Originally scanned at sacredtextscom by John B HareThis eBook was produced at BharatLiterature by Chetan JainCHAITANYA AND THE VAISHNAVA POETS OF BENGALTHEINDIAN ANTIQUARYA JOURNAL OF ORIENTAL RESEARCHINARCHÃOLOGY HISTORY LITERATURE LANGUAGES PHILOSOPHY RELIGIONFOLKLORE c c cEDITED BYJAS BURGESS MRAS FRGSVOL II1873Bombay Education Societys PressScanned and edited by Christopher M Weimer May 2002CHAITANYA AND THE VAISHNAVA POETS OF BENGALSTUDIES IN BENGALI POETRY OF THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIESBY JOHN BEAMES JCS MRAS cTHE PADKALPATARU or wishgranting tree of song may be considered asthe scriptures of the Vaishnava sect in Bengal  In form it is acollection of songs written by various poets in various ages soarranged as to exhibit a complete series of poems on the topics andtenets which constitute the religious views of the sect  The book hasbeen put together in recent times and takes the reader through thepreliminary consecration invocations and introductory ceremonies therise and progress of the mutual love of RÃdhÃ and Krishna and windsup with the usual closing and valedictory hymnsBefore beginning an analysis of this collection so remarkable from manypoints of view it will probably be of some assistance even to thosewho have studied the history of Vaishnavism if I state briefly theleading points in the life of Chaitanya and the principal features ofthe religion which he developed rather than actually foundedBisambhar Vishvambhara MiÅr was the youngest son of JagannÃth MiÅr aBrahman native of the district of Sylhet in Eastern Bengal who hademigrated before the birth of his son to Nadiya NabadwÃpa thecapital of Bengal  Footnote The facts which here follow are takenfrom the ChaitanyacharitÃmrita a metrical life of Chaitanya thegreater part of which was probably written by a contemporary of theteacher himself  The style has unfortunately been much modernized buteven so the book is one of the oldest extant works in Bengali  Myesteemed friend Babu Jagadishnath Ray has kindly gone through the booka task for which I had not leisure and marked some of the salientpoints for me  His mother was Sachi Debi daughter of NilÃmbarChakravarti  She bore to JagannÃth eight daughters who all died youngher firstborn child however was a son named BiswarÃºp who afterwardsunder the name of NityÃnand became the chief disciple of his morefamous brother  Bisambhar was born at Nadiya in the evening of the_Purnima_ or day of the full moon of PhÃlgun 1407 SakÃbdacorresponding to the latter part of February or beginning of March AD1486  It is noted that there was an eclipse of the moon on that dayBy the aid of these indications those who care to do so can find outthe exact day  Footnote There was an eclipse of the moon beforemidnight Feb 18 OS 1486  The passages in the original are  ÅrÃ Krishna the Visible became incarnate in Nabadwip  For fortyeight years visibly he sported  The exact date of his birth is Åaka 1407  In 1455 he returned to heavenAnd again  On the full moon of PhÃlgun at even was the lords birth  At that time by divine provision there was an eclipse of the moon    _Ch_ I xiii 38In accordance with the usual Bengali superstition that if a mans realname be known he may be bewitched or subject to the influence of theevil eye the real name given at birth is not made known at the timebut another name is given by which the individual is usually calledNo one but the father and mother and priest know the real nameBisambhars usual name in childhood was NimÃi and by this he wasgenerally known to his neighboursIn person if the description of him in the ChaitanyacharitÃmrita BkI iii is to be considered as historical he was handsome tall sixfeet with long arms in colour a light brown with expressive eyes asonorous voice and very sweet and winning manners  He is frequentlycalled Gaurang or Gaurchandra _ie_ the pale or the palemoon in contrast to the Krishna of the Bhagvat who is represented asvery blackThe name Chaitanya literally means soul intellect but in thespecial and technical sense in which the teacher himself adopted it itappears to mean perceptible or appreciable by the senses  He took thename ÅrÃ Krishna Chaitanya to intimate that he was himself anincarnation of the god in other words Krishna made visible to thesenses of mankindThe CharitÃmrita being composed by one of his disciples is writtenthroughout on this supposition  Chaitanya is always spoken of as anincarnation of Krishna and his brother NityÃnand as a reappearanceof BalarÃm  In order to keep up the resemblance to Krishna theCharitÃmrita treats us to a long series of stories about Chaitanyaschildish sports among the young Hindu women of the village  They arenot worth relating and are probably purely fictitious the Bengalis oftoday must be very different from what their ancestors were if suchpranks as are related in the CharitÃmrita were quietly permitted to goon  Chaitanya however seems to have been eccentric even as a youthwonderful stories are told of his powers of intellect and memory howfor instance he defeated in argument the most learned Pandits  Agreat deal is said about his hallucinations and trances throughout hislife and we may perhaps conclude that he was more or less insane atall times or rather he was one of those strange enthusiasts who wieldsuch deep and irresistible influence over the masses by virtue of thatvery condition of mind which borders on madnessWhen he was about eighteen his father died and he soon afterwardsmarried Lachhmi Debi daughter of Balabhadra AchÃrjya and entered onthe career of a _grihastha_ or householder taking in pupils whomhe instructed in ordinary secular learning  He does not appearhowever to have kept to this quiet life for long he went off on awandering tour all over Eastern Bengal begging and singing and issaid to have collected a great deal of money and made a considerablename for himself  On his return he found his first wife had died inhis absence and he married again one BishnupriyÃ concerning whomnothing