by me to the

Un iversity Of Calcu tta as Ramtanu Lahiri

Research Fel low I n the History Of Bengal i

Language and Literatu re for 1913- 1 91 4 . The

Ramtanu Lahiri Fel lowship was created by the

Un iversi ty ou t Of the funds su pplied by Late

Babu Sarat Kumar Lahiri to commemorate h is

i l lustriou s father’s name wh ich the Fel lowship

bears. Babu Ramtanu Lah iri’

s name is

revered throughou t Bengal for h is great pietyand love of le tters. It was, therefore

, a

fitting tribu te to h is memory to associate

h is name wi th the cause Of research in

the field Of Bengal i Literatu re I only fear

lest I prove unworthy Of my task , associated,

as it is,with su ch a dear and revered

name .

I NTRODUCTI ON .

I n conclusion , I mu st thankfu l ly acknowledge

myindebtedness to Mr . W i l liam Rothenste in wh o

kindly rev ised the manuscript Of these Lectu res

two years ago. Mr . A . C . Ghatak,Su perin tenden t

Of the Un iversity Press,kindly read some Of the

proofs for me,but as considerab le al te rat ions

and addit ions h ad to be made subsequ en tly and

Mr . Ghatak cou ld not read al l the proofs, there

have been many prin ting m istakes in th e book

and I am sorry they escaped me as I am not a

good proof - reader myse lf.

BEHALA ,(Near Calcu tta) DINE SH CHANDRA SEN .

May zett , 1917.

CON TE N T S

I .

— Bengal ’s great love for Chaitanya

Chaitanya in paintings, the Gau rachandrika, a favourite couplet, the

appreciation by scholars, aversion for

th eological dispu tes

I I .

—Chaitanya and Pratapa B fidra

Purusottama Deva and Padmavati,

‘the

Royal Sweeper", Prataparudra’s scholar

ship and valour, Chaitanya refuses to see

th e King, th e origin Of t i rtcma songs,

th e interview, Chaitanya’s unwilling

ness to meddle in worldly affairs,h is

frenz ies of love

III .— I nterv1ew with Sanatana and

Ru pa

Th e anecdote of th e burning Of a rich

garment, Rfipa’s works, the report Of

Sanatana’s illness, h is fligh t, 15 gold

mohars attract a robber, th e lessonreceived from an Old woman

, interviewwith Cri kanth a, the coarse blanketworth Rs. 3

,Sanatana ai ieted with

ecz ema, Sanatana tries to remain alooffrom Chaitanya, J agadananda

’s advice,

‘

your praisesbitter as at”; ju ice’, burnttoes, Sah atana starts for Vrndavana 16—28

coNTENTS

PAGE .

I V - ~Advaitacharya

His ancestor N rsinha Nanicl , learning withou t faith , Advaita

’

s prayer, Cach i chargesAdvaita with turning the h ead of her son ,

Advaita departs from th e Mal l /3 cult fora wh ile, h is wives, Cri vasa Acharya 29 3—l <

V . N ityananda

Sympathywith the fallen ,

‘death Of Budbism ’

in Bengal , Udharana Datta, Chaitanya’

s

great faith in N i tyananda, J agai and

Madhai,th e bru tal assault, th e remorse

,

th e pardon, th e Madbai y/ml , Nitya

nanda’s marriage, V i rach andra 35

VI .—C;rivasa

Cri vz‘

tsa’s status in society, Cr i vasa and th e

ch ild Chaitanya, the turning point in h is

life, th e L'mzrl e flowers in (Pri vfisa’s court

yard and tal k abou t Chai tanya’s love for

God, Crivasa’

s diagnosis, the courtyard of

(zrivasa, th e playorganised byChaitanya,th e hostile people , Chaitanya

’s seam/yaw

and the general mourning , Crivfisa’s

grief, Cri vasa at Puri 47—615

VII .

—Haridasa

Early life and conversion to Vaisnavism,

Persecution, victoryover temptation, the

harlot turned a devotee, a retribu tion ,

Haridasa as a player in th e dramatic per

formance given byChaitanya, what takes

place during th e Hood, Haridasa reconciled

with th e H indu community, th e respect

CONTENTS

i n wh ich h e was h eld, attempts to proveh im of Hindu extraction, Kal idasa,—thegreat champion Of caste- reform

VIII .—Lokanath a Goswam i

Pedigree and early life, th e order inviolable,journey to Vrndavana, he misses Chaitanya, h is piety

IX .—Vasudeva Sarvabhauma

The rise Of the Navadvi pa- school of logic,

Raguna'

tha h is worthy disciple, the

Mohamedan persecution and th e fligh t OfVasudeva from Nadiy

'

a,honoured by the

King Of Orissa, intervIew with Chaitanya,Vasudeva’

s resolve to improve Chaitanya’s

spiritual training, th e silent listener, the

extraordinarydiscourse, Vasudeva admitsChaitanya’s divinity, Durgadas, h is son

X .- Ramananda Roy

I nterview with Chaitanya, th e famous dia

logue, th e GOpi , th e regai n/rye, Rama

Roy’s admiration for Chaitanya, the song

Of Ramananda, itsmysticism

XI .- Narahari Sarkar

The pedigree, why he is not mentioned I n

theChaitanya Bhagavata, Loch ana Dasa'

h is disciple, the first vernacu lar songs on

Chaitanya, h e is the first to preach th e

Chaitanya- cult—Chaitanya’s recollectionof Narahari in the Deccan

xvn

PAGE .

64—73

73 —78

894 100

100—4 03

xvni CONTENTS

PAGE.

XII .—Vanci vadana

The Vanci ei ksa, Vangi Vadana’

s songs, h is

descendants 104—107XIII .

—Vasudeva Gh osaHis indebtedness to Narahari 107—108

XIV .

—Mu rari Gu pta

Desists from committing su icide, th e firstbiographyOf Chaitanya. 108—1 1 1

XV .—Gopala Bhatta

H is pedigree, th e tale of Chaitanya’

s stay

ing for four month s with Gopala Bhat l a

in the Deccan is unreliable, one of th e

six apostles 1 1 1—1 15

XVI .—Vakrecwara Pandit

His dancing 1 15—1 16XVII .

—Gau ri Dasa

Th e images Of Chaitanya and N i tyauanda

at Kalna 1 16—1 17XVIII . Paramananda Sen (Kav i

karnapu ra)Th e village Kanch rtipara, th e Krsna temple,

an extract from th e Chaitanya- chandrodaya

Y I X .

—Ragh unath a DasSaptagrama

,Hiranya and (i ovardhana,

t al ly spiritual training, interview withChai tanya, th e necessityof applying force,h e meets Chaitanya again, Chaitanya

’

s

stern attitude towards Ragh unatha ,

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

XX CONTENTS

the [Mr/amt songs, some of th e Ai rman

singers of Chaitanya’s time

,an example of

popular devotion for Chaitanya

XXIII .

—The fou r Sects of the

Vaisnavas

Maddh i ,—Madhyacharya, J ayat irtha, Sanaka,Nimbadi tya, Rudra Val lavacharya meets

Chaitanya, h is commentary, th e pun on

th e word “Swamy”,

some of the i r

peculiar ru l es, th e Cri SOCt- i

XXIV .—The Gu rus of the Maddh i

sect

Madhavendra Puri,I evara Puri , Kecava

Bharati , Madhavendra’s trances, mystic

regard for dark - blue colour,Madhavendra’

s

visit to Vrndavana, th e strange lad

offering milk to Madhava, “you truly

love me,

”the discoveryof th e image of

(i mpala, th e th ief of th e milk .

XXV .—The pedigree of Chai tanya

and h is wi fe

XXVI .—Th e tou r of Chaitanya in

Eastern Bengal

The last 2é cantos of the Premavi lasa,

Faridpur and Su varnagrama,Egara

Si ndu ra,Bhi tadia

, Dhaka Daksina

XXVII .

—Chaitanya’

s tokens

The Iran/Mi,the Kecasamfidh if th e G i tfi ,

th e oar, th e sandals ; the present. Nadiya

PAGE .

177 - 198

198 20m

206 217

217- 220

z zo- sz i

CONTENTS 1xxi

PAGE .

is not what i t was in Chaitanya’s time

,

th e image of Chaitanya, the pictures,Gadada- stamé /m 224—232

XXVIII .—Chaitanya’

s tou r in Sou thern

India

VVhy the Kudoba is not recognised as a

standard book byth e orthodox Vai snavas,

the wri ter of the Kadch ’

a and the famou q

servant of Chaitanya“

Cri Govinda”are

identical , i t is a great book inspi te of th eindifierence with wh ich it was treated,th e latter part of Govinda Dasa

’s life, h is

family h istory, Chaitanya travels to Pu ri,

at Puri till March , 1510 in sou th ernI ndia,eoversion Of Ramagiri, the leaderof the Buddh ists ; Ti rtha Rama and the

two harlots,Chaitanya begs cloth es for

an old woman at Munna,th e reformation

of th e robber- ch ief Bh i lpantha, visit todifferent sh rines

,Bhargadeva, at the

sigh t of th e sea, Rudrapati , the Raja of

Trivancore, Ramgiri and oth er sh rines,I evara Bharati , furth er sou th , th e Gurjara

,

th e Sahya h ills, a black sh eep at Poona,

theMuraris, conversion of Naroj i , th e

robber ch ief, Khandala, Nasik , Panchavat i ,Damana

,Suratha, the Raja of Baroda

,

crossesCubh ramati and reach es Dvaraka,Somanatha

,the Grinar h ills

,Dbanantari

J hari, Prabhasa, Amaravati,Dohada on

th e bank of the Narmada, Chaitanya

gives h is share of bread to an old woman,

XXI I CONTENTS

PAGE .

a strange smmfiyxz, the cure of a lepor at

Deoghara, V idyanagara, Cantievara the

Rajaof the place, Dasapala, return to

Pu ri and th e great reception 232—270

XXIX .

—Chaitanya’

s tou r in Upper

India

Starts privately, Bal ladeva’

s description not

adeq uate , to Benares, Prakacananda’s

contempt of Chaitanya, to Allahabad,to

\I u ttra, Vrndavana,the Pathan horsemen

XXXi—The pedigree of A dvai taAdvaita’s earlylife 284—293

XXXI .

—A l ist of the Mysti cs

The mystics who developed th e Bh ak ti

cu l t in I ndia specially in Bengal 293 30 1

XXX II .—The shrine of Vrndavana 31 1—305

XXX II I .—The S tory of some Pretenders

Vasudeva, Kapi ndra, Ch udadbari , J oseph

Smith 305 309

CHAITANYA

AND

H IS COMPANIONS

I . B enga l’

s great lovefor Chai tanya.

Chaitanya passed away from this world in

1533 AD . I n the eyes of the people he h ad

al ready become an I n carnat ion of God . The

Vai snava biograph ers wrote long and erudite

m emo i rs Of h is l ife and teachings. The poets

sang of h is emotional fervou r and trances. The

scu lptors and pain ters b usied them selves In re

produ cing the beau ty oi h is handsome person and

Ch ai tanya m pm g of the Saa/ci r trma scenes where“gs h is tran ces

”

and songs captivated

th e sou l Of the adm iring mu lt itude . These were

Often painted in lacqu er on wooden boards u sed

as book covers and produ ced for the decorationof the Bhagavata- l iteratu re in Ben gal i from the

16th to the early 1 8 th cen tu ries. Parents in

Bengal i homes gave to their ch ildren those

names by which Ch aitanya was cal led , sh owmg

h ow dearly they loved and cherished h is mem ory .

Gau ranga,Gau r

,Chaitanya and N imai have

since become very comm on names in this

coun try . Even the beloved city of Nadiya,

‘

2 CHAI TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

rendered holy by h is birth,con tribu ted i ts share

to the form ing of a Bengal i ’s name . Nadevasi,

a residen t of Nadiya,Nagaravasi

—a dweller of

the ci tv (the c ity is here Nadiya) , Nader - Chand

or the m oon of Nadivaand i tsm ore elegan t form

Navadvi pa- chandra now becam e the favou rite

names in which the Bengal is prided ou t of their

great l ove and adm iration for theNadiya- prophet .

From Orissa to Man ipu r throu gh a large tract

of coun try covering an area of abou t 224750 sq .

m iles Chaitanya was now worshipped in temples,while the streets of c ities and vi l lage - paths

resounded wi th h is praises in popu lar songs.

The coun try was fu l l of Radha- Krsna songs,but in a K i r tana,

no Radha- Krsna song cou ld

be in trodu ced wi thou t a prel im inary song in

Th e Gum honou r Of Gau rach andra (Chai tadmndr ika‘

nya) and this prel im inarv song was

cal led Gau rach andrika. The love songs of

Radha- Krsna,which h ad a deep spiritual

sign ificance long before th e adven t of Chai tanya,became now thorou gh ly ideal ised and bore

another beau tifu l symbolic m eaning in which

the love - ecstasies Of Chaitanya formed a charm

ing backgrou nd . I n the m idst of the lou d

music of tambour ine and the shri l l clang of

cymba ls, the Gau rach andrika sounded the

keynote of a new phase of Vaisnav ism in

which the incidents of Chai tanya’

s l i fe i l lu strated

in a concrete form the hi gh spiri tual philosophy

BENGAL’s GREAT LOVE FOR CHAI TANYA . 3

of the sect . The rustics and the unclean

castes particu larly showed a frenz ied

fervou r in singing the praises of one wh o h ad

opened the portals of brotherhood to al l men

i rrespective of caste . S om etimes for whole

n ights they wou ld be seen dancing in j oy and

singing h is nam e in the smal l cou rtyards facing

their straw - roofed hu ts. The Vaisnava singers

v isi ted the hou se Of the rich and the poor al ike

every morn ing,and sang that swee t cou plet

which N i tyananda, the great apostle , h ad h imself

composed du ring the l ife - tim e Of Chaitanya

A favou r i t e“S ing praises of Chaitanya,

cou plet brother, and take h is name .

One wh o loves h im is dear to me as my l ife .

” 1

I n short,love for Chai tanya h ad en tered deep

I n to the heart Of ru ral Bengal and this can be

said of. none other of her sons with equal force .

I n h is l ife - t ime also th is great ‘ love for h im

was man ifest among the rich and the poor, the

l iterate and u n lettered al ike . Vasu deva Sarva

bh auma, the greatest Indian logician of the age,

honou red in the cou rt of Raja Prataparudra of

O rissa—was defeated by Chai tanya in a public

debate , and when Chaitanya by h is devotion and

Th e appreciatrances showed himself far above

“on bysch olarS the plane of scholarship , h is learned

“we Crista a? chats 615 charmsW 1

caas (that? era caas errataan a”

4L CHA I'I‘

ANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

an tagon ist th rew h imself at h is feet and regarded

h im rather as a God than as a man . H is

passionate panegyric of Chaitanya sti l l v ibrates

with al l the warm th of tru e poetry in h is

celebrated Sanskri t hymns.

1 The veteran

scho lar ’s vehemen t adm iration for Chaitanya

also found expression in h is exclamation qu oted

in the Chaitanya Ch aritamrta (Madhya Khanda) .“E ven i fmysons d ie or a thunder bolt falls

on my head

I can bear i t , bu t I cannot bear par ting w ith

Chai tanya.

Prakacananda,the l eader of the learned

Sannyasi s of Benares, fou nd h imself in a l ike

manner u nable to meet the scholarly arg umen ts

of Chaitanya ; bu t when the latter re vealed

h imself as a Lover of God , the great ascetic of

Benares discovered in h im far h igher qual it ies

than those of a m e re scholar, and accepted h im

as h is sav iou r and god .

3 Bharat i G osain of

Chand i pu r was the foremost scholar of the

Deccan at the time . Govintl a Das, one of the

b iographers of Chai tanya, gives a detai led

accoun t of h ow th isscholar was made to acknow

See h i s hymns to Ch ai tanya quoted by Krsna Dasa Kaviraj a

in th e Ch ai tanya Ch ar itamrta.

2 “M i s fire frfi davfi walgafin? ari a? an

“? am”

Ch a i tanyachm t tdnrr ta .

3 See Ch ai tanya Ch ar i tamrta.

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I I . and P ratc'

tp cu'ndm .

As O rissa h ad become th e ch ief theatre of

Vaisnava act iv ities du ring 1 51 6- 1 538 , the period

when Chaitanya l ived there,Prataparudra, the

ki ng of the place having been one of h is

stau nchest fol lowers— I shal l here briefly re late

certain facts abou t the latter which may be of

some in te rest to the stu den ts of Vaisnava

l i teratu re .

Puru sottama Deva,father of Prataparudra,

ascended the throne of Orissa in 1478 AD .

He took a fancy for the princess of Kanj ivarem ,

Purusottama

a remarkable beau ty , and wan ted

nzl ém tfind to marry her . The king . of Kan j i

varem rej ected h is proposal on th e

ground that the king of Orissa,according to an

old cu stom ,served as sweeper in the Jagannatha

temple for a dayevery year .1 Pu rusottama D eva

on hearing that h is proposal was decl ined took

an oath that at any cost he wou ld carry the

1 We find in th e Ch ai tanya Ch ar i tamrta (Madhya Kh anda,Ch ap .

X I V) RajaPrataparudra acting as sweeper w i th a golden broom i n

th e temple of Jagannath a . Cool water perfum ed w i th sandal wasemployed for cleansing th e doorways of th e templ e by th e royalsweeper . H ere are t h e l ines

m mm «aman 0m

swim 61mm 9Mmm H

swmmac—5 1m asfifiea u

”

CHA I TANYA AND PRATAPARUDRA . 7

princess by force and marry her to a real

sweeper . He fou ght a hard battle anddefeating

the Raja of Kanj ivarem seized the fair princess

and carried her away to Pu rI . Tru e to h is oath,

however, h e‘

made over the princess Padmavati

to h is ch ief m in ister desi ring h im to wed her

to a sweeper . The m in ister as wel l as the

people of Pu r i al l comm iserated her m isfortune,

and at the n ex t Rath a Yatra ceremony when

the Raja began to perform th e o"'ice of Chandal

(sweeper) with a golden broom,the individual

en tru sted with the charge of the lady brou ght her

Royal forth and presen ted her to h im,

saying “You are the sweeper u pon

whom I bestow her . Moved by the in te rcession

of h is subj ects,the Raja at last consen ted

to marry Padmavati and carried her to h is

palace at Cu ttack . The narrative is given in

detai l in a U riya poem cal led th e Kanj ikaverl

Punth i and in al l the importan t h istories of

Or issa. Orm e m en tions the tradition of th is

inciden t (Vol . I I) , thou gh there are some dis

crepancies in h is accoun t as to the details.

Raja Prataparudra was the on ly son of

Pratapam drmRaja Pu ru sottama Deva and Ran i

flagsh i p and Padmavati and ascended the throne

of O rissa i n 1 503 A .D . Mr . A .

Stir l ing,th e historian of Orissa, says of th is

monarch : “H is wisdom and learn ing soon became

the theme and adm iration of the Whole country.

8 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPANI ONS .

H e h ad studied deeply al l the Castras and wasvery fond of dispu ting and conversing on points

of theology and he in trodu ced many cu rious

constructions of h is own and doctrin es wh ich

were al together new . He was wi thal'

devou t

and bu i l t many temples. H is skill i n the art

ofwvar and civi l governmen t was em inen t ; in

short he was e qual ly celebrated as an able,

learned and warl ike and rel igious prince .

” 1 Mr .

Stirl ing then writes at some l ength abou t the

bverth rowof Bu ddhism in Orissa and the influ

en ce of Chai tanya over the king and says,“Th e

Raja wh o could find l eisu re for sch emes of

conqu est and con troversies marched wi th h is

army down toSetubandh a Ramecvara, redu ced

several forts and took the famou s c ity of Vijaya

nagar . The Mah omedans Of the Deccan also

gave abundan t'

occupation to h is arms on th e

sou thern fron tier of th e Raj ; and whilst he

was occu pied in repell ing or provoking the ir

attacks,the A fgh ans from Bengal made an ia

road in to th e Province in great force—when th e

Governor Anan ta S inghar finding h imsel f u nable

to oppose auv effectual resistence took refu ge

in the strong fortress of Sarangh er, sou th of

the Katj udi .”

Th e Mah omedans comm i t ted

dreadfu l devastat ions.

“Bu t Raja Prataparudra

1 H istoryof Or issa byA . S t irl ing ,Esq pr i n ted at th e De

’

s UtkalPress, 131 , Mat igan j S treet , Balasore , 1891 , p

CH A I TANYA AND PRATAPARUDRA . 9

on receiv ing in tel ligence of these disastrou s

occu rrences h astened back from the Deccan and

perform ing a j ou rney of mon ths in a few days

he came up with the invading army before they

h ad left Ksetra,gave them battle and destroyed

a great number of Mah omedans.

” 1

The destru ct ion of Hindu tem ple by th e

A fghans referred to above are m ention ed in the

Chaitanya Ch ari tam rta and other Bengal i works

of the Vaisnavas. Hu sen Saba,the Emperor

of Gau r,h ad himself led these expeditions.

A fte r this Prataparudra con templated the con

qu est of‘Bengal in order to avenge himsel f u pon

Hu sen Saha for the h arm done by th e latter to

h is territories, bu t desisted from doing so ou t of

humane considerations for the Hindus of Bengal

to whom great su fferings wou ld be cau sed by

su ch an expedition .

2

According to Feristh a’

s accoun t there were

som e local revolu tions between 1 493 and 1 524

in the kin gdom of V i jaynagar and Prataparudra

avai led himself of th is opportu n i ty of extending

h is kingdom in the Sou th . I n 1 524,however

,Raja

Krsna Ray ascended the throne of Vi jaynagar

and ru led the kingdom wi th great v igou r and

tact . He su ccessfu l ly ceped with the Maho

medans in th e field and made a treaty with

Hi storyof Or issa byA St i r l ing, E sq , p . 133.

See Ch ai tanya Mangala by J ayananda .

1 0 cuArTANYA AND H I S CompAN I ONs.

Prataparudra by marrying h isdau ghter . A ccord

ing to Mr . S ti rling , Prataparudra reigned from

1 503 to 1 5244. B u t the date of h is death (1 524)is open to obj ection . “Then Chai tanya came to

l ’ur I,in 1 51 0 the king was away, fighting with

th e Baja of Vi jaynagar i u the Deccan . Retu rn ingshortly after he heard of the arrival of Chai tanya

in h is capital,he begged an in terview w ith

h im . He addressed a le tter to Sarvabh auma

requ esting h im to ge t Chai tanya to agree,Sarva

bh auma wrote in rep ly th at Chai tanya was not

wi l l ing to comply wi th h is Maj esty’

s requ est .

The Raja wrote letters to th e compan ions of

C h ai tanya mChaitanya several ly asking them to

fuses to see th e intercede in h is behal f bu tRm Chai tanya refused them saying that

as a san i ty/71.32 he shou ld keep h imsel f as far as

possible awav from th e foun tain of earth lv power

and riches.

Sad at heart Prataparudra con tinu ed h is

attempts to in terv iew Chaitanya . He sen t h is

m in iste r Ramananda Rav wh o was a friend of

Chai tanya to plead h is cau se before h im . Chaitanya

said to h im ,

“A swam/(737, shou l d be blam eless in

thought,in speech and in act . A fam i l iari tv

wi th the king is su re to bring in i ts train a

connection with the world which I have re

nou nced and I can by no m eans al low i t The

ou ter robe of Chaitanya was carried bv Rama

Bay to the king wh o accepted i t as a sacred

CHA I TANYA AND PRATAPARUDRA .

thing wi th tears in h is eyes, since he was not to

have a visi t from Chaitanya himself .

The B atha Yatra or the Car festiv ities of

Jagannath a drew near . The king was sorry not

to be perm i tted to see Chaitanya which even the

meanest of h is su bj ects cou ld do . He was

advised by Kac i Micra,

in whose hou se

Chai tanya stayed,to wai t for the occasion of th e

march of the Great Car when Chaitanya wi th

h is party wou ld come ou t in th e streets singing

the [f i rm/1m songs. The Rajaascended the roof

of h is palace and saw the procession . W hen he

heard the K i r tcma songs he was

beside h imself l n adm i ration and

said to Gopi nath a Micra,

“Never did

I hear su ch me lodiou s songs in my l ife . The

very tu ne captivates my sou l . IVh ence cou ld

they have learn t th is st range mu sical mode P”

GOpi nath a replied ,“This K i r tana song which is

not comparable to anyearth ly m usi c originated

wi th Chaitanya.

” The followers of Chaitanya h ad

al l assembled at Pu ri and j o ined the procession ,

and Gopi nath a, at th e bidding of the king ,

m en tioned the names and qual ifications of each ,and the Baja from that d istance saw the figu re of

Chaitanya in the cen tre of the procession , look

ing more like a God than a man he was in one

of those trances i n which si len t tears bespoke

h is great emotion and love for the Unseen . The

Raja’

s m ind was fi lled with adm iration bu t he

1 2 a r'rANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

did not find chance for an interv iew on this

occasion .

Bu t an opportun i ty soon presen ted itsel f I n

the cou r tyard of Kac i Micra Ch ai tanva h ad

h is trance again and was u nconsci ous of the

ou ter world— in the armsof Ni tvananda,wh i lst h is

compan ions enthu siast ical ly sang X i r i ana songs

aro und h im . The Raja instru cted by Sarva

bh auma su dden l y stol e in to the assembl v and

fell at h is feet . Chai tanya,regain ing consciou s

ness,beheld the k ing and said

,“T

oe to me, I

have tou ched one given to worldly power and

wealth .

” W h en the Baja heard th is he bu rst

in to tears and said,

“Here do I forego al l mypowe r and wealth and su rrender them at you r

feet . Take me, master,as the meanest of those

that love you . Chaitanya was overcome bv

these words. He embraced the Raja in l ove

and the latter—a tal l and robust man—became

al l tears in j oy . Ramananda Bay,

the au thor of the celebrated Sanskrit

drama Jagannatha Val l abh a ” refers to this

occasion in the fol lowing passage This is

indeed a marvel . Raja Prataparudra,wh o is a.

terror to the Pathans, whose physical m ight

su rpasses that of most men ,whose iron contact is

dreaded by the strongest of wrestlers, h as melted

l ike a soft th ing at th e tou ch of Chai tanya .

Govinda Dasa,the con temorary biograph er of

Chaitanya records whenever Ch ai tanya walked

3 )

Th e interview .

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CHA I TANYA AND PRATAPARUDRA .

in the streets wi th a large crowd of men fol lowing

h im wi th song,mu sic and dan ce

,Baja Pratapa

rudra walked on bare feet behind them al l l ike

the humblest of h is su bj ects.

” 1

At one time Chaitanya was asked by some of

h is compan ions to speak a word to th e Raja on

behalf of a crim inal named Gopi nath a Bay wh o

was sen ten ced to death . He was a brother of

Ramananda Bay~—a friend of Chaitanya . The

fam i ly of the Rays was devoted to th e Master

and th is was made a plea for the requ est .

Chaitanya said,I am sorry for h im

,bu t I h ave

no sympath y with h is crim e . You may pray to

God for h im . You pu t m e in a very del icate

position by asking m e— a begga r—to in tercedefor h im . It is for th is reason that I wan ted to

avoid a fam i l iarity wi th the Baja. It on ly

makes me sad to th ink of the misfortu nes of

wordlymen A fter th ismy stay at Pu r i is no

longer fi tting . He got ready to go to Al lah

natha, and when the king heard of th is from

Kac i Micra he released th e crim inal simply

becau se th e matter was brou ghtC h ai t a n ya

’

s to the notice of Chaitanya. Theunwi l l ingn ess tomeddle

fie

in latter on h earing of this said towor ldly a ai rs.

Kac i M i cra,

“What have you

1 wassee an asters sti l lif]? camwaists crrgmfg as u

Kaql cc'

z. by Govm da Dasa .

1 1 C HA I TANYA AND 11 1 8 COMPAN I ONS .

done , Micra ? You shou ld not have represen ted

me as a su pplican t before th e k ing .

” The Raja

in terviewed Chaitanya and said,

“I f you leave my

capital I sh al l tu rn an asce ti c or comm i t

su ic ide .

I n th e wi lds of the Deccan— Ch ai tanya,

accompan ied bv th e b lacksm i th Govinda,

wandered v isiting th e ho l y places. “1 th a torn

rag for h is dress, h is bodv covered w ith mud

and dir t, he walked like a mad man th rou gh

u n t rodden paths ; children threw du st at h im

and clapped the i r h ands saying,

“ Lo ! there

goes th e ascetic mad after God .

”

He gazed at the sky and saw h is

Krsna m i rrored th ere th e rainbow

to h im was the crown of Krsna the flying cranes

a string of white pearls on h is breast ; th e flash

of lightn ing like Krsna’

s pu rple robes ; and th e

dark - blu e colou r of th e c l ou ds again and again

cal led up the vision of K rsna’

s figu re . Everv

river that he saw was to h im th e sacred Yamu na

on whose banks Krsna h ad sported,every

forest were to h is eyes,th e beau ty and sacred

ness of the V ruda groves—the resort of Krsna.

Sometimes as at th e vi llage Ghoga in Gu j rat h e

clasped a N im tree covered with dark - blu e leaves

and thou ght that the tou ch was of Krsna,soft

H i s fi enmes of

love ,

1 Th e deta i ls abou t C h a i tanya’

s in terview and conversa t ion s wu b

Pratii parndra are to be found i n th e Ch a i tanya Ch ar i tam r ta by

KrsnaDasa Kav irfija and i n th e works of Kavi Karnapu ra .

C HAI TANYA AND PRATAPARUD RA . 1 5

and sweet,and for the whole dayh e layu n cou s

cions as i f in the arms of h is Lover while tears

trickled down h is cheeks. Sometimes h e nodded

h is head to and fro seeing some celestial v isi on

and remained mu te for davs whi le tears al one

ind icated h is j oy in commun ion with God.

Often three or even fou r days passed in this con

dition du ring wh ich he wou ld neither speak nor

tou ch any food . W hen he came to Trivancore

in 1 51 1 AD . Raja Rudrapati , the reign ing

m onarch,paid a visit to h im and was so mu ch

impressed by the ardou r of“

h is faith and the

beau ty of h is tran ces th at he paid h im the same

homage worship as he did h is tu telary

God .

1

1 For detai ls of th e above narrat i ves th e reader i s referred to th e

Kadch abyGov inda Dasa ,

T1 7. I ntervi ew wi th Sam’mma and Rap e .

Sakar Mall ik and Dah i r Khas, two Brahman

scholars wh o h ad adopted Mah omcdan names

and habits of l ife,were th e m in isters of Hu sen

Saha, the Emperor of Gau da. They were brothers

and their expert knowl edge of Sanskrit poetry

was equal led bv n one in Bengal at the t ime .

They saw Chai tanya first at Ramakel i , a town

near Grauda,and fel t th at they h ad met the

greatest poet ever born in the world . I t appeared

to them after their in terview with h im that the

un iverse was a poem and that the spiritual sou l

alone was priv i leged to read i ts deep poetry .

They parted from Chaitanya completely changed

men . Chaitanya gave th e brothersH indu names

and they were henceforth to be called Sanatana

and Rupa,by which names they h ave since been

known in the field of Sanskrit drama, theol ogy

and poetry,and in fact in al l th e wri tings of the

Vaisnavas.

Hupa’

s m ind now yearned for th at l ife which

is freed from th e worrv of th e worl d bu t is

devo ted to the good of th e worl d,wh ich does not

seek i ts final rest i n the Ni rvana or in the extine

tion of passions bu t that which brings something

posi tive,once a. victorv over passion h as been

won,via

,the real ization of God in the sou l .

INTERVIEW W I TH SANA'

I‘

ANA AND RUPA . 17

While in this state of m ind an inciden t took

place which was a tu rn ing poin t in

Th e anecdote h is l ife . The following anecdote is

zf

él

éfizl

frfifififrelated of Rfipa,

wh o was on ly 27years old at th e t ime , in th e Prema

vi lasa by Ni tyananda Dasa .

Rfipa came home one n ight very late after

doing some importan t S tate work . A fter

retiring to rest he was bitten by a poisonou s

i nsect . H is room was dark and Rfipa cal led ou t

to h is wife askin g her to l igh t a candle imme

diately. B u t the good wife in her haste cou ld

not find a candle . The si lken robe of her

hu sband embroidered with gold was near the

bed and sh e l i ghted a fire wi th i t . Rupa said,

You have spoilt a costly garment in this way1”

The wife said,

“My du ty is to m in ister to you r

com forts and I have done my du ty . Preciou s

ston es or si lken robes are n othing to me when

that du ty is to be done .

” Rupa said,

“My darling,

you have done you r du ty to you r lord bu t I

have not don e m in e . I have h itherto on ly

occu pied myself with preciou s stones and silken

robes.

”Early in the morn ing the n ex t dayhe

took the beggar ’s bowl in h is hand,clad himself

in rags and left h is palatial h ou se . Before

starting he distribu ted h is treasu re in the

following way: One half to the poor and to

Brahman scholars ; one - fou rth reserved for th e

main tenance of h is fam ily and an equal amoun t

1 8 CHAITANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

he left to h is elder brother Sanatana . On com ing

to A l lahabad he wrote the fol l owing metrical

epistle in Sanskrit to Sanatana“Where is now gone

,alas

,the splendou r of

Mathu ra,once the capital of the lord of Yadavas

and where,alas

,is that of Uttara Koeala, the

kingdom of the lord of the Ragh u s ! Think of

the fleeting natu re of earthly glory and decide

the cou rse you shou ld take .

” 1

Rfipa met Chaitanya at Benares where the

latter took pains to instru ct h im in the card inal

poin ts of th e Vaisnava rel igion . H is instru ctions

are given in detai l in th e Chai tanya Char ita

m i ta. Chaitanya ordered h im to go to Vrndavana

and write poems and dramas in Sanskrit

e lu cidat ing the princ iples ofspi ri tual

love . The works that he wrote at

the bidding of the Master su ch as the Lal i ta

madh ava,the B idagdh amadh ava, the Danake l i

kaumudi'

etc .,

are now the master - pieces of

mediaeval Sanskrit Literatu re .

Sanatana,wh o too was no less attracted by

Chaitanya’

s personal i ty , when he rece ived the

verses from h is brother final ly made up h is m ind

to renou nce the world and take the ascetic ’s

Rfipa’

sworks.

wants : it swimfiwti’t

si nce : i t wetsawtaal

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20 AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

Ganges for a bath and he disappeared while

bath ing . Sanatana was thu s set at l iberty. He

lost not a m om en t bu t at once left Gauda as an

ascetic accompan ied by a servan t nam ed Icana.

He crossed the Ganges and arrived a few days

after at the foot of a smal l h i llock cal led Patra.

I cana h ad taken 1 5 gold moh ars withou t th e

knowledge of h is master . They15 Gold Mol narsat tract a robber .

h ad however subsisted on fru i ts

and fou n ta in - water for a few days

and reaching a vil lage at Patra became the

gu ests of a reSpectabl e- look ing man . He was

cal led Bh uya. The u nu sual lv warm atten tion

th is man paid to h is gu ests roused su spicions in

the m ind of Sanatana wh o asked I cana i f he

h ad brou ght any m oney from home . I gana

said he h ad 1 5 gold moh ars wi th h im . Sanatana

paid 1 4 moh ars to h is host wh o was real ly a

robber in disgu ise . The man made no secret of

h is in tentions bu t said he wou ld h ave mu rdered

them at n ight i f the money were not paid . The

remain ing one gold mohar was paid back by

Sanatana to I gana wh o was ordered to leave the

place and retu rn home at once since he sti ll cared

for money .

Sanatana,now left alone

,slept u nder the

shadow of trees at n igh t and passed throu gh

great hardships It is re lated in the Prema

V i lasa that on one occasion he laid h imself

down on th e bare earth in a field for sleep,

I NTERVIEW WITH SANATANA AND RU PA . 21

making pil lows wi th brickbats and clods of earth

to rest h is head,hands

,and feet on . A n old

woman passed by and was heard to make the

following reflec tion :“The asceti c mu st have

Th e l esson wbelonged to a n oble and rich fam l ly

253

523732211 an he h as l eft h is riches bu t cannot

dispense wi th h is old habits.

”

Sanatana as he h eard this rose up and bowed

to the woman and said “You h ave indeed given

me a lesson,good m other . O ld habits andmodes

of l ife are so diffi cu lt to avoid ; bu t I shal l try

to be born anew in myspiri tual l i fe from now.

” 1

Sanatana cam e to Haj ipu r and, dressed i n

rags,layunder the shadow of a tree singing the

praises of God and prayed to H im to gran t h im ‘

a speedy in terview wi th Chaitanya . H is brother

in - law, gri kanth a, happen ed to pass by the way

where he lay. Cri kanth a was sen t by Hu sen

Shawith three lakhs of rupees for pu rchasing

horses at Haj ipu r . He cou ld barely recogn ise

Sanatana in that condition andwasmoved to tears

seeing the great m in iste r redu ced

Qfifii‘

zl

ggfig‘

ffi m to su ch a plight . “I am happy”

,

said Sanatana,

“happier now than

ever I was.

” I t was January and the sharp

win ter - W ind blew, th e bitin g cold eating , as i twere

,in to the very bones. gri kanth a said

,

“If

1 Th i s anecdote i s re lated in th e Premavi lasa byN i tyananda . Th e

su cceeding narrat ives abou t Sanatana are mostly taken from th e

C h ai tanya Ch ar itamrta.

22 CHAITANYA AN D n I s COMPAN I ONS .

you mu st remain an ascetic and wi l l not al ter

you r wayof l ife , pray take this shawl to cover

you r body wi th .

” The rich shawl Sanatana

decl ined to accept . Next a valuable wrapper

was offered which Sanatana declined also .

B u t grikanth awou ld not al low h im to go wi thou t pu tting isometh ing warm rou nd h is body for

protection from cold and forced h im to“

wear a

coarse blanket of'

the valu e of Rs. 3. Sanatana

wen t to Benares and met Chai tanya . The in ter

v iew was fu l l of pathos. The ex - m iniste r said,

I am an ou tcast . Adm i ttan ce tow

you r presen ce

is adm i ttance to heaven . If you wou ld con

descend to accept it,he re do I offe r mybody

and sou l for you r '

service .

” Chaitanya received

h im wi th great k indness, and Sanatana took

leave of h im for a few m inu tes in order to giv e

away h is blanket to a beggar,for he h ad seen

H

Chaitanya glancing at i t ‘

several

bfzfiflt e t(

3311

51? timeswh ile speaking to h im .

1 “ThenRs“ 3

with a coarse'

cotton rag that he h ad

rece ived from the beggar in retu rn h e came to

Chai tanya again,th e

i

latter said,

“ del ighted am

I,that you have now

'

partedfwi th al l that is

worldly. Now vision of God wi l l be clear to

you .

Sanatana went to Mathu ra in order to have

an in terview wi th h is broth er Rapa and thence

CBTETF‘ZCafl 91m21? 5175 am Cha i tanya Chm etc-

im'r to .

INTERVIEW WITH SANATAN A AND RUPA . 23

retu rned to Pu ri to m eet Chaitanya again . He

cam e by the woodland path of Jhari Khanda

(Chota Nagpu r) . The d irty water and moist air

of the forests brou ght on eczema al l over Sana

tana’

s body . I n this pl ight he arrived at Pu ri .

He thou ght of h is sins and th is weighed on h is

m ind . He was fal len from the B rahman i c order

and wou ld have no access t o the temple of

Jagannatha ; bu t when the image of that deity

wou ld be brou ght ou t on i ts Car in May, he

determined that h e wou ld make an offer of h is

body to the god and die under the wheels of the

Great Car . My body fu l l /of'

th is f ou l eczema

and bu rdened with sins wi ll be of no u se and as

a pun ishmen t for mysins I wi l l thu s die here .

”

SanammW i th this determ ination he cal led on

affl ictea wi th Hari Dasa, the Mah omedan convertecz ema'

to Vaisnavism and resided with h im

in h is cel l ; for as he was an ou tcast now he

dared not go to the hou se of the Brahman

Kaci nath a Micra where Chai tanya l ived .

Chai tanya used to come often to Hari Dasa’

s

place,and Sanatana thou ght that he m ight be

perm itted an opportun i ty to meet h im there .

As expected Chai tanya cal led on Hari Dasa one

day; bu t Sanatana, fu l l of rem orse for h is sins,distressed by h is eczema and wi th h isaccustomed

hum ili ty , retreated into a corner of the room and

saw the Master from afar with tearfu l eyes.

When Chaitanya saw h im he ran to meet h im and

CHA ITANYA AND n I s COMPAN I ONS .

Sanatana shrinking a l ittle awav said , Master ,I am fu l l of sins and my body 1s affl icted with

eczema It shou ld not be tou chedSanatana tr ies

to remain aloof by you . Chai tanya at once emfmm C h a im ”

braced h im inspi te of h is remons

trances, saying,

“You r dear self , Sanatana,

is my constan t j oy . Sanatana was sor ry to see

Chaitanya’

s body marked wi th discharges from

h is eczema . Anupama,one of the brothers of

Sanatana,h ad died shortly before

,and Chaitanya

al luded to h is high characte r and fai th w i th

respect . He made enqu i ries,as to what Sanatana

thou ght of Mathu ra and in many sweet and

kind words parted from h im that day.

Bu t Sanatana was sad at heart inspi te of the

kind treatmen t he h ad received from the Master

and meeting the vou ng scholar,Jagadananda,

one of Chaitanya’

s constan t compan ions, thus

spoke to h im,W

'

oe to m e,that I came here .

Our dear Master tou ch es mybody affli cted wi th

eczema. I am deeply depressed wi th th e weight

of mysins bu t now i t breaks myheart to see the

Master embrace my loathsome bodv. J agada

nanda d id not l ike Ch ai tauva to rece ive Sanatana

with open arms and come i n contac t wi th h is

d iseased body,bu t withou t m entioning i t he said

,

It wou ld be better for you to go back to

J agadt'

manda’

s

Mathu ra or Vrndavana. I heardadvice once that the Master wan ted you to

go there Next daywhen Chai tanya came as

INTERVIEW WITH SANATANA AND RUPA . 25

u sual he again embraced Sanatana and said,Do

not think of pu tting an end to you r l ife under

the Wheels of the Car of Jagannath a. I t is a sin

to comm i t su icide . Th is grief and remorse that

you feel for you r sin is u nholy i f i t leads to

su ic ide . God ’

s grace is to be obtained by love

and self - dedication and not by su icide . And

Sanatana wondered h ow Chai tanya cou ld know

h is innermost thou ghts. Then Chaitanya said

again,This body of you rs

, you told me at ou r

first meeting, you h ad dedicated to m e . I t is

m ine now and you cann ot u se i t as you wish .

By mym other’

s wi l l I have to l ive at Pu r i and

I cann ot V i olate her orders. Bu t mu ch remains

to be done in the u pcou n try Where people are

i l l iterate and W ithou t fai th in God. There you

wi l l have to work and employ you r talen ts and

learn ing,writing beau ti fu l books on the cu lt of

faith .

” Saying this Chai tanya again embraced

h im to h is great dismay,and Sanatana was

down on h is knees and implored Master,do

not do so. My heart breaks at this. See,my

body is V i le , i t is fu l l of eczema and u n touch

able .

”And Chai tanya said

,

“W h o said that

you r body i s v ile and u n tou chable , Sanatana ? A

selfless god - loving spirit dwel ls in you r body .

You r embrace i s sweet to me as nector .

” Sana

tana f el l at Ch ai tanva’

s feet with tears and said

that he h ad J agadananda’

s advice to go to

Vrndavana in order to avoid the con tact of h is

D

2G CHAITANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

body With the Maste r ’

s . Chaitanya was angrywhen he heard th is and said

,

“A young scholar

J agadananda dares to adv i se a veteran l ike you

Your pra ises

He is impuden t and fool ish . I ambi t te r

,

as m m an ascet i c , aud i t i s well known th at”we to one wh o takes that sacred vow

,

ashes and sandal marks are of the same valu e .

An ascetic mu st have con tempt for none bu tshou ld have k indness for al l l iv ing beings.

The

you ngster is con ceited enough to teach h is

superiors in th is way. Sanatana in h umble

words addressed Chai tanya and said “Master,

fortu nate is J agadananda. You r abu se of h im

on ly shows the great fam i l iari ty and love in

which you hold h im whereas the formal respect

that you pay me shows me far away from

you r heart . He drinks the h ector of sweet

fam i l iarity at your hands bu t you r praises seem

bitter to me as the j u ice of Nim - fru i t,on ly

proving that I am not one of those blessed

men wh o belong to you r own Chaitanya

was abashed a l i ttle at th ese remarks and said,

“ No Sanatana,th is is no va in glorification

,I

assu re you . I have a real adm iration for you r

fai th,your self - sacrifice and for the spiri t of

hum i l ity becom ing a tru ly spiri tual sou l .

J agadananda is on ly a boy and far below you as

mm rims WW I awl am i

can farts (thuswas"

fit? fifir‘nW 1 u

Ch a i tanya Ch au ldmr ta . An i a Kh a nda ,Ch .

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28 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

du ring which he got cu red of h is eczema ; and

after behold ing the D 0 1 Yatra ceremony of

Krsna took leave of Chai tanya and started forVrndavana. Before leaving Pu r i he took n otes

from Valadeva Acharya,a compan ion of

Chai tanya as to the rou te fol l owed by Chaitanya

S a n a t a n a

when he v isi ted Vrndavana . The

grai n “ .

for places where Chaitanya h ad halted

were special ly marked . He V isited

them al l wi th great reverence conside ring them

as holy places. Ru pa h ad com e back to Pu r i a

year before,so that wh en Sanatana arrived at

V rndavana he did not m eet h is brother . Bu t

R i‘

i pa retu rned to Vrndavana af ter som e m onths,

and both the brothers now bu sied themselves in

writing books in Sanskri t on the doctrines of

faith as tau ght them by the Master . Bu t I

shal l write in som e detai l abou t the work they

did in Vrndavana in the cou rse of my lectu res.

saffaee sw wm ram

newstfsca“

gs25a Guam n

as scamwfimwwwfssm emCh a i tanya Ch ar ztdm'

r ta .

I V

Next to Chaitanya the two most i l lustriou s

apostles of the Vaisnava faith in Bengal were

N i tyananda and Advai tacharyal Their names

are now inseparable from Chaitanya. Advaitacharya was the tit le

,the real name of the

apostle being Kamalakara Bhattacharya. He

was an inhabitan t of Lau r in Sylhet and was

born in 1 4434: A .D .,or 52 years before Chaitanya.

H is great scholarship , especial ly in the Hpan i

sadas,was mu ch adm ired . He was descended

from Nrsinh a Nariel , the prime m in ister of Raja

Caneca (‘Kans’ of Mah omedan historians) , wh o

is said to have su cceeded in killing the Emperor

of Gauda by following the statesman ly advices

of h is m in ister .

1 Advaita’

s father,

535130

1322321. Nava, was a cou rt ier of Krsna

Dasa, the Raja of Lau r, and the

fam i ly enj oyed the esteem and confidence of

people of th e local i ty . Advaita first took h is

lesson in Sanskrit from Can tacharya, a renownedscholar of Cantipur, and came to Navadvipa

to complete h is stu dies and settled at Cantipu r,residing for the most part at Navadvi pa. H is

piou s l ife , scholarly attainmen ts, and spiritual

faith marked h im ou t as a conspicu ous figu re in

NavadVIpa. It is said that he was deeply grieved

1 See Advai ta Prakaca by Isana Nagora.

30 CHA I TANYA AND H i s COMPAN I ONS .

to mark the mater ia l istic tendencies of the age .

The people of Navadvi pa—the greatest cen tre of

learning in India at that period—paid great

attent ion to studies bu t we re,i t is al leged by the

contemporary Vaisnava historians, wi thou t anyfaith in God . They pu rsu ed learn

Learn ing ing for secu lar obj e cts and even forw i th ou t aah .

i ts own sake , bu t none cared to

in terpret the gast ras in the light of fai th . The

rich spen t hu ge sums of money in the marriage

of the ir ch i ldren and in th e worship of Vasu l i

and other local d e ities. The streets of Nava

dvipa resounded wi th songs in honou r of the

Pala kings which were very popu lar at the time .

Vrndavana Dasa,the con temporary h istorian

,

regrets that thu sdid they al l spend their l ives in

vain . A dvai ta’

s m ind yearned for fai th in God

and it is bel ieved by the Vaisnavas and is

written in their holy books that Chaitanya came

Adva i ta ,s pray.

to the world in response to Advaita’

s

er . earnest appeal to the Most High to

send some one in to the world wh o wou ld

teach faith and remove the soph istical tendencies

of the age.

Vievarupa, the elder brother of Chaitanya,h ad taken Sannyasa and left home in h is l 6th

year ; he was never since heard of . Their

mother Qac i h ad lost eight dau ghters, and on

the eve of Chai tanya’

s sannyasa her husband

Jagannath Micra h ad also died . Sh e h ad none

ADVA I TAOHARYA . 31

left in the world amongst her n um erou s chi ldren

except Chai tanya. The Sannyasa of Chai tanya

was disastrous to her material prospects. I t was

bu t natu ral"

that Chaitanya shou ld have a deep

feeling for h ismother throu ghou t h is l ife . Thou gh

he h ad taken the Sannyasa vow which requ ired a

person nev er to rev isi t h is"

nat ive v il lage“

or h is

home in l ife,Chaitanya h ad prom ised h is mother

that he would n ever remain very far away from

her,for any length of tim e . And he kep t h is

prom ise by staying at Pu r i f rom where constant

m essages abou t h im reached her.

ch aégpls

Chai tanya u sed to '

send Pandit

gaging

-

Of

J agadananda to h is m other every

son year with many endearing words of

affection . On one occasion he sent

this,

message : “ You are old now, mymother .

I shou ld have stayed with you and m in istered to

you r comfort. This was mysacred du ty . But

myhead tu rned away and I v iolated this du ty ;forgive me

,a mad child, for th is mysin

, and

kn ow m e, dear moth er, to be you r little

1 He added to su ch messages,

Mother , you r k itchen i s a holy place where

I have taken the food cooked by you r dear

hands. W hen you cook you r meal,know

,

that I shal l always be there in spiri t .”2

Bu t Chai tanya’

s m emories and associations

darling as ever .

”

Ch ai tanya Ch ar i tamrta,Madhya K l i anda,

’

Ch apter I I I .

Ch ai tanva Ch ari tam fta,Madhya Kh anda, Ch apter I I I .

32 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

passed away l ike a flash of l igh tn ing as soon as

they arose in h is m ind . Afte r having del ive red

su ch messages he becam e un consciou s of the

ou ter - world passing into one of h is trances,

en j oy ing th e inward u n ion wi th h is God .

W hen Chai tanya first began to man ifest that

devotion t o God which even tual ly resu l ted in h is

adopting the vow of Sannyasa, Qac i , h is m other,made Advai ta responsible for i t . She wept and

said,W h o says that Advaita is a great sage P

He tu rned the head of myeldest son ,brigh t as

the moon,by h is sophistry and made h im leave

home as a Sannyasi'

for ever . Not satisfied with

this he is now trying a sim i lar experim en t of h is

teach ings on th is young lad

D u ring more than hal f a cen tu ry Advaita

was an esteem ed figu re am ongst the Vaisnavas

of Navadvi pa. Chai tanya after h is Sannyasa

paid a V isit to h im at h is hou se at gantipu r . He

stayed at the place for 1 0 days and Advaita then

aged 75, san g and danced like a young man in

the K i r tcma party that assembled round

Chaitanya . “Then the latte r was abou t to

depart,the old man sobbed and cried like a child

and fol lowed Chaitanya for a long space .

Chai tanya said on the occasi on,Oh thou vener

able scholar , i f thou bebavest i n th is way,h ow

cwstawtss rw se cawri‘

t

s§ ds n fim wfim m :l

ADVA I TACHARYA .

wi ll my m other con trol her fee lings. I leaveher in thy care .

”

Advaita paid visits to Chaitanya at Puri'

with other residen ts of Navadv‘

i'

pa on ce everyyear . The Premavi lasa wri tes that at one time

he deviated a l itt le from the Vaisnava concep

Advaimtion of Bhakti and tau ght the

nigh ts

Bh a

f

t

I

k

O

t

I

f-l doctrines of i ana as he h ad learn t

cu lt for a of old . A m eeting with Chai tanyaW h fl e '

completely reform ed h im and sin ce

then and al l throu gh h is lon g career he remained“

firm i n the cau se of Bhakti“

as tau ght by

Chai tanya and formed one of the blessed trio of

whom the oth er twowere Chaitanya himself and

Ni tyananda. The Premavi lasawri tes that Advai ta’

s

two disciples Kamadeva Nagara'

of Gu z rat and

gankara cou ld by no m eans h e l ed to accept the

tenets of the em otional creed of the Vaisnavas,

bu t remained Vedan tists, and when Advaita was

once m ore reconc i led wi th Chaitanya,they left

their teacher and the cou n try for good .

According to the Premavi lasa Advai ta d ied in

th e year 1 539,bu t accord ing to Advai taprakaca

by I cana Nagara,in 1 58A. The latte r statemen t

carries th e apostle ’s earthly career to the u tmost

span of human l ife , vi a ,1 25 years. For obv ious

historical reasons we are in cl ined to credit the

statemen t of the Premavi lasa. The descendan ts

of Advaita l ive main ly at giantipu r up to this

date . The piety,h igh character and fervou r of

E

34 CHAI TANYA AND H I s COMPAN I ONS .

fai th of Advai ta’

s w i fe,S i ta, have been made the

subj ects of mem oirs of many Vaisnava writers.

S i ta and Cr i , the two wiv es of Advaita, were

dau ghters of Narasimha Bhadudi

by h is wife,Menaka. The cou ple

were the inhabitan ts of the v i l lage Narayanpu r

near Satgaon i n the H u gh l i distr ict . Am ong

the numerou s d iscip les of Advaita,the name

Qr'

i nath a Acof Cri nath a Acarya,

the Gu ru of” W Kav i Karnapu ra and au thor of the

celebrated commen tary of the Bhagavata cal led

H i s w ives.

“ Chai tanya Mala Manjusa,” deserves a prom i

nen t ment ion .

1

1 See th e Premavi lasa, Ch . xxv.

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36 CHA I TANYA AND H i s COMPAN I ONS .

Kh addah a and surreru l ered themse lves toV i rach andra wh o graci ou sl y made them members of th eVai snava societv . A distingu ished E u ropeanfriend of m ine once wen t to Kh addah a (a few m i les

to the north of Calcu tta) to see the place wh ere

these people h ad assembled,and re ferred to th e

D e a t h o fspot as marking the death of Bud

Buddh i sm i n dh ism i n Bengal ; for here did th eBen g al ,

last vest i ge of Buddln st l c powerssu rrender itself and was incorporated with

Vaisnav ism .

The merchan ts of Satgaon,th e ch ie f mercan

tile centre in Bengal at the tim e,with Uddh arana

Datta of the Suvarna Ban ika caste at their head,

gathered round N i tyananda and were so devoted

to h im that they were prepared to sacrifice

everyth ing they h ad for h is sake . N ityananda is

described i n a popu lar Bengal i song as“one

withou t anger,

always cheerfu l and withou t,

U d h a m mpride

,h av ing compassi on for al l

Datta men”

.

1 H is l ove - ecstasies often

matched those of Chai tanya and he was devoted

to the maste r so greatl v that when Chaitanya

passed away from this earth he pined away l ike

a love r speaking of n oth ing else bu t of th e

incidents of. h is l ife,

2 despising al l earth lv

com forts t i l l h e too died two years later in 1 535 .

1 3mm9mm i”

se amI2 2566} 151mman? neww rit sarm25 Wm sate

-

«

1Mvi z:m 1 arm an 2m 171m l

N I TYANANDA . 37

At one tim e the rich merchan ts of’

Saptagrama,

Nadiyaand other distric ts,gratefu l to N i tyananda

for their adm ittan ce to th e Vai snava com

mu n ity, offered h im fine si lken apparels

embroidered with gold and chains stu dded with

pear ls,rubies and diamonds. Thou gh an ascetic

N i tyananda wore these ornamen ts to please themu pon which a Brahman of Nadiya named Rama

Dasa, a friend of Chai tanya, wen t to Pur i and said

to the latter, Ni tyananda,you r colleagu e

,thou gh

an ascet ic,is given to lu xu ry . The rich m erch

an ts give h im valuable articlesC h a i t a nya’

sn

great fai th in and fineri es and he u ses them .

N l tyananda'

Chai tanya replied,

Bu t I know heis a tru e ascetic at heart . Don ’t look at h is

exterior . Dust,ashes, and th e j ewels and stones

of which you speak are to h im of the sam e valu e .

E ven i f you told me that h e paid cou rt to low

cou rtesans or indu lged in wine,I wou ld not l ose

my trust in h im .

1 Indeed he was a tru e

ascet ic,fu l l of kindness for men and love for

God . The fol lowing inciden t , of which most of

the Bengal is,have heard

,bu t th e detai ls of

which are not perhaps so wel l kn own, sh ows

some of the n oble trai ts of h is great l ife .

(wi ts as? art anwas“? mm

wrafi cal—awat? streamwas

cams-

7aW1amamam u

N i tyananda t ga s tc'

w'a by T'

Q‘ fndc—zrana Dasa.

1 Th e Ch ai tanya Bhagavata.

38 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

Detai ls abou t the two ru ffian chiefs,Jagai

andMadhai , are to be fou nd i n the supplemen tary25 Chapters of the Premavi lasa recen tly

d iscovered in a MS. of th at work found by

Yagodalal a Van ika . I give these and the inci

den t leading to their conversion below :

Subhananda Bay, a Ku l i n Brahman,became

a very rich and powerfu l man in Nadiya and

ob tained the title of Raja from the Emperor of

Gau da abou t the year A .D . He was a great

man and h is repu tation spread far and wide in

the coun try . Owing to h is fr iendship wi th th e

Emperor he carried great influ ence everywhere .

H is two sons,Ragh u nath a and

{age—i i and

Madh a“ J anardana were di stmgu ish ed for

their scholarsh ips and for th eir great personal

beau ty . Ragh u nath a h ad a son named

Jagannatha,and J anardana

’

s son was cal led

Madh ava. The cou sins were popu lar ly known

as Jagai and Madhai and h ad the hereditary

titles of Raja. These two young noble men

became robbers at th ier early you th , and carried

on depradations al l around , so th at the ir names

g rew to be a terro r to Nadiya and the neighbou r

ing districts. They carried away the wealth of

v illagers not even sparing their wives, set fi re

to thei r hou ses,and thou gh born of a good

Brahman fam i ly freely indu lged in wine and

beef . 1 They set at dem

iance al l law and order

aim {31511W minimW ? ! ii i? an? via3mmii

Ch a i tanya Bhaga i ata ,

N I TYANANDA . 39

and Gorai Kaz i , the Mah omedan Magistrate of

Nad iya, cou ld not pun ish th em because of their

great powe r . They not on ly ki lled cows,bu t

al so Sadhu s, to the horror of the Hindu com

mun ity .

Chai tanya h ad now becom e the cen tral figu re

of a spiritual band of workers wh o sang the

praises of God day and n igh t in the streets of

Nadiya. The robbe r - chiefs were offended by the

loud mu sic and u proar of th e crowd . And when

Haridasa and N i tyananda one day passed by

them exhorting people to pay homage to God

and seek H is mercy by pu re l ives,Jagai and

Madhai stood before them reel ing in a drunken

condition . The sweet and compassionate words

of N ityananda h ad no effect upon the brothers

and Madhai ordered h im to stop singing the name

of God . B ut N i tyananda was neith er frightened

nor did he feel any anger ; a deep compassion

moved h im wh il e h e con tinu ed singing the pral se

of the Lord . The in fu riated chief h ad an empty

bottle of wine in h is hand wi th wh ich he stru ck

N ityananda making a deep wou nd on h is fore

head . The apostle cr i ed ‘Oh God ’ ‘Oh Lord’ and

whil e blood streamed forth from the wou nd and

drenched h is clothes, he said to Madhai ,‘You have

stru ck me for no fau l t , this I can bear Madhai ,bu t I cannot see you r wretched condition . You

have stru ck me,no matter , bu t dear friend , on ly

sing ‘

th e praises of the Lord once,if I hear H is

$0 CHA I'l‘

ANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

nam e u ttered by you I wi l l forget the pain of

the wou nd .

’ 1 Madhai was abou t

to strik e th e apostle again,when

Jagai , whose drunken fit h ad passed away,held

h is hands and forbade h im to do so saying,

“W hyhave you stru ck a Sannyasi , you wicked man ?

He is a great Sadhu and h as abondoned al l

earthly pleasu res for God . W hat good can you

attain by assau l ting a piou s man do not do so

again . At th is time Chaitanya came u p

and as he saw Ni tyananda’

s face d renched 111

blood bu t qu ite cheerfu l and unm indfu l of h is

pain singing God’

s nam e ecstatically,the Master

ran to h im,embraced h im and wi th h is own

c lothes wiped away the blood from h is face .

He looked at Madhai with sorrow and said in a

touching tone ,“W hyhave you stru ck mybro ther ,

dear as my l ife P and then stopping a l it tle said

in a voice that trembled,Madhai , if i t was in

you r m ind to strike one of u s,whydid you not

b ru tal

‘

ti ifsfci waswiai mi nimaifi i

CW Bali? Wlfi W its al l“

? uC‘lfi fii ’i cm fizvi s ite a% at? I

was afissia1 maa si? 0

can can yamfie: zifii ifs I

W ai t ai’

r‘

aal far 5363 gfii W u

as w uaqs si aifs‘

é wm

W alls“63513 313 211m mMCha i tanya Bhaga i afa.

N I TYANANDA . 41

strike me ? ” W ith tender love did h e take

N ityananda wi th h im and the crowd fol lowed

them in deep bu t silent grief .

The two brothers stood there silen t,wonder i ng

at what they h ad heard . The popu lar song

ascribed the following speech to Jagai at this

stage2

S trike not N itai any more, 0 11 brother

Madhai l Cne’

s pain is heal ed as one looks at

h is sweet face,fu l l of compassion . Feign wou ld

I,Ch Madhai , clasp h is feet and hold them

close to my breast ! This wou ld cool myheart

bu rn ing wi th remorse . Behold there,angel - l ike

he looks,with h is hai r bound into a knot and

with marks ‘ of God ’s name al l over h is body .

Being stru ck he h as compassion for the striker .

W here , Oh Madhai , was su ch compassion ever

seen ! Blood flows from h is head m ingled wi th

win? sfii‘

aim i W fizz-i awl-

sam I

m mi? W in$23ai aifiifa a m II

Ch a i tanya Maaga la

seams ismme mi? I

fits-

ti ns tivW -i 0mm i lk—961 i sWm

minis3951asariaW 1, an? as fi l ‘lW i n

rw iasawas fiivii , tacasii , at? waswascasi ,‘

faswisama51m m afiini as I

m cm vsi m ASu vaia cvs i i‘

i

fis ii‘

aas? was sfas«isi , 6115 m cm iii?“fissure cmWiswan

—fawi ll ”

An ol d song.

42 CHAI TAN YA AND H I S COMPAN I UNS.

tears of forgiv ing love Oh what a d iv ine sight

do I see before me to - day l’”

The two brothers wen t home bu t cou ld not

sleep for remorse . Madhai wasmoved to tears and longed for th e,

sight of the div ine man whom he h ad so cru el lv

stru ck bu t wh o,wh ile bleeding

,h ad spoken only

sweet words. The brothers walked abou t the

extensive cou rtyard of the ir hou se th e whole

n igh t throu gh in b itter repen tan ce ; the dews of

n ight fel l u pon their bare heads and th e wind

blew softlv from the Ganges bu t cou ld not heal

th e pain of the ir hearts. They became changed

men in one n ight .

“Then the morn ing dawned in deep agony of

heart th ey ran to the hou se ofTh e pardon ' Chai tanya and knocking at h is gate

cried alou d , Oh Master , receive you r sinners.

”

And when Chai tanya came ou t,weeping th ev

fell at h is feet withou t power of speech .

Chaitanya said “You boast of being the Rajas of

Navadvi pa. I t is a marvel that you crv like

women .

” 2 He added that he had al ready par

dou ed Jagai ; for himself he cou ld not take

offence at any thing . B u t Madhai must seek

Th e remorse

mamsi gni s my?”as? laimmi fa? m awasmmu

C h a i tanya Mm'

zga l a .

fiis 9maifaca fa? sis52a riis I

a? as csiais aim cm si is n”

Cha i tanya Bhagavata ,

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4M CH AI'I‘

AN YA AND H I S C OMPAN I ONS .

Madhai ’s men tal angu ish (l id not cease,bu t

the m ore he realised th e kindness of N i tyananda,

the greater g rew h is remorse for having made

the beast ly attack on h is person . N i tyananda

repeatedly assu red h im of h is pardon . Bu t

Madhai one daytold h im i n privat e,

You may

pardon me,grac iou s Master

,bu t to hu ndreds

of mv fe llow - men I have cau sed pain . I n

drunken state I have assau lted m en whom I

do not know or even remember . IVh at penance

is there that may cleanse my sin ? Tel l m e,

Master,myheart longs for pun ishm en t of some

sort for my l ife long wickedness.

’

N i tyananda

said,I f vou wan t to beg pardon of the publ ic

whom you have wronged , go to the bath ingmmof the Ganges and seek pardon of al l wh o may

go there for bathin g .

”

Madhai took a spade in h is hand and made

wi th i t a bath ing g in—ré himse l f on

Th

aflifflh é i ' the bank of the Gan ges

,where for

the whole day and a con side rable

port ion of the n igh t he wo u ld si t recit ing the

nam e ofGod,while si len t tearswou ld occasional ly

be seen rol l in g down h is cheeks. Hu ndreds of

men bathed in th e Ganges every day. To every

new arrival he wou ld go wi th j oined h ands, no

3

matte r to what caste the person belonged,a nd

wi th tearfu l eyes wou ld say,“W hethe r kn ow

ingly or u nknowingly i f I h ave cau sed vou any

pain or harm,be graciou s enou gh to pardon me

N I TxANANDA . $5

for the same . H is pride of birth and weal th

was thu s completely humbled and thu s he was

born again,so to speak ,

in h is new spiritu al l ife .

Jagai also becam e known for : h is great p ie ty and

fai th .

Thus passed the lives of two famou s men of

Navadvi pa wh o, born i n wealth and powe r , bu t

spoiled by wicked company , wen t back to the

righteou s cou rse and lead l ivesworthy of Brahma

charis. The Ghat of Madhai becam e a sacred

place in Navadvi pa. Many years ago the ghat,that stood l ike an emblem of the sins and su ffer

ings of i ts bu i ld er , was washed away «by the

Gan ges a s h is sins were by tru e pen iten t tears

bu t i t exi sted even at th e t ime of Narah ari

Chakravart i , the au thor of Bh akti ratnakara wh o

wrote h is work abou t 1 725 A .D

The conversion of Jagai and Madhai took

p lace in the year 1 509 A .D .

At a rather advanced stage of life N i tyananda

broke the vow of asceticism,it i s

“352225

8

said, at the bidding of Chaitanya

and married the two dau ghters of

Su ryyadasSarkh e l , a brother of Gau rdasa Sarkh e lof Kalna. The lat ter was a compan ion of

Chaitanya in h is early years. Vasudha and

Jah navi are the names of the twowives of N i tyananda . Jah navi after her widowhood became a

conspiciou s figu re in the Vaisnava commu n i ty

for a lon g time and honou red for her high

46 CHAI TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

characte r . The Premav i lasa men tions the fact that

N i tyananda having broken the ascetic’

s vow lost

h is posit ion in socie ty and no good Brahman was

wi l l ing to give h im h is dau ghte r i n mar riage

wi th h im . Uddh arana Datta,

a follower of

N i tyananda,proposed h is marriage wi th the

dau ghters of Su ryyadasa Sarkh e l , and the latter

at first refu sed the proposal for fear of social

ostracism . Bu t h is adm i rat ion for the apostle

wh o is said to have shown h im some m i racles,

afterwards triumphed over h is weakness and

Su ryyadasa’

s fam ily now stands exal ted in the

popu lar estimation owing to th is connection .

N i tyananda’

s son , V i rach andra (also called

V i rabh adra) , becam e a great figu re in th e

su cceeding period of VaisnavaV i rach andra.

h istory .

VI i asa .

Next to Ni tyananda and Advai ta wh o deser

vedly head the l ist of Chai tanya’

s compan ions,there were other commanding figu res in the

Vaisnava commu n i ty,each great in h is own way.

The special claims of N i tyananda and Advaita

on popu lar respect rest on the fact that they

organ ised the Vaisnava commun ity in Bengal .

Commu n i al grati tu de h as therefore paid the

h ighest tribu te of honou r to them ,while others

,

som e ofwhom equal ly great,have remained som e

what in the back - grou nd,their l ives being not

so mu ch devoted to th e i en l argement of the

Vaisnava ci rcle as to doing good work silen tly

among the i r fe l lowm en . Of these the sweet and

sain t ly l ife of Cr i vasa deserves special m ent ion .

Cri vasa,a Brahman scholar, came with

Advai ta from Sylhet to stu dy at

Nadiya and settled there . He h ad

th ree brothers Crikanta (a l i as Crin idh i ) , gri Rama and Cri pati . Cri vasa is some

times cal led grin ivasa. The fam i ly en j oyed

moderate a”

l u ence’

. The au thor of the Chaitanya

Bhagavata m en tions that th ey h ad a large

fol lowing of servan ts and at tendan ts. I n th ose

days when lu xu ry was u nkn own ,a Mah omedan

tai lor l ived in one of their ou t - h ou ses,wh ose sole

occupation was to sew clothes for the members

48 CHA I TANYA AND ms COMI ’AN I ONS.

of the fam i ly . Chai tanya is said to have pro

ph esied once th at th ou gh Laksm i , the Goddessof weal th ,

m ight be redu ced to begging he r

b read , yet Cri vasa’

s fam i ly wou ld n ever be

poor .

” Long after Cri vasa h ad been dead whenJ ayananda wrote h is Cai tanyaMangal a abou t

1 540 A .D . the descendan ts of Cr i vasa were st i l l

rich'

a t Kumarh atta .

Cri vasa was j u n io r to Advai ta, bu t cou ld not

be l ess than 40 years when

Chai tanya was born . W e find from

the accoun ts in the sev eral biogra

phies of Chai tanya that Cri vasa and h is wi fe,

Mal in i , were presen t at Jagannatha Micra’

s hou se

when Chaitanya was born and that they made

many beau tifu l presen ts to th e baby on th e

occasion . Mal in i was a friend of Cach i Dev i ,Chaitanya

’

s m other , wh o h ad al ready given birth

to'

n ine child ren at the time . From th is fact we

may take Cri vasa to be at least 440 years old whenChaitanya was born and thu s we take 1 446 A .D .

to be the year of Cri vasa’

s birth . Chaitanya as

a boy was a frequ en t visitor to (;r i vasa’

s h ou se

and carried ou t the orders of gr i vasa as a ch ild

does of h is elders and even in h is you th

h e was often accosted by gr i vasa in su ch

langu age as“I Vh eth er hou nd, th ou hau ghty

boy ? ”

(1

)

(1 ) W NWEma tan s fiicaiaf‘i

Qi‘i vasa and th e

ch i ld C h ai tanya

C h a i tan ya B haga i u l u

CRi vASA . 49

Cri vasa grew into a spoilt ch i ld m ixing in h is

early you th with bad compan l ons. B u t al l of

a"

sudden there came a change over 11 18 wicked

l ife . W hen hewas barely 17, he dream t one

n ight that a Sannyasi knocked at h is door .

Cri vasa forthwith came to meet h im . The

holy'

man said, Cri vasa, you have on ly

one year more to l ive,take th is warn ing .

The dream van ished and the daydawned when

to h is great su rprise Cr i vasa found at h is

gate the Sannyasi of h is dream wai ting for

h im ; he too disappeared having del iv ered th e

selfsame message . From that tim e gri vasa’

s

m irth and‘ l igh t

- brained fol l ies were gone . He

h ad the su re bel ief that the span of h is l ife

extended for a year on ly . He did not speak

out h is thou ghts bu t becam e emaciated,lean

and pale, eating spare meal and often fasting for‘

fear . W hen sorel y troubled in this way, be one

day came across the fol lowing l ine in the

Vr ihat Naradiya Pu rana : S ing the praises of

the Lord,noth ing else wi l l save a man from

the sorrows of the world in th is Ica l i yuga

(iron age ) A s the drown ing man catches

at a‘

straw,even so Cri vasa caught the words

Th é turn ingwhich henceforth became the

point in h is l ife gu id ing prin cip le of h is l i fe .

Bu t the words were no straw, they proved to be

1 “m ini m ini mafia? ! m am«atsitessites sites Sifsssmi u

G.

50 a rrANYA AND m s COMPAN I ONS .

a sou rcc of strength and support . W e qu ote

h is own statemen t,“ I to ok the gl olca as the

word of God Himself and though I was

derided for it,I left al l work and resi gned

myself absolu tely to H is wi l l . W hen people

laughed at me I was not angry bu t awai ted

patien tly the summ ons from H im,losing al l

attachmen t for home and the world .

” He

v isited the hou se of Devananda where the

Bhagavata was read every even ing,and there

becam e the m ost atten t ive l istener . We find

that one day he was tu rned ou t of the

room as he sobbed lou dly and showed other

signs of emotion ,which the au dience considered

u nbecom ing in an assembly of learned men

wh ile l isten ing to sermons.

1

The one year passed , and on th e last day

Cri vasa wen t to the hou se of Devananda

Acharya as u sual . The text for that day was

the Chapte r of Bhagavata ,which told of the

devotion of Prah lada, th e son of H iranyakagipu ,

and while hearing th e in terpretations, al l of a

sudden h is head ree led , and in a momen t he fel l

senseless on the grou nd . They took h im for

dead and carried h im ou t of the hou se,when

the same Sannyasi whom he h ad seen a vear

be fore , appeared there and tou ching Cri vasa’

s

body said , Ar ise son, you have many things to

1 See th e C h ai tanya Bhagavata ,Madhya Kh anda , C h apter I X .

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52 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

name of God care lessly u ttered even by byw

standers wou ld cal l forth a flood of tears from

h is eyes. He wou ld often sing the name of God

for hou rs toge ther til l he cou l d sing or speak no

more,remain ing absorbed in h i s V i sma

,u ncou s

cions of the world , for days and n igh ts,tak ing

no thou ght of food or sleeping .

Fac ing th e spacious historic cou rtyard of

Cr i vasa’

s hou se , stood th ick rows of kunda plan ts,the pearl - l ike white flowers of which presen ted to

the“

sight what an ZEschyl u s wou ld describe to be

the e ternal sm i l e of the landscape . The flowers

bloomed there du ring al l seasons,and Vrndavana

Dasa says in h is Chai tanya Bhagavata that the

constan t p lu ck ing of them by the worshippers

and boys, morn ing and even ing,did not cause

any perceptible dim inu tion in thei r number .

Th e ku nda .

There the smal l band of Vaisnavaflowers i n on worshippers met every morn ing andvasa

’

s cou rt

yard and ta l k talked over diverse matters as theyabou t C h ai tanya

’

s l ove for gathered flowers in smal l caneGOd'

baske ts. H ere Cuklamvara, one

of these Vaisnavas, Spoke one morn ing of the

wonderfu l love for God that dawned on Chai tanya.

S ince h is retu rn from Gaya he is th orou gh ly

chan ged ; he no longe r cares to comb h is beau ti

fu l cu rling h ai r, h is mother foll ows h im wi th

wistfu l eyes bu t he talks not wi th he r and cries‘Oh God

’

and sees vision of H im in the cloudshe runs wi th h is hands ou tstre tched and eyes

CRi vASA . 53

fu l l of tears to catch the Unseen ; desp ising h is

soft cou ch and white bed he sl eeps on the bare

earth ; he no longer wears h is gold chains, ear

rin gs and lockets nor the fine k2°$72ak8 l ft cl oth

of si lk with b lack borders ; he nei ther takes h is

bath nor does he eat h is u sual m eals; he no longer

worsh ips gods and goddesses,nor does he recite

the sacred hymns as prescribed by the Castras ;bu t weeps and cries ‘Oh my God

,do not hide

you r face from me’

Cuklamvara added,Chai tanya h as prom ised

to tell me of the wonderfu l v ision he saw at

Gaya, in the even in g to - day. S ince he saw i t,

"

he says,he canno t con trol h is fee lings. H is

mother is in great d istress.

”

They al l said,

“He was prou d of h is learn ingand ridi cu led sacred things. I s i t possible that,

God h as giv en h im the fai th which h e lacked,or

is i t madness ? ” Theyh ad not to wai t l ong,for

Cach i Dev i sen t for Cri vasa ju st at that time ,wi th the tidings that h er son h ad

grgii

‘

j jijf ‘a'

become insane . She h ad tried (Stead/é

G/zrta and other medicines prescribed

by the physic ians bu t these h ad produ ced no

effect. The malady was in fact the sam e as

that attribu ted to th e E u ropean mystics wh o

displayed sim ilar symptoms.

Cri vasa cal led on Chaitanya forthwi th and

after long and earnest talk came back himself a

changed man . He saw in Chaitanya on ly the .

541 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

bloom and perfection of that v ision of which he

h ad bu t got gl impses h imse lf after h is ‘re - birth ’

The tears that flowed from Chaitanya’

s eyeswh ile

speaking wi th h im , appeared to h im hol ier than

the stream of the Ganges,and as he l istened to

h im,flashes of a new l igh t d ispel led h is spiritual

doubts,and i t seemed to gri vasa that he too

saw the One whose gloriou s vision h ad so abso

lu tely possessed the young scholar . Cri vasacou ld not help bowing down before Chaitanya,

thou gh he was m uch h is ju n ior,and when at

parting , Chaitanya wi th j oined hands prayed

Cri vasa to find a cu re for h is insan ity, distressed

as he was for h is mother, Cri vasa said ,

“You r

insan i ty is what we al l covet . The addiction

to world ly pleasu res which last for a moment

on ly plunging men shortly after in to a sea o f

m isfortu ne,is real insan ity .

” W hat gr i vasafel t

,al l people of Nadi va fel t shortly af ter

except th e Bh attacharyyas, ever vain of their

great learn ing .

The cou rtyard in Cr i vasa’

s hou se became the

favou rite resort of Chaitanya every evening .

I t was here that th e dai ly growing number of

h is fol lowers met and sang [ctr /(ma songs from

su n - set to su n - rise,while he inspired them with

h is trances stand ing in the cen tre“if; of them . I t was here that when

gr i vasa’

s on ly son died one n ight ,he whispered to the women of th e hou se not

on i vASA . 5

to mou rn al ou d lest the heaven ly joy imparted

by Chaitanya’

s ecstasies of love m i ght be dis

tu rbed, for in them the Vaisnavas saw the

real v ision of God - in - man . H is son h ad d ied

at 7- 30 in the n igh t and the ktr taaa con t inu ed

till 2 A .M. Never before h ad gri vasa’

s songs

been so ferven t and impressiv e . Chai tanya

at last heard of the bereavemen t that h ad h e

fal len h is friend , and stopped ki r l and . Upon

Cri vasa’

s asking perm ission of h im to leave

home for the cremation of the child, Chaitanya

said ,“H ow can I leave the company of one wh o

forgot the loss of h is on ly son for my love l” 1

Here in this cou rtyard of Cri vasa, Chai tanyaoften discu ssed rel igious matters wi th Cr i dh ara,

the poor Brahm i n,rich in fai th and characte r

,

whose humble cal ling was to sel l p lan tain - leaves

in the streets. I n h is childhood , Chai tanya u sed

often good h umou redly to adv ise Cridhara to

earn mon ey by perform ing priestly functions in

the hou ses of those wh o worshipped Chand i and

other local deities with great pomp .

“W hyshou ld you ,

he h ad once asked ,“ be con ten t

with you r rags and wretched bu t ? ” gri dh ara’

s

meek answers on su ch occasionswou ld be W el l

hast th ou said , oh Brahm in l ad, yet time passes

and at the end makes no differen ce . The king

I “m iss=ii wi fia cacares cam

Ch a ttanya, Bhagavata, Madhya Kh anda , Chap . XXV.

56 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

in h is golden hal l partakes of rich meals,and

behold the birds l ive on the bou gh s of trees.

W hen death com es i t levels al l . Each h as h is

lot apport i oned by God.

” 1

gridh ara, th e fai thfu l

,was now a constan t compan ion of Chaitanya .

Here in th is cou rtyard Cr i vasa u sed to - read

passages from the G i tagovinda and the Bhagavata

making clear the h idden m ean ing of Krsna’

s

love and sports in the V rnda groves. The earth

earthy— the flesh and i ts desi res—van ished before

h is glowing speech,the texts being interpreted

as symbol ic forms of the highest spiritual tru ths.

Chaitanya becam e frenzied wi th j oy ash e heard

these , and said to Cri vasa sayagain what you

said and tel l me more , beloved friend , sweeter

than nectar is you r speech .

”On one occasion

when Chai tanya layu n consciou s in this cou rt

yard,h is face beam ing wi th j oy at th e beatific

v ision,Advaita tou ched the dust of h is feet wi th

reverence,wh ich he wou ld n ever al low while in

sense . Discovering this afterwards Chaitanya

admon ished th is old scholar say ing You rs is a

sea of devotion and faith , m ine is a mere well .

W hy do you cove t i t from so smal l a place ?

1 “El isawas fl ataffirmt ea Iesifane tsvia sisas as uwas airs? aimfirst an: 9maffirmaim cmwaseats uaria rmwas vei ls I ? sis I

W fits W itetaass”

355WuChm tanya Bhagavata ,

Madhya Kh anda ,Ch ap . VI I I .

CRi vASA . 57

I t was in Crivasa’

s cou rtyard that Chaitanyaacted as a sweeper and cleansed the temple of

Krsna wi th a broom , cal l ing himself [fl a

sh er

fiaddz‘

pa- Krsna

’

s sweeper al l the while and

weeping for j oy at h is own humi l ity . H ere

Narayan i, —the n ie ce of Crivasa, wh o became

latterly celebrated as the mothe r of the h istorianVrndavana Dasa, is said to have shown Spiritual

tenden cies even when sh e was a gir l of 4,inspired

by Chaitanya. Here the Mah omedan tai lor of

Crivasa’

s house attracted by the emotional fervou r

of Chaitanya, open ly renounced h is faith and

tu rned a Vaisnava; From th is cou rtyard Advaita

reverential ly took up some dust and exclaimed“How can I claim the fortun e of Crivasa whosecou rtyard is the favou rite hau n t of Chaitanya P’i'

H ere Chaitanyaonce ate som e grains of coarse rice

from the begging bowl of Cuklamvara, th e

ascetic,and said “No poor food is this, received

from the hands of one of the most pious of men,

it gives pu rity of heart to i ts pertaker.

”

The cou rtyard of Crivasa’

s house h as a

hundred associations of Chaitanya. It is

now in the bed of the Gan ges, but the sanctity

of th is shrine is now attribu ted to a spot now

cal led by the same name and considered a h oly

place by a thou sand of pilgrims wh o v isit it

annuaHy.

1 “a m W t cabanaas W am “affix—e : am I

Th e Chai tanya Ohandrodaya, Nagaka.

58 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

I n the Cr i Krsna play organ ised by Chaitanya, played at the hou se of Buddh imanta

Khan of Nadiya wh o bore the cost, Crivasa

took the part of the musician - sage Narada which

he played very well . Chaitanya himsel f figu redas

“Rukm in i”

,one of the queens of Krsna, and

so perfec t was h is play that even Cach i , h ismother, cou ld not recogn ise h im in h is female

Th e play orga ,gu ise . I n Chai tanya Chandro

n‘sed byC h ai tanya daya by Kavi Karnapara, a

con temporary poet , Crivasa. as Narada is

thus described .

“He presen ts himse lf on the

stage with h is l ong grey beard[

and sandal marks

al l over h is body . From h is left shou lder hangs

h is lyre and in h is right hand he holds the sac red

[a lga grass. As he makes h is appearance he

hears the musi c of Cri Krsna’

s flu te floating

from afar and thu s m uses.

“I s i t the merry

chu ckle of the geese as they sportively swim in

the lake of swee t love or the humm ing of bees

as they su ck honey from the bloom ing

flowers in a love ly garden P”

On the eve of the play Chaitanya h ad

said “Those wh o have en ti rely subdued the

passions of the flesh shou ld on ly be en t i tled to

witness this play of ou rs” He h ad feared lest

the loves of Radha- Krsna be in te rpreted by

material istic peop le as sensual love ” To th is

Cr ivasa and Advai ta both replied “Take ou t

our names from the list first ; for i f th is be the

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60 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

to the Kaz i praying h im to st0p the loud u proar

of the Vaisnavas in the publ ic streets. The

Vaisnavas sang the name of God “wi th the

psal tery and the high sounding cymbals in

the streets,bu t the cou rtyard of Crivasa

’

s house

was,of cou rse

,the cen tral mee ting place of the

band . At one t ime a rumou r passed cu rren t

that a ship carrying sold iers of the Emperor was

abou t to land in the city of Nadiya to arrest the

offenders. E ven some of the

unbel ievers got alarmed at th is

rumou r . The Chaitanya Bhagavata records the

fol lowing conversation amon g some of them .

One said “I h ad al ready su ggested that the hou se

of Crivasa, the resort of the Vaisnavas, shou ld

be at once destroyed and thrown into the Ganges.

You did not take recou rse to force which is th e

on ly remedy in su ch cases. Now you wi l l seeh ow many innocent men wil l sufier for the

wickedness of these Vaisnavas. Another said“why shou ld we be alarmed ? I f the King ’s

soldiers come we wi l l have Crivasa arrested ,and the matte r wi l l end there .

H is enem ies h ad recou rse to variou s m eans

to annoy grivasa. W e find i t men tioned in th e

biographies of Chai tanya that a Brahman of

Nadiya, named Gopal Chapal , kept at the gate of

Crivasa obj ects of tantr ic rites which cau sed a

horror to the Vaisnavas. Th ese consisted of meat

and wine with which Chand i was worshipped .

Th e h osti le people.

CRTVASA . 61

Bu t al l this opposi t ion ended when Chaitanya

took the Sannyasi’s vows. This implied h is

desertion of Nadiya for ever . A sannyasi maynever revisit h is native p lace nor l ive with h is

fami ly ever after in l ife . Chaitanya wore ragsand shaved h is head and became a Sannyasi when

on ly 24 years old . Even h is enem ies were

sorry to see h im cu t off al l earth ly ties while

stil l so young . The people h ad al l along felt a

Ch ai tanya,

s Samsense of love for this d ivine man

,

yas and th e gen eral thou gh some did not approve ofmourmng'

the forwardness and over -winn ing

manners of a few of h is fol lowers. It was a

dayof general lamen tation l n Nadiya. From the

daywhen Chai tanya left the place for ever, th e

cou rtyard of Cri vasa became as i t were a desert

in the eyes of h is numerous friendsand associates.

Th e last part of Cri vasa’

s l ife was spen t in re

collecting the incidents of Chaitanya’

s early life .

And Mu rar i Gupta, a great scholar of Nadiya,was the first to write notes

in Sansk rit verse on Chaitanya’

s

l ife, at th e order of Cri vasa, wh o spoke of

nothing bu t of Chai tanya afte r h is desertion of

Nadiya and dream t of h im in h is sleep by

n ight . O ften wh i le gat hering flowers for

worship he recollected Chaitanya and fainted

away m gr i ef,the baske t of flowers fal l ing from

h is unconsciou s hands. Sometimes going to the

banks of the Ganges,he m issed h is great

Cr i vasa’

s grief

G2 CHAI TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

compan ion and sat for ho urs together meditat ing

on h im wh o was dearer to h im than everything

else in the world and he forgot that he h ad come

there to bathe . I n h is own cou rtyard,the

sanki r tana party sang the praises of the Lord

again with the h igh - sounding cymbals, the

timbre l and dance,and he stood there l isten ing to

the singers bu t often h is voice was choked

with tears and he fel l down on the bare earth

in great grief crying l ike a child . Sometimes

he felt that the God of h is songs and Chaitanya

were the same,so that while offering flowers

to Krsna instead of saying ‘ I bow to thee,oh

Krsna,’ he said u nconsciou sly ‘ I bow to thee ,

oh Chai tanya.

’

And as he remembered himself,tears rol led down h is ch eeks.

The residen ts of Nadiya al l except Chai

tanya’s wife and mother,h ad perm ission to

go and see h im once a year at Pur i . This

was on the occasion of the great Car

festiv ities. Needless to say that Crivasa was

one of the foremost to avai l h imself of this

opportun ity . H ow happy was once more th e

venerable old man of Nadiya to meet h is young“master ”

and sing the name of God in the

ki r tana party at Pu r i ! We find h im once in a

delirium of j oy pu shing throu gh

the crowd to be near Chaitanya.

I n h is attempt he pressed against Pratapa

Ru dra, the k ing . Upon wh ich Harich andana,

Cr i vasa at Pur i .

cRivASA . 63

h is m in ister, pushed h im away wi th h is hands ;

bu t the old man’

s ecstasies knew no bou nds, and

he again unconsciou sly pressed upon the king

on which the m in ister again pu shed h im

away wi th h is hands. Crivasa got angry and

slapped the m in ister on h is cheek . H arich andana

was very angry , bu t Pratapa Rudra said “Do

not be offended with h im ; h is devotion for the

Master is su ch that we are not worthy of tou ch

ing the du st of h is feet .” 1

W hile parting from Chaitanya on the expira

tion of the few days he was perm i tted to stay

atC

Puri in the year, he wept every time l ike a

child leaving h is m other, and on one of these

occasions Chaitanya is said to have spoken to

h im thus : Do not weep,

vetaran scholar .

Thou gh I am at Pu r i,I shal l be always in

Spir it in you r cou rtyard . That place and the

k itchen of mydear mother where I took meals

cooked by her hands, I can never for a momen t

forget . You wi l l fee l my presence when the

San/Wtana party assem ble in you r cou rtyard and

Sing Krsna’

s name .

”

Crivasa’

s fam ily h ad two residen tial hou ses,

one at Nadiya and the other at Kumarhatta. I n

the latter p lace there is a m ound of earth mark

1ng the spot which was on ce h is home .

1 See th e Ch ai tanya Ch ari tamrta.

VI H ar i dasa .

One of the most ardent and Sincere of Chai

tanya’

s compan ions— one wh o Showed h is great

devotion for h im and adhe red to h is spiritual

conv ic tions in the teeth of great persecu tion

was H aridasa,popu larly known as yet

/

Dana Har i

dasa,— the Mah om edan . W e have not come

across h isMah omedan name . He was given the

Hindu name ‘Haridasa’

af ter h is conversion to

Vaisnavism . H is father ’s nam e wasMalai Kaz i .

He was the owner of a considerable property in

the distr ict of Ambua,and as the name Kaz i

implies,was aMah omedan Magist rate . H aridasa

was born in Budan near Banagram in the

district of J essore abou t the year 1 464 AD .

He came to San tipu r as a young man and

Ear ly Me andwas converted to the Vaisnava

con r ersion to Vais fai th by Advai ta. We find h im“m m .

l iv ing at the house of Crivasa in

Nadiya between 1 508 - 1 51 0 . Here N i tyananda

and he became fast friends and both preached

the Chai tanya- cu l t in the city and i ts subu rbs.

As al ready men t ioned , they v isi ted the hou ses of

the v il lagers as beggars and in the place of alms

which the good people were ready to give them ,

they asked for a prom ise on the ir part to sing

the praises of God and lead pure l ives.

HARI DAS, 65

Gorai Kaz i wh o was the Mah omedan Kaz i

of Ku l ia, a ward of Nadiya,was great l y

en raged to find a Mah omedan become a H indu

convert ; and he reported th e matte r to the

Emperor of Gau da. Orders were received to try

h im in a cou rt presided over by 1 2 Kaz is, and

they passed the unan imou s judg

men t that if he sti l l persisted in

reciting th e name of Hari throu gh the streets,

he shou ld be publ icly whipped in 22 differen t

markets of the coun try . This was done .

The persecu tion was so unceasing and the

pun ishm en t so severe th at h e was at one

tim e taken for dead . Bu t H aridasa triumphed

over al l this and kept to h is cou rse ou t of the

great love he bore to Chai tanya.

Persecu tion .

I n h is you th Haridasa h ad for a time led a

l ife of penance passing throu gh a process of

spi ritual train ing in the jungly tracts of Benapole

near Jessore . I t is wel l known that Bamch an

dra Khan ,a powerfu l local zem indar and a

bu l ly,sen t a beau tifu l Moghu l harlot to Haridasa

prom ising her a reward if sh e cou ld su cceed in

winn ing h im to th e pleasu res of

a world ly l ife . H aridasa l ived

in a smal l h u t at Benapole where

the harlot visited h im one even ingi and said that

Sh e was sm itten with love for h im . H aridasa said

he wou ld attend to her after saying h is prayei s.

‘

Saying so he Shu t h is eyes in order to take the

V ictoryover

temptat ion .

66 C I I A I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

fixed number of God ’s name which were th ree

lacs by dayand n ight . So qu ie t and lonely was

the place and so profound was the meditativ e

m ood of H aridasa,that h is l ovely sedu cer wai ted

til l morn ing wi thou t a word and when at the

dawn of the daypeople gathered at the place to

see the holy man sh e wen t away saying sh e

wou ld V i si t h im the next even ing . That n igh t also

sh e h ad a Sim i lar experience,the al l absorving

m editation of Haridasa cou ld not be distu rbed,

and on the third n igh t sh e cou l d not resist

the influ ence of the sain tly life before her . To

the great disappoin tmen t of Ram chandra Khan

Th e h arl ot tu rned i t was discovered that the beau tia devfte ' fu l Moghu l cou rti zan h ad taken

to the l ife of a Vaisnava recluse by shaving

her head and accep ting Haridasa as h er Spi ri tualgu ide . l Ve know from the accou nts given

in the Chaitanya Charitamrta

h ow a retribu tion cam e to Rama

chandra Khan from the m ost High for Oppress

ing H aridasa and doing other wicked th ings.

He h ad insu l ted before this Ni tyananda wh o h ad

been a gu est at h is hou se one n ight . He h ad

grown proud of h is army and refu sed to payannual revenu e to the Mah omedan cou rt. A

powerful army of the Emperor laid siege to h is

fortified town and making a forc ible entry in to

i t,occu pied it, defi l ing h is temples wi th th e blood

of cows slain there .

A retr ibu tion .

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68 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

This refers to the v iolation of gastri c ordinances which marked the cou rse of the Vaisnavas

in the pu rsu it of their spiri tual goal . The Maho

medans were offered the same respect and, what

is more, the same social prestige as the Hindus,

in their own commun i ty . The flood ish ere the one

of fai th and devotion brou ght on by Chaitanya .

W hen H aridasa was at San tipu r l iv ing with

Advai ta,the l atter was fo r some

time excommu n i cated by theHar idasa recon

c i led wi th th e

fill?“ 0 0mm " orthodox commun ity for h is in t i

mate associat ions wi th a Maho

m edan . A public d ie t took place there in wh ich

H aridasa made a speech qu oting chapter and

verse from variou s Sanskri t works and su ccess

fu l ly meeting al l the argum en ts advanced by

h is chief opponent Yadunandana Acharya wh o

held an undispu tedly high position as a scholar

not only at San tipu r bu t in the neighbou ring

districts. The diet resu l ted in the latter’s accept

ing the creed of Vaisnav ism as propounded by

Haridasa. H is triumph over su ch a powerfu l

adversary,no l ess than h is great meekness of

character and exalted l ife,overcome the prej u

dices of th e people of San tipu r and thence

forward they ceased their hostile attitude towards

H aridasa and to h is friend Advaita.

From San tipu r H aridasa came to the vil lage

of Fu l iya the birth place of the distingu ished

Bengal i poet K i ttivasa. Here the inspiring

HAR I DAS 69

presence of H aridasa made a deep and profound

impression on a Brahman scholar nam ed Ramdasa

wh o acknowledged the Mah om edan devotee as

h is Gu ru—spiritual master .

Haridasa f ollowed Chaitanya at Bu rt . And

ou t of respec t for orthodox n otions he l ived ou t

side the I’u r i temples. B ut Chai tanya paid h im

a visi t there almost every day. W e have al ready

noticed that in th is resort of H aridasa ou tside

the Temple ju risdiction,Sanatana l ived for awhile

before going to Vrndavana.

Sanatana’

s adm iration for H aridasa’

s character

was great . Once he praised h im in the fol low

ing words There are those wh o preach

relig iou s tru ths bu t do not l ive holy l ives them

selves. O thers there are wh o lead pu re l ives

as rel ig ious reclu ses, cu t 0”

from men . Bu t

you have not on ly preached the tru ths you rself

bu t have practised them in you r own l ife . W h o

is there,

so noble and good as you are ?” 1

Chai tanya also adm i red h im thu s : “You r

Th e respect in holy thou ghts are as the streams

W h ich h e was h eld' of the Ganges in which you r sou l

bathes every hou r . You r piou s acts earn for

you th at v irtu e which the people seek in sacri

ficial rites prescribed in the Castras You are

constan t ly in tou ch wi th ~the loftiest of ideals

(1 ) wri tsattics C35? ai was z ista I

asisW W6—472 7l l W WSW ll

wists ass arm as a? wifeTh e Ch ai tanya Ch ari tamrta. An tyakh anda Ch ap . I V .

70 C I I AI TANYA AN I ) H i s COMPAN I ONS .

which give you th e sam e m eri t as th e study

of the Vedas. “7h at Sadhu or Brahman is th ere

wh o is good and great as you are ?

W hen he fel t th e approach of death he to l d

Ch aitanya that he was disabled by age from

reciting the number of names of God dai ly that

he h ad done for long years. Chaitanya said“You shou ld not do anyth ing to weaken th e

body . You are a tru e sain t and maydispense

That very n igh t when h e fel t9

wi th the forms

the approach of death wi th j oined hands he said

to Chai tanya Pray remain near me at my last

mom en t,so that I maysee that beau tifu l face

of you rs wh ich h as been the foun tain of al l myspiri tual bl iss. Oh my friends presen t here

,

rec ite the nam e of myMaster . So th at I may

hear the swee t nam e of Chai tanya u ttered by

you . This is the last great act of kindness Iexpect to rece ive at you r hands.

”3 Tu rn ing to

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H ARI DAs. 71

Chai tanya he said again “A low born,vile fellow

I was, throu gh you r grace I h ave been saved,and

have known the sweets of a higher l ife . You have

H i s last momen ts. given me an exal ted rank in the

society of Hindu s so that thou gh aMah omedan Ihave received presen ts at the graddha cerem onyfrom h igh - caste Hindus, as thou gh I were a

Brahman . Bu t al l th is temporal glory is noth ing

as compared with the spiritu al b liss which you

have brought to mysou l .” W hen h is last momen t

cam e,Chai tanya cal led al l h is compan ions

near the bed of the venerable sain t and at h is

bidding the best of the Brahmans bowed at the

fee t of th e departing sage while al l sang the

praises of God. As the last flicker of life passed

away, h is remains were carried to the sea coast,

where Chai tanya with h is own hands dug upthe sand andmade a bu rial place for h im .

It h as been attempted by later Vaisnavahistorians to prove that Haridasa thou gh brought

up by a Mah omedan, was a Brahman by birth

and as a child was taken care of by Malai Kazi ,Malai Kazi was not h is father bu t h is god - father .I n the earlier writings, however, no reference asto h is Brahman ic origin is found ; he is simply

cal led Mah omedan H aridasa. We have oftenfound that as the Vaisnava circle gradual ly

expanded itse lf , it took by degrees a secterian

Attem p ts to prove character, re laxing i ts high prinh im of H indu ex

traction eipl es of brotherhood given to it

72 C I I A I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

by Chai tanya and N i tyananda . The caste

prej u dices of the orthodox commu n i ty gradual ly

entered into i t and th e descendan ts of

Gosains— the Gu rus of Vaisnavas—wh o were

m ostly Brahmans— felt i t as a stigma on thei r

ped igree that their ancestors h ad eaten from the

same plate with one wh o by bi rth was a Mah o

medan,and h ad bowed at h is feet , naymore, h ad

in a few cases, acknowledged h im as the i r rel i

gious teacher . They have thu s probably inven ted

stories to m itigate the force of this evi l as far as

possible by attribu t ing Brahmanic ancestry to

Haridasa. Chai tanya was no bel iever in caste,

nor in any difference between man and man .

H is motto was the text of the Vrh at Naradiya

Pu rana E ven a Chandal is to be honou red

more than a Brahman if the former h as attained

the knowledge of God .

”As an ascet ic he cou ld

not have any caste - preju dices himself,bu t he

admi red freedom from them in those of h is

fol lowers wh o were not ascetics bu t belonged to

the orthodox commun i ty . W e find i t men tioned

in the Chaitanya Ch ari tamrta that one Kal idasa,a Kayastha, h ad made it h is mission to eat the

refuse food from the plate of su ch low- caste

Kamfl smh c gm tpeople as Doms and Had i s with

3222211110 11 of caste the fu l l approval of Chai tanya .

Kal idasa defended h is procedu re

by saying that h en the taking of m eal tou ched

by others formed such an important factor of

VI I —L okanatha Gosvdmi .

The history of the Vaisnavas in Bengal , so

fu l l ofsacrifices and hardships undergone for the

sake of rel igion,hardly presen ts a more striking

example of patien t faith and si len t self - dedication

to Ch aitanya than that of the famou s herm it

Lokanath aGosvam i . The Vaisnava biographers,so lav ish in their praise of other leaders of their

faith and in m inu te details of the ir l ives,are

strangely si len t abou t Lokanath awhose pu re l ife,

spiri tual fervou r and u ncomprom ising adherence

to h is lofty ideals are almost u n iqu e in Vaisnava

histo ry . The writers make l ittle m ore than

an inciden tal reference to h is l ife given in the

biographical notices of other Vaisnava worthies.

Lokanath a was the son of a Ku l in Brahman

named Padmanabha Chakravarti of Talgoria, a

v il lage in the district of Jessore . H is mother’sname was S i ta and he was born abou t the year

1 490 AD . Lokanath was a fel low - studen t of

Chaitanya, reading with h im at

l

l

fgigf ee “ d early the of tol Pandit Ganga Das at

Nadiya. When Chaitanya’

s l ifesudden ly took the re l igiou s tu rn

,for which i t

was predestined, no one adm ired i t more thanJ

741 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

Lokanath a,wh o for some time was h is constant

compan ion . Chai tanya wan ted h im to go to

V rndavana to reclaim the deserted shrine,a

m ission for the accompl ishmen t of wh ich Sana

tana, Ru pa and others were employed by Chai

tanya in lat ter years. Separated from Chai tanya,

Lokanath a fel t m ise rable, bu t he cou ld not refu se

i t ; a request from Chai tanya was as binding as

the hol iest wri t of scriptu re to h is compan ions,and Lokanath a si len tly carried ou t h is bidding .

The Premavi lasa th us describes

what he said to Chai tanya on th is

occasion in one of h ismessages to h im :“No more

shal l I , oh myLord , be perm i tted to see you r

feet . Think not that I seek my own pleasu res.

To carry ou t you r wishes m u st always be th e

sole end of my l ife . For this obj ect have Ireconci led myse lf with the sol itary l ife I leadhere . You are there in the m idst of those wh o

are more fortunate than I . I am deprived of

that company than which nothing is dearer

to me .

” 1

Th e order inviolab le .

A j ou rney to Vrndavana from Nadiyawas not

an easy matter m those days. Lokanath a was

accompan ied by another Brahman scholar named

Bh ugarbh a. A t the time they wen t, the main

as at Cit-

fits caratmm W 1

W W NW lass nseat aw ats isal

31396 area 0 1m canamennTh e P i emavt l é sa .

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76 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

The transformation was as su dden as thou gh it

were accompl ished by the tou ch of a magician ’

s

wand . Bu t of th is we propose to speak at some

length e lsewhere . From 1 51 1 to 1 51 2 Chaitanya

was in the Deccan, and Loknath a l ike others

heard of h is presen ce there . He accordingly left

Vrndavana for a time to meet the Master in the

sou th ; bu t unfortu nately he cou ld not over take

h im ,m issing h im narrowly at the several stations

where Chai tanya h ad halted for some days.

Lokanath a heard again, while sti l l j ou rneying in

the Deccan in qu est of the Master,

tigfisses Ch ai '

that he h ad gone up to Vrnda

vana. He hu rried back to that

town as soon as he h eard th is,bu t on h is

arr ival there was again disappoin ted to learn

that Chai tanya h ad lef t the h oly ci ty . Loka

natha h ad no orders from the Master to retu rn

to Pu ri or Bengal so thou gh greatly m ortified

at the separat ion from h im,he spen t th e remain

ing days of h is l ife at Vrndavana fo l lowing the

paths of spiritual advancement and humane

serv ice . The Vrajabasi s, as the residents of

Vrndavana and i ts v icin i ty were cal led,paid h im

un iqu e homage acting as he bade them to do

with ou t a qu estion—so high was the place he

occupied in their estimation . The

Anu ragaval l i describes h im thu s

Always scru tin ising himself by m editation,

not given to many words,bu t when he opens

H is p iety.

LOKANATH A GOSWAMI . 77

h is mou th , h is short speeches are fu l l of sweet

ness and wisdom ,wie ld ing a great influ en ce .

”1

W e shal l have to retu rn again to th e l ife

of th is great Vaisnava,when referring to the

su bj ect of the reclaim ing of the sh rine of

Vrndavana . Loknath a was absolu tely averse to

a glorification of h imself by the writers of the

Vaisnava history . I t is wel l - kn own that Krsnadasa Kaviraja,

wh o wrote the m ost valu able ac

coun t of Chaitanya’

s l ife,drew h is inspiration

and materials in no inconsiderable degree from

Lokanath a Gosvam i . Bu t whi le describ ing the

noteworthy inciden ts of the l ives of other devo

tees,he does not men tion the help he obtained

from Lokanath a anywhere in h is elaborate work ,nor does he refer to anyanecdote of h is i l lu s

trions l ife . This is because Loknath a h ad pre

vented the Kaviraja from writing anyth ing to

glori fy h im . This incident is men tioned in the

Premvi lasa written only a few years after the

Chai tanya Ch ari tamrta .

Lokanatha h ad made it a point not to

take disciples, and th is accoun ts for the com

parative si lence of the Vaisnava historians abou t

h im . The discip les general ly take elaborate

notes of the l ives of their Gu rus and write the ir

biographies. The on ly disciple whom Lokanath a

1 asafw ssnaifi awm n

cawas cawfw‘

wasam n

Th e Amw‘figava l l z .

78 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

adm i tted was Narottama. Lokanath a h ad re laxed

h is stern principle in favou r of Narottama

u nder exceptional c ircumstances which I shal l

relate while writing abou t the latte r . Lokanath a

was unwi l l ing to adm it disciples becau se they

we re requ ired to payhonou r to their Gu ru s verging on worship . Lokanath a was af raid lest th is

m ight lead to se lf - glorification and van i ty .

Throu ghou t h is long l ife he remembered the

words which Chaitanya spoke to h im wh ile

bidding h im God - speed on the eve of h is j ou rney

to Vrndavana.

“Kn ow th is Lokanath a, that

neither you nor I are mean t to en j oy the pleasu resof the world .

”

Lokanath a remained a bache lor al l h is l i fe

and died at a good old age m ou rned by the whole

Vaisnava commun ity .

VI I Vasudeva Sarvabhauma .

W e have in ciden tal ly men tioned Vasudeva

Sarvabh auma in a prev iou s lectu re i n connection

wi th a con troversal d iscussion which he held

with Chai tanya at Pu rI on spiritual matters,

and h is even tual defeat and acceptance of Chai '

tanya as h is master (Gu ru ) and the tru e inter

pretor of religiou s tru ths.

Vasu deva Sarvabh auma was u nqu estionably

at the head of the scholars of Eastern India

at th e time . Having read the Upan ishads at

Benares he became a pupil of the ce l ebraetd

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8 0 CHA I'I‘

ANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

their edu cation at Mi th i la, h is pupils cou ld not

dissem inate so perfect a knowledge of the

subj ect in the ir respective coun tries,wi th ou t

having i n the ir possession any copy of the origi

nal work,which was fu rther enriched by the

annotations of several generations of accompl ish

ed teach ers of Mi th i la.

Vasu deva Sarvabh auma comm it ted to m emory

not on ly the fou r parts of Ch in taman i wi th i ts

valuable store of annotations,bu t also a very

considerable portion of the fam ou s work Ku su

manjal i . W ithou t v iolating the conditions to

which he h ad su bscribed , he cam e to Nadiya fu l ly

equ ipped with the latest kn owledge , and fou nded

a tol there,the repu tation of which soon spread

far and wide,drawing hosts of pu pils from al l

recogn ised cen tres of Sanskrit learn ing throu gh

ou t India,til l the fam e of the Mai th i l Col lege

rapidly d im in ished and was even tual ly extingu i

shed . Vasu deva’

s teachings gave a fresh stimu lus

to the cause of the stu dy of Logic and h is

famou s pupi l Ragh unath aCiroman i’

s name stands

first in the l ist of those wh o founded the new

school of Logic named Navya Nyaya which to

th is dayremains a m onumen t of the keenness

of the Bengal i in te l lec t . I tagh u nath a was a son

of a widowed Brahm in woman wh o earned her

l iv ing by doing m en ial work at the house of

Sarvabh auma . When only a lad of 3,Raghu

nathawasasked by Sarvabh auma to ge t some bits

VASUDEVA SARVABHAUMA . 8 1

of bu rn ing wood from the k itchen for h is pipe .

Ragh u nsth a h is The boy fi rst took a quantity ofworthy deSCipl e '

dust in h is hand and thu s protect

ed brou ght the b its of bu rn ing wood to h is

maste r . I t is said that this l ittle inciden t stru ck

th e teacher as a sign of th e boy’s inte l lectual

powers and he u ndertook to teach h im himself . ‘

At 5 when Ragh unath a began to read the al pha

bets,he startled h is teacher by the qu estion

S ir‘

why is the le tter If? p laced before QI’

W hat harm i f thei r si tuat ion is changed ? ”

Ragh u nath a afterwards rose to conspicu ou s fame

and ecl ipsed that of h is con temporaries in the

field of Logic . Vasudeva’

s own work in Sanskrit

Sarvabh auma- Ni rukti’ gave the fi rst start to

the pu re in te l lectual basis on wh ich this new

school of Logic i s fou nded. Gau tama h ad kept

the subj ect on a spiritual p lane, bu t Navya Nyaya

ent irely freed it from monastic th ral .

The te l of Vasu deva flou rished in Nadiyabetween 1 470 and 1 480 A .D . ,

bu t a great calam ity

befel l th e Hindu residen ts of the ancien t ci ty

later on . It was reported to Hu sen Saba, the

Emperor of Gauda, that a persisten t rumou r of

a proh etic natu re was in the air that the

Brahmans of Nad i yawou ld once moreassert their

supremacy in Bengal . The fire of heroism stil l

l ingered in the old Capital of the Hindu Kings,as the residen ts of the place were fine archers

and h ad retained‘

ti l l then some of their Warl ike

K

82 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

traits. The Emperor bel ieved in the prophecy

and o rdered a general devastation of th e place

and a forcible conversion of i ts Brahmans to

I slam . The prophecy referred to is men tioned

in the Chaitanya Mangal by J ayananda,wh o

Th e Moh anm den was a con temporaryofChaitanya,

persecu t ion and

t h e fl igh t of yam and confirm ed by Vrndavana Dasa“em from Nad'ya'

in h is Chaitanya Bhagavata

written i n 1 539. The angry monarch sen t a

strong Mah omedan army which was stationed

at the vi llage of Piru lyanear Nadiya,and forcibly

converted the Brahmans to the Islam ic faith .

This is the origin of th e Biru lyaBrahmans. W e

are told h ow the Hindus were not perm itted to

sound the conch shel l in their temples and bathe

in the Ganges ; if they did so they were forci

bly served with beef . The temples were dese

crated , the fig trees, sacred to the Hindus, were

uprooted,and a general pan ic seized the inh abi

tants of the old city wh o fled from i t in great

numbers and settled in other prov inces. Mahes

vara V icarada, the father of Sarvabh auma,wen t

to Benares at this ju nctu re , and the latter fled

to Pu r i . Sarvabh auma’

s brother Vidyavachaspati

deserted h iscoun try - seat and settled in a different

par t of Bengal .

So great was the fame of Vasudeva as a

scholar that Pratapa Ru dra,the king of Orissa,

accorded h im a royal reception,offering h im a

a gold throne next to h is own in h is cou rt . Thus

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84: CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ON S .

beat h im with a cane while in that unconscious

state . Vasudeva Sarvabh auma was at the temple

and was attracted by the si ght of the handsome

I n te rv iew w i th you ng Sannvasi ly ing u nconsciou sC h ai tanya ‘

on the floor . He preven ted the

Pandas from beating h im,and ordered h im to

be carried to h is own house . For 8 hou rs Chai

tanya layu nconsciou s,the tears trick l ing down

h is cheeks, bu t he occasional ly spoke a few

broken words indicative of the j oy at h is un ion

wi th the Deity . By th is time h is compan ions

had already arrived and were now at the hou se

of Sarvabh auma. They recited the name of

Krsna aloud and sang h is praises,u pon wh ich

Chaitanya came back to h is senses. Vasudeva

asked h is brother - in - law GOpinath a wh o that

in teresting young man was. The latter told h im

that he was a c itizen of Nadiya. N i lamvara

Chakravarti , the father of Chai tanya’

s mother

Cach i , was a great f riend of Sarvabh auma’

s

fath erMah esvara Vicarada. Sarvabhauma hearing

th is became in terested in Chai tanya. The

venerable scholar himself served the young

Sannyasi with meal on a golden plate,and invited

h im to stay in h is hou se . He also showed great

hospi tal i ty to h is compan ions, wh o were for the

most part c itizens of Nadiya. This happened in

1 509 A .D . Chaitanya Ch ari tam rta re lates the

fol l owing dialogu e between Vasudeva and Gopi

natha at this stage Vasudeva : This you ng

VASUDEVA SARVABHAUMA .

"85

man is a Sannyasi . To what Order of ascet ics

does he belong ? ” Gopinath a He is a disciple

of Kegava Bharat i .

” Vasu deva B u t there are

better Orders of Sannyasi s. H e is q u i te a you ng

man'

and h asattractive looks, i t wil l be difficu l t

for h im to keep the chasti ty of the ascetic ’s vow.

I shal l teach h im Vedan ta and give h im a better

Vasudeva’

s resol vespiritual ideal . He must forgo

tgngg's

l’rov

spigfifii the inferior Order“

in wh ich hetrai n ing h as en l isted h is name and be

made to enter in to a higher Order .” Gopinatha

He does not care for forms,i t matters l ittle to

what Order he be l ongs. You have not knownh im yet, when you do so, you wi l l find h im mu ch

above anything that you mayhave

Vasudeva told Chaitanya in h is next inter

v iew wi th h im that as a Sannyasi he deservesevery respect from h im ; bu t he asked what

right he h ad to take a Sannyasa vow while s til l

so young . The Castras, he said,have laid it

down that one may renounce t h e world and

becom e a Sannyasi on ly when he has passed at

least two thirds of the u sual term of life.

Chaitanya humbly replied Do not,oh venerable

si r,think me

,to be so exalted a personage as a

Sannyasi . A longing for un ion with God h asdriven me mad

,and thu s have I shaven my

head, torn my sacred thread and come away

from home . I am on ly a boy before you and

do not know even what is good and what , is bad

86 CHA I’

I‘

ANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

for me. Kindly give me l essons and teach me

th e right cou rse . I am grate fu l to you for

protecting me from th e h ands of the Pandas

to - dav.

” That day Vasu deva cal led h im again

to h is presence and asked h im to

listen atten tive lv to the interTh e si len t l istner .

pretations of the sacred texts which h e wou ld

del iver in the even ing . Chaitanya qu ietly sat.

and l istened to the wonderfu l dessertations on

theology which the veteran scholar gave . Not

one day, bu t for seven consecu tive days he did so,

before a large and adm i ring audience . On the

8 th dayVasudeva said to Chaitanya For seven

days you have heard mydiscou rses on the sacred

Upan ishads bu t have made no commen ts,si tt ing

mu te al l the while .

” Chai tanya repl ied I amno scholar

,and have not the capac ity to en ter

into the spiri t of you r learned discou rse . I l istned

to it simply becau se you ordered me to do so and

also becau se i t is the du ty of a Sannyasi to hear

the in terpretations of holy books.” Sarvabh auma

said Those wh o cou ld not u nde rstand anypor

tions of myspeech referred their diffi cu l ti es to

me,which I h ave taken pains to elu cidate . Bu t

you h ave not done so. I am not su re in what

spiri t you have taken my discou rses. You r

Chaitanya

said “ S i r,since you wish m e to speak I mu st

3)

atti tude seems mysteriou s to m e .

con fess that th e tex ts of th e Upan ishads are qu i te

cl ear to me,bu t you r explanati ons have clouded

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88 CHA I TA NYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS.

i tself ’ on ly came ou t of h is l ips,whi le tears drop

ped from h is eyes and choked h is voice ti l l he

passed in to that trance—the beatific v isionwhich showed h im to be m ore than a commonmortal . H is eyes rained tears

,and were fixed

heavenwards. H is arms were ou tstretched, as i f

to embrace the Unseen ; he became un conscious of

the physical world and a radian ce came in to h isface which showed the heaven ly sight of God - in

Man .

So irresistiblewas h ischarm th at the old scholar

of 80 wh o was looked on as the very fountain of

al l learn ing now fel l at the young Sannyasi ’sfeet and accepted h im as h isGod and saviou r . The

beau tifu l Gau rangastaka, or 8 stanzas in honou r

of Chai tanya,that he wrote in Sanskrit

,bears

testimony to h is p rofound faith in the apostle of

Nadiya.

I t was from Vasu deva Sarvabh auma and

Gopi nath a that the king PratapaRu dra h ad heard

of the greatness of Chaitanya, wh ich made h im

so eagerly seek an inte rv iew wi th h im .

Vasu deva's great reverence for Chaitanya is

expressed in h is celebrated u tteran ce men tioned

by the au thor of the Chai tanya Ch ar i tamrta in

the 9th Chapter of the Madhya Khanda of h is

work . W e have already referred to i t on p . 4

and qu ote i t here again If a thu nderbolt

fal ls on myh ead or even mysons die—that I can

bear, bu t not that I shou ld be deprived of the

RAMANAND A RAY 89

company of the Maste r ” 1 Govinda Dasa,wh o

took down notes of Chaitanya’

s tou r in the Deccan

while he travel led wi th h im,writes that on the

retu rn of Chaitanya to Pu r i the venerable Sarva

bh auma wi th j oined hands addressed h im and

said That I cou ld bear a separation from you

bespeaks a heart of stone in m e and the man

fel l on h is knees weep i ng like a woman .

2

Sarvabh auma died at abou t 1 520 A .D . H is on ly

son Du rgadasa was also a scholar . He annotated

the celebrated Sanskri t Grammar,

D ur

gfi‘m’

h is the Mu gdabodh a by Bopadeva

and also wrote a commen tary ofKavikalpadruma . Du rgadasa h ad the title of

V idyavagica or‘the master of learn ing andspeech .

’

I X . Rdmancmda Ray.

Ramananda Ray was the prime m in iste r of

Raja Pratap Rudra of Orissa. H is celebrated

Sanskri t Drama“Jagannath a Val labh a

”was one

of the few books which were read and su ng

before Chai tanya every day by h is order .

This proves the adm iration in which the“fissi se ace afi rra afim i

s tat asm sw t I ts-

w i sts"atffice etfant catst srz a’fifist l

shawl savers rifles fatal u

(s tatsFm art are! fist—an

wwfi m fissafia l

se th sfi ai‘

am start“

90 CHA I'rANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

book was h eld by th e Master . Rama Baywas a native of V idvanagara in cen tral India.

The prime m in ister of the king of Orissah ad the ti tle of Raja. When Chai tanyawas at Pu r i

,Bhabananda Ray, the father of

Ramananda,sti l l l ived

,and it is m entioned in

the Chai tanya Charitamri ta that Chaitanya on ce

embraced the old man saying “Y ou r son

Ramananda is dear to me as my own self .”

Ramananda h ad fou r brothers ; GOpinath a

Pattanayak ,Kalan idhi , Sudhan idh i and Ban i

natha. They were al l devoted to Chaitanya.

Ramananda met Chai tanya fi rst on the bank of

the Godavar i , a few m i les from h is own town of

Vidyanagara. I t was in the m onth of Ju ne

1510 A .D . The former h ad gon e there,borne

in a pictu resqu e palankin , wi th a large escort

I n terv i ew and a good number of Vaidi kaC h ai tanya Brahmans. Here Chaitanya paid

h im a v isit and said that he h ad heard a good

deal abou t h is fervent faith from Vasudeva Sarva

bh auma and h ad longed to see h im . Saying this

be embraced the m in ister mu ch to the su rprise

and embarrassm ent of the Brahmans presen t , wh o

said to one another “ Look at th is holy man,

respl endan t as a god . H ow strange that he

tou ches a Cadra and weeps for joy !” 1

1si e staam cvfil sa m l

n arrates canm etwas"Cha i tanya Ch ?” i tamr i trI

,

Madh ya Kh anda .

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92 C HA I TANYA AND H I S COMPANI ONS .

said that the spir itual sou l m u st yearn fo r faith

which springs from a tru e knowledge of things.

The text qu oted was the verse 50 , Chapter XVII

of the G i ta wh ich says that one wh o h as known

God is con ten t in h imself and neither m ou rns a

l oss nor feels a desire .

A sti ll h igher plane of Sadhya Bhak ti is

explained by Rama Ray at the bidding of the

Master,the text qu oted being verse I II , Chapte r

1 5 of the l 0th Skanda of the Crimat Bhagavata inwhich knowledge (W ) fal ls in to the back - grou nd

and faith (E li ? ) becomes the sole obj ect . I n a

sti l l higher plane of spiri tual l i fe faith takes the

character of love ; the text being a verse

from Padmaval i .

This closes the sphere of Baidh a Bhakti or

that faith which fol lows the monastic ru les and

the inj unctions of the scriptu res,and Rama Ray

elu c idates the prin ciples of h igher Vaisnava

theology which aims at a direct commu n ion

with God . The first stage of this,according to

verse XIII , Chapter I II of (;ri mat Bhagavata is toworship God by work , even as a servan t does h is

Master,

not as a matter of du ty alone,bu t

impel led by love .

The servan t carries ou t th e command of the

maste r and thou gh he maydo so wi th love , he

remains one step below and cann ot approach

H im too close . The second stage referred to in

verse II , Chapter XII of the 1 0th Skanda of

RAMANANDA RAY . 93

Bhagavata describes the Sakhya in which God

becomes our friend and gu ide . He no longer

commands, bu t is actually wi th u s,play

ing on the stage of the world . The players

love one an other,

as they are consciou s th at

He is one of themselves and is the Main P layer

direc ting th eir plays. W hen danger comes,i t

l oses its terror , as they kn ow their friend to be

in their m idst,con trol ling their destiny and

taking care of them .

“Next says Ramananda

Rayat the bidding of Chaitanya,

“is the stage

of Batsalya P rema or love for a child .

” The

tex t qu oted in support of th is is verse XXXVII ,Chapte r XVI II of the l 0 th Skanda of the

grimat Bhagvata. The world plays round the

spiritual man as ch i ldren and he watches

i t wi th affectionate care,

as parents do .

H is on ly du ty is to offer h is constan t

and anxious care to the well - being of al l . This‘al l

’

is h is God . H is affection is of a cosm o

pol itan character . Jasoda,l ike Madona of the

Christian,typifies the Mother anxious for the

protect ion of the divine child— the ever - growin g

new babe of human i ty . E ven one ’s own enemy

appears to h im in this stage as a mere child and

is regarded with compassion and kindness. H ow

th is maybe possible is to be fou nd in the l ittle

inciden t of N i tyananda’

s condu ct to Jagai and

Madhai described on pp . 384 2. The baby of

human i ty grows wicked at times and k icks in

9h CHAITANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

retu rn of love . The godly man feels no anger

bu t blesses the children gone ast ray and prays

for them sav in g“Father forg ive them

,for

they know not what they do” even wh en they

pu t: a crown of thorns on h is head and nai l h im

to a cross.

I n a sti ll h igher stage of spiri tual ity the sou l

Th e GOP} .

approach es God as a Gopi— th e

maid wh o forgets h erself in the

del igh t of witnessing the spectacle of dev ine love

that comes from a l l sides. The text qu oted is

verse V I I I of the l 0 th Can to of Govinda L i lamrta which says that the Gop i does not desi re

direct contact wi th Krsna . She deeply appre

ciates and en j oys the sigh t of su preme bliss

which is to be seen i n the Vrnda groves in the

of the eternal God Krsna and h is

eternal l over Radha. The funct ion of the Gopi

is identical wi th that of the poet which S i r

Rabindranath Tagore expresses so happily in

the language of m odern poetry

Ah poet , the even ing draws near

You r hai r is tu rn ing gray ,“Do you in you r lonely mu sing bear the mes

sage of the hereaf te r“It is even ing

,

” the poet saic “and I am

l isten ing because some one may cal l from the

v il lage,late th ough it be .

“I watch the - young straying hearts meet

together , and two pairs of eager eyes beg for

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9G CHA I TANYA AND H i s COMPAN I ONS .

of thei r own personal happiness. Thus forgetfu l of their own selves

,they are privi leged to

en ter th e groves of sacred love,aiding in the

u n ion of sou l wi th sou l—m in istrants to the cause

of love which flows from the eternal foun tainof bl iss. They are ever young in the ir appre

ciation of al l that is beau ti fu l and good in

natu re .

‘Tim e writes no wrinkles on their

brows.

’ Th ey l ive i n Vrndavana— the spiri

tual heaven of the Vaisnavas,where the sou l

en tirely free from the bonds of social traditions

on one h and,

‘

and from the obligations of scrip

tu ral rites on the other,finds ou t i ts own path

inspired by love alone . This

path is cal led the rage—mega as

opposed to that of Baidh i Bhakti or faith that

aims at observance of the instru c tions con tai ned

in the scriptu res. The texts qu oted byRama Bay

for e lu cidation of th is stage were verse XX ,

Chapter XXXX ,verse X I X

,Chapter XXXVI I

,

verse XVI,Chapter I X

,and verse 545

,Chapter

XXXVII of th e l 0 th Skanda of grimatvagvata .

The Gop i is u nattached to the world . No narrow

selfish V iew clou ds her perfect v ision of that

bliss which pervades the u n iverse . Hence sh e

occu pies the position of Gu ru in the Vaisnava

theology . She is the wi tness of the “eternal

play” and is i ts right in terpreter .

“W i thou t

her help” adds Rama Ray, qu oting another

text from the Crimatvagvata“No one is

Th e Ragan uga

RAMANANDA RAY 97

privi leged to en ter into the region of spi ritual

love” .

I n the Vaisnva theology the posi tion of the

Gopi as Gu ru i s i ndicated by the fact that al l

the recogn ise d relig iou s preceptors of that faith

wh o were e ither Chaitanya’

s con temporaries or

l ived with in half a cen tu ry of h im are believed

by the Vaisnavas to be the incarnations of the

Gop i s of Vrndavana. Thu s Narah ari is beli eved

to be an incarnation of the Gopi nam ed Madhu

mala, Vasu Ghosh of Gunatunga and so forth .

The highest stage in this field belongs to

Radha, wh o typifies the fu l l blown beau ty of

sp i r i tual love . Chaitanya’

s su gg estive enqu i ries

made Ramananda speak with great emotion

and force of th e love of Radha for Krsna and

Chaitanya su pplemen ted the interesti ng dialogu e

by qu oting verse XXX IV, Chapter II of the

1 1 th Skanda,and verse I X , Chapter XXV of th e

l 0th Skanda of the grimatvagvata wh ich says“W hatever the spiritual sou l sees in th is perfect

stage of bliss becom es to i t a rem inder of God .

The gross goes in to the back grou nd and

al l that is seen presen ts to the eyes the al l

embracing spiri t of love —th e perfect and clear

vision of the liv ing God .

RamaRaysaid“This h i gh est stage of spi ritual

love h as assumed a mater ial form

gigfiottRay

,S

fir before m e to - day and I findCh ai tanya'

the raptu rou s ecstasies of love

98 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

at tribu ted to Radha in you ,oh my Master

Rama Raysaw the greatest marvel vi z . a man

lov ing God with al l the ardou r of h is sou l

frenz ied by the em otions of love and steeped in

ecstasies of boundless j oy .

Ten days and n ights RamaRayandChai tanya

spen t together and Krsnadasa Kavi raja,the

au thor of Chai tanya Ch ari tam rta says “As a man

finds a clu e to an u nderground treasu re from

which he at first co l le cts bronze and Copper

and then j ewels and d iamonds,

so the lon ger

he talked with Chai tanya the more he found

new paths opened to unknown treasu res of

spiritual experience . Th e'

beau ty of Chai tanya’

s

trances and em otions conv inced h im of th e tru th

of what he h ad read in the sacred books

wi th an overwhelming force . The presence of

Chai tanya inspired h im to compose a mystic song

of great beau ty which may thus be rendered

in to English“At the beginn ing glances from each other

rev ealed to u s both the wonders of love—of the

new world we now en tered u pon .

“From that time forward ou r impassioned feel

ings have blossom ed in an un in terru pted beau ty .

“Ne ither he nor I took any account of ou r

Th e song of sex—that he was a man and IRamam nda '

a woman .

C upid shot h is arrows throu gh ou r heartsand we were drawn to each other .

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1 00 CHA I TANYA AND H i s COMPAN I ON S .

The spel l of love alone possesses the sou l which

longs for d irect commu n ion .

I Y. Narahar i Sar/car .

Among the othe r fol lowers and friends of

Chai tanya,Narah ari Sarkar of the v i l lage of

Qi'i khanda in the District of Bu rdwan deserves

a prom inen t m en tion . H is father was Narayana

Deva Sarkar— a Vaidya by caste . The fam i ly

claimed descent f rom Pantha Dasa (1 1 00—1 1 69

A .D .) wh o was the Commander - in - Chief of

Val lala Sen ’

s army . I n the Sansk rit genealo

Th e pedigree .

gical work the Chandra Prabhawe find i t m ent ioned that Pantha

Dasa sett led in a flou rish ing v il lage nam ed

Bal inasi i n the d istri ct of Bu rdwan . Some of

h is descendants later on m oved to th e village of

Mau recwara in the sam e d istrict and thence to

grikh anda.

Narah ari ’s elder brother Mu kunda was physi

cian to Hu sain Saba, the Emperor of Gau r .

Muku nda’

sson Ragh unandana acqu i red ce l ibri ty

in the subsequ en t period of Vaisnava history

as a scholar and piou s man . Narahari was born

in 1 478 A .D . and was one of the constan t

compan ions of Chai tanya when the latter was

at Nadiya. W e find h im also paying h is annual

NARAHARI SARKAR . 101

V i si t to Pu ri to meet Chai tanya along with

Why h e i s not other Bengal is du r ing the rainy

seasons. He i s described in con

vata' temporary historical works as of

a handsome appearance and a bright fair colou r .

It is stated that Vrndavana Dasa, the au thor of

the Chaitanya Bhagavata h ad some private

gru dge against Narah ari on which accou n t he was

not m en tioned in h is work . The next biographer

of Chai tanya,Lochana Dasa

,was

,however, a

d isciple of Narah ari and made several respectfu l

references to h is Gu ru in h is work . Lochana

Loch ana Dasa, Dasa’

s Chaitanya Mangala was

composed in 1 537 A .D . on ly two

years after the Chaitanya Bhagavata of Vruda

vana Dasa.

1

Narah ari is chiefly known for the songs he

composed in praise of Chaitanya . The bu rden

of these songs is often a tende r yearn ing of th e

poet ’s sou l for m eeting Chai tanya . They show

the ardou r of woman ly passion and their

language is borrowed from that of the Gop i s

of Vrndavana as described in the Bhagavata

l iteratu re . Late Babu J agatbandh u Bhadracol lected a l ittle above 1 00 of these songs

,and

th ese are the fi rst that were composed in the ver

nacu lar in glorification of Chaitanya. Later on

Vasu devaGhosh ,alsoa‘ con temporary of Ch atianya,

1 See Preface to ‘Gau rapada Tarangin i by J agatbandh u Bh adra

,

pp . 130 and 154 .

1 02 CHA I'I‘

ANYA AH I ) H I S COMPAN I ONS .

Th e “M "e l m“took the field composing master

cu lar songs on p i eces or sim i lar songs. TheseC h a im ”

describe every inciden t of Chai

tanya’

s l ife in an impassionate language,often

reaching a h igh level of genu ine path os. Bu t

Narah ari mu st be given th e credit of being the

pionee r in the field . I n h is dayChai tanya’

s l ife

was not yet written in the vernacu lar ; for in one

of h is songs Narah ari W ri tes ‘

One wh o wi l l write h is (Chaitanya’

s) bio

graphy is not yet born . Long maywe have to wai t

for h im . If the Master ’s l ife be written in the

vernacu lar al l people wi l l u nderstand i t . Oh when

wi l l the lord fu lfil l this expectation of ou rs ‘

I t appears that a biograph ical accou n t of

Chaitanya in Sanskrit was al ready written by

M u rar i Gupta when Narah ari wrote these l ines.

I n them a stress is laid on the word vernacu lar

which may be taken as hin ting at the al ready

existing Sanskrit work .

Besides these songs Narah ari wrote a book

named Namamrta Samu dra i n Bengal i and

another named Bh ajanamrta in Sanskrit .

Narah ari was the fi rst among the numerous

followers of Chaitanya to preach the Chaitanya

l i e is th e firstcu l t. I I c prepared the code and

to preach th e C ha l the man/r d for the worship oftanya - cu l t .

Chai tanya and these were accepted

a? Wm ca, mm rm at? ca, aim finsW Ew 1

6mmasci l“

cam, {filmcars? am , amW 1 9mm fizz n

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1 04, CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

X I . V angi vadwm .

Vanci vadan was the wri ter of som e exqu isi te

songs on Chai tanya and Radha Krsna. Jadu

nandana Dasa wrote a memoi r of Vancivadanain th e gaka 1638 or 1 716 A .D . This work is

cal led th e Vangi giksa. W e learn from i t that

Vanci vadana was born in the year 1 494 A .D .

He was therefore ju ni o r to

Chai tanya by 8 years. H is fatherCh h akar i Ch atto was a residen t of the vil lage

of Patu l i near Kalna. bu t afterwards settl ed at

Ku l ia, one of the wards of th e town of Nadiya,

now m erged in th e Ganges. Besides h is numerou s

songs wh ich are to be fou nd in the Padakalpa

taru and oth er song - an thologies of the Vaisnavas,

Van eivadana wrote two works named Dwipakojjala and Dwipann i ta.

Chai tanya held frequ en t d iscussions wi th

Vancivadana on the cardinal doctrines of th e

Vaisnava creed and th ese are embodied in

the work Vancisiksa which we h ave ju st

Th e Van q i giksa.

m en tioned.

To th e Vaisnavas Vaneivadana’

s name is

special ly sacred,as h e became

“mum’

s

gu ardian of V ich nupriya Devi ,wife of Chaitanya

,wh en th e

latte r took Sannyas and l eft Nadiya for good .

An image of Chai tanya was made by Vanoi

vadana at h er b idding and was daily worshipped

by her.The descendan ts of Yadava Miera are

VANCIVADANA . 1 05

the presen t cu stodians of th i s image wh ich isnow worshipped in a temple at Nadiya.

I shal l attempt here to translate two of thesongs of Vanci vadana. Th e path os of th e

original Bengal i and th eir perfect rythm mu st

inevitably be lost in my translation .

[Radha, thou gh a prin cess is a m i lk -maidand as su ch goes to sell m ilk and cu rd

,this

being her professional cal ling . I t is mid- dayand Krsna thu s accosts her in the path ]

“ Oh my charm ing on e, h ow can you walk

by su ch a path as this“Here take you r seat u nder the cool shade

of Kadamva and I sh al l myse l f buyal l that

you mayh ave to sel l .

The m id- daysun shines over head and th e

du st of the path bu rns below . You r feet, my

love,are tender as the li ly - buds.

656W”W , a 9mGrat esW xi iighee was cm,

“

can? arm Gaza, aw fsfisl as affix;

aw adam , W arsaw, W fififimrmceficai rn? W as,

Offs: mmw, 5321, eta- era claimW it

was} assalts,ch em w aw, artssti rs aimm l

mats affirmwin, a? am"5151 vrfii , fsam 7dm attest n“cm W «3, {cacaaaffirm, M iaM «i i i ii ,

Elfiw'

lfil fi ma fl am e-

myrawtffi rffwsfifi ;fimtfir

‘

fi W W ? ! cm cats

camcm e ‘rfiifi ,9mW

'

sfin fifir;

wary EN? si ti ea I

afiafirm 911305, W asaiming, {as 31s El? as,

Tim em sits,E lfin? ri ffs,

ma sfs’

ss sf? am,

am first? $ 1? al i asw in? win 91? dew ,

sen Ghats am, fire'

s Elsie am,an an arm«aW n

N

1 06 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

I t pains me to beh old you r sweet face

flu sh ed by heat and you r braided h ai r hanging

al l l oose from labou r .

Priceless diamonds are on you r person not

safe are th ese from th e robbers wh o infest th e

high - wav.

Here do I h old the tax - col lector ’s Office

on ly for you ,my beloved . Leave me not

,

I pray .

”

The maidens al l wandered away,leav ing

Radha alone in that charm ing woody land .

H is eves gl isten ing with tears of j oy,

Krsna cam e and fel l at her lotu s feet,saying

‘Oh my charm ing one , blessed am I,God be

thanked th at we have met in th is place . My

happiness knows no bou nds to - day.

The sun h as sm it ten you r moon - l ike face

with i ts rays and the sou nd of th e anklets on

you r feet proclaims the labou r of you r walk,my

beloved .

Fain wou ld I place you r lovely feet on mybosom and th ey wl l l be a delight to mv eager

eyes

Pe rm i t me,dear, to sprinkle fragrant sandal

d rops on you . Saying th is, with imploring looks

h e held h er by the hand and with h is own pu rple

garmen t d id he wipe away the du st from her

feet

I n the lonely bower thu s did th e l overs

meet. and Vancidasa is pl eased at thei r meeting.”

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108 cu u'rxum AND n rs COMPAN I ONS .

I drank from the foun t of songs composed

I ndebted to Na .

by Narah ari Sarkar and thu s” h a“ conceived the n otion of wri t ing

poems on Chaitanya .

l

Wh en he sang the songs of h is own compo

sitiou writes the ven erable Krsna Dasa Kavi

raja in h is Chaitanya- Ch ari tam rta descriptive

of Chai tanya’

s l i fe , even th e wood and stone

wou ld melt at h earing them .

” 2 W e find i t

men tioned in work named Vaisnavachara Dar

pana that Vasu deva Gh osa spen t th e l ast part of

h is l ife at Tam luk - th e old mar itime town

Tamral ipta.

Mu rari Gu pta was born in Sylhet abou t

A .D . and was a Vaidya by caste . A long

wi th Cri vasa, Ch andra (;ekh ara and others he

lef t Sylhet and cam e and sett led at Nadiya in h is

early you th . He acqu i red profou nd sch olarship

in Logic , Medicine and oth e r su bj ects and thou gh

older than Ch aitanva bv at l east 1 5 years, held

many learned dispu tations with h im,wh il e th e

lat ter was a studen t in th e l ol of Gangadasa

Pand it at Nadiya.

1 amuse: term aviatoam

at ) mafia sin 3551N am .

2 slam si lts ma erg—aaim

wearm33mstainems I

MURAR I GUPTA .

Mu rari became so devoted to Chaitanya that on

hearing the news of h is resolu tion

to take Sannyas, he at tempted to

comm it su ic ide and was discover

ed by Chai tanya preparing h is self - destru ction

with a kn i fe and was dissu aded from th is cou rse .

Mu rar i Gupta is said to have been a worship

per of Rama and is therefore believed by the

orthodox Vaisnavas as an incarnat ion of Hanu

mana—Rama’

s devoted servan t . Mu rari’

s hum i

l i tyand high m orals form th e su bj ect of praise in

al l the memo irs of Chai tanya. W e find i t -men

tioned in Chai tanya - Ch ari tam rta that when on

h is visit to Chai tanya at Pu ri , the latter tou ched

h im with h is hand in an affectionate manner,

Mu rari sh rank a l it tle and said th at he was a

great sinner not worthy of the Master ’s tou ch .

Chaitanya said Mu rari no m ore , it breaks myheart to see th e hum i l ity of su ch a venerable

and piou s man . I n the Kadcha of Govinda we

find Mu rar i as one of th e foremost of those wh o

welcomed Chaitanya at Pu ri on h is retu rn from

the Deccan . H is em otion on th e occasion was

so great that he fel l unconsciou s on the ground

near Chaitanya’

s feet . 1

Mu rari Gu pta i s the fi rst writer of a bio

Th e first biogragraphical accou n t of Ch aitanya.

phy of Ch ai tanya He wrote it in Sanskrit in 1 514,

1

arts! fast

-

cf; es stint attai nKadchabyGovinda Dasa.

1 10 C l I AI TAN YA AND m s COMPAN I ONS .

fo ur years afte r Chaitanya h ad left Nadiya as a

Sannyasi . Du ring these years wi l d sto ries h ad

grown at Nadiya attribu ting superhuman qual i

ties and powers to Chai tanya . And the ve teran

scholar in h is tou ching admirat ion bel ieved them

al l and poetical ly described them in h is cele

brated work . Chaitanya was u nwi l l ing that h is

l ife shou ld be wr itten by anyone . Mu rari , as

I have said,wrote one afte r Chai tanya h ad left

h is native town . Gov inda Dasa alone recorded

facts of h is l ife as he saw them,bu t tel ls us

that hedid so ve ry private ly withou t the know

ledge of Chaitanya wh o was averse to self - glori

fication . Swarupa Damodar, one of the most

learned admi rers of Chai tanya,is also said to

have wr itten some biographical notes of h im

abou t this t ime ; we have , however , come across

on ly a few incomple te specimens of them .

Govinda Dasa wrote h is notes on Chai tanya’

s

tou r in the Deccan i n vernacu lar in 1 511 - 1 51 3,

but these we re kept in stri c t privacy . O f the

con temporary records of Chai tanya’

s l ife , the re

fore,Mu rari

’

s book,written in elegant Sanskrit

,

was by far the most widely read among the

Vaisnavas and respected by them as a standard

au th ori tv to which al l sub sequ en t b iographe rs

refe rred m a spirit of reve rence and with perfect

tru st .

Krsnadasa Kaviraja the au thor of Chai tanya

Ch ari tamrta,says of this work

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1 1 2 CHA I TAN YA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

have al ready men t ioned in a previous l ectu re .

Benkata Bhatta h ad two brothers,Pravodha

nanda wh o obtained cel ebri tv as the leader of

the Dand i sect of the ascetics of Benares,and

Trimal la wh o l ived in the Deccan . Gopala Bhatta

was born in 1 503 A .D . in the v illage of Bhat

tamar i in Sou th erern India,

so

he was on ly 7 years old when

Chaitanya v isited h is native cou n try . W e do

not c redi t the accou n t to be fou nd in the Prema

vi lasa,the Bhaktiratnakar and other later works

,

that Chaitanya spen t fou r m on ths of a rainy

season at the hou se of Benkata Batta at Bhat

tamari . Gov inda Dasa, wh o m en tions m inu te

detai ls of Chaitanya’

s t ou r there , does not say

that the lat te r stayed anywhere in the coun try

for m ore than a week except at Dvaraka. The

au thor of Chai tanya Ch ari tamrta was greatly

indebted to Gopala Bhatta for some of the

materials of h is monumen tal work . Bu t whi le

H I S pedigree

treating of other particu lars abou t h im ,Krsna

dasa Kaviraja does not refer to Ch ai tanva’

s stay

fo r fou r m on ths at Bh attamari . This om ission

is sign ifican t , and shows the un trustworth y

character of the tradition . I t mu st have been fabri

cated by the later writers in order to give import

Th e ta l e of 0 1m an ce to Gopala Bhatta for h is

“Ma’

s “W “g for long assoc iation wi th th e Master .

4 mon th s w i th

Gopfil fl Bh attu m It i s qu i te possi b l e th at aftert h e Deccan i s nnre~

l i ab le . Pravodhananda’

s acceptance of

eorALA BHATTA . 1 13

Chaitanya as h issav iou r andGu ru ,

‘

h isn ephewwas

natu ral ly attracted to take the banner of Vaisna

vism in h is hand and preach the Chaitanya- cu l t .

W e do not however disbel ieve that Chaitanya

saw Gopala Bhatta in the D eccan . If he did

so it was of so sl ight and trifling in terest that

Gov inda did not think i t worth while to notice it

in h is account . Indeed people ou tside the pale

of the Vaisnavas did not credit the story,as

wil l be observed from the following in ciden tal

references to i t by Narah ari Chakravarti in h is

Bh aktiratnakara .

“When the Master was travelling i n th eDeccan he stayed in the house of Benkata

Bhatta for fou r mon ths. The au thor of

Chai tanya Ch ari tamrta did not men tion it ‘

in

the account of the Maste r ’s tou r there There

is a mention of Chaitanya’

s V isit to Benkata

Bh atta’

s h ouse 'bu t not of h is stay the re for fou r

mon ths.

And again ‘As Chai tanya’

s stay at Bhatta

mari for fou r m onths h as not been men tioned

in anyau thor itative works, incredu lous people

do not seem to be wi l l ing to accept the account

as tru e .

” 1

The Gau rpada Tarangin i says that Gopala

Bhatta -was 30 years old when Chaitanya visited

the i Deccan . W e al l know that Gopala Bhatta

1 Th e Bh akti Rat 'nakara 1st Taranga.

1 14 CHAI TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

was born in 1 503 and Chai tanya tou red in the

Deccan du ring 1 510 - 1 51 1 . So from whatever

point the tradition is assai led it proves weak and

u ntenable . The Premavi lasa first mentioned this

u nau then ticated tradition inven ted probably to

exaggerate the importance of the al ready

importan t man Gopala Bhatta. I dwel l on thispoint at some length becau se i t h as been made

mu ch of by later Vaisnava biographers. Gopala

Bhatta was the Gu ru of Cri nivas Acharya

the greatest of the latter -dayVaisnava worthies.

Cri n ivasa ev inced wonderfu l faith in h is you th .

H is scholarship and other qual i ties of the head

and heart led h im deservedly to a posit ion of the

highest em inen ce in Vaisnava society . A fter

leav ing Vrndavana, however , he cam e to Bengal

and marr ied at Visnupu r where he q u i etl v settled

down to a prosperou s worldly life,re ce iv ing

gifts of considerab le m oney and lands from Raja

V i ra Hamvi ra of Visnupu r wh o h ad become h is

disciple . Cri n ivasa su cceeded from a worldly

poin t of v iew in en larging the Vaisnava circle ,and drawing with in i ts gradual ly widen ing

bou ndaries many of the influ en tial members of

the Bengal aristocracy . The fame of th is leader

rang in the ears of the Vaisnavas throughou t

the coun try . Bu t when Manohara Dasa, a native

of V isnupu r paid a v isi t to Gopala Bhatta at

Vrndavana and spoke of the attainmen ts of

Cri n ivasa in glowing terms,Gopala Bhatta

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1 16 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

“For hou rs and hou rs together he cou ld dan ce

wi thou t exhau stion,keeping u p a con tinu ou s

flow of an imation and emotional interest amongthe processional party. Chai tanva h imself sang

when Vakrecwar danced .

I I’

VI . Gaur i D 580 .

Gau ri Dasa was a native of Kalna. He was

descended from Varunacharya of the Mukhati

fam i ly of B rahm ins. H is father’s nam e was

Kansari and mother’s name Vimala Dev i . He

h ad five brothers of whom Suryadasa Sarkh el

became afte rwards a noted figu re in the

Vaisnava commu n i ty as N i tyananda married h is

two dau ghters Vasudha and Jah navi . I t is said

that Chaitanya c rossed to the other side of the

Ganges once,

steering the boat h imself wi th

an car . This car,together wi th a copy of

the G i ta in Chai tanya’

s own hand -writing was

preserved wi th great care by Gau r i Dasa . I n

du e cou rse they passed in to th e hands of H r idava

Chaitanya,a disciple of Gau r i Dasa and are now

to be seen in the Chaitanya Temple at Kalna.

Gau r i Das made images of Chaitanya andN i tya

nanda in N imba wood du ring their l ifetime .

These images wh ich are now worshipped in the

temple at Kalna. are said to bear a strik ing

resemblance to those whose l ikenesses th ev are ;

PARAMANANDA SEN 1 17

and many legendary tales are to ld by the simple

v il lage folk abou t them . One of them runs‘

thu s '

t en Chaitanya and Ni tyananda paid a visit

to Gau ridasa at Kalna in 1 510Th e images of

871

211

33222Half; A .D . the latter was SO m u ch

impressed an d charmed by their

presence that he implored them to stay with h im

at Kalna as long as he l ived . Chaitanya unable

to resist h is importu n ities said that he wou ld

comply wit h h is requ est . I n the ki r tcma pro

cession at h is hou se that n igh t,Gau ridasa was

su rprised to find two figu res of Chai tanya and

two figu res of N i tyananda,exactly al ike

,singing

songs in h is cou rtyard . He approached al l the

fou rwhen they saidKeep any two of us and we will staywith vou .

Upon this Gau ridasa caught hold of a pai r and

they becam e tran sformed in to N imba- wood

figu res which have since been worshipped in the

temple at Kalna.

ATVI I .

~ - Paramc“

mrmda Sen (K rw i lcw'nap fira j

Paramananda Sen,wh o was afterwards dis

‘

Th e v i l l age tingu ish ed as‘Kavi karnapu ra

’

Kaneh rap é‘ra' or ‘ the ear ornamen t of poets,

’

was born in the 1 528 at Kanchrapara,a v illage

28 m iles to the North of Calcu tta. This vil lage

was once a celebrated seat of scholars,

and stories of wonderfu l ph ysical strength

1 1 8 CHA I TANYA AND m s COMPAN I ONS .

of its inhabitants in olden times are stil l related

in the neighbou rin g local i ty . Here a Vaidika

Brahm in named Bacharama Adh ikar i , possessed

of hercu l ian strength , is said to have removed

u naided a big palm tree that lay obstru cting

the passage of the women to the landing

glzat of the Ganges. The story of h is gal lan t

feat is sti l l narrated en thu siastical ly by the

people of the local ity . I t is also said that a

you th of this v il lage was once cau ght by a croco

di le in the Ganges, whereupon h is compan ions

swam across the river and su cceeded in drawing

the crocodile by force to the bank with i ts V ic tim

wh o rev ived . I n th is v i llage stands the cele

brated temple of Krsna Raya, the god establ ished

by Sivananda Sen , the father of ou r poet . This

temple was re - bu i l t in 1 785 A .D . when the one,

fou nded by Kachu Rayof J essore for the deity

in the 16th cen tu ry,h ad su nk i n the bed of the

Ganges. The cost of bu ild ing the presen t temple

was one lakh of Rupees which was borne by

N imaich arana Mal l ik and Gau rach arana Mal l ik

of Calcu tta. I t is one of the most artistic temples

that adorn the Gangetic val ley ; on accou nt of i ts

lying i n an almost deserted v il lage , i t h as not yet

attracted the notice of the critics of Indian art.

The inscription on the pedastal of the image

runs as fol lows

afiz 3amcasts climate as: sash nwarmflaw: film amassn

”

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1 20 CHA I TANYA AND Hrs COMPAN I ONS .

afar . On the other side,hark to the solemn song

of the taber and of the trum pet and th e shri l lsounding bugle . These have raised a m ingledn oise which h as we l l - n igh deafened the ear

drowning the voices of the great crowd .

“A t this m omen t

,the great king Pratapa

l t udra,th e custod ian of the temple ofJagannatha,

approaches wi th sl ow pensive steps,h is m ind

fu l l of gloom,for Ch ai tanva h as

A n ex tract fromt h e C h a i tanya j ust passed away from this world .

Ch andl ‘Odam I t is the m ind that lends i ts

colou r to the sorroundings. The j oyou s shou ts

of the m u l titu de do not produ ce any effect on

th e u nhappy k ing . A few moments after,th e

King addressed me and said“ Oh thou maste r player

,there stands res

pl endent as eve r the great God of the N i lgiri

Hills ; the pompous ceremony of h is Car - j ou rney

i s as g rand new as ever i t was. Look there

and behold the pilgrims coming from al l direc

tions as on previous occasions. They awai t wi th

reverence the forthcom ing rel igous festiv ities.

This garden i n the precincts of the temple

cou rtyard is even m ore beau tifu l than para.

dise . B u t i n myeyes there is a void in al l th at

I see,because Ch ai tanva h as left u s.

Dost thou give me some com fort by play

ing a drama in which the heaven ly l ife of that

prince of ascetics —that verv sou l of love

Chai tanya maybe the fitting su bj ect .

RAGHUNATHA DASA . 1 21

I n the above prologu e the au thor states that

the drama was written by the order of and

played before the king Pratapa Ru dra.

Some modern writers have con founded th isParamananda Sen whose title is Kavikarnapfi r,

w ith Paramananda Pu r i . This is a seriou s m is

take - as the latter was an elderly ascet ic of

Tirh u t,mu ch respected by Chaitanya himself

,

whereas th e former (Kavi karnapu r) was a m ere

child when C hai tanya saw h im at Pu r i and

prophesied h is f u tu re greatness.

JKVI I I —Ragl mm‘

zfl mD asa.

I n the history of the Vaisnava apostles wh o

gathered round Chaitanya there is perhaps no

one wh o deserves such prom inen t n otice as

Ragh unath a Das,born in the year

'

1 498 at the

V i l lage of Chandpu r wi thin th e j u risdic tion of

the old town of Saptagrama.

Saptagrama,probably the ‘

G‘cmj a regi a’ of the

Romans,was at that t im e a most flou rishin g

town i n Bengal . It was th e capital of a

Mah omedan General wh o ru led l ower Bengal

u nder the Emperor of Gau r . It consisted of

seven wards,named after seven pri n cely sain ts

sons of an anc ien t Hindu king of

Kanau j,wh o h ad in pre - h istoric

times conquered Bengal . Saptagrama in those

days was the residence of a large number of

Saptagrfim a

CHA I TAN YA AND H i s COMI’AN I ONS.

Eu ropeans whose ships l ay anchored on the

river Saraswat i,laden wi th merchandise . This

rive r mee ting the Ganges and J'

um na at Triven f

branched off a short way down ,and flowed in

a sem i - circu lar cou rse by Saptagrama and met

the Ganges again near A l ipu r . The Saraswat]

is now a dead rive r and th e g reat commerc ial

activ ity which once marked i ts cou rse is

a matter of in terest m erely to th e studen ts of

an tiqu i ty . It was th e most impor tan t port for

sea - going vessels in Bengal du ring the

Mah om edan times,and when i t fel l in to de

cadence owing to variou s cau ses,th e chief of

which was the si l t ing up of the river Saraswat i ,Chittagong rose to d istinction as a seapor t ,thou gh it cou ld never equal even fain tl v th e

historic glory of the olde r town,as far as her

political importance and great econom ic

resou rces were conce rned . A Bengal i poet of

the 17th Centu ry wh o h ad v isi ted al l the impor

tan t towns of India of h is times describes

Saptagrama to be on e of the greatest of them .

1

Krsna Rama,“h e wrot e a poem i n h onou r of Sasth i D

‘evi

1 11 1687 A .D .,make s th e fo l lowmg m en t i on of Sap tagrama

an? as maniawas cast? ! n

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asap“

: cvfaniaan? 51? 3‘

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1 24 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

i f you seek a tru e poe t where can you find one

better than Damodar o f Sri kh anda.

” l

So the brothers h ad a repu tat ion not only

as scholars, bu t as honest god - fearing men

wh o gave mu ch 1 11 chari ty and l ived in the

sp iritual env ironm en t of the Bengal of those

days. N i lamvara Chakravarti , grandfather of

Chai tanya,was a great friend of the two

brothe rs,and Chaitanya h imself in h is childhood

used to cal l them u ncles,thou gh they were

Kayastha by caste and he a Brahm in .

H iranya h ad no children and Govardh ana

h ad an on ly son Ragh unath a Dasa—the idol ofthe fam i ly , and sole he ir to their vast property .

I n h is chi ldhood Ragh unath a received h is edu

cation in Sanskri t from one Val arama Acharya,a native of Chandpu r . Valarama A charya

was a devou t Vaisnava,and Ragh unath a h ad

a spiritual t rain ing u nder this excell en t man .

It happened at this time that Haridasa, the

Mah omedan convert to Vaisnavism ,paid a visi t

to Valarama Acharya and stayed with h im for

seven or eight days at Chandpu r . A world was

revealed to you ng Ragh unath a of which he

h ad already obtained on ly gl impses from the

Ear ly sp i r i tual teachings of Val arama. He sawtrain ing in H aridasa, the fu lfi lmen t of the

best ideal of a man . He was passion less, sweet

1 mice tsunami Wmare mama258 3

Sangi ta Madhat'a.

RAGHUNATH A DASA . 125

and resigned to God , fu l l of pei tyand tenderness

and wi th an overflowing devotion which the

more the boy saw be adm ired the m ore, and

wh en H aridasa wen t away , Ragbu nath a saw the

world in a new l ight—reading the m ercy of

God every where and striv ing for the good of

Valarama A charya u sed to pay h is v isi t to

H i ranya and Govardh ana every day; for he

was their fam i ly priest as we ll ; and when he

spoke of the l i ttle i nciden ts of H aridasa’

s l ife

to the broth ers, Ragh u nath a heard them with

rapt atten tion and was al l“

tears in adm iration .

I n January 1 51 0 the report that Chaitanyaleft Nadiya for good and tu rned a Sannyas1 spread

throughou t the cou n try ,and created a great

fee ling am ongst al l classes of m en . I t was the

constan t topic of conversation and as e l sewhere,

i t was discu ssed in the cou rt of the brothers

wh o we re fu l l of adm i rl ng love for Chaitanya .

Bu t the news impressed Ragh u nath a most of al l ,andhe longedto see one

,wh o

,i t was said

, h ad

seen th e Unseen and was mad wi th j oy . Chai

tanva ,after h is Sannyas, paid a v isi t to Advaita

at San tipurf It‘mu st have been towards the

end of January , 1 510 . Ragh u nath a asked per

I n tervi ew w i th m ission to see the Master,and h e

C h ai tanya was accordingly sen t there wi th

a number of escorts by h is father and uncle

wh o never su spected that th is in terv iew wou ld

1 26 CHA I'I‘

AN YA AND H i s Comp AN I ONs.

be frau ght wi th consequ ences wh ich wou ld mar

thei r worldl v com fort for ever .

Th e interv iew b roke th e chord which at tached

h im to fam i lyl i fe . It revealed to h im the wondersof

the spir itual world . It maddened and comp l ete lv

transform ed h im . It also appeared that he ten

h ad seen the Unseen . He staved at San tipu r

with the Maste r for fou r or five days. Chai

tanya le ft San tipu r and started for Pu ri .

l agh u né th a,i t is m en tioned in the Kadch a by

Gov inda Dasa,m et h im again on the banks of

Suvarnarekha near Harih arpu r,bu t h ad to com e

back to Saptagrama at the bidding of h is father

and u ncle .

Th ev saw in h im a completely chan ged lad.

Th e very name of Chaitanya,u ttered before

h im,brou ght tears to h is eyes. He fasted and

repeated the nam e of God and said to al l that

th e worldly l ife was m iserab l e . He wan ted al l

passions to be at rest and the j oy of u n ion wi th

God to be the sole aim of mankind . The two

chiefs we re now alarmed that what they h ad

allowed to grow unchecked m ight now prove

dangerous . Ragh unath a m ight renou nce the

world and tu rn a Sannyasi .

As time passed the lads angu ish of sou l

and desi re to meet Chai tanya”f increased and th e Chiefs felt i t

applyi ng ton -

e

adV1sabl e to u se stronger means

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1 28 C l l A I'l‘

AN YA AND nrs COMPAN I ONS .

spiritu al ity h as real ly grown i n you . Go and lead

“mum m y S I Mth e ordinary l ife of the world . Be

m ama towan l S not at tach ed to it and le t fai thma i lm an.”

grow i n you r heart Bu t ou t

wardly d o as other worldly men do and vou w i l l

find that God wi l l help and save you in no

distan t fu tu re .

Ragh u nath a wen t back h om e a thorou gh ly

changed man . He began to superv ise the affai rs

of the Estate and did what h is father and u n cle

bade h im to do . I n order to keep h im attached

to home - l ife, Govardh ana h ad already married

h im to a g ir l whose beau ty was unequal led inthe co un try

,and Ragh u nath a was kind to her .

I t"was a delight and su rprise to th e Chiefs to find

h im so comple te ly changed,bu t th is was a mere

ou tward garb,for Ragh u nath a fol lowed Chai

tanya’

s instru ctions to the letter . He did not make

anv ou tward display of faith , on ly that i t m ight

grow the more . He m ixed wi th the world and

did h is du ties unattached for he h ad dedicated

himself to God,and to Chaitanya wh o h ad shown

h im the gates of heaven .

A calam ity overtook the fam i ly abou t the

vear The ex - governor of Saptagrama,a

ii i ? as? ! amare ai as arise n“

aman: 91121 cats5 6? itsas u

aw? tw ist a1a!? canTmai n

warmI?“ {i s} W M? 25 111 H (to.

C ha i tanva Ch ar i tam rta.

RAGHUNKTH A D ji sA . 129

Tu rk,h ad awel l - founded grudge against

h

Hi ranya

and Govardh ana,for they h ad u su rped h is posses

sions. This man,former l v hosti le to the

Emperor of Gauda, now ingratiated himself into

h is confidence , and inflam ed h im by many false

reports against the brothers. He was in formed

that thou gh they paid on ly 1 2

Ogsleessml

imperor

’

s

laks a year to the Royal trea

su ry, their collection was immen

sely greater and that H is Maj esty was a great

loser by gran ting them the lease . Moreover

they h ad grown very powerfu l and m ight prove

dan gerou s at anym omen t .

Now at a t ime when Govardh ana was away,

the k in g sen t a large body. of sold iers to arrest

the chiefs. H iranya fled,wi thou t being able to

indu ce Ragh u nath a to j oin h im . The latter wasfound by the Emperor ’s sold iers qu ie t ly doing

the du ties of h is office as u su al . He offered no

resistance and si len tly accompan ied the army to

Gau da. On being produ ced before the king he

was requ ired to divu lge where h is uncle and

father were h iding . Ragh unath a, as was real ly

the case,pleaded ignorance , u pon which the k ing

ordered h im to be tortu red til l he gave the

in format ion . Ragh unatha meekly said

You r Maj esty saw me as a ch ild and Iremember the daywhen you addressed myfather

and u ncle as brothers. Noth ing h as since h appened to cau se th is change of att i tu de in you r

130 CHAITANYA AND H I S coMPANmNs.

Maj esty . May I not claim the righ t of an

affectionate treatmen t at you r hands su ch as a

nephew may expect . You r Maj esty is my

Master and I resign myself to you . I s i t not

you r du ty to protect myinterest even as a fathe r

does of h is child P You r Maj esty h as the repu ta

t ion of being versed in the scriptu res and is

moreover known to be a piousman . W hat shou ld

I saymore

The emotion and sweetn ess wi th wh ich the

young Ragh u nath a delivered himself,made a

deep impression on the Emperor . For Raghu

h ad an u nspotted l ife dedicated to God . H is

coun tenance reflected the pu ri ty of h is heart,

and h is words were sweet .

Chaitanya Ch ari tamrtasays that th e Emperor

m el ted into tears at th i s address and they fe l l

ove r h is long flowing beard . H is Maj esty said

From to - dayyou are my god - son . I re lease

you to - day. I have on ly one thing

to add. You r uncle H iranya

en j oysmore than 8 laksa year . I am h is partner

i t is on ly fai r that he shou ld give me some th ing

A reconci lat ion .

m ore . Go home and do so that he maym eet me .

Let h im do what is bu t fair . I leave i t to h im

entirely .

1

efi or? as ww’

tfa i

wife at? we are airfare aifaa n

ca? am tats {i ts $26: can: i ts .

wtfia (Jami e: a nd vfa «as? 721 u

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132 CHAITANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

for their suspicions h ad been alm ost lu l led by

the ou tward ly mu ndane l ife which Ragh u nath ah ad led al l this tim e .

Ni tyananda sat on a brick - bu i l t seat beneatha large fig tree , which sti ll exists

,l ookin g like a

tru e messenger of God . W hen Ragh unath a met

h im , Ni tyananda said,

Th en dessembl er,I shal l give thee a

pun ishmen t ” 1

D essembl er becau se he afl ected worldly

l ife , while at heart he was an ascetic . N i tya

nanda added

You shal l give a feast to the people here

and that sh al l be you r proper pun ishmen t .

This good - humou red j oke was taken in

earnest,

and Ragh u nal h a made

extensive preparations for feeding

sumptu ou sly the vast mu l ti tu de

that h ad gathered at Pan ihati . He mu st have

spen t a large amou n t of money over it for,at

the end of the feast, he sen t to N it-yananda’

s

home a hundred Rupees and seven tclas of gold,

th is of cou rse withou t N i tyananda’s knowledge .

Ragh unath a gave one h u nded Rupees wi th two

tolas of gold to Ragh ava Pandit at whose hou se

N i tyananda stayed . Besides this h e gave to

“ afa aym cvtal fifii vaaa

an an arts canal was rea lCh ai tanya Ch ar i tamrta, Amtya Khanda, Ch . V I .

RAGHUNATHA DASA . 133

innumerable people of more or less n ote th at

h ad assembled there from Rs. 20 to Rs. 2

each according to their m eri t . This festiv ity is

known am ongst the Vaisnavas as the “Danda

Mah otsava ” or the festiv ity of pun ishmen t .

The ann iversary of th is fest iv ity is held with

g reat pomp up to this day at Pan ihati on the

1 3th day of the bright moon i n the month of

J aistha (May - June ) .1

At the end of the festiv ity Ragh u nath a had

a private interv iew with N i tyananda and tou ch

ing h is feet gen tly said

Fondly have I cherished the hope of

su rrendering myself to Chaitanya. This h as

proved like the dwarf aspiring to catch the

moon . I am a great sinner h ow may I expect

to be“

adm itted to the heaven of h is presence

I tried several times ; bu t each time I fled,

the men set by my paren ts cau ght hold of

me and brou ght me back by force . Now

bless me,revered sir, that I may su cceed in

my attempts and meet the Master .” And

N i tyananda laid h is hand on Ragh unatha’

s

head and si len tly blessed .

After this Raghu came back to Saptagrama.

This tim e h is old sentimen t which h ad been kept

hidden from h is people man ifested itsel f once

1 Accoun ts of th is fest ivi ty are to be found in almost al l th e

standard b iograph i es of th e Vaisnavas of th i s per iod part icu larly inth e Ch a i tanya Ch ar i tamrta

,Antya Kh anda, Ch . V I .

134 CHAi'rAN YA AND H I S CompANroxs.

again . He tried again and again to escape fromthe palace bu t a strong body of guards was

appointed to keep watch over h is movemen ts.

They found h im ou t every time he attempted to

escape . He did not visi t h is wife bu t slept onthe bare floor in the cou rtyard of the temple

attached to the palace . He no longer attended the

affairs of the S tate and silen t ly wept remember

ing Chaitanya of whom he dreamt in h is

sl eep and thou ght al l day. A larmed at the

frequ en t attempts of her son to leave home,

h isanxiou sm other h ad said once to her husband

I wish he cou ld be kept bound to a pil lar

with a repe . Possibly he may

escape the guards some day.

The sorrowfu l father repl ied :

The attractions of a t reasu re,vast as an

emperor ’s,the beau ty of h is wife l ike a celes

tial nymph cann ot b ind h im to this home of

ou rs,do you think a slender rope wi l l do it P’”

It was the mon th of Ju ly,1 51 7, the time

of the great Car - festivity of Jagannatha, when

the people of Bengal , especial ly those of Nadiya,

u sed to pay their annual v isit to Chaitanya at

Pu ri . They made preparations for the j ou rney .

An opportu n ity occu rred to Ragh unath a at this

time to ren ounce home for ever .

Force no remedy

1 i s: as first , ti taasi as, a aaaltars areaas na,

aft—si aacaas amcaata I

Ch ai tanya Bhagavata.

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1 36 CHA I’

J‘

AN YA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

Govarddh ana thou ght that as the people of

Nadiya were then abou t to start for P ur i to meet

Chaitanya,Ragh u nath a h ad dou btless j oined

them . So he sen t ten horsemen to make en

q u i ries with a letter addressed to CivanandaSen

, father of the fam ou s Kavikarnapnra,of

whom we have spoken in ou r previou s lectu re .

Civananda Sen was a venerable man and a

great friend of Govarddh ana Dasa he was besides

the leader e lect of the pi lgrims bound for Part .

Govarddh ana wrote in the le tter that h is son h ad

tu rned mad for love of Chai tanya. He was the

on ly ch ild in the fam i ly . H is wi fe was young

and was deeply distressed . If he cou ld not be

made to retu rn ,i t wou ld blast their happiness for

ever .

The ten horsemen retu rned in due cou rse

with a reply from Civananda Sen saying that

Ragh unath a h ad not j oined the pri lgrims. Men

were sent to places far and near . Bu t nowhere

was he to be found . W here h ad he gone then P

I t was the march of a sou l,deep drunk wi th

inward joy,to meet the obj ect

si ll;“mm“ of h is love . Noth ing cou ld deter

i t ; no obstru ction was unsu r

m ou ntable , no r isk too great . Ragh u nath a was

going to a heaven of b l iss. What matter

that hardships h ad to be u ndergone ? He fol lowed

th ese paths which no one h ad trodden before .

Through jungles and deserted v il lages he

RAGHUNA'rnA DASA . 1 37

walked on

”

and on ,bare footed . He

~walked

30 mi les 011 th e first day towards the east and

spen t th e n ight in a cowshed . I n the morn i ng

he tu rned to the sou th and reached a v i l lage

named Yatrabh oga. Thence he came westward to"

Sarah . I n’

1 2 days he reached PurI . Du ring :

these days he h ad bu t three meals. The. bodyfasted bu t the spirit feasted on the j oy? of the

prospect of meeting the Master .

Chai tanya was at th e h ou se of Kac’

i Migra

at Pu ri . Some of h is compan i ons were near

h im , and .Mu kunda Datta was the fi rst am ongst

them to see Raghu approaching from afar .

He cried aloud pointing wi th h is finger : Look

there,Raghu , ou r beloved Raghu h as come ,

h ow emaciated does he look P”

Chai tanya cal led h im to h is

presence and Raghu humbly tou ched h is fee t

and b u rsting in to tears said

Mee ts C hai tanya

Mu ch have I su ffered , my Master . S inner

as I am ,do not leave me this time . I am too

humble , bu t yet yearn for you r grace.

Chaitanya embraced h im affectionately

and asked‘

Gov inda, the servan t of the hou se,

to prepare a good meal , saying , Su rely he h as

not tasted any proper food du ring h is long‘

j ou rney .

”

‘Raghu was served wi th substan tial food'

for

5 days,"

bu t on the 6th h e said that he wou ld

138 CHA I TANYA AND m s COMPAN I ONS .

tou ch nothing rich . I t serves he said,to

nou rish my physical l ife ; bu t my spiritual

v ision grows less.

’ From that t ime forward he

used to stand for a couple of hou rs at th e gate

of the gr eat temple of Pu ri every even ing and

the pilgrims gave h im almswithou t h is seek ing .

They gave h im a handfu l of bread or rice not

knowing that he was a prince,and often i t so

happened that he got noth ing from them ,and

then he gladly fasted . He received regu lar

instru ctions from Svarupa Damodara whom

Chai tanya h ad appoin ted to teach h im the

tenets of Vaisnava scrip tu res and instru ct h im

i n those prac tical ways by which th e real ization

of God is brou ght to man .

Ragu nath a’

s reverence for Chai tanya was so

great that for a few years he wou ld not ven tu re

to speak to h im direct . W hat he h ad to say to the

Master , he said to Govinda or Svarupa Damodara

wh o commun icated i t to h im .

One day Svarupa told to Chai tanya that

Ragh u nath a wan ted to rece ive

$823“ “5mm “ instru ctions directly from h im .

He wou ld not speak ou t h is great

wish at fi rst for shyness. And when he did

so at last he feared lest he m igh t be considered

too forward . Ch ai tanva cal led Raghu to h is

presence and said

Svarupa Damodara knows the Vaisnava

theology and the ru les of monastic l ife bette r

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140 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

i t, i t does not ask a drop of water from anyone . It gives freely al l i ts treasu re to those

wh o seek it . E xposed to the heat of the sun

in th e summer and to the rains,i t gives shelte r

to others.

”

These instru ctions, i t shou ld be u nderstood ,were mean t for those wh o h ad broken their

fam i ly - connection,and tu rned ascetics devoting

themselves to u niversal good and hav ing a

brotherly ideal before them . They cou ld not

be fol lowed by laymen to thei r fu llest extent .

The grief of Govarddh ana Dasa and h is fam i ly

at Saptagrama at Ragh unath a’

s con tinu ed absence

was great . They h ad sen t m en in qu est

of the m issing Ragh unath a al l over the cou n try

and even to Pu ri . Civananda Sen h ad i n the

mean time retu rned from Pu r i wi th other pil

grims and Govarddh ana again sen t men to h im

enqu i ring whether h e h ad seen Ragh u nath a

there with Chaitanya. gi vananda said

Yes,he is the re wi th the Master . The

fai th he h as shown is great and he h as al ready

become a noted man there . Chai tanya h asmade

Govarddh ana sendsover the charge of h is spiritual

h im mon ey: train ing to Svarupa, and al l the

compan ions of th e Master hold h im dear as

their l ives. Dayand n i ght he repeats the nam e

of God and scarcely leaves the presence of

See Ch ai tanya Ch ari tamrta Antya Kh anda .

RAGH UNATHA DASA . 1 41

Chaitanya. A t ru e'

ascetic i s he , caring nei ther

forfood nor cloth ing . A t 1 0 O ’clock in the

n ight he stands at the main gate of the temple

of Jagannath a and th e pilgrims give h im some

scraps on wh ich he l ives. If they give h im

nothing,he fasts. Many are the days in the

m on th when he fasts, at other times he l ives

u pon whatever chance brings h im .

” 1

Govarddh ana’

s heart m e l ted in u nbou nded

compassion for the poor child,and n i ght and

dayhe wept and was sad. He sen t two Brahmans

and a servan t with Rs. 400 to Pu r i , hoping that

Ragh u nath a m ight be indu ced to accept the smal l

offer for h is personal c om forts. Ragh unath a

said to them

A th ousand times do I bow to my paren ts.

Give them this message that I pray for the ir

blessing l n order to attain - a spiritu al l ife . I

was not born for food and cloth in g . If I attend

1 F‘i’

esa acafatal as sea rim I

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face Zaraalas $ 81 armah a IIW e at? cacaw as fin“Ifataatcaanal anarmaffaai II

at an! at ? ! waswas I

awsawasataaBaa II

Ch ai tanya Ch ari tam rta,Antya Kh anda,

1 42 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

to material c om forts,th e vision with in me grows

less brigh t . I cannot bear i t . My on ly care

is to keep it clear . For the satisfaction of myfather I wi l l accept a smal l portion of the

money , not for myself , bu t to serve myMaster .

You may retu rn home now.

As he wou l d not tou ch any money with h is

own hand , they did not go back bu t stayed

at Pu ri . Twice in a m on th Ragh unath a took a

smal l amoun t from th is m oney and invited and

entertained Chai tanya with i t in a very humble

way,the two m eals that he gave to the Master

each month , costing h im on ly 8 p ans of [mud/is

something l ike 2 annas. For two years

Ragh u nath a con tinu ed inviting Chaitanya to th is

humble repast, bu t at the end of two years he

discon tinu ed it . A mon th passed and Chaitanya

did not receive anyinv itation from Ragh unath a

and when the n ext mon th passed also Chaitanya

asked Svarupa : W hyis i t that Raghu does not

H e no m ore i n .

inv ite us anymore .

’

Svarupa told

vites C h ai tanya to the Master that Raghu wou lddmnen

not fu rther accept any money

from a worl dly man . This cou ld not,he was

conv inced,give any satisfaction to the Master,

thou gh the latte r accepted the invitation for

the sake of mere cou rtesy ; so he h ad dispensed

with it . Chaitanya said : “Raghu h as under

stood aright . It is even so ; acceptance of a

gift from a rich man makes the life of an asce tic

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Mt CHA I'l‘

ANYA AND ms COMPAN I ONS .

When the great calam i ty took place , Raja

Pratapa Ru dra wh o h ad al readymade over the

helm of adm in istration ,and al l marks of royal ty

to h is son,retired from P u r i to v illage - l ife in

deep sorrow and spen t h is remain ing days in

cal l ing to m ind th e inciden ts of Chaitanya’

s l ife .

Many of Chaitanya’

s compan ions lef t PM ?

for,they h ad not seen God in th e image of th e

Temple there so mu ch as in th e Man before

them,and their grief was now overwhelm ing .

Ragh unath a carried the stone which Chai tanya

h ad given h im for worship together wi th a string

of sacred Goonja- beads to Vrndavana,and at th e

moment of worship he bathed them everv dav

with h is tears, remembering th e kindness of

their giver .

Ragh unath a l ived til l a. good old age dying

in h is 86th year in 1 584 A .D .

H is last hou rs are thu s described

in th e Padakal pataru

“On the bank of the Radha Kunda he lay

breathing h eavi lv . He cou ld speak no word ,and h is closed eyes shed a few drops of tears

H is last moments

indicative of the joy of u n ion wi th Krsna.

Ragh unath a’

s name is inseparabl v associated

wi th those of Rupa and Sanatana,wh o h ad

become h is most intimate friends at V rndavana.

There the ascetic - prince earned the adm iring

love and esteem of the B rajabasi s by h is faith

and pu re u nspotted l ife . He wrote many

RAGHUNATHA DASA . 145

Sanskrit works which wi l l be enumerated below

He was innocen t and simple as a ch ild . And h is

sinless m ind m irrored in i ts unsu l lied transparence the glor ies of a true spiri tual l ife .

I n the last part of l ife he l ived u pon whey

on lv and often slep t u nder the canopy of the

sky which showed h im far greater splendou r

than the ornam en tal roof studded with j ewels of

h is father’s palace at Saptagrama.

Some of the songs 0 11 Radha and Krsna that

he composed con tain invocations to Tungadevi ,

Rangadevi , Lal ita, Bisakha and other GOPI S of

Vrndavana to teach h im h ow to decorate the

God whose v ision he saw for they were fin ished

m istresses of the art. I n one of them he

addresses the De ity sayin g ,

I am th ine—I am thine alone for ever .

Take me to thyself .

Thiswas a short time before h is death . One of

h is constan t compan ions in the latter part of h is

l ife was th e venerable Krsnadasa Kaviraja who

was inspried to write h is Chaitanya Ch aritamrta,

on hearing an accou nt of th e great l ife of the

Master, recited for the most part by Ragh unath a.

‘

At Vrndavana we find h im recei v ing some of

the later Vaisnava worthies su ch asCri n ivasa and

Cyamananda with kindness, and paying h is

respects to Jah navi Dev i , wife of N i tyanandawhen sh e v isited the holy city .

S

1 46 C I I A I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

He is one of th e few Kayasthas wh o we re

adm itted to Brahmanhood in the Vaisnava society

of Bengal , being recogn ised as one of the

six Gosvam I s. Bu t to Ragh unath a Brahmans,

Kaysth as and even the lowest castes as Had i s

commanded the sam e respect . For fol lowing

the instru ct ions of Chaitanya,he h ad learn t ‘ to

respec t every l iv ing being knowing that the holy

God dwel t in every one .

’

The rou tine of Ragh unath a’

s dai ly life is

Rou t ine of h isg i ven to us by Krsnadasa Kavn

'aJa

dm ly h fe . wh o wrote from 1n t1mate personal

knowledge . He says

The rou tine of h is day he fol lows to the

letter . I t is u nalterable l ike cu rving on stone .

For seven and hal f Prah ars (21 hou rs) he remains

plu nged in God real ization or in recording h is

spiritual experience . The rest is spen t in sleep

and in taking h is m eals. There are days when

he does not reserve even these smal l hou rs for

that pu rpose . H is asceticism is wonderfu l .

He h as abstained en t ire l y from rich meal . He

dresses h imse lf in rags and carries ou t the

Master’s instru ctions to the letter .

” 1

I f we read the Sanskrit works of Ragh unath a,we wi l l find what a foun t of j oy was in h im ,

inspi te of the rigou r of h is l ife . I f he left

hom e,i t was to extend h is hom e

,to make the

1 C h ai tanya Ch ari tamrta, Amtya Kh anda ,C h . VI .

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1 48 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

sou l can ,u nder a cou rse of train ing and in some

cases by virtu e of heredity or accumu lated

karma of past l ives,reach the stage in which

God may be realised in spirit . One wh o h as

attained this blessed condition is l ike l iv ing

j oy—untou ched by the sorrows and worries of

the world , having on ly compassion for those of

others. Tai langa Svam i and Bhaskarananda of

Benares, Loknatha Brahmachar i of Dacca,and

Paramh ansa Ramkrsna of Daksinecvara h ave ,in ou r own t imes

,evinced in their wonderfu l

l ives the attainmen t of the highest mystic

vision . The beau ty of their l ives and visions

permeates the whole atmosph ere of India as do

the scen t of the Sephal i flower make fragran t

the air of an au tumnal day. Th e rational v iew

wh ich often sneers at them wi l l be nowhere

with u s,wh en l ife presen ted before ou r eyes

u nfold the beau ty of spiritual v ision in su ch a

prom inen t manner . I n no case wi l l an Indian be

prepared to give up h is fai th in the Sadhu and

h is god - real ization,in Ragh u nath a Dasa and men

of h is type .

Ragh nnath a’

sworks. B agh unath a wrote am ong others

the following works in Sanskrit

1 . Vi lapa Ku sumafijal i .

Prema Parabidh a Stotra.

Radhastaka.

Premambh u jamaraudakh ya Stotra .

Swash ankalpaprakaca S taba.

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ew

e

s—o

RAGHUNATHA DASA . 1 49

6. Namastaka.

7. Utkan th adacaka.

8 . Abh i sta Prarth anastaka.

9. Ah h istasuch ana.

1 0 . C’Zach i nandana gataka.

1 1 . C’Zri gau rangastavaka Kalpabri ksa.

1 2. Nama C iksa.

1 3. Prarth ana.

1 4 . Govarddh anagrayadaeakam .

1 5. Govarddhanadacakaprarthanadacakam .

There are 1 3 more , making 29 in al l .

Premambh u jamaranandakhya Stabaraja by

Th e subj ectsRagh unatha Dasa explains h ow

treated. the tran ces of a spiritu al sou l ,perfec t in i ts l ove for God

,show themselves in

their g lowing poetical man ifestation in the

character of Radha. Her ornamen ts when sh e

goes to meet Krsna,are real ly the qual ities of

the sou l in deep mystic love . She is represented

as bath ing in the sweet stream of hum i l ity ; next

in that of ch ild - l ike simpl icity and then in that

of d iv ine grace wh i ch lends beau ty to her person .

She clothes herself wi th the blu e colou red Sad i

of her coyness and resignation ; next wears the

ou ter pink robe of her fi rst love , sh e covers her

breast with the bodice of her false anger ; the

love of her compan ions for her is the perfume

that su rrou nds her person the su btleness of

h er ways to gain the heart of the beloved is the

collyrium with which sh e pain ts her eyes. Pu re

150 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

thou ght from which al l earth ly attachmen ts

have been wiped away is th e foun t of her j oy ;the memories of her roman tic p lay with Krsna

are person ified in her maids,and the fortu ne of

her u n ion with Krsna is the red sign on her

forehead,and so forth .

1

The spiri tu al izat ion of th e sensu al forms

makes the great myst ic attraction of the Vaisnava

l i teratu re . Radha, as described by the Vaisnava

poets,possesses al l th e sweetness of a l ovely

m ortal,bu t sh e is more . Tru e we find her som e

times in a sensual garb bu t sh e is always set forth

from a high ly spiritual back grou nd— an exal ted

extra- sensual plan e . Chai tanya’

s love for God,

which cou l d not be expressed wel l wi thou t being

represen ted in a mater ial form ,latterly cam e to

be emphat ical ly symbol ised in the pictu re of

Radha drawn by contemporary poets and those

wh o wrote shortly after . H is l ife is the perspec

t ive which gives u s a closer su rvey of Vaisnava

poetry showing in many of the glowing and

inspired l ines th e transi tion of emotions from

sensual to spiritual . This poet ry flows,as i t

were,th rou gh the fam i l iar scenes of human

passions in to the great sea of mystic love , ti l l we

meet what the eye cannot command— th e endless

and the il l im i table . Ragh unath a did not write

from m ere imagination . Before h is eyes,the

1 Th i s al l egor ial m ean i ng i s fu l ly expla i ned 1 11 t h e C h ai tanyaCh ar i tam rta

,Karnanda and oth er works.

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1 52 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

h ad passed th rou gh g reat hardships and sacri

fices fo r thei r love of h im and so did Hari Dasa.

,

the Mah om edan convert . W hat d ifference is

there between their l ives and h is ? Chai tanya

did not practise austerities as Ragh unath a did .

He h ad no princely fortune to g ive up for

spiritu al pu rsu i ts,l ike the fi rst named three

am ongst h is followers. As a Sannyasi he was

not very strict ; for h e was often taken

to task by Damodara Pandit fo r v iolating the

ru les of h is Order,and he frankly told Raghu

natha that he did not know the detai ls of Vaisnava

theology as Svarupa did . He was no organ iser

of the Vaisnava commu n i ty as N i tyananda was.

And as a resu lt of it , the descendan ts of h is

u ncles now l iv ing in Sy lhet do not enj oy that

high posit ion in society which those of N ityananda,Advai ta and even of lesser Vaisnava worth ies

do at the presen t time . He was no dou bt a

great scholar . Bu t scholarship,however lofty

,

does not make any lasting impression i n this

coun try . He wrote no books as h is followers

did . W hy is i t then that he is revered as a god

by h is coun trymen and is held in a mu ch higher

estimation than others whose great sacrifices

in the cau se of re l igion deserved ly command th e

respect and adm iration of al l .

O ther l ives,great as some of them no doubt

are , represen t more or less the stru ggle of the

spiritual sou l for the attainmen t of i ts final

NOTES ON CHAI TANYA . 1 53

goal,whereas Chai tanya’

s l ife shows not the

worry and strife i n pu rsu i t of perfection bu t

at on ce its fu l l b lown beau ty - i ts bloom and

fragrance . The plan t h as many worryin g

experien ces and inward stru ggles before it b rings

forth the con cen trated treasu re of i ts beau ty and

fragran ce in the flower . Those l ives show the ,

stru ggle and worry, bu t not so mu ch the beau ty

of mystic v ision as Chai tanya’

s does. The

scholars,poets and ascetics gathered round h im

as the bees gather round the flower ; for in h im

they found a store of that j oy which h as been

figu rat ive ly cal led ‘heaven’ by al l rel igions.

W herever he happened to be , the young and

old fol lowed—mad after h im,as he after h is God .

“Many gathered the sacred du st trodden by h is

feet in ‘

su ch quan ti ties that the track of h is

passage‘

cou l d be fol lowed ou t over a large stretch

of cou n try .

” Ju st as th e rose in i ts fu l l bloom

at tracts the eye,the little thorns of the stalk

with which natu re protects i t,lying almost

hidden from ou r sight,the asceticism pract ised

by Chaitanya which helped to deve l op h is real iza

tion of God in the l ike manner does not strike u s

so forcibly as is the case in th e l ives of Raghunatha, Rupa, Sanatana and H aridasa . Yet d id he

practise au sterities to keep the flame of h is faith

bu rn ing , though not always in the way requ i red

by the scriptu res. J agadananda,a young scholar

,

always tried to m in ister to h is personal comforts.

1 54 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS.

He insisted u pon the Maste r ’s partak ing of

someth ing,in howeve r smal l quan t i ty

,of the

good food presen ted to h im by h is adm i rers.

And when Chai tanya wou ld not, inspi te of h is

importun it ies, do so,

J agadananda,deeply

agrieved wou ld fast fo r the whole day. One

dav J agadananda offered h im a pil low ; for the

Ch a i tanya Master used to sleep on the bareJ agadi n‘mda' floor of the temple wi thou t one .

Chai tanya was angry . He said “Look here

th is l ad wan ts me to en j oy worldl v com forts !

whynot bring a costly cou ch for me P”

One

of th e blaaktas of Eastern Bengal p resen ted

Chaitanya wi th a jar f ul l of scen ted oi l ; and

J agadananda’

s earnest wish was that the

Master wou ld use a l i ttle of it at the time of

bathing , and with this obj ect he approached h im .

Chai tanya said Send th is jar to the temple of

Jagannath a. There the l ights wi l l bu rn w ith this

oil.

” The Bandi t said not a word that day,though he was deeply sorry . The next dayat

the time when the Master took h is bath ,

J agadanandabrou ght before h im some oi l from

the jar . Chai tanya said “I told you ,Pandit ,

th at ou l d u se none of th is. Send the jar

to the temple of Jagannath a.

”And Jagadananda

was very angry ; he carried the jar to the

cou rtyard and broke it to pieces and i ts perfumed

conten ts flowed on th e ground . Not conten t with

this,he wen t to h is room and fasted three days.

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1 56 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

the sh rines of India andyou ,dear friends

,must

remain here at Pu ri f”

Th e importu nate en treaties of N i tyananda

and other friends wh o wan ted to accompany

h im,did not shake h is determ ination of travell ing

alone .

Th e world often tried to sedu ce h im by praise

and worldly fame . Bu t as often

£23 did he shake off these from h im as

to gl ory'

a trave l ler does the drops of rain

from h is cloak . W e find that at the report of h is

in tended visit to Vrndavana, Pradyumna Migra

(a l i as Nrsinhananda) placed h is whole property

at th e serv ice of Chai tanya for beau ti fy ing and

improving the roads. The road from Ku l ia

to Kauairnatcala, extending over a distance of

1 aavraa Etta errata fiaa swamca? aca ca? m sifaa W I

W at”

? 3amai aa arm w an

cater fo—a faa cam affa W aaI II

{air {W I 53211 cafa aima ef’i’

I I

fifl ata fifte ma gfi m W II

secs 5t arr atfa W am

am aza 02s can faea amam II

atfixe ambi t Imam 355v

aaI aca‘

errata eaa frat ae sfa u

3m6m 31151 arai‘a mam

W W II Ga ass sfaa WW II

catamaai all? W W WII 25W !

wrfa aig catamaran ai 9m arrete I

arena igfiI aa aa a’

TaI‘

b'

ta I

fifm 6121 «as Efia sma l lC h ai tanya Ch ar i tamrta, Madhya Kh anda .

NOTE S ON CHAI TANYA . 1 57

two hundred m i les, was adorned wi th beau tifu l

stones and metal l ic decorations,and at proper

intervals tanks were dug for th e pilgrims wh o

wou ld j ou rney to the holy city in Chai

tanya’

s company . Lu xu riou s plan ts were made

to grow on both sides of the read many mon ths

before,

so that Chaitanya when he travell ed

found sweet and fragran t Baku l flowers on al l

sides. Each day the road was fi lled with soft

petals so that nothing hard m igh t give pain to

Chaitanya wh o walked barefoot . Not this only,

Raja Pratapa Ru dra ordered that a pillar shou ld

be raised where Chaitanya halted every day to

commemorate the j ou rney . Each ghat where he

wou ld bathe,

shou ld be made a shrine .

Thou sands of people accompan ied h im . Bu t he

when he saw al l th is fuss, qu ietly retu rned,giv ing up al l idea of going to Vrndavana

that t ime . And when after a year or so he

went privately, the popu lar song thu s describes

h im“Look

,h ow Chaitanya goes to Vrndavana

,

a torn rag at h is back , h is head shaven and a

begging bowl in h is hand .

” 1

The people of Nadiya when they saw the

ascetic Chai tanya at Pu r i natu ral ly felt a great

sorrow ; for“ he h ad no longer h is beau tifu l

stufl of cu rl ing hair which h ad adorned h is head .

It Was shaven . He was redu ced to skeleton .

can15? as am ,Gi gi andavian“was aima mI

1 58 a I'rAN YA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

He h ad a st rip of c loth to cover h is loins and

a rag for h is ou te r man tle .

'

H is body was

covered wi th dust . He looked l ike a mad man

only h is tears bespoke the j oy of l ove .

”

I n the Deccan ch ildren th rew dust. at h im

say ing “ Look , there goes the

Sannyasi mad after God .

”And

he Often tu rned rou nd to speak of G od and then

an immense crowd gathered rou nd h im 1 old and

Mad after God.

young men,children and women

,l ay transfixed

to the spot,charmed by every word that fel l

from h is l ips.

I t is said that he was a Vaisnava. So far as

the fac t goes that he inte rpreted the Radha

Krsna cu l t,

and was the disciple of a

Vaisnava Gu r u,i t maybe tru e ; bu t h is faith h ad

a un iversal character it was a rel ig ious philo

sophy which appeals to reason and can be

accepted by al l people . Thou gh repeatedly saying

that the Radha- Krsna cu lt h ad an emblematic

sign ificance , expressing the highest form of love

for God,he did not give up h is fai th in th e

shrines associated with the Krsna legends. This

waswhat he said addressing Jagannath a at PurI

Here am I,and here art thou , Ol l Krsna,

and the j oy of our un ion is ever new here as of

old,yet mym ind yearns for an u n ion with thee

in V rndavana.

” This u tte rance re lating to

Chai tanya’

s predilection for the holy city, shou ld

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160 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

the Bhagavata and other books or sing songs of

Ch andidasa,V idyapati and J aydeva for the wh ole

n igh t , with inte rpre tations, which as the audience

heard,they thou ght th at they heard a god speak

of God . They worshipped the speaker wi th

tears of love and j oy .

He laid axe at the very root of the caste

system,thou gh l ike some aromatic

Q

A breaker of th e plan ts i t h as the power i n Ind iacaste - system .

to rev1ve and mu l t i ply where i t 1s

cu t,and is not a thing to be easi ly destroyed .

Chaitanya expressed himself freely and in plain

language .

E ven i f a Mu chi (a cobbler) is devoted to

God a thousand times do I bow to h im .

” 1

If a man eates from the p late of a Dem

(hated by al l ) he becom es p re - em inent ly enti tled

to god ’

s grace by that act of mercy .

” 2

A t Nadiyabefore h is Sannyas he often carried

the buskets of people to thei r hom es, and some

times bore thei r clothes to the bathing Chat and

did other m en ial acts whic h as a Brahman he

shou ld not have done . W hen the people whom

he thu s served forbade h im to do so,he said

at? afi efg era etca fi esta

cart? aaata carawe vacaI

KadchabyGovinda Dasa.

asam ca sa term as an”

afiwfe sfa ca? as aa’

aia II”

KadchabyGovmda Dasa.

NOTES ON C I -I A I TANYA . 161

Don ’t obj ect good friends ! These li ttle acts

make myvision of God clearer to me .

He was strict in deal ing wi th th ose ascetics

i n whom he discovered the least tendency to

worldl iness. An asceti c shou l d have an u nspot

ted character and be above blame . He cou ld

tolerate no breach of condu ct inH is St‘icmess 1“ those wh o h ad adopted the Sandea l ing w i th th e

gam lye

‘

bsis of h i s nyasi’

s vow . Chai tanya,however

,rder .

did not deal wi th al l in the sam e

manner he h ad stu died th e weaknesses and

strength of those wh o were n ear h im in a discrim i

nating manne r. Rama Rayu sed to be often in the

company of women,bu t Chai tanya knew that

they sang holy songs to h im giv ing fervou r to

h is faith . H is character stood on the firm rock

of unfl inch ing devotion to God . Bu t in the case

of H aridasa, the you n ger , Chai tanya’

s t reatmen t

was hard,for he knew the man to be weak

thou gh he h ad taken the ascet ic’s vows. The

l itt l e inc iden t leading to h is tragic fate related

i n the Chai tanya Chari tamr ta is fu l l of pathos.

H aridasa was a handsom e you ngTh e story of th e

H ari dasa, th e man w1th a mu s1eal vo1ce . One

younger'daywhen Chaitanya took h l S meal ,

he found the r ice to be of a superior q ual itv and

asked GOpinath a Acharya where the rice cam e

from . GOpi nath a said ‘

on e of u s get i t f rom

Madh avi' Madh avi was an accomplished

woman noted for her many excel len t qual ities.

1 Ch a itanya Bhagavata Adi L i la.

162 a rTANvA AND H I S COM a l oNS.

She u sed to transcribe docum en ts for use in th e

Jagannatha temple . Chaitanya said again wh o

is i t that went to her to get th is 1 ice fr” He was

informed i n reply that i t was H aridasa

wh o d id so. Chai tanya praised the qu al ity of

the rice and was si len t for a time . A fter tak ing

h is meal,however , he said ‘ I shou ld not l ike

H aridasa to com e near me .

’ The fre inds of

Chai tanya did not u nderstand why he was so

hard u pon the you ng Sannyasi . Haridasa

fasted three days in grie f over th is pun ishmen t,

and yet the Maste r did not relent ; and then

wh en one near h im pleaded i n behal f of H aridasa,

Chai tanya saic “A you ng Sannyasi pays atten

t ion to awoman . This i swhat I can n ever endu re .

These m en whose passions have not yet been

con tro l led fe ign ascetic ism and seek women .

”

Saying so he en tered h is room and they did not

dare Speak to h im more 0 11 the poin t that day.

The next day they again in terceded in h is behal f,

pleading that the fau l t was a smal l one . Chaita

nya said ‘You know that I always fo llow th e

dictates of my hear t . The company of a false

ascet ic I avoid . The desi res of th e flesh are

hard even for a Rishi to conqu er . H ow carefu l

C h a i tanya, Ston flyshou ld a Sannyasi be whose vows

jfijfigfifif

n

j feqfiii

’

f is one of total abstenance I f“as“

you plead for h im again, you wi l l

not see me here .

’ Then l’

armananda Pu ri , th e

sain t and scholar whom Chaitanya revered ,cal led

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164 C HA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS.

a ir sudden ly , a song from an u nseen sou rce,

trembl ing with pathos,fu l l of sweet appeals for

mercy . Th ev al l heard,and Chaitanya said

‘ Don ’t you kn ow i t is you ng H ar idasa . Il'

is

spir it is there . He comm i tted su icide and h as

been redu ced to th is condition,bu t a tru e ly

Th e S tran gepen itent sou l wi l l have mercy .

’

m e lody fxom th e None knew then that H aridasasoa'

h ad drowned h imself . After a

year Civi manda Sen , Crivasa and other Bengal is

came to PurI from Nadiya,and wh en the resi

den ts of Pu rI asked i f H aridasa h ad gone

to Nadiya a year ago, Crivasa said No friends,

he wen t to A l lahabad and there comm itted

su icide by drown ing himself in

the Treven i . The story fi l led al l

of them with aston ishmen t .

This shows h ow strictly he treated the ascetics

of h is O rder An other instance is related of

Govinda C hosa of Agradwipa. After h is meal

Chai tanya was one dayserved with portion of

H ari taki fru it by Govinda Gh osa. The Maste r

asked h im as to where he h ad got the H ari tak i

from . Govinda repl ied th at i t was the remnan t

of the day before . Chaitanya said ‘ Then you

H ’s treatm en t ofstore th ings for the morrow

,even .

Govm da as worldly men do . You are not

fi t for th is Order . Go hom e and l ive as a man

of the world .

’ He obl iged h im to go back to h is

home at Agradwip . One mav th ink th at the

Th e drown ing .

NOTE S ON CHA I TANYA . 165

l i ttle breaches of condu ct shou ld not have been

treated so hard . Bu t Chaitanya,wh o knew h is

fellow ascetics better than others, of ten dis

covered ia their smal l fau lts, great moral or

spiritual defec ts which unfi tted them for the

HOly Orde r . H is treatmen t of the hou se

holde rs and even of robbers and thieves, however,i s characterised by that mercy which can alone

win them to spiritual l ife .

W hat is i t that Chaitanya saw in h is trances ?

Th e late Swam i Vivekananda h ad asked Para

mabansa Ramakrsna i f he h ad seen God , abou t

whom so m uch was said . The latter replied‘Yes

,I have seen God as v iv idly as I see you

or the wal l before me .

’ The emph atic way in

which he spoke th is impressed the scholar wh o

h ad never before heard anybody say that he

h ad seen God, and that wi th so mu ch force . The

you ng scholar,

so prou d of h ismodern learn ing,qu est ioned the prophet m inu te ly

,and he himself

eventual lv became a disciple of Ramakrsna.

V isions su ch as Chai tanya saw were beheld

by many of h is fol lowers. W e wi l l deal in

a fu tu re course Of lectu res wi th the life Of

Crin ivasa, towards the latter part of the 16thc en tury

,in which the v isions were seen

frequ en t ly , andwere sometimes of long du ration ,

making h im lose al l consciou sness of the physical

world . I n Chai tanya we find the trances

not on ly in the i r most attractive form, bu t we

166 a i TAN r A AN D n i s COMPANI ONS.

also come in con tact with a stoic strength of

character , a g reat learn ing and a powe r to impart

h is feelings and ecstasies to others in a way

wh i ch is perhaps I'

Inprecedented in the annals

of mystic ism . I n other l ives th e g l ow of vision

drew on ly the k indred sou l s to an adm i ration

for it ; in Chaitanya i ts fascination was so power

fu l , i ts effect so far- reach ing,that every one

wh o beheld h im whi le i n h is trances, felt an

overwhelm ing fo rce which tu rned th e very tide

of h is l ife . The cool - headed material istic fel t

i ts charm no less than the poe t and th e dreamer .

l i ven the Mah omedans were sometim es inspired

by h is ecstasies of love for Krsna. The General

Bijal i Khan tu rned a Vaisnava u nder their spel l .

Gorai Kazi,the Magistrate of Nadiya,

and th e

Meh omedan tai lor at Civasa’

s house tu rned

h is great admire rs, not to speak of H ari dasa,th e

Mah omedan ,whose l ife was dedicated to h im .

The conversation wh ich Hu san Sah a h ad with

Kecava Ksetri qu o ted in Chaitanya Ch ari tamrta

shows in what h igh adm i ration th e Emperor

held Chaitanya .

Ji l l’

s—A Compar e /i r e study q f 171ys l icism

Occi denta l and Or ien ta l .

The mystic l ight , i t wil l be proved by history ,

shone in the East and the I fVest al ike in th e

favou red medieval ages. For th e pu rpose of

showing th e sim i larity Of the experiences of

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168 CJ I A I'I‘

AN YA AND m s COMPAN I ONS .

Main P layer,inspi ring and gu id ing ou r play .

The spiritual sou l I'

ee l s i tself sec u re and happy

becau se i ts se t s th e Main P layer n ear i t— the

sou rce of hope,of love and perenn ial joy

to the players ; Madh u rya the stage of

love in which the spir i tual sou l passes in to

v isions of beau titude and in to tran ces,where

i t yearns for u n ion with the Lover . He is the

Bridegroom,and th e sou l of Man H is devoted

bride . This bride is Radha of the Vaisnava

Literatu re . Th e sou l of man is bound by a

thousand ties to th e world,bu t i t frees itsel f

from these and longs for the Bridegroom on l v.

The Lover dwel ls in the sacred Vrinda groves

where no th ing bu t the sound of h is sweet flu te

is heard . R-adha the sou l,mad afte r H im

,

seeks H im and m eets H im everywhere . From

the blu e of the sky,from the r iver and sea He

beakons the human sou l to meet H im . When

the v ision,by long praye rs and devotion

,by

the V i rtu es acqu i red in this l ife or in the

previou s ones, becom es clear to th e spiritual

sou l,i t real ises God as v ividly as we do mate

rial obj ects. This woman’

s ardou r of th e sou l

h as been the characte ristic of spiritual l ongings

in E u rope,and Asia al ike . This is represen ted

i n the conception of Radha in the Vaisnava

Literatu re . Mrs. Under Hill says “Those for

Whom mystic ism is above al l things,an in timate

and personal relation— the sat isfaction of deep

A COMPARATIVE STUDY . 169

desire—wi l l fal l back u pon imagery drawn large

ly from the language of earth ly passion .

”1 I t is

for this reason that God is som e times cal led

the Bridegroom and the human sou l the bride

in Biblical l iteratu re . Newman says “If thy

sou l is to go on in to higher spiritual blessed

ness, i t mu st become a woman yes, however

main ly thou maybe amon g men

S t . Bernard (1091 - 1 1 53 A .D .) writes“W hen

I love God wi th my wi l l , I transform myself

in to H im,for this is th e power of virtu e of l ove

that i t maketh thee to be like in to that which

thou lovest .”2

S t . Teresa’

s (born 1 51 5 A .D .) v isions were

so ferven t,that at times sh e

fanc ied herse lf to be one with

Christ . . This stage is beau tifu l ly expressed in

the l 0th Skanda of Qrimadvagavata where the

Gop i forgets herself and“thinks herself to be

Krsna herse lf .” I n the Gita Govinda,

J ayadeva (1 168 - 1 200 A . D . ) has a beau tifu l

l ine

St. Teresa.

swe aters-5 newfirst ai faasi fiife ema‘fiai

I am Krsna thou ght Radha in her trance”

wh ich was im itated, in the famous stanza of

V idyapati (1 4th cen tu ry)“613e am firstmisfi ts cm WT?

1 Under H i l l ’s mysticism ,p. 153.

2 Sol i loq u i cs of St . Bonaventura ex I , quoted byUnder H i l l p . 10 1 .

V

170 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

Constan tly th ink ing of Krsna, the beau tifu l

one (Radha ) becam e as Krsna h imself .”

Chai tanya is said to have u ttered in some of h is

trances the words ‘I am H e’

.

1 A l l these owe

a kinship to the celebrated u tterance of Christ

h imself . “I and myfather are one .

”

W e have described the fou r stages of spiritual

worship bu t there i s one which we have om itted,

and which precedes them al l . I t is the Qantathe stage in which al l weed - l ike passions are

rem oved , and. the sou l of man becomes fit to

grow spiritual l ove i n i ts fu l lest bloom . gantameans qu ie t . This is a state for which ou r

Hsis strove , and which we find pre - em inen tly

in the Bu ddha. Look at‘

any stone image of

the Buddha,what this qu ie t means wi ll be

real ised at the sight of it . The Mongolian

scu lp tor h as given h im fiat l ips and eyes. The

Magadh a h as given a sharp Aryan cu t to h is

face . The Gandhara art h as given fit propor

tions to h is body . Bu t in the great gal lery of

the Buddhistic images,whether th e stone is so

roughly hewn as to give i t bu t the crudest

l ikeness of a human - figu re , or cu t wi th the finest

strokes of th e chisel,giving i t the most realistic

perfection , the qu iet of the sou l , indicated in

the face, is the prom inen t featu re of al l the

statu es of the Buddha,whether he is represen ted

“sffp mi sfé r cai vfi yfim u

Ch a i tanya Bhagavata

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1 72 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

coincidence which the main classifications of

the Vaisnavas bear to those made

by S t . Teresa. I t shows that

simi lar ideas and experiences of the spiri tual

world h ave taken place throu ghou t the Globe

irrespective of creed or colou r . The Mah ome

dans have amongst them their Sufi poets and

mystics,su ch as J elal uddin (1 207- 1 273

H afiz (1300 - 1388 A .D . ) and Jam i (1414 - 1 493

wh o have expressed the ideas which are

closely sim ilar to those to be fou nd in th e Songs

of Songs and in the lyrical poems of the

Vaisnavas. Many of th e Catholic Sain ts of the

m iddle ages saw visions of Christ and experienced

mystic trances of th is natu re There are even

sects among the Protestan ts,such as the Quakers

(founded by George Fox 1624 - 1691 A .D .)whose fai th is characterised by physical man i

festations of j oy sim i lar to those to found every

where amongst the Vaisnava of Bengal . They

have declared this before the world in an

emphatic way, that“those wh o did not quake

and tremble are strangers to the experiences of

Moses, David and th e Sain ts.

” 1 They wanted

to real ize “Christ wi th in ”. Contrary to the

Pu ritan teach ing of the time , they insistedon

the possibility in thei r l ives of complete v ictory

over sin . Those wh o attain su ch a stage among

the H indus and Buddhists are known as the

O th er mystics.

Fox’

s Journal Barclay’

s ApologyProp I I Q 8 .

A COMPARATTVE STUDY . 173

Siddhyas. An au thori tat ive writer thu s com

ments on the E u ropean mystics of th e m iddle

ages :“ The new idea of obedience was not

obedience to ecclesiastical su per i ors,bu t the

subordination of the lower part of man 5 natu re

to the higher,and of the whole to God This

renu nciation cu t off from pract ical sympathy

w ith the v isible chu rch , feeding itself on a

vagu e idea of u n ion with Christ,m ight easi ly

have fal l en a prey to Bu ddhist n otions floating,

in the atmosphere .

”1 The Mahayan ists among

the Buddhists h ad al ready spread the mystic

ideas in the far East . That they may even

have reached Eu rope is indicated by the above

passage . They believed not on ly in the B uddhaand in the innumerable gods and goddesses,most of whom are worshipped by the Hindu s

,

bu t also in the emanc ipated Man— the S iddha

whom the Christians cal l mystic and the Jains,

‘Tirthankara’

. I f the experiences of these people

are to be credited,we may take it that the sou l

l ike a m i rror reflects certain spiritual phenomenanot known to ordinary men

,when i t is purged

of al l dross of material passion . From t h e

t ime of Philo,the mystical A lexandrian J ew

(B C . 20 to A .D . Eu rope h ad heard . of

this mysticism ,and at one time there were many

whose inner eyes h ad actual ly behe ld the

glorious v isions. The “fest however cou ld never

1 See E ncyclopaedia Bri tan ica Vol . X I V,p . 23. (9th edi tion ) .

1 71 cri ArrAN vA AND ms con rAmoxs.

absolu tely dissociate hersel f from th e idea ofnational i ty , which narrows the range ofh uman i tv

, lead ing to conflicts of interest,nor

free hersel f from pol i tical ideals based on a

desire for acqu isit ion of power . Sh e h as not

therefore been able to develop in trospectionand other qual i ties of the sou l in a su stainedmanne r . This h as redu ced her mvstics to a sect

isolated f rom th e chu rch and bcvond general

appreciation ,whereas in Asia and particu larly

in India,the mystics rank

,among the highest

i n popu lar estimation . E laborate works and

t reatises, have been written here describing

the ways by which one may attain the stage

of spiri tual perfection . These works are treated

in a scien tific manner , thou gh for the pu rpose

of practice the help of a Gu ru is requ i red .

The stages of worship or orision have al ready

been mentioned . A l l of these we find in a

pre - em inen t degree in the l ife of Chaitanya . He

real ised the presen ce of God i n h is sou l with

that ardou r of roman tic love by which the inward

v ision is supplemen ted and fed by a symbol ical

sign ificance given to external phenomena. One

of the stages of orision given in E l Casti l lo

is cal led The pain of God .

’ It is

the pain of separation from God .

The mystics often cal l i t The dark n ight of the

sou l . ’ Says Mr . Underhil l

Th e pai n of God.

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176 CHAITANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ON S .

W hen God v ision is clear in a spiritual sou l,

i t is expressed by the al legory of Krsna’

s

com ing to th e Vrnda groves, when the v ision

fai ls, i t is indicated by that of h is going to

Mathu ra.

”

The lou d lamen tations,the n igh ts of sleep

less agony,the cryings alou d and the mad

u tterances of love lend the most pathetic

in terest to the l iteratu re of ‘Mathu ra.

’ “He

(Chai tanya) saw the hil l of Chatak (in O rissa)and m istook it for the hil l Gobardhana (in

Vrndavana) and ran after it,crying al ou d .

” 2

Sometimes he breathed heav ily and lean ing on

Govinda,said with tears ‘Govinda, where is my

God gone,pray tell me h ow may I have H im

again P”3 Sometimes he cried ‘Oh myGod, myfather

,where art thou gone ? I cannot l ive

wi thou t saying this i n deep agonv of

heart he wep t and then passed in to an u nconsci

ous state—into one of those trances which made

it clear to al l that he was u n i ted wi th H im .

When he cam e to h is senses again he appealed

in a tender tone ‘He was here wi th me, oh where

is He gone again ,my grief is unsu pportable

,

’

l “a few as mmmmman

canmi ssa"? 4161 2mm H

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C h a i tanya Ch ar i tamrta, Madhya Kh anda.

3 Kadcha byGovinda Dasa.

Ch ai tanya Bhagavata.

THE SANNYASA . 77

and then he sang songs from Ch andidasa and

V idyapati , from J ayadeva and B i l lamangala,

and he commen ted them wi th h is tears and sighsand passed again and again to h is accu stomed

tran ce .

“The periods of rapid osci lation be tween

a j oyou s and a painfu l consciousness,

”says Mrs.

Under Hill,

“are cal led by the mystics ‘the

game of love in which god plays as it were‘hide and seek ’

with the qu estion ing sou l .”

Chaitanya is adored in India for th is love .

H is l i fe not on ly inspired rel igiousmen bu t also

supplied inspiration to those wri ters wh o have

given poetical accou nts of h is emotions under

the allegory of Radha and Krsna. J nanadasa,

Gov inda Dasa,Valarama Dasa, Raigekh ara,

Krsna Kamala and other poets have, in

their beau tifu l lyrics, shown the h ighest flights

of emotional poetry that bears a deep symbolic

mean ing.

The sighs and tears of Radha and

her poetic ecstasies are but - those of the poor

Brahman scholar wh o took h is Sannyasa at the

age of 24: and wandered from door to door l ike

a mad man,displaying the profoundest love

for One not seen by u s,bu t who is our on ly

Beloved .

XX I . Chai tanya’

s Sannyasa and love- ecstasi es.

The Sannyasa of Chaitanya which mean t the

total severance of h is home - ties, in order to offer

178 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

himself to the service of human i ty and of God,

c reated great d istress at Nadiya, gi vn i g rise to

an impassionate bu rst of poetic feel ing which

h as created a l iteratu re of great beau ty and

tenderness. The sorrows of (Qach i , h is mother

and ofVisnupriya, h is wi fe, are the sorrows of

the'

whole of Bengal and O rissa to - day. As

Chaitanya sou gh t h is God Krsna and lamen ted

h is separation from h im,

n ou rishing th e

Th e Math u ra SongsMathu ra songs from a l iv ing fou n t

of pathos in h is own heart,

—so to

h is innum erable worshippersatNadiya, separation

from h im cau sed the growth of simi lar songs

which are now su ng as the prelude to

Mathu ra songs. I n fact h is l i fe is constan tly

before those singers wh o sing of the love of

Radha and Krsna, and i t is indispensible that

they shou ld first sing the Gau ra Chandrika

or songs of which some emotions of Chai tanya is

the theme,before they are perm itted to in trodu ce

simi lar songs re lating to B ai dha- Krsna love .

These Gau ra Ch andrikasare in fact rem inders to

the au dience that the Radha- Krsna love shou ld

bear to them a spiri tual mean ing,that thou gh

sometimes presen ted in a sensual garb,i t ac tual ly

belongs to a su per - sensu ous plane . The

great l ife of the Master was i tself the most

powerfu l symbol of this love and there cou ld

be but one mean ing to this mystic l i teratu re

of love .

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1 80 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

She attempts to ease her m ind to Cach i bu tbu rsts in to tears.

QaCh i says what grief ai ls thee,Child ?

W hereat sh e A t th e time of bath ing , mynose - ornamen t fel l into water

,and inau spic iou s

signs have I seen around,I cannot speak .

I t seems good lu ck wi l l leave me to day and

thunder wi l l fal l on myhead .

”

Vasudeva says : W hat shal l I sayto thee ,o loyal wife ! to - day you r dear hu sband wil l

leave Nadiya for good .

(2 )1

Chaitanya leaves Nadiya to - day.

No waves dance on the Ganges’ breast .

The images of i a,Ganapat i and other gods

in the temples l ook strangely pale .

The new leaves do not open ; nor flowers

bloom on the bou ghs.

Says Narah ari The beau ty of Nadiya is gone ,

sh e cann ot support her grief .

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THE SANNYASA . 1 81

(3 )1

The people of Nadiya sadly ask those Sadhu s

and ascetics wh o come from O rissa side .

Holy pilgrims, did you meet anywhere a

Sannyasi named Chaitanya. Young is he , and

h is colou r bright like m elted gold .

H e repeats the name of Krsna n ight and

dayand tears flow from both h is eyes.

“He sometimes sm i les,and at other times

weeps, and sometimes falls down on th e bare

earth in deep emotion .

”

The Sadhu s sayin reply“Yea have we seen

h im. He lives near the seacoast .

He is a God , wh o says he is man ?

Those wh o have seen h is dance in ecstasy

of love,h is emotion and tears, hold h im dear

as l ife.

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1 82 CI I A I TANYA AND 111 8 COMPAN I ONS .

I t was good lu ck that we met h im at O rissa.

Says P remadasa Su rely it is he,th e dear one

of the Nadiya people

‘

Erom O rissa comes J agadananda to Nadiya

wi th Chai tanya’

s message to h is mother .

‘Erom afar,does the scholar see th e town

deserted as th e Vrnda groves were of old,and

hesitates thinking shal l I find her l iv ing sti l l

‘S topping a m omen t he starts again and finds

the people there m erged in grief .

‘The shops are closed and people move abou t .

Bu t none sm iles in that vast C ity .

‘The wom en he saw weeping,seated here and

there,each by herself ,

‘

and as h e saw these,h e en tered th e hou se of

the adored one .

‘

gach i lay in a corner hal f - dead w i th grief,

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1 84 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ON S .

‘They wai ted at the gate bu t Mal in i wen tand held Cach i and V isnupriya by the hand and

raised them from the stu por of grief .‘She said “Look there you r son h as sent a

friend to make enqu i ries.

’

‘Hearing this su rprised Cach i looks up and

sees ou r scholar standing at th e gate .

And seeing h im sh e said “Oh tell me, h ow

far h as my son come on h is way towards

home P”

‘The Pandit wept to see her grief and re lated

l ittle inciden ts of Chaitanya staying there in

Cach i’

s hou se and giv ing solace to al l .‘

Ch andragekh ara, th e poet , is hard - hearted as

a beast,m inistering to h is l ower self

‘and cares not for the h eaven lv nector that

the story of Chaitanya brings’ .

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THE SANNYASA .

(5)

0 11,whydoes he hold the staff

,and wears

the och re - colored garb of an asceti c P

Oh,whyh as he shaven h is head P

W hyis i t that he weeps and says Radha,’

Radha.

’

The lou d lamen tings of Cri vasa, i t seems,

wou ld melt the very ston e and Gadadh ara cannot

bear l ife,

Mu kunda’

s two eyes float in tears.

AndH aridasa goes from door to door solacing

those wh o are in grief .

The you thfu l wife is l ike a flame in the

house .

Oh , whyh as he lef t her , for what fau l t

Vasu Gh osa says It breaks my heart dayand n igh t to recol lec t it .’

myChaitanya, ou r beloved h as left Nadiya.

H is friends are overwhelmed wi th grief,

Advai ta, (;ri vasa, Gadadh ara,Vasudeva and

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1 86 CHA I TANYA AND 111 8 COMPAN I ONS .

Bakregvara si len t l y weep bu t Vasudatta and

Narabar i cryaloud

Ragh unandana sits on th e du sty grou nd

bowed in sorrow,

Har idasa’

s ey es are closed bu t a tear si len tly

trick les down h is cheek .

And N i tyananda cann ot control h imse l f as

he sees the poor moth er in the agony of grief .

The happy n ights of lri r tcma songs are over,

andVasu deva’

s h ear t breaks to think of it .

(7

The empty cou ch her righ t hand tou ches and

th e poor wi fe r ises wi th a start as i f thu nder h as

fal len on her head.

She cries Oh heaven you have at last done

you r worst ” .

W eeping sh e ru ns with dishevel l ed h air to

the room of Cach i .

V isnupriya sits near th e door and says in

accents soft ,

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1 88 CHA I TAN YA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

And then en ters h is room and goes ou t to the

street again —a l l wi th ou t m ean ing .

There is he again wh ere th e flowers bloom,

shedding tears that fal l from h is eyes,beau tifu l

as lotus leaves.

H is em otions charm one wh o sees them,

Th ev are st range and new everv time.

He si ts al l by himself and repeats the name

of God

Accu stomed was he to scen t h imself wi th

sandal d rops,

Now behold the dust on h is body—al l

u ncared for .

The precious stones and golden chain he does

not tou ch .

And he h as lef t h is spacious room ,to sleep

under a tree .

The ascetic ’s staff is i n h is hand

and he bath es in the holy tears of love .

Vasudeva’

s heart breaks at al l th is.

1 fasts sisal «arm I

sis—si s sea fsssszs

32a sss sial sis, acs {is fsss issift s isi

sf‘iss ss sgas,sacs si sssasas

sit s sfafii fssis—fasi - sifii W a s sis 1

(ms csiss scssift, sits se afssi ssi isi I

fssfis ssfiis ceis as sts si

'

sssfsss

masts ass? fiisis, W sis isssasia I

THE LOVE - E CSTAS I ES . 1 80

As he sees the flower garden,he si ghs

,

S ometimes he rests h is cheek on h is hand,

and at others casts h is vacan t look around .

H is em otions are ever new .

H is glances are often directed to where

flowers bloom ,

W e cannot dev ine what h e finds in them .

Bu t su ch are h is emotions of j oy that those

wh o see them are saved from sin

H is tears flood the world wi th their love

On ly poor Hadhamoh an i s den ied a drop .

(WW hat is i t he sees,W hy is th is unmean ing sm i le on h is l ips by

n ight and dayP

sai ls? sass,tsfasew , Bias sits asais

ssaasst-

s, sass? sar issci s taass em n

tsasas iaass I

sass asts, Bitssassfis, Hai rs as assis ,

asstvi ass, csss assas, as si tsslats s is i

asss itsstfswists saws, vistas tasiss sits r

siaicsiss fassisites arias assam i

slits s isia taiafa tais i

sit? sits i‘

sai i’

sfii , aisafasts si ts,

stss sacs ascssia i a?

st d ttsszats sis, s itsasa sais,

taiaisaisis eti‘isia i

1 90 CH AITANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

S ometimes he sings,a strange melodiou s song ,

and c ries

Oh lord of myheart , where art thou gone ?

Sometimes h is body trembles in sweet emo

tions and he ru ns after som e one we do not see .

And of ten does he stre tch h is hands u pwards,

as i fto embrace the Heaven ,

A t times he bewai ls the loss of some one we

do not kn ow

Now does he close h is eyes from wh i ch si len t

tears fal l .

Then cr ies aloud saying “Oh myBeloved .

Says Narah ari “ These ecstasies of lov e are

l ike those of Radha,

For saving th e sinners of th is Kal i Yu ga

the iron age—n —h as he brou ght th is emoti on from

heaven .

amdomyWW, am amor? aw,

i sm9m zl irawiaHi?!

R R"! 6? amwfi , an? i t? ! fvfi firfa,

aman aim fiaimaimsin? ! 115i

”aim, i i 7Mafw l in“,

mamaW W ac id 1

W WMw e, ai man? cfliai fa,

aimMm 253 m

sw affair! (Eco, fl awwiring ,

areas 531 afar cw

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192 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

me I cried and saying so I embraced h im bu t

mv dream van ished j u st at that time and I saw

h im not again . I wept the rest of the n igh t in

bitte r pain . From that time my heart knows

no rest . Say f riend h ow may I soothe myheart .

asudeva Ghose says ‘Do not weep,dear mother

,

Chai tanya is you r own . I f i t were not so h ow

cou ld you get a si gh t of h im (in the d ream ) .

1

H ere is the dream of J acoda She describes

i t to he r husband Nanda.

Hear me,oh k ing of Braja

, K t sn t appeared

to me th is n igh t in a dream . B u t instantly he

van ished where I kn ow not . I saw h is moon l ike

face bedewed wi th tears,as h e held by the

edge of my Sad i and cried for some bu tter,

mother give me a l i ttle bu tter to eat ’ he said

again and again . The more my darl ing wan ted

i t from me,the m ore I tried to avoid h im

saying Go away hen ce I h ave no time to spare,

wi ieasiaaacaaawn, eacai aiféi i i 33, feat? aifmi iii a aca I

mimics t ie ii‘ai 32am ca‘

a‘

ifi vl . ai aiaai e i i'

m 61mm n

atats e i aifiaii i , 616mmwith team, finit

e“

? swam rui n i

was sat ‘ia i ta, fie Fm? tamera, emsW e smut afaai n

comic! me taam, (at? atisi camcam,afar: ai iaaiafi r-aim I

cs ifricacwfiiw 6m,wifiiaia tw ifiica, TiftI R

—O ai ifm 331are u

v ii i-“

i ariam i fife , Faniaaiai it q rate,can¢ lt f3 firms: 53m

amHi cafimi 6m,

9 mmcam e ta,fi i ivfl i aai i crii i i i a u

ca? ti cs aimwiry, fi atfirst zi ifi aim, it new“Kai 3am

aiacvamicaw ,csii aia cams? as, state is m i aie m u

THE DRE AMS . 193

don ’t trou ble me .

’

And thu s I tu rned h im

away .

” 1

The legend of Krsna h as thu s been vivified,

and the human and spiritual in terest of i t h as

developed,being constan tly fed by the inciden ts

of l iving h istory .

The Gau rach andri kaprepares a spiritual atmo

sphere for the audience . The emotions of one wh o

was mad af te r God are emphasised, so that they

m ight serve as a key - n ote to Radha Krsna- son gs

which,viewed in this l ight , assum e a symbolical

sign ifican ce , even in their sensu ou s descrip tions.

I have said in a prev i ou s lectu re th at th e

Vaisnavas have spu n ou t in tricate detai ls of

tender emotions in their A lankara gastras—the

poetics,as D r . Jacobi wou ld cal l them . There

are al togeth er 860 su ch emotions defined and

i l lustrated in the Uj jaln i laman i to wh i ch refer

en ce h as already been made . Some of th e main

div isions,

su ch as‘

th e dawn of love ,’ the

raptu re,’ ‘ the pain of God and

‘ the spiritual

marriage,

’

which S t . Teresa and other mystics of

Eu rope have described , are almost the same as is

in the Bengal i c lassifications, with th is difl erenee

that the n iceties in trodu ced in Bengal i are hundred

1eamate ,

am We waitfirst caiaia caiaiafiance

caacaBaa tam,wasa afaai aim, mat caat caatii am i

as am? aiai afar ‘

aa’ ‘

aa’ai fii awifiifi

’

i afaaavia 1

(caisia) airsaaaa, caai fataaa, arafi aa7aafa cafiiaiactca i

194 CHA I TANYA. AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

times greater .

‘The dawn of l ove ’ and other

d iv isions have each of them many sub - headings,and hundreds of old songs are attached to each

by wayof i l lustration of al l i ts m inu test shades.

W hen the K i rtan iya,or the head - singer of the

K i rtana- songs,takes up a su bj ect for h is n ight ’s

performance , he selects asmany songs of a grou p

as he can sing within six or seven hou rs, and

commences with a Gau rach andrika descriptiv e of

the particu lar emotion which is the subj ect of the

n ight .

O f the Gau rach andri kas that I have qu otedNos. 5

,8,9,1 0 and M belong to the grou p of

the dawn of love —the Pu rva- raga.

The clang of K ar tcl la (cymbals) and the du l l

beat of Khol,which h as however a heart - moving

effect,is con tinu ed for some time . The deafen

ing noise drives away al l other thou ghts and the

au dien ce expectan t ly looks fo r some higher

mu sic . Gau rach andrika is next in trodu ced . The

Th e Gaumsinger does not consider h is task

ch andu ka and th e fin ished by singing the songs.

mm “ so"? Each l ine —eachword of them— h e

explains by rhymed commen taries made by some

earlier master,wh ich was also learn t by rote by

the singer when he comm i tted the songs to h is

memory . The poetical import of each word i s

analysed with i ts bearing on Chai tanya’

s l ife,til l

history,theology and poetry are m ingled together

and the m u sical flow of the whole makes the

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196 CHA I TANYA AN D H I S COMPAN I ON S .

Amongst th e names of a large number of

lai r /(um singers of th e tim e of Chai tanya,we

maymen tion some . At th e head of K i rtan iyas,the compan ions of Chai tanya

,stands Narah ari

Smn e om mmmm Sarkar of Crikanda, Cr i vasa and

S l nge l‘

s of Vasu deva Chosa,Vasu Datta and

C h ai tanya’

s t im e“ Mu kundaDatta of Nadipa. Refer

ences to their wonderfu l power of singing are

to be found i n al l importan t biographies of

Chaitanya . Bakrecwara pleased al l by h is

wonderfu l dancing . They were al l sain t ly people ,good scholars and devoted to Chaitanya. Their

music and dance in lei r tmm performances

belonged to a higher plane,answerin g the glow

ing exortations of the Psalms.

Let them praise H is name in th e dance,let

them sing praises u n to H im with the timbre l

and harp Let the floods clap their hands. From

the risin g of the sun u n ti l the going down of

the same , the Lord’

s name is to be praised .

”

Chaitanya’

s l i fe is importan t to the studen ts

of the history of Bengal,owing to the great

bearing on the subsequ en t social evolu tions that

took place in the cou n try . To those wh o are

spiritual ly in cl ined h is l ife is of a n ever - ending

interest l ike that of the Bu ddha or of Cankara,

showing som e of the greatest featu res of re ligious

act ivity and developmen t in India. To the poets

the dream - l ik e charm of h is l ife is a sou rce of

constan t delight . H is whole l ife is now a song,

GAURCH AND RI KAS. 1 97

su ng in th e streets and in the cou n try side .

It is an epic - poem form ed of the sweet lyrics

of Gau rach andrikas which are on every ki r tcma

singer ’s l ips. The poetry of h is roman tic l ife

is spread like the flowers that spring on the

grassy meadows,al l over Gangeti c valley . The

weaver sings i t as he spins h is thread,and the

ploughman fi l ls the whole air with the pathos

of h is lamen t over Chaitanya’

s desertion of

home .

A beau t ifu l story i l lustrat ive of the popu lar

devotion for Chaitanya was re lated som etim es

ago by Mr . Ksh i timoh an Sen,Head Master of

S ir Rabindranath Tagore’

s School at Bolpu r.

W hile at Nadiya, he heard that in a smal l

neighbou ring vil lage ki r tana songs accompan ied

by the play of Khol and cymbals were sung

there eve ry n ight from 6 P .M. to 6A .M. There

were two bands of mu sic ians, one singing and

playing till 1 2 A .M. and the other for the rest

of the n ight . For these fou rAn examp le of

popu lar devotion hu ndred years,generati ons of

for Ch ai tanya'

vil lagers of that smal l local ity

have kept up an un in terru pted cou rse of mu sical

play in the vi llage . The reason of this is that

Chai tanya h ad once paid a visi t to that v illage

before taking Sannyasa. The little v i llage re

sounded with ki r tana songs,proclaim ing i ts glad

ness at the even t . W hen he was abou t to leave

the place,the vi l lagers begged of h im to pay

1 98 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

them a visi t again and Chai tanya,i t is said

,

prom ised that he wou ld do so at some fu tu re

time . They form ed from am ongst themselves

two bands of [fair i fwza singers to keep up the

con tinu ity of th e songs til l he retu rned . That

blessed day never came . Bu t they have kept

up an u n ceasing flow of mu sic n ight after n ight

du ring these long generations,bel iev ing that

he wi l l com e once more and v isi t their v illage .

For the words of one whom they knew to be

God h imself cou ld not bu t be fu lfi l led .

XX I Z .

—Th e four sects of th e Vai snavas.

The Vaisnavas are div ided in to fou r sects : m’

z

Maddh i , Sanakai qRudra and Cri . Maddha

ch arya (born A . D . ) was the founder of

the Maddh i sect . He was the son of a Brahm in

namedMaddh ageh a,an inhabitan t

of Taj i kaksetra, a vil lage close

to the town of Udip i in the coun try known as

Tu lava in the Deccan . The town stands on

the river Papanacin i which is only two m i les

and a hal f from the sea. As a

chi ld Maddhacharya was cal led

Vasu deva and adopted the name of rl nanda

ti rth a when he was on ly 9, on the occasion of

h is taking Sannyasa. H is Gu ru was a Brahm in,

named Achyu taprach a of the Sanaka fam i ly .

Maddhacharya received h is early edu cation at

the Anantecwara temple of the Deccan . H is

Madab i .

Madhyach arya .

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200 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

close affin i ty to Christian i ty Many of themsays Mr . Growse

,are piou s

,simple m inded men

leading su ch a chaste and studiou s l i fe,th at i t may

charitably be hoped of them that in the eye of

God they are Christians by the baptism of

desi re .

”

Visnuswam i’

s fol l ower Val lavacharya became

in the l 6th cen tu ry the repu ted leader of th e

l tudra Order of Vaisnavas. He

was a Drav idian Brahm in—a

con temporary of Chaitanya— born in a v il lage

cal led Kakuraparah u near th e Rai lway

station N idada Bhelu in the

Deccan . H is father ’s name

was Laksmana Bhatta. A t Kaku raparah u there

Rudra .

Val lavacharya.

is a temple mark ing the spot where Val labha

charya was born . He wrote a commen tary

on the Brahma Sutra and cal led i t Val labh a

Vasya . H is comm en tary on the Crimad

bhagavata is an au thoritat ive work to the people

of h is sect . Val labhacharya l ived for a

considerable tim e at Gok u l and was known as

Goku la Gossain The preceptor of Goku l ’.

Some of the anecdotes relating to h is interv iew

with Chaitanya at P u r i are described in detai l

in the Chai tanya Ch ar i tam rta . I t appears that

while revering the Master,Val labh a was prou d

of h is learn ing and h ad l ittle regard for h is

compan ions Val labh a flattered Ch ai tanya,

saying that he h ad for a long tim e cherished a

rm: FOUR SECTS. 20 1

desi re of seeing h im and that he considered

0

himself blessed at having seenMGe tS Ch al tanm

h im at last . “ Nowh ere was

seen h e said an apostle of fai th like you rself,the very sight of whom inspires devotion

to God am ong men .

Chaitanya,knowing that Val labh a was proud

and that he sl igh ted h is compan ions, said “ S i r,

I am a very humble sou l,qu ite u nworthy of

you r praise . If there is any faith in me for

which these encom iums are bestowed,I owe it

to Advai ta r

-

l charya wh o h as mastered al l

branch es of human learn ing— to N i tyananda

wh o knows six schools of philosophy as few

kn ow them in India and wh oseH is commentary company h as g iven me a gl impse

of that higher l ife to wh i ch a man of su ch h um

bl e par ts as myse l f cou ld hardly otherwise h ave

got access. There are besides J agadananda,

Bakrecwara and Gadadh ara P undit from whom I

have learn t mu ch and have yet to learn more

If you think of profiting by discu ssion wi th

anyone am ong u s,i t is these sch olars whom I

recomm end to you .

”.Val labhacharya h ad

writ ten h is comm en tary on th e Bhagavata,

as I have already m en tioned, and h is object in

com ing down to Pu r i was to sh ow it to Chai tanya

and have h is approval . B u t Chai tanya h ad

heard that th is commen tary was di rectl y opposed

to the one written by Cridh ar Swam i , the greatest au thority in Bhagavata- in terpretations

, and

292 C l l A I'J‘

AN YA AND H i s COMPAN I ONS .

therefore avoided the requ est of Val labhacharya

saying Bhagavata is too high for m e . I del igh t in

the nam e of Kr isna . The name i s a poem to me

and gives me j o r s u ntold. I am not a competen t

j udge of a comm entary on the Bhagavata .

Val labhach arya wen t to th e differen t Vaisnava

worth ies,whom Ch ai tanva h ad named

,in order

to read h is commen tary to them . B u t no one

in that vast ci ty wou ld l isten to i t and he was

so struck wi th th e great learn ing of the scholars

wh o adm ired Ch ai tanya and l ived at Pu ri simp l y

to be near h im,that the proud scholar fel t great

lyhumi l iated . W hen he refe rred to h is commen

tary again in h is conversation wi th Chaitanya,the latter said that u n less he closely fol lowed

the in terpretations of the Swamy,the commentary

cou ld not be acceptable to anyTh e pu n on th e

word"Swamy. one . Chai tanya u sed a pu n on

the word Swamy —th e name

by which Cridh ar Swamy was gene ral ly known .

Swamy means a husband andasVal labhach arya’

s

views ran Opposite to h is,Chaitanya said ‘You r

commen tary is corru pt ’ having disregarded th e

Swamy . Val labh a’

s pride was humbled and he

took lessons i n th e Bhagavata afresh from Pundit.

J agadananda,one of Chai tanya

’

s constan t asso

ciates,and h ad to change many of h is rel igiou s

vi ews. l There are at the presen t day numerous

1 An e laborate accou n t of V'

a l lavfte h a l ya’

s V i ent to l‘

m i and ma

e u ssi ons W i t h C h a i tanya and h is ( empan l ons is to be t'

ound m t h e

C h a i tanya C har i tamrta (Au tya Kh and a,C h ap V I I

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20 t C HA I TANYA AND m s COMPAN I ONS .

March 1 070 A .D . in th e vi l lage ofPerambh udara

i n the distri ct Ch englat in th e

Madras Presidency . This v illage

is only 1 3 m i les from th e town of Madras and

Th e Cu sects.

was celebrated i n th e pre - h istoric age as th e

shrine of Bh u ti pu ra . Bamanu ja was the son

of a Brahm in named Kecava ; h is mother’

s name

was Kantimati Dev i . He took Sannyasa owing

to h is wi fe Raksh ambha’

s repeated v iolati ons of

h is instru ctions,and we know that J ayati rth a of

the Maddh i sect also left home as a Sannyasi

because h is wife was a sh rew. Tukarama,th e

great Marh atta sain t , suffered from the same m is

fortune and left home to escape from h is wife

before he h ad distingu ished h imsel f as a saint,

and we shal l see in fu tu re h ow Govinda Dasa

the devoted fol lower of Chaitanya quarrel led

wi th h is wife t imu kh i and tu rned a Sannyasi . 1

Sannyasa means i n popu lar opin ion the cu tting

of al l ties wi th home,

and th e strongest

tie of home - l ife is that which binds a man

to h is wife . I t wi ll thu s be seen that one

of the chief reasons wh ich led to the Sannyasa

of manv dist ing u ished sain ts was th eir

ariaia at‘

i‘

iasis fl ag? i n i

as firsaisi si awacairaas? as nfastssawat?! aifa firs caita I

ca? awaitsa? s ifs‘

aia ts iran

(sl ams sis wasaifataco at? I

sfsaica‘

staviafacaaif‘

ast? l lKadch a by Govi nda Dasa,

THE FOUR SE CTS . L05

disappointment in nu p tial love . B u t the Buddha

and Chai tanva adored in their fam i ly circle,

renoa i ced home not for anyu n toward domestic

fric tion bu t in order to obey a higher cal l f rom

the i r 1uner selves.

Tae Vai snava- views at the earl ier epochs of

their growth were marked by a hostile atti tu de

towards C iva,and i n the 1 1 th centu ry they seem

to have been inspired by two m issions,one for

subverting the i ai te worship and anothe r for

disapprov ing and at tacking the theory of il lu

sion propounded by Cankara,and these we find

to be the marked featu res of the doctrines of

the Ramanu ja sect . This wil l be seen from what

Govinda,a disciple of Ramanu ja,

said after h is

conyersion to Vaisnavism f rom the Civai tefai t h

Hai l , oh lord, (V isnu ) I take refu ge in thee,save m e from mysins. I h ad shunned V ievakan tha (Visnu—the refuge of the world ) andtaken ref uge in V i sakan th a (giva

— th e poison

th roated one) I had sh u nned Pundarikaksa

(Visnu—th e lotusa eyed one ) and taken refuge

in B i rupaksa (i a— the evil - eyed one ) I h ad

sh u nned the Pi tamvara (V ision— dressed in pu rple

robes) and taken refuge in the Digamvara (Civathe naked one) I l eft the heavenly garden of

Tu lasi plan t (sacred to the Vaisnavas) and pre

ferred th e bitte r-

j u i ced H ar i tak i (sacred to the

206 cnA I TANYA AND m s CoMPAN I ONs.

The puns on th e words i n the above extrac tshow the bitterness and th e hosti le atti tu de ofth e convert towards th e creed he h ad forsaken .

Maddhyacharya bel ieved in Hari (Krsna) andHara (Civa) al ik e . Val lavacharya was a believeri n Krsna as the d iv ine ch ild—the Vala- gopala .

Ramanu ja bel ie ved i n Krsna and Laksm i andV isnu Swamv in Krsna and the Gopis

.

Chaitanya, thou gh he was in i tiated by a

Gu ru of tt addh i sect,owed bu t l i ttle al le

gience to thei r tenets. H is was almost a new

and di fferen t creed based on mystic love wi th

i ts em o tional featu res.

XXX] I I — T/ze Gu rus of {h e Jlfml dlzi Sect

A s we are concern ed wi th the Vaisnavas

of Bengal,we need not take any fu rther

n otice ot'

th ose wh o belonged to sects other

than the Maddh i i n which Chai tanya h ad

inscribed h is nam e . Maddh acharya al ias Ananda

ti rth a as al ready m en tioned,was the fou nder of

this sec t . The fol lowing l ist wi l l show the l ine

of su ccessive leaders of the sect,each of whom

stands in the re lation of a d iscip le to h is prede

cessor . This l ist is qu oted f rom Gau ranganadde

sadi pika,a sanskrit work written byKavikarna

pu ra in 1 526 A .D . A summary of th is w i l l

also be fou nd in the Bengal i work,

th e

Bh aktiratnakara .

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2208 CHAI TANYA AND Hi s COMPANI ONS .

not a recog nised seat of good Brahm ins; at least

this h as been the cu rrent bel ief of th e people of

Northe rn as well as o ther parts of India ou tside

Bengal The fact of Madh avendra’

s se nding

for two Brahm ins from Bengal for worsh ip of a

dei tv held in so m u ch popu lar reverence in the

holy city,canno t be explained by any other

reason than that of Madh avendra’

s hav ing been

himself a Bengal i .

Two of the d isciples of Madh avendra PLl I ’ IIgwara Pu r i and Advaita h ad a great influ ence

on Chaitanya in h is boyh ood . W e al l kn ow

h ow Igwara Pu rI was attracted by the scholar

ship and other personal quali ties of Chai tanya

and frequ en tly called on the you ng scholar in

order to impart rel ig iou s instru ctions to h im .

Chaitanyawas almost sceptical i n h is early you th

and wou ld not l isten to re l igiou s19m m Pur l

advice . Igwara P u r i qu oted from

th e holy texts in order to convince Chaitanya

of the force of some spi ritual points that he

preached. B u t the vou ng scholar de tected

grammatical m istakes from those texts to

the great bewi ldermen t and disappoin tm en t

of th e Vene rable man . Bu t. insp ite of th e

frivolou s j okes and l igh t h umou r w i th wh ich

Chaitanya treated I cwara Pu r i ’s teachings,the you ng scholar secre tly che rished a deep

reverence for the piou s Vaisnava . A fter

h is l ife h ad become ch anged , he fel t an eager

MADD E I SE CT . 209

desire to mee t Igwara Pu r i andwen t to Kumarahatta with that obj ect The old man h ad

been cookin g h is own m eal when Chai tanyaarrived at h is house . The ever refractory

,

pedan tic and l ight - brained you ng scholar h ad

become a thorou ghly changed man and as he

tou ched the feet of the revered teacher,he

cou ld not express h is profound grat itu de to h im,

h is voice becom ing choked wi th tears. Whenleav ing Kumarah atta he passed into a trance,

tying som e dust of_

the p lace in the edge

of h is garm en ts l ike a preciou s th ing,and

mu rmu ring ,‘the dust of th is spot— the birth

place of I gvara Pu ri is deare r to me than anyrich es

,naydear as l ife itself .

At Gaya, Chai tanya again met I cvara Pu r i

and wi th j oined hands stood before the saintly

man saying , Blessed is mv j ou rney to Gaya, for

I see you before me .

i‘ i‘ You are,S ir

,better

than al l th e shrines of the world,for a sight of

you cleanses the sou l .

W e gather th e fol lowing brief accou n t of

I cvara Pu ri from the Prema V i lasa.

He was born abou t the year 1 436A .D . H is

father wasa Badi yaBrahm i n nam edCyamsundara

Acharya of Kumarah atta . I cvara Pu r i th orou ghly

stud ied the Upan isadas i n h is you t h and became

1 eggafcaaaariaiaa

ssists I

aHeadstrataafiaa asa nITh e Ch ai tanya Bh agavata.

210 CHAI TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

an ascetic of the Maddh i sect of the Vaisnavas,being in i tiated into that fai th by Madh avendraPurI himself .

The man generally kn own to be the Gu ru of

Chaitanya was,however

,Kecava Bharati . W hen

Chai tanya reso l ved to take the vow of Sannyasa, he

happened to go to Kecava Bharat i for in i t iat ion ;the latter also belonged to th e

Maddh i sect and was a discip le

of Madh avendra Pu ri . Kecava Bharat i condu cted

the ritual of Chai tanya’

s Sannyasa and beyond this

we are not aware that he exercised any influ en ce

on the spiri tu al advan cemen t of h is i l lustriou s

disciple . I cvara Pu r i was Chaitanya’

s D i ksa

Gu ru wh o in itiated h im in to the Vaisnava fai th and

Kecava Bharati was h isSannyas- Gu ru,wh om in isv

tered to the rel ig ious fu nction of h is Sannyasa.

Kecava Bharati wasknown as Kal inath Acharya

before he took Sannyas and was an inhabitan t of

the v i llage of Ku lya in NavadVI pa. H e 'was born

in the earl ier half of the 1 5th cen tu ry and resided

ch iefly at Katwa.

W e now revert toMadh avendra Pu r i , the fountain head from whom flowed that cu rrent of devo

tion which with in a cen tu ry and a half flooded

the whole of Bengal . Many tales are told abou t

h im in the Bengal i h istorical works of the Vaisna

vas. There isa sign ifican t cou plet in the Chai tanya

Bhagavata attribu ting to h im some of those beau

tifu l trances at the sight of a cloud wh ich we find

Keqava Bharat i .

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212 CHAITANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

fu l and pathetic association to the colou r,bring

ing on trances and ecstasies in spir itual sou ls.

!

W e read in the Chaitanya Chari tamr ta thatMadhavendra PurI was one of the few piousMai dh avcndl 'a

’

s pi lgrims who visited the Vrudav isi t to Vr ndara

na. groves before that shr i ne was

restored by the fol lowers of Ch aitanya. A

tender and love ly legend is told in connec

tion with this v isi t of Madh avendra Pu rI .

He wen t there fast ing for a day, for he never

begged,

and u n l ess some one brou ght h im

someth ing to eat, he wou ld fast and remain

absorved in h is rel igiou s reveries. He sat at

the foot of the h il l Annakuta al l alone, con

templ ating Krsna, caring n oth ing of the world,

when he was sudden l v accosted by a boy, wh o

if the crown of peacock - feathers h ad adorned

h is head and a flu te h ad been in h is hand,m igh t

wel l have passed for that Krsna whom

I t i s cu riou s th at some of our Engl ish poe ts h ave also fe l t a strangel ik ing for th e bl ue and th e dark - blue colou r , a lmost i n th e sp ir i t of a

Va i snava . Th e fol lowing l in es of Keats may be quoted as an i l lustrat ion

B lue ! ‘t i s th e l i fe of h eaven th e domain

Of Cynth i a—th e wide palace of th e Sun

Th e ten t of H esperus and al l h i s train ,

Th e bosomer of clou ds, gold, grey and dun .

B l u e ‘t is th e l i fe of waters—th e Ocean

And a l l i ts vassal streams, pools number l essMay rage , and foam , and fret , bu t never can

Sub - S i de , i f not to dark- b l ue nati veness.

B l ue gen t le cousin of th e forest green ,

Marr ied to green in al l th e swee test flowers

Forget- m e - not

,th e B lu e - be l l

, and th at queenOf secrecy,

th e V iolet,wh at strange powers

H ast th ou ,as a more sh adow

Ken t’

s Poem s.

Fon nan, Vol . 257

MADDH I SECT . 213

Madh avendra worshipped . The asce tic was

stru ck by the lovely figu re of the boy wh o

offered h im some m i lk and fru i ts. He asked

the boy why he took al l this trou ble to come

from the vi l lage side for the sake of offering

h im food . The l ad said “I l ive in th is v illage .

The villagers wou ld not al low anybody to fast

here . Som e ascetics beg rice and bread,and

others beg m i lk,the v il lagers give them

, bu t I

gi ve to those who do not beg of any one .

Madh ava took the m i lk which was sweet and

the fru its which h ad a heaven ly fragrance . The

boy van ished from the place , and Madh avendrasat there u nder a t ree

,repeating the nam e of

Krsna for nearly the whole of the n ight,bu t

towards i ts end h is eyes closed inTh e strange l ad

(

if

a

e

dill

fiffl k to sleep . He dream t a dream in

which the sam e boy appeared to

h im and said “Madh ava,long have I waited for

you ,for you tru ly love me . Dig me up from

yonder forest,I was th rown into a tank there by

a piou s Brahm in wh o wan ted to save me from

the Mah omedan invader . I n t im e the tank

was fi l led u p and in the depth of the jungle

below the upper layers of earth I am hidden

1 "aiaa acacaiawifa a? micaaia

stats Grim e carsat at? tartan? n

ca? as airsaiacaaMai a

saiva eta ai ifii fiacaaiaia i

Th e Ch ai tanya. Char i tam rta., Madhya. Kh anda , Chap . I V.

21 1 CHAI TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

You tru ly love away . I am in great pain owing111 0 .

to cold and heat and forest - fire .

Ye t know me to be the Lord of th is shrine .

Madh ava woke and a strange emotion fi l led

h is m ind. W i th tears in h is eyes be re lated the

sto ry to the v i l lagers next morn ing . They cu t

the j ungle and dug the earth and a large and

beau tifu l image of Krsna was recovered from

there to the great j oy of al l wh o h ad assembled .

Th e discovery ofThis image was brou ght down to

Eh

: fi li

a

m age of the vil lage with great pomp .

pThe j oyou s mu sic

,both vocal and

instrumen tal,we lcomed the deity and people

made rich offerings to h im . The women began

to sing and dance . The festivi ty was a u ni qu e

one in the annals of that local ity,for the people

believed that the Lord of the vi l lage had com e .

They bathed the image in the sacred waters of

the shrines and anoin ted i t wi th scen ted oil .

By applying shel l- powder and su lphu r they

restored it to i ts brigh t colou r and then pu rified

it by P afioha Gaog/a or the five h oly things of

the cow. Madh avendra brou ght two Bramhans

from Bengal for the worship of the deity .

Another legend says that Madh ava dream tone n igh t that GOpala,

the name by which this

image ofKrsna was cal led , again appeared to

h im and asked h im to bring from O rissa the

sweet - scented sandal wood to be fou nd there

for h is adornmen t . The ascet ic came to a place

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216 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

The doors were shu t and dedicat ing the meal to

God,the priest wen t ou t of the temple for some

time as u sual . He cam e back and distr ibu ted the

m eal,first offered to the god

,am ong the worship

pers. This was what u sual ly happened,bu t when

the priest took h is afternoon nap, GOpI natha

appeared to h im i n a dream and said,

“I have kept

pieces of the lustre t ied in my ou te r robes for

Madh ava wh o is one of my tru est worshippers.

Go and seek h im from the town and offer h im the

food .

” The priest ran to the temple and was

su rprised to find pieces of condensed m ilk tied in

the edge of the robe of GOpi nath a. I n a voice that

trembled with emotion , the priest cal ledMadh avaby h is name and ran throu gh the streets of

Remu na,til l h e met the venerable asce tic

,u nder

a tree in the ou tskirts of the town . The story

was re lated to h im andMadh ava wi th tears in

h is eyes tou ched the sacred food and was trans

ported with j oy . Gopi nath a stole the food for

h is worshipper and hence he got the name of

KsZra - O/zom or “the thief of condensed

m i lk .

” By th e time the report h ad spread of

th is wonderfu l event and people began to gather

to see the div ine asce tic . Bu t he,knowing that

fame was to be avoided by an ascetic above al l

th ings as i t brings pride and desi re fo r the

world ’

s esteem,

fled away in the latter part of

the n ight to avoid m en and wom en seeking

h im . Says Chai tanya Ch ari tamrta here th e

CHAI TANY A’s PED I GREE . 217

people fol lowed and traced h im even to Pu ri .

For God gives fam e to a good man wh o does not

seek i t . Madh avendra l ived at Pu ri in qu ie t

concealmen t,in order to avoid fame . Bu t fame

brou ght h im ou t in to the l ight .” 1

Su ch are some of the legends that are asso

ciatedwi th the name ofMadh avendra Pu r i . They

serve to establ ish beyond al l dou bt the piety and

spiritual fervou r of the leader of theMaddh i sectof the age . For supernatu ral tales are told by the

popu lace of Ind ia abou t those m en on ly whose

piety of l ife and devotion are u nqu est ionable .

XX V Th e p edigree of Ch ai tanya and

W e have m entioned that Chaitanya in h is

early l ife was indebted to I cvara Pu r i and

Advaita for h is fi rst impu lses towards the

spiritual l ife . I have briefly described h is asso

ciations wi th I cvara Pu ri . I have also men

tioned on p . 32 that Cach i,Chai tanya’

s mother ,made Advaita accou n tab l e for the spiritu al

tenden cies of both her sons,leading them

even tu al ly to sever their hom e - ties permanen tly .

I cvara Pu ri , Advaita and Keeava Bharat‘

i'

are

the three spiritu al masters to whom Chaitanya

owed h is connec tion with the Maddh i sect . If a

name is to be added,we shou ld m en tion that of

Cri vasa. Chai tanya’

s ear ly edu cat ion was com

pl eted at the fol of Gangadasa Pandit of

V idyanagara in Nadiya.

1 Ch ai tanya Ch ar i tam rta, Madhya Kh anda, Ch ap . I v.

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218 CHAITANYA AND H I S COMPAN IONS.

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220 CHAI TANYA AND m s COMPAN I ONS .

I n th e m on th of Magha (January) 1 406 Caka

(1485 A .D . ) Cach i Dev i conceived , and was

del ivered of the child Chai tanya after 1 3mon ths,

in Ph al gu na"1 8th February ) 1 407 Caka (1 1 86

A.D .)

XX 7 I —The tour of Chai tanya i n E astern

B enga l .

The standard works on Chai tanya’

s l ife have

very briefly al luded to h is tou r in Eastern Bengal ;the ChaitanyaBhagavata m en tions that Chai tanya

v isi ted some vi llages on th e banks of the Padma.

He was abou t 22 years old at the tim e , and h ad

wr it ten a comm en tary on a Sanskrit grammar

which was read in som e of the tols of Eastern

Bengal . He h ad the titl e of V idyasagara and

was al ready a schol ar of some renown in one of

the most importan t cen tres of Sanskri t learn ing

in India vi z : Nadiya. Bu t no body h ad an tici

pated h is fu tu re greatness as one of the forem ost

of Ind ia’s rel igiou s teachers,

so th e places he

v isited in h is early you th were not carefu l ly

n oted down by any of h is con temporaries. He

himse lf avoided fam e of al l kind and wou ld not

encou rage any one wh o wished to write h is

biography,indu l ging i n the in te rval between h is

trances, in talkson spiri tual matte rs on ly,so that

there was no opportu n i ty for gain ing in forma

tion as to the in ciden ts of h is early life ou tside

Nadiya. WVe beg to add by way of a l ittle

I N EASTERN BE NGAL . 221

digression that i t was h is hab i t to con ceal h is great

emotions so far i t was possible from ou tsiders.

W e find in the Chaitanya Ch ari tamrta the line“ if any ou tsider was there , he tried to col lect

himself so far as possible,

” This also was the

reason why in the m idst of the pu bl ic he on ly

sang the praises of the Lord , bu t wi th in the

smal l circle of h is intimate friends he indu lged

in the j oys of swee t emotion, wh ile discu ssing

the m inu te q uestions of spiritual ecstasy .

” 1

The h istorical accoun t of h is tou r in Eastern

Bengal h as, owing t o causes m ent ioned above,

remained incomplete The Prema V i lasa in

i ts last two and a hal f can tos wh ich have beenlately discovered m en tions som e of the placeshe visi ted

,bu t we do not know h ow far the

accou n t is au then tic . The Prema V i lasa is

certainly one of the most tru sted h istorical works

of the Vaisnavas in the l oth and the earl ier part

of the 1 7th cen tu ry . Bu t i t was u p til l lately

Th e 1m 2% known to con tain 20 can tos on ly .

fizfiifl gsaf’f th e

The last two and a half can tos,

recently added,con tain matters which shou ld be

approached with cau tion . W hether these sup

pl ementary chapters formed a part of th e origi

nal work is doubtfu l . Bu t this does not al together

prove th e un tru stworth in ess of th e accoun ts

given in them . Some of these are certain ly

1new 71C? W fi’i -Wi ’fli fl l

was? aw 2m aw-aafi ean

222 C HA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

we ll - establ ished histor ical facts andwh oever may

have been the ir au thor,there is no dou bt that they

were col lec ted wi th considerable trou ble and

possess u ndoubted rel iabil ity. Bu t there are

others wh ich are open to doubt and obj ection .

Chai tanya’

s tou r in Eastern Bengal i s a su bj ect

which we mayplace u nder the l atter head . The

reason of ou r dou bt is that as Chai tanya’

svisit to

a place wou ld u ndou btedly g iv e i t great san ctity,

the people of a particu lar local i ty may be

in te rested in enhancing i ts importan ce by pro

ducing forged records. Bu t at the same time

there is no posi tive proof to show that the two

and a hal f Chapte rs, referred to, were not a

portion of the original work . W hether they be

so or no,we find i t our du ty to m en tion ou r

doubts on th is poin t . I wi l l now indicate the

places wh ich Chaitanya is said to have v isited

in cou rse of h is tou r in Eastern Bengal .

I t is recorded that Chaitanya visi ted Sylhet .

W e wi l l credit th is accou n t ; for h is grandfather

Upendra Migra and h is u n cles stil l l ived at

DhakaDaksin in that distric t . There is no reason

to dou bt that one of the obj ects of h is tou ring

Far idpu r andin Eastern Bengal was presum

Su varnagl‘ flm fl . ab ly to visi t the members of h is

own fam i ly in their original seat in Sylhet .

He is said to have fi rst gone to Faridpu r .

As a confirmation of this statemen t,we may

men tion that there is a local t rad ition at

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2241 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

took Sannyasa and met Chai tanya at Benaresand latterly became distingu ished as Svarupa

Damodara.

From the v i l lage Bhitadia Chai tanya cam e

to Dhaka Daksin (or Badaganga according to

some ) where h is grandfather st i l l l ived . He

met the elders of h is fam i ly and he is said to

have rel ished a jack fru i t which

h is grandmothe r Kamalavati

offered h im . It is also said that he made a

transcription of the Sanskri t work Chand i for

h is grand father ’s u se du rin g h is short stay

there .

Dakh a Daksi n

AYX VI I . Ch ai tanya’

s tokens.

The Kan tha (a cotton robe of coarse qual i ty )which Chaitanya wore is stil l preserved in the

temple of Pu r i . The piou s pilgrims often

br ibed the Pandas for so mu ch as

a few th reads or a l itt le cotton

from the sacred robe , ti l l after these fou r hu ndred

years,we find it now redu ced to a mere shred a

few inches in size . Chai tanya got h is head

shaven at the time of h is Sannyasa at Katwa and

there is a smal l b rick m emorial where h is hai r

was bu ried . I t is cal led the Keea Samadhi or

the bu rial place of the sacred hai r . The place

where he sat for shaving h is

head is also marked wi th a brick

Th e Kan tha.

Th e Kega Samadh i .

pavemen t at Katwa.

CHA ITANYA’S To'

k ENs. 225

Madh ava Mi cra,an inhabitan t of Beleti in

the dist ri ct of Dacca, was the fath er of the

celebrated Gadadh ara whom we h ave al ready

noticed . Gadadhara received h is edu cation at

Nad iya and was a fel low - scholar and a great

friend of Chai tanya. Once u pon a tim e

Chaitanya cal led on h is friend and fou nd h im

copying th e G i ta. Chaitanya

took the pen from h im and

Copied a couplet . The MS . of the G i ta i n

Gadadh ara’

s hand - writing bearing the transcript

of a couplet by Chai tanya passed from the

Th e G i ta.

former ’s hands to those of Nayanananda

Micra,

nephew of Gadadh ara and a son of

Ban i nath a, Gadadh ara’

s elder brother . Naya

nananda in later tim es settled in the v i llage

of Bharatpu r in th e distric t of Mu rshidabad ,and the historic copy of th e G i ta i s sti l l wor

shipped in the temple of Gop i nath a there . I n one

of the late exhibi tions held in Cal cu tta in con

nection with the National Congress,the Sah i tya

Barisat made an exhibit of a facsim ile of the

memorable page which con tains the cou plet

copied by Chai tanya. I n the latest rev ised

edition of th e Vanga Sah i tya V isayaka Prastava

by Ramgati Nyayaratna, this facsim i le h as been

reprodu ced .

I t h as already been stated on p . 1 16 th at

Chai tanya gave an ear with which

he u sed to row h is smal l p leasu reTh e oar .

220 euArrANYA AND n I s COMPAN I ONS .

boat on the Ganges and a Gna, copied by h im

sel f,to Gau ridasa Sarkel . This he did abou t th e

year 1 51 0,when he crossed the

Ganges,ply ing the boat himself

,

from near a vil lage nam ed Harinad i and came to

Ambika (Kalua) in orde r to m eet Gau ridasa.

An image of Chaitanya made immediate ly af ter

this even t in N im wood by the order of Gau r idasa,

and believed to be a superior specimen of the

scu lptor ’s art of that time,and an exact l ikeness

of i ts m odel,is sti l l worshipped in the temple

founded by Gau r idasa at Ambika. There the

Gri ta and the ear were p reserved and probably

ex ist to this day. They were posit ively th ere in

1700 A.D . when the Bh akti ratnakara waswrit ten .

The au thor wri tes :

The ear and the copy of the G i ta given by

the Lord are sti ll seen by the fortu nate pi l grims

near the Lord ’

s image (at Ambika)”

Ch ai tanva after h is Sannyasa paid a visit to

Th e G i ta.

Baranagar,fou r m i les to the n orth

of Cal cu tta,and met Raghu

natha wh o afterwards translated the Bhagavata

in to Bengal i and becam e known by h is t itle of‘Bhagavatacharya

’

. The h harl am or the sandals

u sed by Chai tanya are sti l l p reserved i n Raghu

nath a’

s Pat (place of worship) at Baranagar .

The sandals have decayed in the cou rse of these

fou r hundred years, and very l ittle new remains

of them .

Th e Sandal s

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228 CHA I TANYA AND H I S ComPAN I ONs.

topograph y of Nad iya as detailed by Narah ari in

h is Bh aktiratnakara in th e 1 7th cen tu ry is not

iden tical wi th that of th e present Nadiya. Th e

iden tificati ons may be assai led from a pu rely

geographical poin t of v iew,bu t the cou rtyard of

gri vasa and other sacred spots are sti l l poin ted

ou t to thou sands of pilgrims wh o accept the

accoun t of the Pandas w ith p iou s bel ief and

never trouble them selves as re gards the

val id ity of thei r accoun ts. The place where

Chaitanya was born at Navadvi pa,l ike Cr i vasa

’

s

cou rtyard , was ce rtain ly su bm erged . I t i s now

iden t ified wi th a part of th e town,cal led

Mayapu r . This place h ad been cal led Miyapu r

(the seat of Moh amedans) ; bu t the Bhaktas

gave it a Hindu nam e in order to keep u p i ts

san ctity . If the place poin ted ou t be real ly the

home of Chai tanya,i t is here that h is five

big lovely straw - roofed hu ts stood facing th e

Ganges, as described by Govindadasa in h is

Kadcha.

The images of Ch aitanya in N im wood made

Th e images of du ring h is l ife tim e or shortlyCh ai tanva af ter

,are to be seen in the

fol lowing places

1 . The celebrated image at Nadiya (now en

shrined in a beau tifu l temple ) , made by the

orde r of Visnupriya Dev i , wi fe of Chaitanya,and

worshipped by her after h is Sannyasa .

CHAI TANYA’

s TOKENS . 229

2. The one made by Gadadh ara, du ring the

life time of the Master,th is is now worshipped

in a temple at Katwa n ear the K ega- samadh i

,

standing at the junction of the Ganges and the

Damodara.

3. The image of Chai tanya made by Gau ri

dasa Pandit of Ambika (Kalna) . This h as been

al ready referred to . It was made abou t the

year 1 510 A .D .

4 . Pratapa Rudra, the Kin g of O rissa,h ad

an image of Chai tanya made imm ediately after

he passed away and made extensive gran ts of

lands to the temple dedicated to the image at

Pratapapu ra .

5. Abou t the year 1600 Narottama,son of

Raja Krisnananda Datta of Ksetu rl in the dis

trict of Rajshahi,h ad an image of Chai tanya

made which is probably Worshipped there even

now. The image was cal led Gau ra Raya and

was stolen away , immediately after i t was du ly

installed in the Ksetu ri temple,bu t was subse

qu en tly recovered in a strange manner . The

accoun t is to be fo und in th e Prema - vi lasa,and

we shal l have occasion to refer to it in my lectu res as Reader to the Un iversity .

6. Chaitanya’

s images made i n th e latte r

part of the l 6th and i n' the beginn ing of the

1 7th centu ry are to be found al l over O rissa and

Bengal . One of these made in N im wood i s

230 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

worshipped in the hou se of Man iehand Gosvam i

at the S im la S treet,Calcu tta. Th e original

seat of th is image was at Khadda, a few m i les to

th e n orth of Cal cu tta .

I n the old temples of Govindaj i and Madana

mohana,there are images of Chai tanya wh ich

were p robably establ ished there towards th e

end of the l 6th cen tu ry . W e make no men tion

of the more recen t images as they are i nnumer

able . There is no impor tan t v il lage in Orissa

where Chai tanya’

s image is not to be fou nd .

On the wooden boards mean t as covers of old

Vaisnava works, presen ted to u s in the form of

manu scripts written in the l 6th and early 17th

cen tu ries,are frequ en tly to be fou nd pictu res of

Chaitanya and h is compan ions,pain ted in

lacqu er . One of these h as been reprodu ced by

m e in my Typical Selections from old Bengal i

Literatu re publ ished by the Un i versi ty,and is

to be fou nd fac ing p . 1 1 46.

Raja Pratapa Ru dra is said to have a pictu re

of Chaitanya drawn du r ing the l ifetim e of the

Master . This pictu re wasmade sometime between

1 51 2- 1 533 and is said to have been carried

to Nadiya by Cr i vasa. From h is descendan ts,

i t passed to the fam ily of Raja Nandakumara of

East India Company - fam e and is preserved by

them at their cou n try seat of Ku fi jaghata in

Mu rshidabad , A facsim i l e of th is celebrated

pictu re forms the fron tispiece of myHistory

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232 C HA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

passion for the vision which was eve r - gloriousto h im . On th e Gaduda S tambha there i s a

mark showing the particu lar spot where

Chaitanya’

s elbow h ad rested for hou rs together

every day d u ring h is eighteen years of stay

at Pu r i . I n the spot now kn own as Cri vasa’

s

cou rtyard at Nadiya,th ere i s a considerable

number of clay images of Chai tanya i l lustrat ing

the inciden ts of h is l ife . These were made

nearly 200 years ago and are su rely specimens

of art of Krsnanagar potters.

I QE'

VI I L Ch a i tanya’

s tour i n Sou th ern I ndia .

The brief n otices of Chaitanya’

s tou r in

Sou the rn Ind ia that we find in the Chai tanya

Ch ari tamrta and Chaitanya Bhagavata are

neither complete nor re l iable . The Chaitanya

Bhagavata was wri tten in the year 1 573 and

Chaitanya Ch ari tam rta in 1 581 A .D . Bu t

Chaitanya tou red i n the Deccan du r ing 1 509

1 51 1 . A considerable time h ad thu s elapsed

before these accoun ts were written . We have

al ready men tioned that Chai tanya h imself

wou ld by no m eans en cou rage anyone to take

notes on any inc iden ts of h is l ife . W e shal l

afterwards prove that the story of Kala

Krsnadasa’

s accompanyin g h im to the Deccan is

total ly u n trustworthy . Govinda Dasa alone h ad

accompan ied h im and he took down m inu te

notes of what he saw. Bu t he assu res us that

CHAITANYA ’S TOUR IN SOUTHERN INDIA . 2 33

he d id so very private ly ,1 for su re ly the Master

wou ld have resen ted it if i t h ad been known to

h im . Govinda therefore cou ld not give pu blic ity

to these notes. He found no opportun ity of

doing so. For throu ghou t the rest of h is l ife

he was wi th Chai tanya n ight and day, and he

cou ld not possib ly take a step which wou ld

offend h im .

I n,

the subsequ en t times Vrndavana becam e

the ch ief seat of Vaisnava l earn ing . The six

Gosvam i s—Ragh unath a Dasa, Ragh unath a

Bhatta,Rfipa, Sanatana,

J i va and Gopala

Bhatta were the fountain - heads from whom

flowed al l Vaisnava theology ; the canons

laid down in them governed Bengal and Orissa.

No book that was not approved by these masters

was accepted as a standard work on Vaisnavism .

H ence Vrndavana Dasa’

s Chaitanya Bhagavata,written at Demu r in the District of Bu rdwan

,

was first su bm itted to the Gosvam i s of Vrnda

vana wh o approved of it and then i t was recog

n ised as an au th oritative work . Chaitanya

Ch ari tamrta was written in Vrndavana itself

u nder the direct teachings of the Gosvam i s

Books wr itten ou tside Vrndavana or wi thou t

Why th e Radch athe sanct ion of the six Gosvam i s

is

spgianl

yyro

dgfsgg cou ld not possess the same pre

g§ i$gpjasox

'th odox cedenee . And Govinda Dasa whowrote the n otes h ad an other very

W WW tW WED ai tsfi'fifi

”Gomnda

’

s Kadcha.

2341 CHAITANYA AN D u s COMPAN I ONS .

strong reason to h ide th e work from popu lar

notice . H is Kadcha contains a brief account,

of himself he men tions in it the names of h is

parents and of h is wife , wh o first appears as a

shrew and then an ideal of chaste womanhood .

He m en tions some inciden ts of h is own domestic

l ife which are in teresting . W e find in them

that when he passed by Kanchana- nagara, as a

compan ion of Chaitanya in the year 1 509, h is

wi fe and h is relations made a vigorous attempt

to bring h im back to worldly l ife . The appeal

was so s trong that even Chaitanya h ad to

change h is m ind , and in response to the pathetic

requ ests of Govinda’

s wife , desisted from giving

her spiritual advice (su ch as on the valu e of resignation to the Lord ’s wil l and depending on H im

alone 850 ) with which he h ad commenced, and

expressed h is resolve to leave Govinda at h is home

at Kafieh annagara. Govinda h ad to stru ggle hard

to ex tricate himself from h isfam i ly - bonds in order

to accompany the Master . Under these circum

stances i t was bu t natu ral that he wou ld try to

remain i ncogni to as far as possible on h is retu rn

to Pu r i . To Chai tanya he was devoted as a

faithfu l dog is to h is master W e find that

when he was asked bv Chai tanya to go to

Cantipu ra from Pu r i with a lette r to Advaita

he bu rst into tears. It was on ly a few daysabsence from the serv ice of h is Master that he

thou ght i t hard to bear . He writes .

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236 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPANIONS .

no caste - prej udices,

and we cannot there

fore cred it the story that he took Govinda to

h is service simply because th e latte r h ad to a

certain extent redeemed h imself from the blame

Th e wrimr of th eof humble birth throu gh serv ing

5x33: 8212t“c

I cvara Pu r i for a time The

C h ai tanya ‘

onco. mysteriou s si lence of al l biogravm da

’

are iden t ical .pli ers as to where he was born

and the fam ily to which he belonged,on ly proves

the fact that Govinda h ad obv iou s reason for

avoiding the difficu l ties of facing strong appeals

from h is wi fe and re lations,and preferred to l ive

i ncogni to at Pu r i . We find that Govinda was

at Nadiya on ly for a few days—i t maynot be for

more than a mon th . The Kadcha states that he

came to Chai tanya’

s hou se in the year 1 509,and

wi thin a short time of th is Chai tanya l eft h ome

as a Sannyasi . He travelled with Ch ai tanya for

two years and seven mon ths in the Deccan and

then when h e retu rned, ,i t was not l ikely that th e

people of Nadiyawou ld , du ring their occasional

v isi ts to Pu r i , recognise h im amongst thou sands

of Chaitanya’

s adm ire rs,if Gov inda real ly wan ted

to avoid recognit ion ,as we believe , he did . The

tale of hav ing served I evara Pu ri mayhave been

invented by h im in order to avoid recogn i t ion .

At any rate i t seems possible that he h ad good

reasons to coun tenan ce the story whoever might

have fabricated it .

The serv ices offered to Chaitanya by Govinda

Karmakara and by Govinda of the P ur i - temple

CHA I TANYA’

s TOUR IN so‘

uTnERN I ND I A . 237

are of su ch sim i lar natu re that we may take i t

as an other reason for be liev ing that the personswere not real ly two

,bu t iden t ical .

J ayananda,wh o was a con temporary of

Chaitanya,m en t ions in h is Chai tanya Mangala

that a man named Govinda Karmakar aecom

pan ied Chai tanya in the Deccan . I n a p ada by

Va‘

larama Dasa,a poet of the 16th centu ry

,we

find i t ment i on ed that Gov inda accompan i ed the

master in h is tou r in Sou thern India.

l

I n Ch aitanva Bhagavata too,we find i t

men tioned that one Govinda was a compan ion of

Chai tanya at Nad iya, thou gh in a work written

63 years after th e even ts described , we may not

expect ,th e chronology of even ts to be always

faithfu l ly observed .

I ‘ have tried to explain whyGovinda Dasa’

s

Kadcha, of wh ich twoMSS.

— one over 200 years

old, and an oth er a l ittle less,

—were discovered

by the venerable J aygopala Gosvam i of Cantipu rabou t 25 years ago, did not gain th e same

amoun t of pu blici ty as th e other standard bio

graphies of Chaitanya did . The Kadcha of

Govinda Dasa,con tain references to certain actions

on the part of Chaitanya which the later

Vaisnavas wou ld not l ike to preach . Chai tanya

was not an orthodox Vaisnava. The line we pay

ou r homage to Krsna alone , bu t do not blame

1 See Gour Pada Tarangin i edi ted by Jagat Bandh u Bh adra.

238 CHAITANYA AND H I s COMPAN I ONS .

other de it ies, nor bow to them”1 became the

canon of th e later Vaisnavas. The worship of

Kal i was to them a hideou s pract ice . The

inciden t related in the Chai tanya Ch ari tamrta

abou t the articl es of Kal i worship be ing thrownat the gateway of Cri vasa,

was be l ieved to be

su ch a grave offence that the Brahmana Gopalawh o did it is said to have been affl icted with

leprosy for i t . We find, however , in th e Kadch a

that Chaitanyawasaffected by ecstasies and tran

ces before every temple . The devotional fervou r

that he showed in the temple of Astabh u ja (Kal i)was remarkable . To Chaitanya’

s eyes,which

saw the c lear V ision of God everywhere,nothing

was there in the world which cou ld not inspire

h im with devotion . A tree , a leaf , a r iver and

the sea al l raised h im to mystic trances, serv ing

as a rem inder and a token of h is Beloved,

and he was deeply affected by any temple

which men h ad erected for the pu rpose of

worship . The sectarian Vaisnava of later

t imes wou ld not care to emphasise these l ittle

incidents i n Chaitanya’

s l i fe and hence they did

not give publ ic ity to the Kadcha of Govinda

Dasa, which inspi te of th e ind ifference by which

it was treated by the Vaisnavas and by the au thor

himsel f,is a noble work on Chaitanya . Tru e

,i t

does not record any learned discu ssions of

Chai tanya with h is opponents. Govinda was not.

atwas"

as can arm: was I

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21 0 CHAITANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

i n Caka (1 509 He cam e fi rst to

Katwa. and there h e heard of Chaitanya. He

fe l t an arden t desire to see the Maste r wh o was

on ly 23 years O ld at the tim e . For the whole

dayGov inda Dasa trave lled across the corn - fie l ds

and crossing the Ganges, th e n ext morn ing,

arrived at the landing Ghat called the Miera’

s

Ghat at Nadiya. On the right ran the smal l

river Bagdevi . The cou rtyard of Cri vasa was

very close to the Migra’

s Ghat and near i t was a

large tank cal led the Bal lalasagara. On one side

of i t lay the ru ins of the palace Of that king .

Govinda took h is seat at the Ghat, where he

saw Chai tanya for the first time . The latter with

h is compan ions,among whom was the venerable

Advai ta,wi th beard and hair al l hoary with age,

h ad come to bathe there . Gov inda was charmed

at see i ng the Master . He became a wi ll ing

servan t in Chai tanya’

s house where he saw Cach iDev i “ Of short statu re and a qu ie t temperamen t”

and Visnupriya“a coy girl j u st r isen to woman

hood,always busy in serving the Lord .

” Govinda

new s tamina cats «wt

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stash atom i s sai l arms lats! starsawstarfish i s t

as? itswe ! sat camas? as Itfies 1157

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cam: fastarm“ «fans at? 1

W attsas as fats at? st? HKa ti e/u? by Govi nda Dasa.

OHA I TANYA’

S TOUR IN SOUTHERN INDIA 241

describes Chai tanya’

s hou se as consisting of five

large and beau tifu l straw- roofed hu ts on the

bank of the Ganges. He m en tions the names of

the followers of Chaitanya and describes the ir

great sorrowat h is proposed Sannyasa. Towards

the end of the n ight of the last date of Pausa

(January) 1 431 Caka, (1 51 0 A .D .) Chaitanya

accompan ied by Govinda wen t to Katwa where

h is followers also wen t on the following day.

On the way, at Kanchannagar , Govinda’

s wife

Cacimukh i met h im and tried to win h im back

to th e sweets of domestic l ife . Chaitanya cou ld

not resist her pathetic appeal and ordered h isservant to give up the idea of going wi th h im .

Govinda,however , managed to run away from

h is wife and relations and rej oined Chai tanya

some m i les fu rther on . Chai tanya’

s preaching

C h ai tanya trave l sat Katwa and h is in i tiation as

to Puri Sannyasi u nder the direction of

Kegava Bharat i are described with great force .

A barber named Deva shaved Chaitanya’

s head

on the occasion u nder a B el tree . The tradi

tional name given to a barber, wh o shaves

one at the time of h is Sannyasa, is‘Madhu ’

and

i t is no wonder that Deva is cal led ‘Madhu ’

by som e of the Chai tanya’

s biographers. I n the

song of Gopichand written in the 1 1 th centu ry

we find the barber wh o shaved the monarch

at the time of h is Sannyasa cal led Madhu .

From Katwa Chaitanya came to Cantipu rawhere . h is mother came to meet h im . Chai tanya

EE

242 CHA I TANYA AND II I s COMPAN I ONS .

Ch ari tamrta says that the Master v isited Can tipu ra on h is retu rn from Pu ri . There is therefore

a sl ight d ifference between two versions of the

accoun t of h is v isit to Cantipu r . Govinda was an

actual eye -witness, hence we c redit h is accoun t .

Crossing the Damodara, Chai tanya came to the

house of a respectable man named Kagi M igra.

Thence travel ling towards the sou th he cam e to

Haj ipu r and next to Midnapu r,where a rich

man named Kecava Saman ta abu sed h im as

u nworthy of being a Sannyasi at su ch a tender

age . Next Chaitanya v isited Nayangarh and

performed h is worship before the image of

C iva there , cal led Dh al eewara. Many ascetics

gathered rou nd h im as he fell in to one of h is

trances at the sight of the temple,and they

became h is arden t adm irers. Here also two r ich

men named Bi regwara Sen and Bh awan i gankara

Sen paid a v isit to h im . Bh awan igankara

was a very r ich man . H is Officers rode horses

and elephan ts and followed in h is train .

Bh awan i gankara was seated in a gold palankeen

On a large tusker attended by fou r orderl ies

each wi th a large si lver staff in h is h and .

m fi wfi afi l

as canvas es areacam nmm fi m m ww l

ace at? sti nt fimfi h

W awww fi m i

se a-

s catwacam was"was stats w tfifisafirflau

waswas an Erastem nGovinda

’

s Kadacha.

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244 CHAITANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

I have beheld H im—yea, the Lord of th e

Un iverse is before me . He embraced al l whom

he met and pointed heavenward,bu t in h is

deep j oy he cou ld find no words. Inside the

temple of Pu r i he swooned away,

and the

great scholar Sarvabh auma carried h im un

A t p ur i t m hconscious to h is house . He was

1510 A .D~ at Pur i for three mon ths ti l l

the end Of march,1 51 0 A .D . I n Apri l he

started for sou thern India accompan i ed by

Gov inda Dasa and a Brahm in named Krsna

Dasa. Krsna Dasa was ordered to go back

after he h ad travel led a few days,

so that

Govinda al one accompan ied h im .

Leav ing Pu r i he cam e to Alalanath a, and

met Ramananda Rav,the Prime Min iste r of

Raja Pratapa Rudra,

on the banks of the

Godavari . From the latter place

Chaitanya came to Trimanda

where he h ad a pu blic discussion with th e Bud

dh ist monks,the Baja Of Trimanda serving / as

the med iator . Ramagiri,th e leader of th e

monks, acknowledged h is defeatConversion of

Ramagir i ,th e l eader and a large number of the(“h e Buddh l sm'

Bu ddhists became converts to

Vaisnavism . The next place he visited was

Tungabh adrawhere Dhundi Rama Ti rth a, a proud

scholar of extensive learn ing , came to hold a dis

I n Sou th ern I ndia.

cu ssion with Chai tanya . Chai tanya said h e wou ld

not indu lge in con troversy of any sort . But th e

CHAITANYA ’S TOUR I N SOUTHERN I ND I A . 245

sigh t of h is ecstasies charmed Dhundi and hum i

l iated h is pride, and he became a stau nch admi rer

of Chai tanya. After h is conversion Dhu ndi Rama

took the Vaisnava name of H aridasa. Chaitanya

n ext came to a place nam ed Siddh avategwara

N th , Rama andwhere a rich young man named

th e m"barIOtS Ti rth a Rama came with two

cou rtezans Satya Bai and Laksm i Bai to tempt

the young ascet ic and try h is moral Strength .

Chaitanya here fel l again in to one of those

trances which no one h as described so v ividly

as Govinda Dasa, and the sight of which acted

wi th overwhelm ing force on h is you thfu l

tempter . Ti rth a Rama took the ascetic ’s‘

vow

leaving h is vast properties to h is wi fe Kamala

Kumari . The inciden t of this remarkable change

h as been very graphical ly described in the

Kadch a. Chai tanya was at Vatecwara for seven

days and from there marched throu gh a deep

forest“

which extended over 20 m i les. Crossing

the forest he cam e to a vil lage named Munna

i n the even ing . He sat under a tree at the

ou tskirts of the v illage,and the people there

cam e together in hun dreds, attracted by the

a rdou r of h is fai th . He sang and danced and

passed into h is u sual tran ces which kepto

th‘

e

people of Munna transfixed to the spot, so long

as he remained . He begged of

el o

c

iiizét

igga

en biid them clothes for a poor Ol dwomanwoman at Munna.

Whoh ad Stood begging help from

246 CHAITANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

h im . Ramagir i , the Bu ddhistmonk ,waswi th h im

u p to th is time . From Mu nna the Master came

to Benkat. Here he h ad a discussion on rel igion

wi th a great Sannyasi and sch olar named Rama

nanda. The latter also became a convert to the

Vaisnava fai th . Chai tanya was at Benkata for

three days. He n ext v isi ted the wood of Bagu la

which was the resort of a robber chief—a B h i l

named Pan tha Bhil . There is a graphic descript ion of h ow the B h i l and h is fellow- robbers tu rned

Vaisnavas throu gh th e influ enceTh e reformat i on

of th e robber of Chaitanya, giv ing up theirCh iet flpanth a'

ev il cal l ing . Leav ing Bagu la h e

wandered l ike a mad man wi thou t tasting any

food, and weep ing for the j oy of commun ion

wi th Krsna for three days and n igh ts. Du ring

th is time h e spoke to no one, and tears flowed

from h is eyes incessantly . He next v isi ted

Giricwara where there was a large Vela tree

near a temple of C iva. A part icu lar k ind of

del ic ious food named pareia is m en tioned by

Govinda here . Chaitanya met a Sannyasi

at this place wh o d id not speak wi th anyon e .

Gov inda Dasa says that Chai tanya and the

Sannyasi communed wi th each other in a mys

terious manner . The next place he visited was

Tripadi where he converted a Ram i te Sannyasi

named Math u ranath a. From Tripadi he came

V isit to different to a place named Panna NaraSh ’ines'

singha. The h igh priest of the

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248 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

Here a Brahm in h ad come to assau l t h im ,taking

h im for a false ascetic . The people wan ted

to treat h im severely bu t this Chai tanya

preven ted . Chaitanya thence came to Tan j ore,

fou rteen m i les from Nagore . He was shown the

sacred spots, with which the city abounded,by a

Brahmin named Dh al ecwara. There was a large

tank in the cen tre of the ci ty cal led Ku n tikarna

parawh ich stru ck Ch aitanya as very wonderfu l .

Close by was the hi l l Ch andal u in which there

were many Goomphas (caves) inhabited by asce

tics and monks. Here a man named Bhatta

charmed with the dev otion of Chai tanya inv ited

h im to h is hou se . H ere he also met Su recwara,

the leader of the ascetics, in a pleasan t spot,su rrounded by avenu es Of trees

, and passed

some days in h is company . The place was

within th e j u risdiction of the king J ayasingh

wh o h ad exempted al l ascetics from paying any

tax . Chai tanya next came to Padmakota where

he v isited the temple of Astabh u ja Chand i .

The female pilgrims wept to see Chai tanya’

s

emotions and ecstasies there and a bl ind Ol d

man was so m uch excited that he fel l dead at

h is feet . From Padmakota Chaitanya came to

Tripatra where he visi ted the image of givacal led Ch andecwara. The old priest Bh arga

deva,wh o h ad al ready heard th at

a young Sannyasi of wonderfu l

devotion to God was tou ring in the country,

Bh argadeva.

CHAITANYA ’

S TOUR I N SOUTHERN I ND I A . 249

longed to have a sight of h im . Lean and ragged

as Chaitanya was, the beau ty of h is person was

sti l l considerable , h is eyes which overflowed with

tears at the mere m en tion of Krsna’

s name h adan i rresistible charm and on seeing h im the Ol dpriest Bh arga fel l at h is feet saying , I t is for

you ,mysaviou r

,that I have wai ted al l my l ife .

Blessed am I that I see you to - day Chaitanya

said that he was a very humble man of smal l

m erit . But adm iration for h im was already at

i ts height in the local ity , and thou sands Of peopl e

cam e to see h im . O ften we find h im forgetfu l

of the world wandering abou t the fields absorbed

in mystic v ision,while chi ldren th rew du st

at h im ,saying ,

“ Look,there goes one mad after

God .

” Leaving Tri patra he cam e to a forest

which requ ired fi fteen days to cross and he did

so in company with pilgrims and ascetics

Govinda was, of cou rse , h is constan t attendan t .

Chaitanya cam e next to (fri B angam and visi ted

the temple of Narasinha Deva. Here he

fell in to ecstasies of j oy and charmed, amongst

others,a verypiou s Brahm in named Yudh isth ira

wh o followed h im for som e m i les when h e left

Cri Rangam . Chaitanya came from the latter

place to B isava Hills where he m et a piou s and

learned ascetic named Paramananda Pu ri . He next

cam e to Ramanath a and then ce to Ramecwara

where he v isited the ce lebrated temple of C iva.

W e find in the accounts of Gov inda Dasa, that

FF

250 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

people of the neighbou ring places gave h im the

name Of Hari bola,”

as h e cried Hari bOl

dayand n igh t and wept . The word Hari bola

is a pu rely Bengal i word , at least i t is not cu rren t

in anyof the sou thern dialects. Cu r iou sly,h ow

ever,we find in the temple of Ramecwara an old

statu e of one known as Hari bola.

” It is qu i te

probable that th is is a statu e Of Chaitanya. The

Q‘

i vai tes (l id not l ike the religion of emotion that

he preached,hence they w ere not very favou rably

d isposed towards h im . The legend cu rren t in

the local i ty is that this ‘Har i bola’

was an asm'a .

I n Bengal also one Of the (faiva tanfm s h as

cal led Chai tanya an incarnation of Tripu rasu ra .

A learned Sannyasi in the Ptamegwara temple

challenged Chai tanya to a discussion and yielded

l ike many others to th e great fascination of h is

inspired spee ch and devotion . Chaitanya stayed

at Rameewara for three days and at Maddh ivana

he met a Yogi —an Ol d and venerable l ooking

man—wh o seated on a rock,merged in commu

n ion wi th God,ate n othing for days togeth er

nor opened h is mou th . Chaitanya stood wi th

j oined hands solic it ing the favou r and blessingsof the sage ; whereu pon he opened h is mou th

for th e first time after long years and greeted

Chai tanyawith th e myste riou swords Chomboni

Q'

ngfir i .

” The other ascetics present there fe ll atChai tanya

’

s fee t in great adm iration as their

venerable sen ior had spoken to h im as h e h ad

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252 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

sen t a man invi ting h im to h is palace . Chai tanya

refused to go there . W hereu pon

13131i‘

gi the k ing himself came to h im

apologiz ing for hav ing made the

request . Rudrapati was deeply versed in the

Bhagavata l i teratu re and fou nd i n Chai tanya a

man ifestation of th ese signs of devotion wh i ch

made a man adored as a God The king shed

tears in deep spiritual j oy and Chai tanya

embraced h im saying “He wh o sheds tears. at

the name of God is dearer to m e than l ife .

”

Chaitanya stayed there a fortn ight and

saw the Rama-

giri h i lls on which stood the

temple of Rama and S i ta. Then ce he proceeded

to Payosn i where he v isited the

833331

5;c 0 th“ temple of C iva Narayana. Here

he met and defeated a scholar

wh o believed in the tene ts of Cankara . He

was in the temple of S ingari at the time . Chai

tanya next wen t to Matsati rth a and next to

Cachara where there was a temple of Du rga.

From th is place he marched towards the bank of

the river Bhadra which branches off from the

Krsna. From th is place he proceeded to Naga

panch apadi where h e stayed for th ree days.

Thence crossing the Tungabh adra he came to the

h il l cal led the Kotgi ri from where fl ows the

river Kaveri . Chaitanya proceeded from here

towards the sou th leaving on the lef t the hi l l

Satyagiri which l ooked l ike a blu e pain ting on

CHAITANYA’S TOUR I N SOUTH ERN I ND I A 253

the horizon . He came next to Chandipu r . I t

was here that the ce lebrated ascetic and scholar

Igwara Bharati chal lenged h im to a con troversy

bu t afterwards ackn owledged Chaitanya to be

h is superior in every respect . SO arden t ly did be

long for Chai tanya’

s company

that the lat ter wi th di"cu l ty

dissuaded h im f rom h is resolve to accompany

h im throughou t the rest of h is tou r . Bharati

however wen t with Chaitanya for many m i les

ti l l he cou ld be persuaded to re tu rn . Leav ing

h im Chaitanya pen etrated in to the depth of hilly

lands where he wandered for two days unable to

find h is wayou t of th e forest . At one place

rows of Kadamva tre es m et h is eyes and he

was mad with j oy owing to the associations of

the sacred tree with Krsna.

“There goes my

flu te - singer Krsna he cried and

in ecstasy ran after the v ision that

he saw,with tears in h is eyes

,and Govinda

knew not h ow to bring h is frenz ied Master to h is

senses. Emerging at last from the forest they

came to a smal l v il lage where a poor Brahmana

was stru ck with h is appearance and asked h im

to be h is guest The Brahmana said “It maybe

that I see in thee my Krsna in the fl esh , else

whydoes a flash of lightn ing seem to emanate

from you r person For the whole n ight Chai

tanya sang the praises of Krsna i n the smal l

cou rtyard of the Brahmana’

s house where the

I gwara Bh arat i

Fu rth er Sou th

254 CHAITANYA A ND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

l i t tle v illage h ad gathered to wi tness th e beau ty

Of h is em otions and ecstasies. A fterwards th ey

said “This l it tle cou rtyard is sacred to u s today as

Vrndavana.

” From this l it tle vi l lage Chaitanya

came to a place called Kandara commanding

the view of the beau tifu l N i lagir i (l it . th e blue

hil ls) . Gov inda gives here a very eloqu en t

description of th is hill . I n the m orn in g

Chaitanya came to the ci ty of Gu rjara . The city

was a flou rishing one at the time . He re

Arj u na,a learned Pundit . again tou ched on

controversial theological topics,bu t Chai tanya’

s

m ind was elsewhere withou t l isten ing to

h im he yei lded to h is ‘divine frenzy ’

. He cried

aloud “Oh Krsna,oh myLord

”

and tears flowed

from h is eyesand a halo was seen round h is head .

W ith songs and speech fu ll of

devot ional fervou r,h e became the

centre Ofa charmed mu l ti tude . The Marh attas

were taken by su rprise at h is wonderfu l display

of devotion — the women wiping away their

tears wi th their draperies as they heard h im

speak i n h is ecstasy of spiritual j oy .

1 Som e

TO Gurjara .

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p

256 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

l ooked down in to i t wi th a look fu l l of love,and

when th e B rahm in repe ated h is j est . Chai tanya

sudden ly j umped into th e lake and becam e nu

consciou s. Many people at on ce wen t to h is

help,and p u l led h im ou t Of th e water where

he wou ld have been drowned,bu t for their

t imely assistance . They censu red the sceptical

B rahmana strongly,bu t Chaitanya regain ing

consciou sness,

said gen t l v.

“Wh y do you cen

su re h im,friends

,i t is tru e that the Lord is

everywhere,

in the land and wate r al ike .

Blessed is he for he saw H im there and I a

beggar of H is m ercy that I am,sou ght H im in

vain ”and as he said th is

,he wept in deep em o

tion . At Poona he heard from a Brahmana

nam ed Tannu th at there was a

temple of C iva cal led Bi l l ecwaranear Gou rgh at at the city of Patas. At the

foot of the temple a fai r was hel d annu al ly .

And Chai tanya visi ted C iva and the fai r wh ich

was being held at the time and proceeded thence

to D eval egwara. A t som e d istance from the

latter place lay the c i ty of Jej ur i . Khandava

was the god of the temple there and paren ts u sed

to offer their dau ghte rs to that deity . These

daughters cal led themselves ‘

w ives of Khandava’

At Poona .

tnd led u nholy l ives and th e pilgrims were often

en ticed bv these wretched women ,known in

th e local ity as the ‘Mu raris.

’

Th e Mu rar l s

Chai tanya,when he saw th em ,

fe l t

CHAI TANYA’S TOUR I N SOUTH ERN IND IA . 25?

a deep compassion for them and said'to Gov indaH ow cru el are the parents of these girls

,

Govinda ? How have they the heart to ofi er their

own ch i ldren to Khandava to l ead vicious l ives ? ”

He went to the Mu raris himself,though

Govinda did not l ike h is going there .

1 Th e most

conspicu ous among the Mu raris , was Indira

Dev i , and as Chaitanya held a sweet discou rse

fu l l of spiritual fe rvou r wi th the unfortu nate

women,they fel t a th ri l l of repen tance and an

arden t desire to reform themselves. Ind i ra

Dev i particu larly was great ly moved . Sh e

even tual ly left the c ity as an an choress.

Chaitanya next v isited the Choranandi forest

where dwelt the Brahmana robber Naroj i—ah old

man of sixty. He met Chai tanya when he was

i n one of h is t rances, which su ggested to the

bewi ldered eyes of the wicked Brahmana, the

beau ty of heaven itse lf . The old robber

th row away h is weapons, deserted h is band’

and

fol lowed Chaitanya as an ascetic . Govinda Basa’

s

description of the chan ge that came over Naropis a viv id one . The ex robber - chief u ndertook

1 ”

Govinda wan ted to avoid th ese women ou t of. moral con si dera

tions. B u t Ch ai tanya, “th e sav iou r of th e fal len”

(“Pat ita Pavana

”

)was ever swayed by compassmn and h ad h at red for none . Th e mora lcau t ion ,

su ggested by G w inda i n th e fol lowing words of h i s, sh ows

h ow ardent h e was to keep th e repu tat ion of Sannyé s’

s vow un spotted1 11 th e eyes of th e peop le

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258 CHAI TANYA AND ms COMPAN I ON S .

to show Chai tanya al l th e shrines on that side

Conversion ofof the cou ntry

,saying to h im

t h e w bbor wi th tears of repentance that

every spot there was made

fam i liar to h im by the exigenc ies of h is vicious

cal l ing .

From the depth of the Ch oranandi forest

Chaitanya emerged accompan ied by Govinda

and Narop and proceeded towards Khandala,

a vil lage on th e river Mu la. Th e people of

Kh andala were so h e spitabl e th at th ey q uarrelled

among them selves ov er th eir rival c laims of

entertain ing their gu est “I saw h im first”

one of them wou ld say, when anothe r gave h im

the lie and often the quarre l,

th at ensu ed,

resu lted in a hand to han d figh t .

1 Chaitanya

stood qu ie t and wou ld not go to anyone’

s h ou se ,thou gh so many were eager to have h im . A

r ich man offered h im fine clothes

and a good meal . Chaitanya

said “These two m en wi th me h ave got alms

given by some poor peop l e . So I do not need

you r presents. The whole world wi th al l i ts

glories wi l l pass away like a dream and you

Kh andala

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260 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

H im . This“

is th e myste ry'

of spi ritual love .

A t th is time a Brahmana cam e there with the

offering of a goat for a sacrifice to the goddess.

Chaitanya’

s teachings made h im al ter h is m ind

and he set th e goat at l ibe rty . From Su rath a

Chaitanya cam e to the bank of the river Tapti ,where he v isi ted th e temple of the god Vani ana.

The city of Bharoch (Breach ) on the Narbada h ad

a sacred al tar famou s for cen tu ries and Chaitanya

v isited it . Next h e came to Baroda. There

was a temple of Dakarj i to th e east of th e to“n ,

to which Chaitanya paid a flying visi t and th en

cam e to the town proper . The Raja of Baroda

is described as a piou s prin ce wh o paid h is

respects to Chai tanya . Here Naroj i'

got fever

and died . And Govinda begged

alms for bu rying the dead .

Chaitanya sang the praises of th e Lord ever th e

grave of the deceased for the whole n ight . From

Baroda Chai tanya wen t in a western direction

and crossed the Mahanad i and reached Ah amada

bad. The town was a very flou rishing one bu t

Chai tanya did not go to any on e’

s hou se thou gh

many wished to en tertain h im . He stayed near a

pu bl ic garden named Nandin i . An asceti c wh o

was deeply read in the Bhagavata real ised

At Baroda.

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CHA I 'I ‘ANYA’

S TOUR I N SOUTHERN I ND I A . 261

Chai tanya’

s pu r ity and told th e people of th e

town that he was a remarkable man . Many

came to see h im and Govinda Dasa says that he

cou ld not u nderstand their speech .

“As the Master

however had picked u p differen t dialects in the

cou rse of h is tou r he talked with them . I cou ld

C rosses Qubhmon ly gather facts from the Master.

m “ and reach es Bu t th is I did not dare to do often .

Dwaraka.

I took my notes privately

from what I learn t in th is way.

” 1 Chaitanya

addressed the mu l titude wh o h ad assembled at

Ahmedabad to receive instru ctions from h im

and thence proceeded further west reach ing the

river Subh ramati wh ich he crossed and arrived

at Dwaraka. Here they met two Bengal i

pi lg rims—Govinda and Ramach arana of Ku l in

g ram Vasu fam i ly . They were great adm irers

of th e Master,

and Gov inda Dasa wri tes '

“Meeting Bengal is after a long tim e,my heart

fe lt a thr il l of delight .” 2 The fou r cam e to a

v illage named Ghogawhere l ived the celebrated

cou rti z an named Baramukh i . Her beau ty was.

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262 cHArrANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

great and the wealth sh e h ad accumu lated was

immense . A viv id and in te resting desc ription

is given of her adopting the vow of asce tic ism

u nder the influence of Ch ai tanva . She bestowed

al l her weal th on her maid servan t Mi ra, and

thenceforth fol lowed the piou s l ife of a Vaisnavi .

Nabhaj i , the au thor of the Hindu Bh aktamala,

describes the career of Baramukh i, bu t as

Chaitanya’

s stay was short h is name was not

remembered i n the local i ty in later t imes.

Nabh aj i says that by the influ ence of a great

Sadhu her l ife was changed . It is from Gov inda

Dasa that we learn the manner in which her

li fe was so changed and that i t was Chaitanya

himself wh o conve rted her . Here also a

sceptical and wicked Brahmana named Balaj i ,wh o h ad at first abused Chai tanya and tried to

assau l t h im ,afterwards becam e one of h is most

humble adm ire rs. From Ghoga Chaitan ya

started for J affarabad which he reached in th ree

days. From the latte r place i t took Chaitanya

six davs to com e to Somanath a The ru i n ed

temples and the remnants ofs0“ t

i ts ancien t splendou r fi ll ed Chai

tanya with grief and he gave free expression to

h is feelings,when sudden lv a Sannyasi

,wh o

looked l ike the god Civa h imself , cam e and l i fted

h is h ands to b l ess Ch aitanva . The lat ter ran to

m eet h im . Bu t he said a word or two to

Chai tanya,wh ich Gov inda cou ld not u nderstand ,

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261 CHA I TANYA AND m s COMPAN I ONS .

Here a pecu l iar fru it of th e Kenny species

is described bv Govinda as be ing of a very swee t

and del ic iou s taste . Chai tanya wi th h is fou r

Compan ions and a number Of Sannyasiswandered

in the depth of th e forest for seven days, after

wh ich they arr ived at Gopi tala in Amaravat i

which local trad ition identified as the anc ien t

shrin e of the Prabhasa . Chai tanyaPrabh asa . gave an address to the people of

Amaravati wi th tears in h is eyes, asking them

to love God with thei r whole sou l . They

responded and sang the praises Of God bu t said“You sir you look l ike the god

Amm vat l '

you speak of .” A t Amaravat i

h e was for three days and reached Dwaraka on

the l st of Aswin ,1 432 Caka (September 1 51 1

A .

D. ) The town commanded the v iew of the sea

from one side and from the other the pictu resqu e

scenery of the Raivataka hill , and Chaitanya

saw i n these and i n the temple of Dwarakadh i ea

th e v ision of h is Krsna and was mad with

j oy for a fortn igh t . The people said “W e n ever

saw a Sannyasi like this young man . H is

presence i s heaven to us. Chaitanya was at

Dwaraka for two weeks and retu rned to Barada

on the last day of Aswi n (Oc tober ,

Afte r leav i ng Barada,the party travel led for 16

days and

reached th e banks of the river Narbada.

Here Bh arga Deva took leave of Chai t

anya with

many words expressive of h is high regards for

CHAI TANYA ’

S TOUR IN SOUTH ERN INDIA . 265

h im ; Bharga said “ I take you to be Krsna

hi mself.” Chai tanya gave h im a look Of censu re

and requ ested h im not to saysu ch profane things

again . Bharga wanted to kn ow from the

Master h ow fai th in God cou ld be attained .

jChai tanya said “ I t is H is grace alone that can

bring un to the sou l of man f aith in God

Neither learn ing nor reason ing can do th is.

The next day Chai tanya and h is compan ionsreached the banks of the Narbada

,and thence

Doh ada on th ecame to the city of Doh ada.

of th e Nar Here a Vasya m il l ionaire h ad -a

temple of Krsna . The man

dream t that Krsna himself appeared to h im

and to ld h im that He was presen t in the town

as‘

a young Sannyasi . The m erchan t was

su rprized to find in Chaitanya the same

Sannyasi whom he h ad seen in h is dream,and

he Offered h is tribu te Of worship to Chaitanya.

SO deep was the impression i n h is m ind that

he gave up'

h is vast property and tu rned a

Sannyasi . For two davs the fou r travel led in

a j ungle withou t tastmg any food and Govinda

Dasa wr ites “W e felt th e pangs of hu nger, bu t

Chaitanya was as cheerfu l as ever ” They

reached a p lace nam ed Am jh ora next , and

Chaitanya said , notic ing th e dej ected spirit Of

h is h al ff starved compan ions “W h en the Lord

will bring u s meal , we Shal l eat .

”

To the

v il lage Govinda wen t and got two seers of flou r

E H

266 CHAITANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

as alms. Chai tanya prepared 16 pieces of

Ch a lmum mmbread with h is own hands,

h i s sh are bf bread bu t an old woman came W i thto an O l d woman

a ch ild and begged someth ing

to eat . Chaitanya gladly gave her h is own

share . I n the n ight Govinda brough t some

fru its which he ate . Next day he visi ted the

Laksmankunda and then reached a v il lage

named Mandu ra on th e V indh va h i lls. Here

in the cave of the m ou n tain there sat a vener

able Sannyasi wi th beard and hai r al l kn otted

and gray,nai ls grown big and bo dy emaciated

by fasting and au steri ties. H is presence was

A strange Samimposing

,he h ad a brigh t fair

nyasi ' colou r and he was en tire ly naked .

Chaitanya with j o ined hands stood before h im,

and the revered sain t spoke one or two words

to h im and sm i led . Govinda cou ld not under

stand what he said . They proceeded in their

j ou rney and Govinda said “ On ou r right laythe Narbada and on the left the V indhya hills ;at the foot Of the hil l was the ci ty of Mandu ra.

After three days the travel lers reached Deoghar .

Th e cu re of aHere a Vaisya named Adinara

“Pom Deoglm'a yana,

affl icted wi th leprosy , cam e

to Chai tanya and implored h im for some cu re .

Chai tanya,fu ll of compassion

,gave h im some

th ing to eat from the m eal he h ad offered to

God . This,i t is said

,cu red h im . Adinarayana

tu rned a Sannyasi . Thirty m i les from Deoghar

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268 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

l ocal i ty . From Vramara Chaitanya came to

the town of Dasapala where there was a temple

of Ku rma—th e Great Tortoise .

The image was i n a we l l cal led

the Rasala Ku nda. Chai tanya stayed here th ree

days. A Marwari Brahmana l iving in the town

was hostile to the Vaisnavas. A you thfu l son

of this Brahm in cam e to Chai tanya and com

p lained to h im that h is father was a sworn

Dasapal a

foe to al l rel ig ion . He begged Chaitanya to

reform h im if i t was at al l possible . Hard ly

h ad he fin ished saying so,wh en the infu riated

father came wi th a st ick 111 h is hand and

threatened to beat Chai tanya with i t for having

tu rned th e head of h is only son . Chaitanya said“Here am I completely in vo ur hands

,beat me

as m u ch as you l ike , bu t sing the praises of the

Lord ; that is the pr ice you wi l l have to payfor

beating me ,my f riend .

”And as Chaitanya

said this, the v ision of Krsna came to h im and

he was u nconsciou s of the external world . He

lay l ike a pain ted pictu re fixing h is gaze

heavenward , tears fal l ing from h is eyes. The

Brahmana was awe - stru ck and soon after became

a Vaisnava convert . From Dasapal a,Chaitanya

with h is three compan ions came to th e bank of

the riv er Risi ku lya. He staved here for th ree

davs and when he came near A lalanatha,al l h is

compan ions of B engal and Orissa,wh o were

wretched du ring h is absence,formed themse lves

CHA I TANYA’

S TOUR; I N SOUTHERN I ND I A . 269

into a grand procession and marched ‘

from Bur}

Return to Pmto meet “

h imp Th ere w ereand th e great Gad

'

adh ar'

aandMurari,Kh anjana

recept i on .

charya,whothough a lame I nan

ran faster than others‘, Sarbabh auma, th e sch olar,Ramadasa, KrSnadasa

,Haridasa the younger ,

Jagannath a,Daivakinandana, the excel len t singer

Laksmana,Gai i ridasa and hundreds Of' others.

BalaramaDasa sou nded the horn in the procession

and Narah ari he l d the flag“ I t was a su perbsight to see h im again at the house of Kaei

M iera at Pu‘

ri . Sarbabhauma, th e great scholar,

with j oined hands stood before h im and Mu rari

Gu pta, that prince Of physi cians and scholars,knel t down ,

both saying h ow hard and pain'

fu l had been their separation from h im . The

Master h ad not allowed them to accompany

h im and they h ad spen t al l th is time . in

expectation of h is retu rn . King Pratapa

Rudra 3 was there—lcasting aside al l~h is royal

spl endeou r , as a humble sou l in whom a true

spiritual longin g h ad begu n and from whom

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270 CHA I TANYA AND H I s COMPANI ONS .

the last shadow of van i ty h ad been driven ou t .

Govinda Dasa’

s description Of Chai tanya’

s r etu rn

to Pu r i is so graph ic that the reader,while

reading it , feels himself to be,as i t were

,in th e

m idst Of this gathering,paying homage to the

Master with the rest . On the third dayof Magha,

in January , 1 51 1 ,Chai tanya cam e back to Pu r i .

SO h is‘

travel from Fur i and back took h im alto

gether one year eight m onths and twenty - six

days. A few days after h is retu rn Chai tanya sent

Govinda Dasa to Cantipu r with a lette r to

Advai ta. Here the narrative breaks Off sudden ly .

The above i s a mere ou tline and a brief

summary of the elaborate descriptions of

Govinda Dasa . The charm of the work lies in

th e simpl ic ity of i ts descrip tions and a total

absence of exaggeration . It is a plain tale

d ivested of al l supernatu ral elements which

were attribu ted to Chai tanya by the later

biographers.

‘ The beau ty of Chai tanya’

s l i fe is

real ized here in i ts simplest and therefore i n i ts

most impressive form . The on ly su pernatu ral

anecdote to be fou nd here is th e cu re of a l epor

at Deoghar by Ch ai tanva. Bu t the accoun t of

th is inciden t is so unassum ingl y simple that i t

is diffi cu l t to discred it it , com ing as i t does from

an eye -wi tness of u nqu estionable veraci ty .

Chaitanya,as we have seen above , retu rned

to I’urI in February ,

1 51 1 . He remained there

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272 CHA i TANYA AN'I) H I S COMPAN I ONS.

must go al l alone . Madhavendra Pur i wen t therein a true spiri t of devotion su ffering h ardsh ips

which bu t served to fan the flame of h is faith .

And 10 , I am going there l ike a prince with a

retinu e of soldiers and drummers wh obeat drums

{to :proclaim my j ou rney . Oh ,fie u pon me !

”H e

came back to Pu r i and stayed there for fou r

months ti ll the m idd le of 1 516,and then he

requ ested the few friends, to whom he h ad

commu n icated h is in ten t ion to start ou t alone for

Vrndavana,not to speak of h is intended trip to

anyone . They remonstrated wi th h im and u rged

that at least a Brahmana servan t shou ld go w ith

h im to cook h is meals. He add ressed Rama

-nanda and Swarupa and said “ There are so

manv wi ll ing to go , if I take one, others wi l l be

d isappointed . Bu t a Brahmana named Baladeva

Bhattacharya h ad al ready proj ected a tou r to

Vrndavana and when Chaitanya started - for the

place he j oined the Master on the road and

Chaitanya cou ld not get rid of h im . A journev

to u pper India on foot was not safe in th ose days,

Pratapa Rudra,th e k i ng ,

h ad ordered t h at w h erever C ha i tanyawou ld bat h e ,

a p i l lar sh ou ld be ra i sed to mark t h e landi ng ghati s ! firmat? arem arefirm !(6 15 as cardsas scream II

The Ch a i tanya C l im z l fini r tn,Madh ya Kha nda ,

Ch ap ter 162mm m ai mawl? ! 53m1Kw HEB? sfmtfi 13W fi lial? “IIfixer: s tamina af

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a 53m“sits?

fiafe 5311 ! an: mi sts:mm l'

Chat tu nya Char i tamr ta, Madhya Kh anda ,

Ch ap /er 16.

TOUR I N UPPER I ND I A . 273

as there was often fighting between the differen t

S tates mak ing the position of the pil

grims extremely insecu re . Bu t the asceticsh ad l i ttle risk of being molested

, as they weremerely beggars, and Chai tanya, when he started

S tarts pr i vate lydepended on God ’

s me rcy alone .

He left Pu r i du ring the n ightand i t was kept so secret that in the morn ing

people assembled in hundreds as usual to paytheir respects to h im and were not told where

Chai tanya h ad gone ti l l a long time after .Chaitanya did not fol low the main roads lest

people shou ld track h im ou t and j oin h im .

Leaving Cu ttack on the right he travelled

throu gh the forest path of Jhar i Khanda,which

was a part of Chotanagpu r .

The descrip tion which the ChaitanyaCh ari tamrta gives of this tou r is very inade

Bal adeva’

s quate . Baladeva Bhattacharya,descr iption not

adequate . Ch al tanya s compan l on ,ev i den t ly

took no notes of it . And what he reported to

others was ev iden tly in cou rse of t ime greatly

distorted . The names of the places visited were

general ly forgo tten,wh ilst the marvel lou s and

legendary stories gathered round each l ittle inci

den t which,when recoun ted bystory - tellers, made

a deeper impression on the copntry peopl e than

historical facts. This accoun ts for the su per

natu ral elemen ts that have occasional ly en tered

into the descriptions of Krsnad'

asa Kaviraja, who,I I

274i CHA I TANYA AND HI S COMPAN I ONS .

thou gh himself a tru thfu l narrator of th ose facts

wh ich he personal ly observed,being an orthodox

Vaisnava ,too often al lowed credu l i tv to ge t the

bette r of h is j u dgmen t . Krsna Dasa se ts down

in al l ser iou sness, for instance , su ch pu eril i ties as

the accoun t of a tiger wh o u tters th e nam e of

Krsna,being inspired by Chai tanya . I t shou ld

,

however,be said that in th e first hand

accoun ts abou t Chai tanya that Krsnadasa

obtained from Ru pa,Sanatana,

Ragh u nath a,

Lokanath a and Gopala Bhat ta,h is records are

characterised bv the v ividness of l iving h istory .

I n the m inu teness and patien t indu stry with

wh ich the theological topics are treated and th e

various importan t inciden ts of Chai tanya’

s l ife

are narrated,Chaitanya Ch ari tamrta stands as

a monumen tal exam ple amon g the b i ograph ical

works of that age .

Reverting to Chai tanya’

s tou r,i t i s said

,that

du ring h is wanderings in th e forests of Chota

nagpu r he was mu ch pleased wi th Baladeva

Acharya’s modesty and earnest desi re for the

spiritual l i fe . Chaitanya is said to have made

this reflection on th e occasion .

“ W hen with

the in tent ion of going to V rndavana,I left P u ri

five mon ths ago and came to Bengal I was over

j oyed to see the sacred banks of th e Ganges

again and to behold my beloved mother . Bu t

there was su ch a large crowd wh o persisted in

their resolve to accompany me that I h ad to leave

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276 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

eyes constan tly pou r forth tears Of love which

l ook hol y as th e Ganges. One feels as thou gh

cleansed of one ’s sins as one sees h is tears and

h ears h im speak . He weeps in ecstasy Of j oy

and he certain ly h as a high vision . S uch an

impression h as this Sannyasi produ ced on me

that I take h im to be an incarnation of Krsna

h imself .” TO which Prakacananda,the hau ghty

leader Of th e scholars of Benares,replied wi th a

smi le of derision :

Y es, we have also heard that from Gau r

congfigjcgp

a

gflg’

i

s h as come a young Sannyasi oftanya. strange manners. He is a disciple

of Kecava Bharati and an emotional man . Bysome mysterious power in h im he draws men

to h im and even su ch a scholar, as Vasudeva

Sarbabh auma, h as tu rned mad and is now

one of h is stau nch advocates. Probably thisSannyasi knows som e black art . Bu t is i t

credible that su ch an impostor wi l l h e

accepted by the people of Benares ? It

is impossible . Leave the mad man alone and

stay here qu ie tly and read the Upanishadas.

1

efi swarm 353 attaa n

facet 3°? t”

at? was 6151? u

aware chu m HW IW l

cams61331We cats? amass utwat an: etac twaamet I

cm are“. am am am camswimaat? e tacm! (a? firmat? we365 cvtaafiat cacm ca carer u

TOUR I N UPPER I NDI A . 277

We know that when Chaitanya visited the

holy city of Benares on h is way back from

Vrndavana, he converted the haughty leader of

the Sannyasis—Prakacananda. The abuser

became an worshipper Of the mad you ng inan

and wrote many hymns in Sanskrit in h is praise .

The Brahmana scholar was very sad at th e

abuse showered u pon Chaitanya by Prakac'

a

nanda. Chaitanya understood h ow deeply the

Scholar ’s feel ings were wou nded , and said “ I

came to sel l a l ittle of the emotional sweetness

with which mysou l is ch arged to the people of

Benares. Bu t there is no pu rchaser here . The

bu rden of my emotion oppresses me and fain

wou ld I sell i t toyou at whatever smal l price you

wou ld Offer” .

1 And the m erchan t wh o came to

trade w i th h is sweet stock Of emotion left

Benares that t ime , on ly to retu rn some years

afte r with the royal m onopoly which made h im

the master of trade in th e spiritual commerce of

Benares.

The Marh atta Brahmana followed h im and the

three came to Prayaga(A l lah abad) .T Al l h bad0 a a

H l s tou r along th e banks of th e

ch aste catim arti stswriters I

am attaatfistsmmsitsm u

as caratWmW Marm actvta I

as sa sfi i afitamtfi fl fifl u

Th e Ch ai tanya Ch ari tamrta, Madhya Kh anda, Ch ap . 17.

278 OH AI TANPA AND . H I S COMPAN I ONS .

J umna'was characterised byconstan t ecstasies of

devotion at th e sight of th e river , which recal led

at every tu rn h is vision of Krsna . He j umped

into the river seve ral t imes fren z ied wi th l ove,

and was saved from drown ing by Baladeva

Bhatt-acharya . He stayed at A l lahabad for

three days and then came to Mu ttra,where he

first v isited the Bigrama Ti rth a . Here did he

meet a Brahmana wh o l ike h im was a seer of

sigh ts not vou chsafed to ordinary

m ortal ’s eyes,

and Chaitanya

marve l led to see h is love - ecstasies. This Brah

mana belonged to the Sonoria sect—one whose

social status was very low am ong the Brahmanas.

Bu t Chaitanya took alms from h im,thou gh th e

Brahmana obj ected saying that bv doing so th e

Master m igh t be degraded in popu lar estimgl

To Mu ttra.

tion . The latte r however h ad no hesitation in

tou ching the du st trodden by a cobbler’s fee t.

i fi

h e fo und h im to be god - fearing and fai thfu l .

SO Ch aitanya did not attach any importance to

social con siderations.

Bu t he wonderingly asked the Brahmana as to

h ow he real ised su ch love for God . The Brahmana

said that he was a disciple of Madh avendra P11 11 ,

W ai stf

ess-

rs «21W

efi ZsscamHE‘S? afi state I

aal t‘

fi maNata W I 337s II

smarts at faa tca e ta (i ts s tat Icarts em W aI ari aeraamIcurs

-

(amcats? an? 53 WamI

9” Th e C h a i tanya Ch ar i tam r ta,Madhya Kh a nda ,

Ch ap 17

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280 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

danger wh en brough t back to i ts own home on

the Gobardhana ; for another rumou r of the

approach Of th e Tu rk ish army made it leave the

cottage andm ove to th e temple of B i th h al eewara

at Mu ttra . W hen Chaitanya was at Vrnda

vana there was al readya strong band of h is

Vaisnava fol lowers there—Rupa, Sanatana,

Bh ugarbh a and oth ers wh o al l stayed with

h im . From Vrndavana Chaitanya wen t to

Mandigwara where there was a temple or cave

i n which th ere were th ree images,vi z : of Jasoda,

Nanda and K rsna . From this place he came to

th e Bh andi r - groves and at Amel i tola m et a

Brahmana named Krsna Dasa and heard from

h im the tale of Krsna’

s appearing every n igh t

in the Jumna on the head Of th e great snake

Kal iya . Chai tanya treated the story with th e

con tempt it deserved . It was afterwards fou nd

that the i l lusion of Krsna and the snake was

created by a fish erni an’

s boat wi th a l igh t i n i t.

1

1 Wh en th e repor t was brough t to C h a i tanya ,be m ere ly laugh ed at

th e fool ish story. H e said absu rd,i t i s a fab le man u factu red by th e

i l l i terate coun try fol k ,” h e adv i sed th e peop le not to turn mad O ver

th e fal se story and w h en actual ly made enq u ir ies, h e fou nd th at a

fish erman W i th h i s boat u sed to catch fi sh every n igh t on t h e ri ve r

w i th a l igh t in t h e boat , and th i s created t h e l i l US l Ol l H ere is th e

or ig i nal passageetacmare arewas arfimt Isetarm] refze nares II

as? can was firmN atasha I

fie an artcat 2 mmasters I

“W aI si c amsafe f ast I

as waswasare amt ari a IIenerg ize

"est cars? are Ettami st I

aimcatswrist asstate era—caI |

TOUR I N UPPER I ND I A . 281

The ecstasies, speeches and spiritual emotions

of Chaitanya attracted the people m ore strongly

than a great poem . For h is wo rds were l ike

psalms,h is songs as marvels of lyricsandh is god

real ization and trances— th e crown ing chapter

of a n oble epic. He appealed i rresi stib ly to al l,

and dai ly hu ndreds of men and women cam e to

i nv i te h im to the ir houses. The g reat concou rse

of people and th eir arden t desi re to in terview

h im at al l hou rs became almost oppressive . And

thou gh Chaitanya,lost in h is own inner j oys

,

heeded not h is su rroundings,Baladevacharya

cou ld not endu re the press of Chaitanya’

s

adm irers, none Of whom wou ld leave th e place

withou t havin g talked wi th h im for some time .

Baladevacharya requ ested Chaitanya to visit

the great mela at A l lahabad which was

then b eing held , and Chai tanya gave h is

ready assen t to h is requ est . Fou r Brahm ins

among whom was Krsnadasa, accompan ied

Chai tanya,and they crossed the Jumna.

Chaitanya was subjected to frequ en t trances,

and on one occasion when he was totally

u nconscious they brou ght h im to the other bank

and waited til l he recovered consciou sness. I t

‘catcavW Weme estates b

'

fiafli

s tem 51W amcatsstfazi t urg tats stataswit asas I

was zpittaas? a i mnewI t”

Ch a i tanya Ch ari tam rta Madhya Kanda—Ch ap . 1 8 .

282 CHA I TAN YA AND H I S ComPAN I ONs.

so happened that ten Pathan horse -men were

going by that road,and seeing

“than h om '

a man lying senseless and five

men su rrounding h im,th eir

natu ral i nference was that th e five men

were robbers,wh o h ad dru gged the sense

less man i a o rder to rob h im . The Pathansbou nd the five Brahm ins, hand and foot

, accusing

them of th iev ing . K i snadasa was,however

,

a daring. fel low . He said that he h ad relationsin the cou rt of the Emperor ; they carried a

great influence ; he h imsel f was the master of

a fortified town guarded by strong caval rv .

He i n h is tu rn ch arged the Turks wi th be ing

robbers,and added that if he sou nded h is pipe

,

hundreds of soldiers wou ld come there presentlyand revenge themselves on the aggressors. The

Tu rks thereu pon u n tied the hands of the fivemen bu t stayed to watch the u nconsciousBrahm in . Chaitanya soon recovered h is sensesand hearing the story as told by the Turks

,

said ,“These five Brahm ins are my com

pan ions. I am subj ect to epileptic fits, and

they have helped rather than hindered me .I

am a canny/(wt and a beggar and I have nothing

to be robbed of .” 1 One Of the Tu rks was a p l r

cansate cangammawe wri st I—9i l§5T7I 0 1t ai mseemI I

exi ts? cwfimt total 25m fasts I

a? as armfire art stats I t

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284 CHAITAN YA AN D m s COMPAN IONS .

fai th,and the u pshotwas that the tenMah omedans

became converts to Vaisnavism and we re knownas the Pathan Vairagi s. Ch ai tanya re tu rn ed to

A l lahabad and thence visited Benares. Here

he met Ru pa and Sanatana who h ad come back

from Mathu ra and discou rsed wi th them on

several poin ts of Vaisnava theology . These

learned discou rses are fu l ly described byKavi karnapura in h is Ch ai tanva Ch androdaya

Nataka.

XXX/17

. Th e Pedigree of Advmltn.

I have al ready given the pedigree of Chai

tanya. I n regard to those of the two other

apostles, Advai ta and Nityananda,

I regret tosay,

that I cannot place the same rel iance on

the genealogical l ists su ppl ied by their descen

dan ts. As they were not Ku l i ns th e names of

the ancestors of the two apostles were not

preserved in anyau then tic work of the glzafa/rs.

The three tables given below each sh owing

the pedigree of Advaita,are qu oted from an

ar tic le by Mr . S tapleton i n the ‘Dacca Review.

’

Two of: these were su pplied h v me from two

differen t sou rces and the remain ing one Mr .

S tapleton obtained from the Gosvam is of Uth u l i

in the District of Dacca,wh o claim to be the

descendan ts of Advaita. I t wi l l be seen that

apart from Narasinh a Narial , the nam es obtained

from the three different places do not coinc ide

and cannot at al l be relied u pon .

su bj ect,have a bearing on the presen t problem .

“Din esh Babu ’

s new su gest ions for the date

of K irttivasa that are made in h is note are

based on the extreme l y perilou s fou ndation of

the tradional genealogies cu rren t in Bengal .

I fear he hardly real ises what u nsound grou nd

this is ; bu t as an indication of the undesira

bi l i ty of referring to these at al l as independen t

historical au thorities I con trast in paralle l

col umns the pedigree of Advai ta given by Dinesh

Babu with (a) the presumably au then tic one

su pplied by the Uth u l i B rahm ins which is said

to be qu oted direct from the Valya- l i la Sutra

and (b) a pedigree lately obtained for me by

Dinesh Babu from the San tipu r descendan ts of

Advaita wh o also claim descen t from the sam e

son of Advai ta—Krsna Micra as the Uth u l i

Goswam i s do.

”

286 CHA I TANYA AN D

PedIgree supplied byDinesh Babu from

an old M. S preserved in

th e “V iswakosa Ofli ce”

also h is I l istory

page

Sudhakara

Sidh ecwara

Tikari

N A ILAS I N HA N AR I AL

Kuvera

Chakravarti Kamal ’akaraalias

ADVA I TACHA l tYA

H I S COMPAN I ON -9 .

Uth nl i (i osvz‘

u ni pedig ree .

Bibhakara

Prabhakara

NARASI N I I A NAR I AL

Kuvera (Tarkapanchanana)

Kamalakanta Ach e—nya

aliasADVA I TACHARYA

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288 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I UNS.

su cceeded in kill ing th e Emperor of Gaudaand occu pying h is th rone by the statesman lv

advice of h is m inister .

”

I n the face of th e discrepanc ies in th e names

above that of the Narial , as fou nd in th e th ree

tables, the re is no other al te rnativ e left to u s

than to rej ect them al l . Mr . S tapleton seems

incl ined to favou r the one su pplied by the Uth u l i

Gosvam i s on the ground that they got i t from

th e Valyal i la Sutra . The claims of the Valyal i laSutra l i t . the inciden ts of childhood— of

Advai ta) by Lau ria Krsna Das to au then tic ity

are however Open to qu estion . Bu t i f we shou ld

give preferen ce to anyof these , i t wou ld be the

one su ppl ied by J ayagopala Gosvami of Can tipu ra . gantipu r was the seat of Advaita himself

,

and h is d irect descendants there are presumably

in possession of al l au then tic records regarding

the genealogy of the fam i lv,if real ly any existed

at the time of Advaita.

Bu t I am not incl ined to credit anyof them

as tru e . The reason I may briefly pu t as fol lows.

The foll owers of Chaitanya did not u su al ly care

to preserve the nam es of their an cestors. They

offered their serv ices to human i ty in the spiri t of

tru e spir itual h um il i ty , and were ashamed of

any distinction wh ich m igh t attach to their

nam es on accoun t of their n oble l ineage . I t is

for this that th e Brahm in Vaisnavas often

el im inated their su rnames and took pride in

THE PED I GREE or ADVAI TA . 289

cal ling themselves “cl ai ms or servan ts- servan ts

of al l , or bette r, servan ts of God every great

poet among them h as su bscribed himself as a

Dasa in the colophon of h is lyrical masterpieces.

I n th e in trodu ction to a theological or

biographical work , th e Vaisnava writers as a

ru le give a prom inen t p lace to the praise of

those whom they revere , and while in this

eu logistic preface they pay their respects to a

number of i l lu striou s Vaisnavas, l iv ing and dead,

they rarely or n ever al lude to the names of their

paren ts. The fact is that the Vaisnava rel i g i on

rather streng thened the ties of spiritual k inship

and was inclined to d im in ish the fam i ly - ties.

I t is for th is reason that Advaita never

cared to refer to h is pedigree . He is said

to have lived to 1 20 years—the fu l l span ofhuman l ife . Whether th is be tru e or not, there

is no dou bt that he lived u p t o a good old age.

W hen ,however, he died , the orthodox Hindu

instincts h ad already revived even amongst

the Vaisnavas. H is descendan ts, however , cou ld

scarcely find any au th en tic record of their

pedigree after the lapse of so many years. They

became Gosvam i s and holding an exal ted posi

tion am ong the Vaisnavas, wan ted to match

the genealogies of the Ku l i n Brahm ins wh o

cou ld name their 33 ancestors or more . This

mayaccou n t for the lon g tableswhich some of

them produ ce new and also for the disagreemen t

KK

290 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

among these obtained f rom di fierent sou rces.

W hile we cannot posi tively assert that none

of these three pedigrees is correct,we cann ot

also cred it anyone of them as accu rate unti l

some o ther documen tary evi dence is produ ced to

support i t .

I agree with Mr . S taple ton that the genoa

logical records su ch as th ose of Advai ta cannot

be accepted as au then t ic . Bu t I can by no

means subscribe to h is sweep ing remark as to the

u nre l iabi l ity of al l anci en t pedigrees as a whole .

While the trustworthiness of records apart f rom

those of Ku l i n fam i l ies may reasonably be

qu estioned , th e pedigrees of the descendan ts of

th e Ku l i ns,so far as th e three u pper classes are

concerned, possess undoubtedly great au then ticity

and maycertain ly be u sed as historical ev iden ce .

The great care with wh ich su ch records are

preserved by a special c lass of men known as the

glmtakas, the high prestige which the Ku l i ns

have always enj oyed in socie ty , the least

infringemen t of the strict ru les in matrimon ial

a“

ai rs leading to the lasting d isgrace of a fam i ly ,the custom of recit ing the pedigrees of the Ku l i n

fami l ies du ring th e marriage festiv ities before a

large audience thoroughly conversan t with th e

genealogical accou nts of Ku l i ns and ready to

assai l anyerrors, however smal l,—these, am ong

other reasons equal ly importan t , invest the

genealogical records of the Ku h n - fami lies wi th

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292 CHA I TANYA AND m s COMPAN I ONS .

Advai ta’

s father Ku vera Pandit.was the cou rt

pandit o f the Raja of Lau ra i n Sylhet . He h ad

married Nava,a dau ghter of Mahananda of the

sam e V i llage . The pair came down and se ttled

at Cantipu r . They h ad six sonsand one dau ghter

wh o h ad d ied in ch ildhood . The six sons were

gri kanth a, Laksmi kanth a,H ari h arananda,

Sada

civa,Ku caladas and K i rti ch andra. They al l

Adm it“ early wen t on a pi l grimage and fou rl i fe of them died in the cou rse of

their j ou rney . Advaita married,in a rather

advan ced age , S i ta and gr i , th e dau ghters of

one Nrsinh a of Narayanpu r near Satgaon .

H is marriage expenses were borne by th e

broth ers H iranya and Gobardh anal of Satgaon .

S i ta. h ad five sons Krsnadas Migra,Gopala, Valarama,

Svarupa and J agadica . Crih ad only one son named gyamadasa known byh is fam i l iar name of Chho ta gyama . Advai ta

was born in the mon th of February in the

year 1 434 A .D .

Om itting the fou r earl iest nam es in Advaita’

s

pedigree which are dispu ted , we su bj oin here

a l ist of h is ancestors and descendan ts abou t

whom no qu estion or doubt is l ikely to arise

Govardh ana D ims was th e fath er of th e ce lebrated Ragh unath a Das.

A L I ST or MYSTI CS . 293

N arasinh a Narial

married Nala'

Devi .

Kuvera Pandit (title Tarkapanchanana) .

married Nava.

Kamalakar al i as Sadaciva (title Advai tach arya) .

married Si ta. and (2M.

taa madas.

l Krsnada'

sa. 2 Gopala. 3 Valarama. 4 Svarupa. 5 J agadica.

THE PEDI GREE OF N I TYANANDA.

Sundaramal la al i as Nakari Bhaduri

(of Ekchaka in Birbh um ) .

Mukunda al i as Horai t a (married Padmavati ) .

1 Ch idananda. 5 Paramananda.

2 Krsnananda. 6Parananda

V i rabhadra.

XXX ] .—A l ist of the Mystics.

The Vaisnavas h ad from pre - historic times

deve loped the mystic longings of the sou l for

commu n ion with God . W hile the Yogis strove

for the sou l ’s conqu est over passi ons and for the

3 Sarvananda.

4 Brahmananda .

(al i as N i tyananda) ,

(born 1477 A .D .)marri ed Vasudha

and Jahnavi ,

291 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

attainment of that state of tranqu i l l ity which

raises a man above the sorrows and pleasu res of

the world,the Vaisnavas went a step beyond ,

and longed for God - real isation . This stage

presupposes the attainmen t of the highest goal

of Buddhism,vi z : perfect e thical developmen t

in man and an extin ction of h is passions and

desi res. The experiences of a mystic are

strange . To h is senses the incomprehensible

becomes recogn izable as clearly as a material

obj ect,and the sou l becomes fu l l of ecstasies of

j oy when the v ision is clear,and of anxious

longings when the v ision fades. This I have

al ready shown by examples from E u rope and

Asia al ike . I give below a l ist of some of the

mystics of Eu rope and Asia wi th their dates.

1

Those wh o wou ld l ike to have a fu l ler accou n t

of them are referred to Mrs. Under Hill’

s

excel len t work .

Ph ilo the mystical A lexandrian

J ew B C . 20 to A .D . 40

S t . Clemen t of A lexandria A .D . 160 - 220 .

Pope Gregory the Great A .D . 540 - 604.

S t . Bernard A .D . 1091 - 1 1 53.

Richard of S t . Victor A .D . 1 1 73.

(Dan te Spoke of this mystic as‘ in con templa

t ion more than

S t . Hildegarde A .D . 1 098 - 1 179.

1 I h ave not i ncluded anyname of th e I ndian sadh as i n th e sub

j oined l ist .

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296 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

Jam i A .D . 1 41 4 - 1 492.

Dan te A .D . 1 265- 1 321 .

Meister Eckhart A .D . 1 260 - 1 329.

John Tan l er A .D . 1 300 - 1 361 .

Blessed Hen ry Suso A .D . 1 300 - 1 365.

Margare t Ebner A .D . 1 291 - 1 351 .

Ru lman Merswin A .D . 1 31 0 - 1 382.

W i l l iam Blake A .D . 1757- 1 829.

I n India su ch names are endless. E very

tru e Sadhu is a mystic and these men care

n othing for self- gl orificat ion or even for con tact

with ordinary men . They associate wi th the

chosen few wh o are al ready prepared to receive

the tru ths of a higher plane from them .

‘

Amongst theVaisnavas, not to speak ofNarada,(;ukadeva and others who h ad direct messages

from the higher spiri tual world in pre - historic

ages,we come across a host of others wh o have

shown in their l ives a man ifestation of supreme

bliss du e to god - real isation in comparatively

modern times. W e find in the Vaisnava work

of Prapasu Mri ta the detai ls of ecstasies of de

votion shown by Kanch i Purna—a Cudra disc iple

Some of th ese Sadh u s betake th emse lves to th e forest and l ive as

recluses oth ers work i n th e fie ld of th e h uman wor ld bu t an I nd an

Sadh u even wh i le pract i sing Yoga ,se l f - cu ltu re and devotion in a lone ly

place, sh ou ld not be considered as cu t ofi from th e wor ld and th erefore

of no use t 0 1t . Th e cocoan u t tree grows far ah ead of oth er trees,beyond th e reach of m en

,and in th e sky i ts treasu re of fru i t h angs

w h ere Ordi nary m en can scarce ly cl imb u p to secu re i t,th e Sadh u

works i n th e same wayfor th e world Th e ch osen few are al lowed to

approach h im and th ey bri ng th e fru i t of th e Sadh u ’

s sp ir i tual l abourfor th e service of th e h uman i ty, even as th e expert cl imber alonereach es th e top of th e cocoanu t tree to get th e fru i ts for h is fe l low

A L I ST or THE MYSTI C S . 297

of Jamunach arya. Kanch i Purna l ived abou t

the year 1 034 A .D . in the temple of Barada Ray

(Krsna) . There h is j oys and trances, which al l

belonged to a higher plane , attracted the great

Th e mystics wh oRamanu ja Svam i , wh o was in

Bhiiciilzo

iiiiint

iiidm Spired by them and himself exh iSPeCiaHY in Bengal ' bited the mystic longings Shortly

after i n a far higher degree . S o far as maybe

gathered from the accou n ts found in Bengal i

l i teratu re,the fol lowers of Ramanu ja do not seem

to have h ad mu ch hold u pon th e people of

Bengal . Ramanu ja’

s influ ence was confined

chiefly to sou thern India. He worsh ipped Laksm i

and Narayana, and i t yet remains to be proved

whether the Sen kings of Bengal , wh o come

from the Deccan , were influ enced by the apostle ’s

fol lowers. The images of Vasu deva with which

the temples of Bengal abou nded du ring the reign

of these kings do not apparently con form to anyearl ier local artistic or re l igiou s tradition here .

They seem to have been con ce ived after the

models prevalen t in other parts of India—particu larly the Deccan . I t was to the Maddh i sectthat Bengal owes her great Vaisnava faith , the

cu lm inatin g point of which was reached in the

life of Chaitanya. W e find i n the Bhakti

ratnakar that Visnu Pu r i,a d isciple of Jaya

dharma,the l 0th leader of this sect

,popu larised

the Bhagavata amongst the Bengal is abou t the

m iddle of th e 1 3th centu ry by h is celebrated

LL

298 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

Sanskrit work cal led th e Bh akti ratnaval i . This

seems to be the first impetu s to Vaisnavism that

cam e from the Maddh i order in Bengal . If

Jayadeva was an earl ier poet , he was inspired byth e Canaka sect m ore than any other ; for

i t was N imbadi tya of the latter sec t wh o

promu lgated the Radha- Krsna cu lt,while

Maddhacharya’

s fol lowers worshipped Hari

and Hara. 1 have stated in a foregoing lectu re

that Chai tanya did not tru ly represen t the

creed of Maddhacharya, thou gh he ou tward lybelonged to the sec t . And I th ink the songs

of Radha- Krsna,wi th which the whole air of

Bengal rang in those days,are responsible for

the origin of the m ixed creed which started

wi th Chaitanya and h as Since given to i ts

fol lowers the distinct ive name of Gaudiya

Vaisnavas. The Madh h i sect from whom were

derived the rituals of the Gaudiya Vaisnavas,

contribu ted bu t l i ttle share to the developmen t

of the highest ideal of spiritual love typified in

the Radha- Krsna legend .

I wi l l not weary my readers by attempting

to solve the intricate problem of the origin of

the differen t sects of the Vaisnavas. W e find

that i t was Visnu Pu ri,a discip le of Jaya

dharma, that first paved the way for the

influ ence the Maddhacharya sect was to

have u pon Bengal in the 1 3th cen tu ry . The

Bh aktiratnaval i of Visnu Pu r i was translated

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300 CH A I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

3. Ni tyananda,du ring h is tou r in Sou thern

India,is said to have met Madh avendra Pu r i at

gi r i Parvata and was deeply impressed by h is

ecstasies of love .

4 . Madh ava Micra of Belati i n the districtof Dacca. He was a fe llow studen t of Pundar i ka

and passed many years i n Ch ittagong . He i s,

however,chiefly known as the father of

Gadadhar Micra,one of the constan t associates

of Ch ai tanva at Nadiya.

5 . I cwara Pu r i , the Gu ru wh o in i tiated Ch ai

tanya in to the doctrinal portion of Vaisnavism .

6. Kegava Bharat i a l i as Kal inath Acharya,

wh o m in istered to the rituals of Chaitanya’

s

sauna/(78a .

A l l these men were mu ch older than

Chai tanya,excepting N i tyananda, wh o was older

than Chai tanya by n ine years on ly , and h ad

accepted the doctrines of the Madh avacharyasect long before Chaitanya did so.

These men gathered round Chai tanya and

proclaimed the triumph of the Maddh i sect in

Bengal,thou gh Chai tanya tu rned the views of

th e sect al together in to a new channel recogn is

ing the beau ty and superiority of th e Radha

Krsna cu l t , al readv popu larised by the poems of

J ayadeva,V idyapati and Ch andidasa, in th e

coun try . The new featu res in trodu ced in this

wayhave given to this fai th , original ly derived

from the Deccan ,the stamp of Bengal i gen iu s.

THE SHRI NE or VHNDAVANA . 301

While al l these men and hu ndreds of others

that gathered rou nd Chaitanya were mystics,the Master was as it were the rose in a garden of

flowers. He proved that wi thou t speech , with

ou t self - assertion , withou t v ictories won in

public debates he cou ld i rresist ibly attract

hundreds of sou ls by the beau ty of l ife alone .

Du ring 24 years of h is l ife Chaitanya saw the

v ision o f Krsna and sang and wept over the

u nspeakab le charm of this experience in h is

sou l,

showing altoge ther a new and strange

sou rce of j oy to the mu lt itu de wh o h ad hitherto

fru itlessly knocked at the iron - doors of th e

material istic world i n the ir pu rsu it after

happiness. He fel l in love wi th that A rch - poet

whose creation of fan cy this world is, and h is

l ife”

tu rned to a love lyric to be read as a

commen tary on the Radha- Krsna songs, which

are as plen tifu l in Ben gal as her field- flowers.

XXX I I . The Sh r ine of Vrndavana.

We have not dwelt in these lectu res u pon a

great work that was achieved by Chaitanya’

s

followers on h is in itiative,vi a

,the bringing of

the old Vrndavana to the fore - fron t of I ndian

shrines. Chai tanya h ad on ce addressed the

God of h is love and said , as I have qu oted

elsewhere in cou rse of these lectu res,

“I see Thee

here , and here do I enj oy the happy u n ion which

is ever new to me, yet does Vrndavana charm

302 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

my fancy The preference to V rndavana

which Ch ai tanva indicated in th e above wordswas probably mean t to give to h is followers al ocal ised place of san ctity for the cu l tu re of

fai th . I n consequ ence,al l the spots associated

with the incidents of Krsna’

s l i fe from th e time

he was brou ght to V i ndavana down to h is finaldepartu re , were iden t ified by h is followers and

these tu rned in c ou rse of a few years into sacredshrines.

Vrndavana was, of cou i se,an an cien t Hindu

Shrine . Mathu ra was a great cen tre of Buddhist

activ ity as early as the 2nd cen tu ry B . C .

Mr . Growse,however

,den ies that Vrndavana

was ev er noted as a rep u ted seat of th e

Buddhists. O f late years some images of. th e

Budh h a have been discovered there,proving that

the Buddhists h ad also erected temples at that

place in ancien t times.

Bu t to the Hindus,especial ly the Vaisnavas

,the

place wasa sacred one from times immem orial . I n

comparat ive ly modern times we find Raman uja

paying a visit to Vrndavana in the 1 1 th cen tu ry .

Madhavendra Pu r i , Advaita and N i tyananda h ad

v isited it before Chai tanya did . The place layneglected in the m idst of a deep j ungle . The

en thusiastic recogn i tion of it by Chai tanya, h ow

ever,led to i ts fresh glorification andadvancemen t .

Rupa,Sanatana, Lokanath a, J i va and Raghu

natha spent a great part of thei r l ives in th is

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304 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

Not on ly d id the influence of the Vaisnava

worthies man ifest i tsel f in investing the shrine

with material glories bu t the presence of the

scholars and devotees served to tu rn i t in to a

repu ted cen tre of learn ing which drew scholarsfrom al l parts of Ind ia . I n Vrndavana Sanatana

,

Rupa and their nephew J i va wrote their great

classical works in Sanskrit wh ich wi l l be deal t

with in my l ectu res as Reader to th is

Un iversity . I shal l there treat of the wonderfu l

activities which characterised these Vaisnavas

in Vrndavana, and their achievemen ts in

theology,poetry

,rh etoric and ju risprudence .

Not on ly did the followers of Chaitanya m uster

strong in that ancien t shrine,bu t those wh o

professed the three other c reeds amongst the

Vaisnavas, as al ready enumerated , were inspired

by Chai tanya and h is followers to Show great

activ ities and pre pagate their v iews from this

common cen tre of Vaisnav ism . The fol l owers

of Val labhacharya special ly (cal led the Goku l

Gosains) dwel l at the presen t day in a very con

siderabl e number at Vrndavana. Many temples

of the place belong to this sect . Bu t Vru da

vana of the presen t day wi th her arch itectu ral

glories,her great learn ing and the repu tation

of the unspotted lives of her greatest Vai snava

worth ies is essen tial ly marked by th e infl u en ce

of Bengal . It is Chaitanya and h is followers

wh o have raised this place of an cien t renown

from a neglected, forgotten and almost deserted

condition to the magn ificience of a city and that

of a resort of learn ing and cu ltu re , with assoc ia

tions‘

which are really inspiring to the sou l .The su bj ect deserves a m ore detailed treatmen t

,

which I reserve , as I have al ready stated,for

my lectu res as Un iversity Reader .

XXX ] I I .—Th e Storyof some P retenders.

It is a cu rious fact that some pretenders

du ring Chaitanya’

s l ife - time came to pose

as rel igiou s teachers and declared themselves to

have direct messages from God . They thus tried

to reach the level of Chaitanya in popu lar

estimation . W e have found som e of these men

trying to assert themselves as in carnations of

God chiefly amongst the ru ral people . They

were,as I have stated, al l con temporaries of

Chaitanya and met wi th a general rebuff from

the en l ightened classes.

1 . The fi rst of these men was one Vasudeva,

a Brahm in of the Radha Deca, wh o in inspired

speeches,l istened to by a great mu l titu de

,

dec lared h imself to be no other than Krsna

himself . The Vaisnavas gave h im the n ick

name of giyal a—a fox . If we

take the accou n t of the standard

biographical works of the Vai snavas as tru e,

he was despised by the u pper classes of the

Hindu commun ity .

1

(estersfisfiss starts

catrttsttss: ass umes:

Vasudava.

306 CHA I TANYA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

2. I n Eastern Bengal a man of u ndoubted

powers named V isnu Dasa tr ied to prove that

he was an incarnation of Rama . H is ti tle was

Kavi ndra,th e prince of poets

,bu t they made

,

a pu n on th e word and cal ledKapi n (1rn

h im Kapi ndra—th e prince of

monkeys. He also appealed to th e lower classes,som e of whom bel ieved what he said and became

h is fol lowers. He was a Kayastha by birth .

‘

3. Madh ava2 was the priest in a certain

temple belonging to a Raja. He is said to have

stolen golden ornaments from th e temple and

fled away . Latterly h e settl ed in a place in

Eastern Bengal inh abited mostly by he Goyalas

asafé fisnafist stats?“tats statsasst

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seatswat tfit sxs sfsas l

asst sttvts s e sitsasses II

statass-I cats at scsaststs I

s alts sfssl stva3‘

s fasts II

Th e Prem a V i l fisa .

stsssts fs‘z t csts statsserfsI

amasswastsfits gfssi ts II

cs ts 2mcarcas Office sfa eta I

fi rsts-Its catcsfli st ssfi mrafts II

s tirs? atfit

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s i testcs atestssss ststsss ts I

cstcsI Htfit sp

etsts? sse ststssI

s tarts s tats strs Essagsa II

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308 OH A I I'A NrA AND H I S COMPAN I ONS .

to have done . E ven the women of the Chandala

class were adm itted to h is Order . He u sed to

make a sort of c rown with h is braided hai r . Thisis cal led the Charla in the popu lar language .

Those wh o fol l owed h im were accordingly cal led

ClL'L-

tt—l dl tm’i S— tl l e wearers of Charla. I t is said

that at one time he paid a visi t to Pu r i when

Chai tanya was there . Madh ava took h is female

compan ions with h im and wan ted to j oin the

rel igious procession of Chaitanya . Bu t he,when

he saw this man wi th h is following of women,

shrank back from h im and said “W h o is this

fel low that com eth with women to j oin ou r

company,

u psetting al l ru les of m oral condu ct

and pu rity? This fel low is an impostor,he

wi l l ru in people by the example of h is u n

restrained condu ct . He forbade th e piou s people

arou nd h im to m ix with the Clearacl lzaq -Zs.

The Vaisnavas tu rned this infamou s leader

away from Pu ri,probably wi th the help of

Pratapa Ru dra,the king of the place .

We find reference to these men in the Chai

tanya Bhagavata, Ch ai tanyach ari tamrta, Prema

vi lasa and other works wr itten in th e l 6th and

the beginn ing of th e 17th centu ries. This

proves that these impostors real ly possessed a

considerable influ ence Since th ey were worthy

of men tion by the b iographers of Chaitanya,by whom

,however , they were strongly con

demned.

(born 1 805 A . D . ) claim ed a large number of

fol lowers wh o accepted h im as infal l iabl e by

div ine au thority .

1

1 History of Ch ri stian Ch urch es and sects by th e Rev . I . B . Marsden

(1856) Vol . I I . pp . 83 —88 .

THE END

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i i OPI N I ONS

Si r A su tosh Mook erj ee, i n h i s Convocat ion Addre ss,dated

th e 13th March,1909, as V iee Ch an ce l lor of th e Calcu t ta Un i versi ty

We h ave h ad a long ser ies of lum i nous l ect u res from one of ou r

own graduates Babu D i u esch andra Sen , on th e fascinat ing subj ect of

th e H istory of t h e Bengal i Language and L i terature . Th ese lectu restake a compreh ensi ve vi ew of th e developm en t of ou r vernacu lar

,and

th e ir publ ication W i l l u nqu est ion ably facrl rtate t h e h istor ical invest igat ion of th e origin of th e vernacu lar l i terature of th is coun try,

t h e study

of wh ich i s avowedlyone of th e foremost ob j ects of th e New Regu lat ions to promote .

”

Syl vai n L ev i (Par rs) I cannot gi ve you prai ses enough—your

work i s a Ch rn tamam —a Ratna l ara . No book abou t I ndia wou ld Icompare w i th you rs Never (l id I find such a real ised sense of l i t erature .P l1 1’1(I l t and Peasan t

,Yogi and Raja m i x togeth er I n a Sh akes

pearian way on th e stage you h ave bu i l t upE xtract from a review by th e sanre scholar I n th e R eVu e

Cr i t i q u e J an . 1915 —(translated for th e Benga lee

One cannot prai se too h igh ly th e work of Mr . Sen . A profou nd and

or iginal erudi tion h as been associated w i th v i v i d Im aginat ion . Th e

h i stor ian th ough re lyi ng on h is docum en ts h as th e temperam en t of an

ep i c- poet . He h as l I kew i se i nh er i ted th e lyr ic gen i u s of h i s race .

A . B ar t h (Pams) I can approach you r book as a learner,not as

zt j udgef’

C H . Tawney You r work sh ows vast research and m u ch

0 enera l cu ltu re.

”

V i ncent Sm i t h A work of profound learn ing and h igh va l u e

I‘. W . Th omas“ Ch aracter ised by exten sn '

e erudi t ion and

i ndependen t research

E . J . R apson I looked th rou gh I t w i th great I nterest and great

adm i rat ion for th e knowledge and research to “h ich I t bears w i tness

I'

. H . Skr i ne Mon um en tal work—I h ave been reve l l ing in th e

book wh ich taugh t m e m u ch of “h ich I was ignoran t .

”

E B H ave l l Most valuable book wh rch everyAnglo- I ndian

sh ou ld read I congratu late you m ost h eart i ly on your very adm i rabl eEngl ish and perfect lucidi tyof style .

”

D . C . P h i l l ot t I can we l l u nderstand t h e en th u siasm w i th n h ich

th e work was rece ived by sch olars, for even to men unacquain ted W i t hyou r language , I t cannot far] to be a sou rce of great I n terest and

profit .

OPI NI ONS iii

I n. D . B arnet t I congratu late you on h av ing accompl ish edsuch an adm i rable work .

G . H u l t z u h Mr . Sen ’

s valuable work on Bengal i Li teratu re,a

subject h i th erto un fam i l iar to me,wh ich I am now reading w i th great

in terest .

J P . B l umh arcl t An extrem ely we l l -wr i tten and sch olar lyproduction , exh au stive i n i ts weal th of mater ials and of immense

va lu e .

”

T . W . R h ys Dav i ds I t i s a most in terest i ng and importantwork and reflects great credit on you r indu stry and research .

J u l es B l och (Par is) Your book I find an adm irable one and

wlnch i s th e on ly on e of i ts k ind in th e wh ole of I ndi aW i l l i am Rot h enst e i n I found th e book su rpr i singly fu l l

of suggesti ve informat I on I t h e ld m e bound from beginn ing to end,

i nspi te of my absolu te ignorance of th e language of wh ich you wri te

wi th obviously profound sch olarsh ip .

”

Em i l e Senar t (Pams) I h ave gon e th rough you r book w i th

l ively i nterest and i t appears to me to do th e h igh est credi t to you r

learn ing and m e th od of work ingH enry Van Dyke

—(U. S. A . ) Your i nstru ct ive pages wh ich

are fu l l of n ew suggestion i n regard to th e r ich ness and interest of

th e Bengal i Language and Li teratu re .

”

0 . T . W i nch est er—(U S. A work of profou nd learn ingon a th eme wh ich demands th e at ten t ion of al l Western sch olars

From a l ong revi ew in th e T imes L i t erary Supp l ement ,

London , June 20,1912 I n h is narration

,as becom es one wh o is

th e sou l of sch olar ly candour,h e te l ls th ose

,wh o can read h im wi th

sympathyand imagination more abou t th e H indu m ind and i ts atti tude

towards l i fe th an we can gath er from 50 volumes of impressions oftravel byE uropeans. Loti

’

s p icturesqu e accoun t of th e r i tes pract isedin Travan core temples, and even M. Ch evr i l lon

’

s synth esi s of much

browsing in H indu scriptu res, seem fain t records by th e si de of th is

unassum ing tale of Hindu l i terature—Mr . Sen may wel l be proudof th e lasting monum en t h e h as erected to th e l i terature of h i s nat i ve

Bengal .From a long revi ew in th e A t h enaeum , March 16, 1912 Mr .

Sen may ju stly congratu late h imse l f on th e fact th at in th e m iddleage h e h as done more for th e h i story of h is nat ional language and

l i terature th an anyoth er wr i ter of h is own or indeed au v t ime ,

”

l V O PI NIONS

From a long review in th e Spectator ,J une 1912 A book of

ex traordi nary i n terest to t h ose w h o wou l d make an im part ial studyof th e Benga l i Inen tal I ty and ch aracte r—a work wh ich reflects th e

u tmost credi t on th e candou r,

I ndu stry and learn ing of i ts auth or

I n i ts k ind h is book 18 a maste rp iece—modest,l earned

,th orough and

sym path et ic. Perh aps no oth e r man l ivi ng h as th e l earn ing and h appyindustryfor th e task h e h as successfu l lyaccompl ish ec

From a review by Mr . H B ever i dge I n th e Royal Asiat i cSoci ety’

s Jou rnal , J an 1912. I t i s a very f u l l and in te rest ing accoun t

of th e deve lopm en t of th e Bengal i L I teratu re . He h as a power of

p ictu resque wr i t ing h rs descr i pt ion s are often e loquen t .

”

From a long review by S . K . R atcl i fi'

e i n I ndia,

London

March 15, 1912 Th ere is no i rre re com peten t au th or i tyon th e subjectth an Mr . D in esch andra Sen Th e great val ue of th e book is in i tsfu l l and fresh treatm ent of th e pre

- Engl ish era and for th is i t wou ldbe di fficu l t to give i ts au th or too h igh pra ise .

From a long revi ew by H K ern in th e B ry'

dm gen of th e Roya l

I nst i tu te for Tool (translated byDr Kern h imse l t'

) Fru i t of investi

gat ien carr ied th rough many years h igh ly interesting book th e

rev iewer h as a adm ire in th e pages of th e work ,noth ing to cr i t icise ,

for h is wh ole know ledge I s der ived from i t

From a revi ew by D r . O l denberg I I I th e Frankfu rt er Z zstwng,

December 3, 191 1 (Translated by th e late D r . Th ibau t ) I t i s an

Importan t suppl emen tat ion of th e h istory of modern Sanskr i t Li terature . Th e account of Ch artanya

’

s i nflu ence on th e poetica l l i teratureof Bengal con tr ibutes one of th e most br i l l ian t sect ions of th e work

From a rev iew in D eu t sch e R u ndsch an ,Apr i l

,1912 Th e

p ictu re wh i ch th i s learned Bengal i h as pain ted for u s w i th loving care

of th e l i terature of h is n ati ve land deserves to be rece i ved wi th atten

t i ve and gratefu l respect ”

From a rcv iew in L u z ac’s Or i ental L i st , London ,

May- June1912—“

A work of inest imab le val ue,fu l l of I nterest i ng in formation

contain ing complete accoun t of th e wr i t ings of Bengal i au th ors fromth e ear l iest t im es . I t W i l l u ndoub tedly find a place in everyOr ientall i braryas be ing th e m ost com plete and re l iable standard work on th e

Bengal i Language and Li terature .

”

From a review in th e I ndi an Magaz i n e , London ,Augu st, 1912

For Mr . Sen ’

s erudi t ion,h I s stu rdy patr iot i sm ,

h is in struct ive percept ion of th e li ner q ual i t I es i n Bengal i l i fe and l i terature , th e reader

of h i s book must h ave a profound respect I f h e is to understand wh at

modern Benga l is.

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BANGA SAH ITYA PAR I CHAYA

U R

TYPI CAL FROM OLD

BENGAL I IATERATURE

BY

R ai Sah i b D i n esh Ch an dr a Sen , B A .

2 vols. pp 1914,Roya l Sve w i t h an I n troduct ion in E ngl i sh runnrnw

over 99 pages, p ub l i sh ed by th e Un i ve rsi ty of Calcu t ta(I

Vtth 1 0 col ou red i l l ustra t i ons) Pr i ce Rs. 12 .

S i r George Gr i er son I nval uable work Th at I h ave ye t

read th rough i ts 1900 pages I do not pretend,bu t wh at I h ave road

h as fi l led m e w i th adm i rat ion for th e I ndustry and learn i ng displayed.

I t is a worthy seque l to you r m on um en ta l H i story of Bengal iL i teratu re

,and of I t we m ay safe ly say

“firms core /rat Op us How I

w ish th at a sim i lar work cou ld be compi led for oth er I ndian languages,

special ly for H indi .E . B . H avel l Two mon um en tal vol umes from old Bengal i

L i teratu re . As I am not a Bengal i sch olar , i t i s impossi ble for In c to

apprecrate at th e i r fu l l value th e sp l endi d resu l ts of your sch olarsh ipand research ,

bu t I h ave en joyed read i ng you r l u rn ruous and most

instru ct ive I n troduct ion wh ich gives a clear i nsigh t i nto th e su bj ect .

I was also verym uch i n terested I n th e I l l ustrat ions,th e reproduct i on

of wh ich from or ig inal pain t ings i s very successfu l and credi table to

Swadesh i work .

”

H . B ever i dge Two magn i ficen t vol um es of th e Banga Sah rtya

I ’ar ich aya I h ave read w i th i nterest Rasa Sundar i’

s au tob iographyin you r extracts.

F . H . Skr i n e—“Th e two sp lendi d vol umes of Banga Sab riya

Parich aya I am readi ng w i th p leasu re and profi t Th ey are a credi t

to your profound l earn i ng and to th e Un i versi tywh ich h as gi ven th em

to t h e worldFrom a long revrew in T h e T im es L i t erary Su pp l emen t ,

London ,November 4

,1915 I n J un e

,1912

,i n comm en ting on

Mr . Sen ’

s H istory of Bengal i Language and L i tera tu re,we suggested

th at th at work m igh t u sefu l ly be supplemen ted by an anth ologyof Bengal i prose and poe try. Mr . Sen h as for many years

been occu p i ed w i th th e aid of oth er patr iot ic studen ts of th e

l l l edl tL‘V ‘

d I l i teratu re of Bengal in col lect i ng manu scr ip ts of forgottenor h al f - forgottcn poems. I n addi t ion to th ese more or less val uab le

ex istence was barely known to th e Eu ropeans, even to th ose wh o h ave

studi ed th e Bengal i Langu age on th e spot . Edu cated Bengal i s th em

se lves, unt i l qu i te recent t im es, h ave been too bu syw i th th e arts and

sciences of E u rope to spare much t ime for i ndigenou s treasu res. Th at

was th e reason Why we su ggested th e comp i l ing of a cri t ical ch restomathy for th e benefi t not on ly of Eu ropean bu t of native sch olars.

Th e Un iversi ty of Calcu tta prom p ted by th e em inen t sch olar Si rAsu tosh Mooker jee , th en V ice - Ch ance l lor , h ad al readyan t icipatedth is need i t seem s. I t h ad sh ru nk (ri gh t ly,

we th ink ) from th e

enormou s and expensive task of pr i n t ing th e MSS. recovered by th e

di l i gence and generosi tyof Mr . Sen and oth er in qu i rers and employedMr . Sen to prepare th e two bu lky volumes now before u s. Th e

Calcu t ta Senate is to be congratu lated on its enterpr ise and

gen erosi ty.

From a rev i ew I n Th e A t h en aeum ,Jan uary 16

,191 5 We h ave

al readv revi ewedMr . Sen ’

s H istoryof Bengal i Danguage and Li tera

tu re and h ave rendered sonre accoun t of h i s prevrou s work in Bengal ien t i t led Banga Bh asa O Sha h ztya . Mr Sen now suppl i es t h e m eans of

ch eck ing h 1s h i storical and cr i ti ca l conclu sions i n a cop iou s col lect ionof Bengal i verse Here are th e mater ia l s

,carefu l ly arranged and

an notated wi th a sk i l l and learn ing such as probab ly no one e lse l i v ingcan command

From a revi ew byMr P . G . Pargi t er in th e Royal Asiat icSoci ety’

s Jou rnal—“Th ese two port ly volumes of som e 2100 pages are

an anth ology of Bengal i poetry and prose from th e 8 th to th e 19th

cen tu ry and are au x i l iary to th e sanre au th or’

s H istory of Bengal iLanguage and Li terat ure wh ich was revi ewed byMr . Bever idge in th i s

Jou rnal for 1912 Th e V i ce - Ch ance l lor of th e Calcu tta Un iversi tywh o was con su l ted

,deci ded th at th e best prel im inary measu re wou ld

be to make and pu bl i sh typ ical se lect ions. Th e Un iversrty th en

en trusted t hat du ty to Babu D inesh Ch andra Sen th is work is th eou tcom e of h is research es. Th ere can be

~

no qu estion th at D in esh

Babu was th e person most competen t to u nder take th e task and in th ese

two vol um es we h ave w i t l ou t dou bt a good presen tm ent of typ icalspecim ens of old Bengal i l i teratu re . Th e style of th e big book i s

exce l len t,i ts pr int ing i s fine , and i t i s embel l i sh ed wi th we l l - execu ted

reproductions in colou r of some ol d pain t ing's. I t h as also a cop iou sindex .

”

THE

VAISNAVA LITERATURE OFMEDIZEVAL BENGAL(B ei ng l ect ures de l i vered as Reader to th e Un i versi ty of Ca l cu tta )

RAI SAH I B DI NESH CHANDRA SEN,B .A .

J UST PUBL I SH ED BY TH E

CALCUTTA UN I VERSI TY

D emy 8 vc. 257 pages .

u rTn A PREFACE BY

J . D . AN DERSON ,Esq , (Reti red) .

Price Rs. 2 only.

OPIN I ONS .

Si r G eorge G r i erson - Very val uable book ain reading

i t wi th th e greatest in terest and am learn ing mu ch from i t .

W i l l i am Roth enst ei n —I was de l igh ted wi th you r book , I

cannot te l l you h ow tou ch ed I am to be rem i nded of th at si de of you r

beloved coun trywh ich appeals to m e most—a side of wh ich I was ableto perce ive som eth ing du rin g myown too sh or t v isi t to I ndia. I n th e

faces of th e best of your countrym en I was able to see th at sp i ri t ofwh ich you wr i te so ch arm ingly i n you r book, th e sp i ri t wh ich

an imated Ch ai tanya Deva. and h i s fol lowers. Th rough you r book I amab l e to recal l th ese faces and figures as clear ly as i f th ey were beforem e . I h ear th e t ink le of th e tem pl e - bel l s along th e gh ats of Benares,

t h e voi ces of th e wom en as th ey sing th ei r sacred songs crossing th e

nob le r iver in th e boats at sunset and I si t once more w i th th e au stere

Sanyasin fr iends I sh al l n ever,I fear , see more . Bu t th ough I sh al l

not look upon th e face of I ndia again ,th e v ision I h ad of i t W i l l fi l l my

eyes th rou gh l i fe . and th e love I fee l for your cou n try w i l l remain to

e nr ich my own v ision of l i fe ,so long as I am capable of using i t.

Th ough I can on ly read you i n E ngl ish ,th e sp ir i t i n wh ich you r wr i te

i s to me so tru e an I ndian Sp i r i t , th at i t sh ines t i rough ou r own i diom ,

and carr ies me . I sai d be fore, straigh t to th e banks of you r sacred

r ivers, to th e bath ing tanks and wh i te sh r ines and tem ples of you r we l lremembered vi l lages and tanks So once m ore I send you my th anksfor th e mag ic carpet you sen t m e , u pon wh ich my sou l can retu rn to

you r dearland. May th e songs of wh ich you wr i te to m e rem ain to fi l l

th is land w i th th e i r frag rance ; you W i l l h ave need of th em,i n th e years

before you ,as we h ave need of a l l th at i s best in th e songs of ou r

own seers in th e dark waters th rough wh i ch we are steer ing.

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OPI NI ONS

of t hose masterp i eces of Sanskri t drama,th e Vi dagdh a Madh aya and

Lal i ta Madh ava,was love’

s very se l f and an embodimen t of sweetness

th e more material glori es of Math ura sh ou ld not be con fused w ith

sp ir i tual conq uents of Br indaban . Th e amou rs of Krish na w i th Radh ath e rn i lkmai ds of Br indabarr are staple th em es of th e l i teratu re associa

wi th th e worsh ip of th e God of t h e seductive flute . Bu t Mr . Sen repeate

insists th at th e love discussed in th e l i teratu re h e h as so cl ose ly studied

spi ri tual and mystic, al th ough usual ly presented i n sensuous garb . Ch ai tarwh o h ad frequ ent ecstesies of sp iri tua l joy Rupa . wh o classifiedemot ions of love in 360 groups and th e oth er au th or wh ose careers h ere tra

were h erm i ts of unspotted l i fe and re l igious devot ion . Th e ol d passiondesire for un ion wh ich th ey taugh t i s st i l l dom inan t in modern Ben

l i teratu re not dirt tlyVaisnava i n import . AsMr . J D . Anderson pointsin h is preface, th e i nfluence of Ch ai tanya’

s teach ing may be detected in

mystical verses of Tagore .

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