Chaitanya and the Vaishnava Poets

Excerpt

THE PADKALPATARU, or 'wish-granting tree of song,' may be considered as the scriptures of the Vaish.nava sect in Bengal. In form it is a collection of songs written by various poets in various ages, so arranged as to exhibit a complete series of poems on the topics and tenets which constitute the religious views of the sect. The book has been put together in recent times, and takes the reader through the preliminary consecration, invocations and introductory ceremonies, the rise and progress of the mutual love of Râdhâ and K.rish.na, and winds up with the usual closing and valedictory hymns.

Before beginning an analysis of this collection so remarkable from many points of view, it will probably be of some assistance even to those who have studied the history of Vaish.navism, if I state briefly the leading points in the life of Chaitanya, and the principal features of the religion which he developed, rather than actually founded.

Bisambhar (Vishvambhara) Mišr was the youngest son of Jagannâth Mišr, a Brahman, native of the district of Sylhet in Eastern Bengal, who had emigrated before the birth of his son to Nadiya (Nabadwîpa), the capital of Bengal. [Footnote: The facts which here follow are taken from the "Chaitanyacharitâmrita," a metrical life of Chaitanya, the greater part of which was probably written by a contemporary of the teacher himself. The style has unfortunately been much modernized, but even so, the book is one of the oldest extant works in Bengali. My esteemed friend Babu Jagadishnath Ray has kindly gone through the book, a task for which I had not leisure, and marked some of the salient points for me.] His mother was Sachi Debi, daughter of Nilámbar Chakravarti. She bore to Jagannâth eight daughters who all died young; her first-born child, however, was a son named Biswarúp, who afterwards under the name of Nityânand became the chief disciple of his more famous brother. Bisambhar was born at Nadiya in the evening of the Purnima or day of the full moon of Phâlgun 1407 Sakábda, corresponding to the latter part of February or beginning of March A.D. 1486. It is noted that there was an eclipse of the moon on that day. By the aid of these indications those who care to do so can find out the exact day. [Footnote: There was an eclipse of the moon before midnight Feb. 18, O.S. 1486.] The passages in the original are:—

  Šrî K.rish.na the Visible became incarnate in Nabadwip,
  For forty-eight years visibly he sported;
  The exact (date) of his birth (is) Šaka 1407,
  In 1455 he returned to heaven.

And again—

  On the full moon of Phâlgun at even was the lord's birth
  At that time by divine provision there was an eclipse of the moon.
    —Ch. I. xiii. 38.

In accordance with the usual Bengali superstition that if a man's real name be known he may be bewitched or subject to the influence of the evil eye, the real name given at birth is not made known at the time, but another name is given by which the individual is usually called. No one but the father and mother and priest know the real name. Bisambhar's usual name in childhood was Nimâi, and by this he was generally known to his neighbours.

In person, if the description of him in the Chaitanyacharitâmrita (Bk. I. iii.) is to be considered as historical, he was handsome, tall (six feet), with long arms, in colour a light brown, with expressive eyes, a sonorous voice, and very sweet and winning manners. He is frequently called "Gaurang" or "Gaurchandra," i.e., the pale, or the pale moon, in contrast to the Krishna of the Bhagvat who is represented as very black....