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Cornell UniversityLibrary

The original of tiiis book is intine Cornell University Library.

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CHAITANYA AND HIS AGE


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Chaitanya and His Age{Ramtanu Lahiri Fellowship Lecturesfor the year 1919 and 1921)

ByRai Bahadur Dinesh Chandra Sen, B.A., D.Litt.,Fellow, Reader, and Head Examiner of the Calcutta University, AssociateMember of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Author of History of Bengali

Language and Literature, the Vaisnaya Literature of MediaLvaiIBengal, Chaitanya and his Companions, Typical Selections

from Old Bengali Literature, Polk Literatureof Bengal, the Bengali Ramayanas,

Banga Bhasa-0-Sahitya,etc, etc.

Published by theUNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA

1922Lc.


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BL

/^/cp-^ /yajTPrinted et Atulchandra Bhattachabtta at the Calcutta

University Press, Senate House, Calcutta


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DedicatedTo

The Hon'ble SIR ASUTOSH MOOKERJEE,Kt., C.S.I., M.A., D.L., D.Sc., Ph.D.,

F.R.A.S., F.R.S.E., F.A.S.B.Vice-Chancellor of the Calcutta University,

whose resolute and heroic attemptsto rescue our Alma Mater from destruction

at the hour of her great perilmay well remind us

of the famous line of Jayadeva

with the sincere gratitude ofthe Author


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" Hail thee O Chaitanyathe victor of my heart,Mark the rhythm of his mystic dance in lofty

ecstasyquite alone.Merrily sounds the tahor and the cymbal's

note keeps time.The joyous band following him sing and

dance merrilymerrily ;He steps a pace or two onwards in hisdancing gait,

And knows no restintoxicated with hisown over-flowing joy.

Oh my heart's Lord, how can I express thelove I have for thee ?

Saha Akbar craves a drop from the sea of thypiety and love."

Song by Emperor Akbar(Translated from Hindi)


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PREFACEThe first 190 pages of this book embody my

lectures as Ramtanu Lahiri Eesearch Fellowfor the session 1919, and the remaining portionis meant as my lectures for 1921, The subjectchosen for 1920 was " The Bengali Prose Stylefrom 1800 to 1857." As this subject was to bestudied by the students of the Indian Verna-culars in our University for their examination,the urgency of its treatment required me to stopthe Ghaitanya topics and deliver a course oflectures on the prose-style last year. Theselectures were delivered and published early in1921. And, I next hastened to revert to inyhalf-finished lectures on Ghaitanya. There aresome points in this book which are a repetitionof the things said in my other books, but thiscould not be helped. As I have attempted togive here a complete and consistent story of thegreat hero of my memoir I had to include allnoteworthy points of his life in a short compass.There are of course many things in this booknot dealt with elsewhere and I have alwaystried to present the incidents of Chaitanya'slife in a new light. It is hoped that the sketchherein presented will, by its cbmprehensivecharacter, satisfy the curiosity of all students


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vi PREFACEwho want to have a clear account of Ohaitanya,his religious views and of the sects that followhis religion. Everything said in this book isbased on old authority, though I have notgiven references in all cases, as it would makethe book heavy with foot-notes and more or lessmar its popular character. The readers willfind one and all of such references in the worksmentioned in the bibliography given on pages97-98 of this book.

One thing has struck me in regard to therecognition of the Vaisnavas by the Hindusociety in general. The Goswamies of Khardah.and Sg.ntipurthe descendants of Nityanandaand Adwaita respectivelynot only enjoy thehighest social rank amongst the Vaisnavas buthave quite a respectable standing amongst thelay Brahmin community. My idea was thatthey created this position outside their ownsociety, even after they had broken stringentcaste-rules, through the sheer dint of theirnoble sacrifices and high spirituality. But quitelately a book named " Sri Nityananda-vamsavali-0-Sadhana" written by Pandit KshirodbihariGoswamia direct descendant of Nityanandahas disillusioned me on this point. I now findthat the descendants of Mtyananda and Adwaitahad very nearly become outcastes in the primitivestages of the promulgation of the Ohaitanyacult. .They redeemed themselves, however in


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PREFACE viithe eyes to the Brahmin community, outsidetheir own ranks, by contriving to enter intofrequent matrimonial alliances with the ' kulin 'Brahmins of the mother society, often by satis-fying large pecuniary demands of the latter.This alliance with a large number of ' kulins ' hasgradually made their position secure in the Hindusociety. This shews that the caste-rules amongstthe Hindus is a factor of so great an importancethat though the efforts of a prophet may for a timesucceed in unloosing its hold upon our people, itreasserts itself with all its rigidity, a short whileafter. And, however mighty the enemy, it is onlyby manoeuvres, tactics and bribes that he canexpect to gain his lost position in societynotby open war. The Sahajiyas disregard the caste-rules at night, fearing exposure in daylight.It is for this reason that some of them havecompared themselves with bats (p. 380).

I take this opportunity of expressing myhearty thanks to Dr. Sylvain Levi, the distin-guished Orientalist, who has kindly written afore-word for this book in the form of a letter.The high compliments that a scholar of hisworld-wide fame has given me, have been verygratifying to me, as indeed they would have beento any Indian. There can be no question as tothe sincerity of his appreciation, though I feel thatthere may have been a friendly bias. I regret,however, that my presentation of Chaitanya doesnot appear to be sufficiently indicative of the


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viii PEEFACEgreatness of his character, and Dr. Levi Tvillnot give him a place in the ranks of the world'sgreatest men. He refers to Ghaitanya's religionbeing restricted to a narrow geographical areacontrasting it to that of Buddha. The universalrecognition of the Buddha and a few othergreatest leaders of the world in the spiritualdomain is chiefly due to political causes, theadvantage of which Bengal of the 16th centurycould not evidently possess. Vaisnavism ofiBengal is, besides, the youngest of the world'sreputed creeds, so it is perhaps premature topass a judgment now on Ghaitanya's work.Regarding the view that the theology ofGhaitanya lacks originality, the codes of allreligions of the world may be traced to earliersources ; and a complicated code of Ethicsis not, in my humble opinion, always thetrue criterion of the greatness of a faith.The infusion of life into the universal truthsand their presentation in the most attractiveform are, I submit, a far truer test. I cannotfollow the reason that love for God is a peculiaror local feature of Indian religions, which cannotbe appreciated outside India. The difference, Ithink, lies in the fact that Europe has not yettranscended the ethical limits, beyond which liesthe domain of mystic felicities. Ghaitanya did notignore mankind ; he tried to lead men to the dizzyheights of paradise, which my learned friend,following the limitations of Ghristian theology,


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PREFACE irspeaks of as "forbidden." I agree with himso far that Ohaitanya cannot have a universalrecognition in this materialistic age. But Iverily believe that when this age will be followedby one of spiritual awakening all over the world,he will be differently judged. He brought tothe doors of ordinary men the highest spiritualbliss of divine love, which like the stream of theholy Ganges, lay entangled in the meshes ofIndian religious philosophy, more knotty thanthe matted locks of Siva. I hope, my esteemedfriend will not take me amiss, Asa Bengali, itis natural for me to be prejudiced in favour ofmy Bengali apostle. But love always sanctifiesthe soul. If I have been blind to the defects ofChaitanya's religious system, I do not regret it.I would in that case only crave my friend'sforgiveness. Speaking for myself, my heart,more than to any logic, responds to the coupletfirst sung by Nityananda :

" One who admires Chaitanya and singspraises of him, is dear to me as my life,"

I hold myself fully responsible for the numer-ous misprints and errors which will be found inthis book, and do not accuse anybody. I am not agood proof-reader and that is all that I can pleadas my excuse.7) YiswAKOSH Lane, \' Calcutta. [ DINESH CHANDRA SEN.The 15th April 1922. )


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POREWORDBY

Dr. Sylvain Levi,mon cher ami,

Vous m'avez demand^ une preface pour rotrelivre : " Chaitanya et son ^poque." Je n'ai guferede competence sur ce domaine ; ce que j'enooanais, je le dois essentiellment a vos ouvrages :depuis le jour ou j'ai lu avec une emotioninoubliable voire " Histoire de la Langue et de laLitt6rature Beagalie " j'ai suivi avec un int^retqui ne s'est jamais ralenti votre activity sif^conde, et 'cest ainsi que, gr&ce a vous, leBengale du temps de Chaitanya m'est devenufamilier. J'avais eu pourtant I'occasion d'effleur-er le sujet il y a tr^s longtemps, au d^but demes etudes. Je commengais a recueillir desmat^riaux en vue de ma thfese sur le ThelltreIndien ; j'avais trouv^ a la Biblioth^que Nationalea Paris, un vieux manuscrifc en Venture bengaliequi contenait le traite de Rupa Gosvamia surI'art dramatique (natya) ; je fus frapp6 par laferveur de cet ^crivain qui greffait sur un recueilde definitions banales une longue suite d'hymnes


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xii FOREWORDenthousiastes a Krishna; ce fut pour moi I'occasionde m'initier au mouvement inspire par Ohaitanya.Je lus ensuite, avec une surprise et une admira-tion que je retrouve encore apr^s tant d'annês,le drame original et puissant oti Kavikarnapuramet audacieusement en sc^ne Chaitanya et sescompagnons. J'ai longtemps r6v6 d'en donnerune traduction parallMement a celle du Prabodha-chandrodaya, pour mettre en contraste Ting^nio-sit6 raffinê de I'un et la fougue passionnê deI'autre. J'ai traduit le Prabodhachandrodaya, etjai dA m'en tenir la, faute de temps. Je sais gr6a votre livre de me ramener vers le h^ros quej'avais trop n6glig6, et de me le montrer dans uneintensity de lumifere qui laisse par instants lesyeux un peu eblouis.

Vous poss6dez a un degre extraordinaire ledon capital de I'historien, qui est de projeter la viesur le pass6 mort. O'est un don de pofete autantque d'historien, et vous etes si essentiellementpolte que votre style oscille entre l'6popee et lelyrisme. Ce besoin de vie que vous portez envous ne vous permet pas de vous arrfeter a cesfroides combinaisons de possibilit^s qui sontpartout le fond de I'histoire et dans I'lnde plusque partout ailleurs. La p^nurie des documentspositifs y laisse a chaque instant I'historienembarrass^ pour rattacher dans une continuiteprovisoire la s6rie des faits connus. Vous nepouvez pas vous resigner a cette attitude


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FOREWORD xiiid'expectative. Vous faites resolument la partde Timpossible ; mais cette discrimination unefois operee, le possible glisse aiseraent auprobable, et le probable au certain.

C'est la un effet fatal de votre imaginationfougueuse. Pourtant vous n'etes pas sansconnattre ni reconnaitre les exigences de la pluss6v^re critique, vous 6puisez tous les documentsavec la patience d'un ^rudit, et vous pressezvos 6tudiants avec une eloquence pathetiquede rechercher les documents encore inMits.Si i'etais plus jeune, j'aurais voulu vous suivreet je ne doute pas, pour I'honneur du Bengaleque vos appels soient accueillis avec empresse-ment par la jeunesse studieuse. Une figurecomme Chaitanya merite les hommages d'unpays entier ; il est juste que les savants luiconsacrent leurs veilles, comme les paysanslui consacrent leurs chants.

Je suis assez dispose (et j'ai tort peut-etre)a faire bon marche de sa theologie qui m'ap-parait plutdt iudifferente et de seconde main,sans puissance d'invention ou de syst^meses autres qualit^s, d'orateur, de po6te, delingiuste, etc., n'auraient pas suffi a le mettrehors de pair, Mais ce que donne a sa personnaliteun relief unique, c'est le don d'amour qu'il a suporter jusqu'a I'extreme limite des possibiliteshumaines, en le tournant tout entier sur Krishna,et qui s'est associ^ spontanement chez lui a la


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xiv FOREWORDbeauts cr^atrice de I'art. Sa conception de ladanse, appliqu^e a la propagande de 1' amour divinauraitseduitl'esth^tique delicate de la Grfece ; elleaurait sans doute plac6 Chaitanya a c6te d'Orphee.Q.u'il y ait eu, dans ses transes mystiques,un element maladif, vous ne le contestez pasvous citez un de ses propos ou il parle lui-memede ses attaques d'epilepsie. Mais cette faiblessem^me me plait ; elle est la part de la " bete," pourreprendre les termes si expressifs de Pascal,chez un etre oii la part de " I'ange " est si belle.Je sens, ehez ce sannydsi ivre d'amour, la sourdelutte sans cesse d^chain6e, et qui le jette a terre,^cumant, au milieu des visions qui lui decou-vraient un monde interdit.

Vous avez vous-meme, en plus d'un passage,6voqu6 par comparaison la figure du Bouddha,cet autre h6ros indien de I'amour universel.Mais j'ai peur que votre passion devote et pres-que fanatique pour Chaitanya vous ait renduun peu injuste h. regard de son grand rival.Vous aimez a insister sur I'cBuvre sociale defraternite humaine courageusement poursuivieet en partie r6alis6e par le missionnaire deKrishna; vous vous plaisez a montrer lesMusulmans ou les Musulmanises admis dans son^glise, et vous gloriflez I'esprit de " catholicite "qui anime sa predication, Ici, je le declarefrancheraent, je ne puis vous suivre. Vouspourrez mettre en cause, et peut-^tre avec raison,


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FOREWORD XVmes preventions d'Oceidental ; mais le respectabsolu du sens 6tabli pour les mots qu'on em-ploie est la condition primordiale d'une discussion,si on la veut loyale et utile, et dans le cas present,comme partout et toujours, la justesse du mot estsolidaire avec la justesse de I'id^e. Le termede " catholicity," quand il ne d^signe pas parexcellence tons les fiddles de I'Eglise Oatbclique,garde le sens qu'il tient de son origine grecque,ind6pendamment du sufl&xe latin qui s'y estaccroch^ ; il signifie a peu pr6s I'universalite, lemonde pris "dans son ensemble" (koB' oXov), DansI'immensite presque infinie de I'histoire reli-gieuse de I'lnde, si riche en personnalites et encreations, le Bouddha est uniquement et exclusive-ment le seul a propos de qui on puisse employerce terme. Que sa notion personnelle de 1' hommeait d6passe les frontiferes de I'lnde pour s'^tendreaussi loin que oelle d'un Socrate ou d' un J^sus,rien ne nous permefc soit de raflS.rmer, soit de lenier. Mais le fait est que I'Eglise n6e de soninspiration a convert! la plus grande partie deI'Asie. Aucune autre croyance originaire derinde, orthodoxe ou h6r6tique,n'aconnuce succ^s.Vous avez recueilli pieusemeat de 16gers indicesqui vous permettent de supposer que 1' influencede Chaitanya a d6pass6 les frontiSres du Bengale,Orissa compris ; en r^alit^ le raouvement deChaitanya est regional, tr^s loin d' 6tre " catho-lique", autrement dit : universellement humain.


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xvi FOREWORDL'Inde, a coup sAr, a le droit de ' se coraplairedans son "splendide isolement," comme d'autrespeuples se sont flatus de le faire ; mais elle doitalors loyalement accepter les restrictions qui end^coulent. Le g6nie hell^nique et le g^nieh6braique ont con9u 1' homme universel, I'undans I'ordre philosophique, I'autre dans I'ordrereligieux : ils out tendu de tous leurs efforts a ler^aliser, et ils y ont prodigieusement reussi.L'Inde a pr^tendu limiter son horizon au cadrenettement d6fini de ses frontiers naturelles,elle a d61ib6r6ment ignore le reste du monde.Elle s'est fa9onn6, elle a jtnaintenu un typed' organisation religieuse et sociale qui vise aI'exclusion rigoureuse de 1' stranger. La failliteultime du bouddhisme dans I'lnde est le triomphesupreme du nationalisme hindou; les seulsliens qui rattachaient V Inde a la grande com-munaut6 humaine ^taient d6finitivementan^antis. Ohaitanya peut etre un des plusgrands voyants de I'lnde; 1' humanity ne lereclame pas comme un de ses grands hommes ;elle ne le reconnalt point, parcequ'il I'am6connue.

Katmtjndtj,Nepal, 29 Juin 1922.


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FOREWORDBY

Dr. Stlvain Levi.(Translated from French by Captain J. W. Petavel, R.E., Eetired,

Lecturer on che Poverty Problem, Calcutta TTniversity and Principal,Maharaja of Kasimbazar's Polytechnic Institute.)

Dr. Dinesh Chandra Sen.Dear friend,

You have asked me for a preface for yourbook " Chaitanya and his Age " but I am hardlyqualified to give it, for what I know of the sub-ject I owe mainly to your works. From theday when with feelings I shall never forget, I readyour History of Bengali Language and Litera-ture, I have followed your fruitful activity witha degree of interest that has never diminished,and thus, thanks to you, Bengal of the time ofChaitanya has become familiar to me. I had,however, skimmed through the subject a longtime ago in the early days of my studies, when Iwas collecting notes for my work on the Indiantheatre. I had found in the '\6ibliothequeNationale ' an old manuscript in Bengali script


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xviii FOREWORDthat contained the treatise of Rupa Goswami ondramatic art (Natya). I was struck by theenthusiasm of the writer who grafted on a com-pilation of commonplace definitions a long seriesof fervent hymns to Krishna.

That put me first into touch with themovement inspired by Chaitanya. Subse-quently I read with a degree of surprise andadmiration that I experience again after thesemany years, the original and powerful drama inwhich Kavi Karnapur boldly brought Chaitanyaand his companions on to the stage. I longcherished the ambition to give a translation ofit by the side of that of the Prabodh Chandro-daya, to emphasise the contrast between therefined ingenuity of the one and the passionateardour of the other. I managed to translatePrabodh Chandrodaya but was compelled to stopthere as I had no time to do more. I must bethankful to your book for having brought meback towards the hero I have neglected, and forhaving shown him to me in intense light thatat times dazzles one's eyes.

You possess in an extraordinary degree thecapital gift of the historian which is to makethe dead past live. It is a poet's gift as muchas a historian's, and you are so essentially a poetthat your style alternates between the lyric andthe epic. This instinctive desire to make thingsliving that is characteristic of you, does not


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t'ORBWOEi) XIXallow you to be stopped over the cold studyof possibilities that is everywhere the foundationof the historian's work, and especially so inIndia. The lack of authoritative documentsleaves the Indian historian constantly puzzled tolink known facts together in some degree ofcontinuity. You cannot resign yourself to theexpectant attitude. You resolutely make thebest of an impossible situation, but once yourchoice made, speculation glides unperceptiblyinto probability, and probability into certainty.This is the inevitable result of your ferventimagination. Nevertheless you do not fail toappreciate and to recognise the requirements ofthe most severe criticism (you do not lose yourcritical faculty). You examine all the documentswith the perseverance of the patient scholar, andappeal to your students with touching eloquenceto seek for manuscripts still unpublished. If Iwere younger, I would have wished to follow you,and I have no doubt that, for the honour of Bengal,your appeal will be taken up enthusiastically byher studious youth. Such a figure as Chaitanyadeserves the homage of the whole country.It is right that the learned should honour him byburning their midnight oil studying him, as thepeasants honour him by consecrating their songsto him. I am quite inclined (though perhapsI am wrong) to think less of his theology, whichseems to me rather indifEerent and second-hand


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xi fOREWOllDnot showing power of invention or method. Hisother qualities as an orator, as a poet, as alinguist, etc., woiild not seem to me suflBLcientto make him without an equal. But thatwhich marks him as an outstanding perso-nality is the gift of love that he has been ableto carry to the extreme limits of human capa-city centering it entirely upon Krishna, andwhich his disposition caused him to associatespontaneosly with the creative beauty ofart. His conception of dance applied to thepropaganda of divine love, would have appealedto the fine aesthetic sense of the ancient Greeksand would no doubt have given Chaitanyaa place by the side of Orpheus. That there wasin his mystic trances an abnormal element youdo not contest. You indeed quote one of thepassages where he himself speaks of his epilepticfits. But even this weakness is pleasing to me.We see in it the manifestation of the " animalside " of man, to use Pascal's expressive language,in a being in whom the manifestation of the" angel-side " is so beautiful. I feel that silentstrife going on incessantly in this sanyasi,intoxicated with love, and occasionally throwinghim down foaming at the mouth in the midstof his vision that has revealed a forbiddenparadise to him.

You have yourself, in more than one passage,compared him to the Buddhathis other Indian'hero of universal love. But, I am afraid, your


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FOREWORD xxiJ)assionate and somewhat fanatical devotion toGhaitahya has made you a little unjust towardshis great rival. You like to insist on the socialwork of human brotherhood courageously pur-sued, and partly realised, by the missionaryof Krishna. You delight in showing theMusalmans or converts to Islam admitted intohis church, and you glorify the " catholic " spiritthat characterises his preachings. Here Ifrankly declare that I cannot follow you. Youmay urge, and perhaps justly, my limitationsas a Westerner, but an absolute regard for theaccepted meanings of words that one uses is theprimary condition of frank and useful discussion,and in the present case, as everywhere and always,the accuracy of the word is one and the samewith the accuracy of idea. The word catholi-city, when it is not used to designate the followersof the Catholic Church, keeps its meaningderived from the Greek origin, independently ofthe Latin suffix that has been attached toit. It signifies almost universalitythe worldapproximately as a whole. In the almost un-fathomable depths of India's religious history, sorich in personalities, both real and imaginary, theBuddha stands alone, as the one in connectionwith whom the term can be used. There isnothing to justify us either in affirming or deny-ing that his particular conception of mankindhas passed the limits of India to extend as far


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xxii FOREWORDas the ideas of Socrates or Jesus extended. Butthe fact is that the church that his inspirationbrought into existence has won the greaterpart of Asia. No other faith originating inIndia, orthodox or heterodox, has ever succeededin doing that. You have carefully gatheredtogether and treasured slight indications thatallow you to think that the influence ofChaitanya has passed the limits of Bengal andOrissa. As a matter of fact, the Chaitanya-movement is local, far from being " Catholic,"i.e., in other words, universally human. Indiahas certainly the right to take pride in hersplendid isolation, just as, indeed, some othercountries have chosen to do. But then she mustfrankly accept the limitations which accompanysuch an attitude. The genius of the Greeks andof the Hebrews conceived humanity as a wholethe former conceived man in the domain ofphilosophy, and the latter in that of religion.They tried with all their efforts to realise that ideal,and attained prodigious success. India has hadthe ambition of limiting her horizon within clearlydefined natural boundaries. She had deliberatelyignored the rest of the world. She createdfor herself, and has maintained, a kind of religiousand social organisation the object of whichis strictly to exclude foreigners. The ulti-mate failure of Buddhism in India is thesupreme triumph of Hindu nationalism. The


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FOREWORD xxiiionly links that connected India with the rest ofthe great human family were finally destroyed.Chaitanya may be one of the greatest seers ofIndia. Humanity, however, does not recognisehim as one of its great men. He did notrecognise mankind. So mankind does notrecognise him.

Khatmund,27th June, 1922.


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ContentsCHAPTER I.

Condition of Bengal before the advent ofChaitanya (pp. 1-57).(i) Vices brought on by reaction against Bud-

dhist asceticism (pp. 1-14); (**) Ohandidasas precursor of Chaitanyaic age (pp. 14-31);(in) the influence of the Bhagavata andother sacred works (pp. 31-37) ; (w) Vaisna-vism in Bengal before Chaitanya (pp. 87-52)j(v) the political condition of the period(pp. 52-57).

^ CHAPTER II.A historical review of the biographical works

of the Vaisnavastheir claims to reliabilitydiscussed (pp. 68-98).

(a) Murari Gupta's Chaitanya Charitam(pp. 58-67).

(6) Narahari Sarkar's songs (pp. 68-73).(c) The Chaitanya Bhagavata (pp. 73-77).(d) The Chaitanya Charitamrita (pp. 77-81).(e), Lochan Das's Chaitanya Mangal (pp.

81-85).(/) Goyinda Das's Karcha (pp. 85-89).iff) Jayananda's Chaitanya Mangal (pp.

89-91).


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XXVI CONTENTS(h) Prembilas, Bhakti Ratnakar and songs

on Chaitanya (pp. 92-93),(*) Summary (pp. 93-97) Bibliography (pp.

97-98).

CHAPTER III.Ancestry, birth and childhood (pp. 99-108).

CHAPTER IV.Birth and boyish frivolities (pp. 109-112) ;

education and founding of a T61 (pp. 113-119) ;the defeat of the Scholar Keshub Kashmiri(pp. 119-121).

CHAPTER V.Marriage (pp. 121-124); Tour in Eastern

Bengal (pp. 124-127) ; Return to home (p, 127)Visit to Gya (pp. 128-130) ; Trances (pp. 130-135) ; Closing of the T61 (pp. 135-138) ; TheSankirtan parties (pp. 138-153) ; Reformationof Jagai and Madhai (pp. 153-156) ; Srikrishnaplay (pp. 156-167) ; His resolve to turn a san-nasyi (pp. 157-163).

CHAPTER VI.Chaitanya's Sannyas (pp. 164-167) ; His

tour and visit to Santipur (pp. 167-176) ; Theincidents at Puri (pp. 176-189); His resolve togo to the Deccan (pp. 189-190),


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CONTENTS XXviiCHAPTER VII.

Govinda Das's account of his travel (pp. 191-194) ; Reformation of SinnersNaroji, Bhila-pantha and Bara Mukhi (pp. 194 to 208).

CHAPTER VIII.Visit to Travancore and other places (pp. 209-

212) ; Reception at Puri (pp. 212-216).CHAPTER IX.

Proposed visit to Brindavan (pp. 216-218)Interview with Sanatan and RupatheirSanyas (pp. 219-323) ; Private tour,Baladev'saccount (pp. 323-326) ; Stay at Brindavanonhis way backmeeting with Bijli Khan (pp. 227-229).

CHAPTER X.Chaitanya at Benares,discussion with

Prakasananda (pp. 230-233) ; Tour in Bengal,(pp. 233-234) ; At Puri (pp. 234-250).

CHAPTER XI.Reveries and ecstasies gradually increasing

(pp. 251-259) ; His passing away (pp. 259-265).CHAPTER XII.

Chaitanya as a teacher (pp. 266-319).Loveits various phases in the Spiritual plane

(pp. 266-276); Service to fellowmen and


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XXVm CONTENTScompassion for the depressed castes (pp. 276-283);Social reformationVaisnava jurisprudence(pp. 283-290) ; His commanding personality,many-sidedness of character and scholarship(pp. 2P0-295) ; Spiritual emotion, love formother, influence on the Vaisnava poets(pp. 295-319).

SupplementCHAPTER I.

Chaitanya's religious viewsthe Dwaita-dwaitabad (pp. 320-323); Rules of conduct,theory of devotion (pp. 324-327) ; The fivefoldrasas of the Vaisnavas (pp. 327-333).

CHAPTER II.The Sahajias (pp. 334-341) ; The various sects

(pp. 341-351) ; The Buddhist elements (pp. 351-356); Their philosophy of love (pp. 356-361);Durgaprasad Karthe Sahajia Sadhu practis-ing love (pp. 361-366) ; Their love-ideal derivedfrom the Buddhists (pp. 367-370); The Mada-notsava (pp. 370-372) ; The Radha-Krishna cult(pp. 372-373) ; The wickedness of the Sahajiasexposed in the novel Charu-Darshan (pp. 373,-389); The Sahajia songs (pp. 389-397).

CHAPTER III.The duty of the Research-students in the

field of the Sahajia literature (pp. 398-403).


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Chaitanya and his AgeFrom Old Records

CHAPTER ICondition op Bengal before the

Advent of Chaitanya() Vices brought on by reaction against Buddhist

asceticism.(m) Chandi Das as precursor of Chaitanyaic age,

(iii) Influence of the Bhagavata and other sacred works,(iv) Vaisnaivism in Bengal before Chaitanya.() The political condition of the period.

() Vices brought on by reaction againstBuddhist asceticism. "'If we take a bird's-eye view of the religious

aspects of Bengal from the eleventh to thetwelfth century, we shall be in a position to98@ertain the causes that have led to thedevelopm^t o^.the &^^^inciult in this prpvinoe.


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i CHAITANYA AND HIS AGECbaitanya's advent has produced a far-reaching

effect on the religious and socialof Medtvai Bengar Wstory of Bengal, and in order

to judge and explain how thiscould be possible, a review of the conditionof the religious life and of the social evolutionthat was going on in this country, prior tothe advent of Ohaitanya, is essential from manypoints of view. We shall chiefly restrict ourselves,however, to the evidences that have been foundin Bengali literature for arriving at ourconclusions.

The Nath-cult which originated with Mina-Nath and Goraksha Natb had

The Nath and ^]j.Qa,dy an extensive literaturein Bengali in the thirteenth

century, and there was the Dharma-cult also,probably co-eval with the Nath-creed and

having many points in com-The common features. ^m -rw. ij.mon. The Dharma-cult wasa degraded form of Buddhism, and Nathismwas a compromise between Saivism andBuddhism. The followers of both the sectsbelieved in ' Niranjan' and ' Dharma,' thoughthe Nath-cult seems to have adhered more closelyto Siva worship. Both believed in miracles, andin the supernatural powers of the Siddhas.Kalipa, Haripa and Kanupa, are spoken of interms of high esteem in the literatures of boththe cults, and are held in higher regard thaneven the gods of heaven. But we are not


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GORAKSHA BIJAY 3at present concerned with the details of therespective creeds.

Nathism contributed largely to our Vernacularin its primitive stages, and chief among thesecontributions are the Maynamati songs presentedto us from different parts of Bengal in manifoldforms. These songs originated in Eastern andNorthern Bengal and were spread by thepropounders of the Nath-cult over all parts ofIndia. If the reason is asked as to why thesesongs are to be included in the Nath-literature,I should say that they relate mainly to theglories of Goraksha Nath, the Nath-leader, andof Harisiddha and Maynamati, his two Bengalidisciples. There are many incidents describedin these songs, but the keynote to them isstruck in the panegyrics bestowed on the powerof the Siddhas of the Nath-cult. The form inwhich these songs have come down to us hasbeen considerably modernised by the rhapsodistsof the later ages, but the original framework is ofthe 11 th and 12th centuries, and evidences ofthis lie strewn over the whole range of thislyrical literature.But though the Maynamati songs traverse byfar a wider field, the most strikingly significantnote, however, of the Nath-cult is to be found

in the Goraksha-Bijay itselfGoraksha Bijay. ^ Bengali work which contains

an account of how Goraksha Nath redeemedhis ^ru Mina Nath frond his great spiritual


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i. CHAITANYA AND HIS AGEdegradation. This book is sometimes calledthe ' Mina-Chetana' or restoration of MinaNath to spiritual consciousness. The tone ofthe poem is elevated and calm, and a quietphilosophy and spirit of stern asceticism pervadethe work. The doctrines of Yoga as practisedby the Naths are discussed here in the* Sandhya-bhanho,' or 'the language of twilight'as it has been called by some scholars, in whichthe Buddha-Doha-0-Gan and many other workswere written.

In this literature of the Nath-cult we findasceticism of a high order based on an observanceof moral virtues. An un-The )iigh moral tone, impeachable sexual integrityis aimed at, and preserved among manytemptations by the lieroes of these poems, andchief amongst them Goraksha Nath, the princeof the Yogis, rises to our view surrounded bymany mystic and legendary tales, resplendent inhis vows, like the peak of a mountain, wheiisunrise is just dispelling the mist around it. H^sets at naught all the temptations that a manever faced from a woman, and saves Mina Nathfrom the moral pitfall to which the latter hadunheedingly fallen.

In the songs of Maynamati also wefind Prince Gopichandra facing temptationsand becoming glorious by overcomingthem. Hira, the wealthy harlot, to whosefascinations a hundred youths of noble lineage


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THE MORAL VIRTUES 5had succumbed^ proved powerless before ourhero. In the Dharma-literature Prince LouSen conquers passions like a Yogi. "Womenrenowned for their beauty and accomplishmentstry him, but he proves invincible. Not onlyunimpeachable in sexual morality, the principalcharacters are endowed with virtues of truthful-ness and integrity which hold to light some ofthe great features of Buddhistic moral tenets;Where could we find a greater martyr at the altarof truth and loyalty than Kalu-Dom, the generalof Lou Sen ? Harihara Baity's struggle forovereomingthe temptations of worldly prosperitieson the one hand, and fears of grim persecu-tion on the other, resulting in his ultimatetriumph, invests him with a solemn grandeurwhich commands our admiration. The Dharma--mangal songs and those of Maynamatihave . certainly a crude humour and arespotted with the blemishes of style ofilliterate people. But the great idea is there-the idea of Unstinted morality, of loyalty anddevotion to the king, which sets all dangers atnaught ; of adherence to truth, knowing theresult to be confiscation of property and death.JThe characters are often no doubt drawn by-clownish hands ; there is a forest of wild legends,which almost stifle the breath of the readerswith their incredibleness and prolixity ; the-lerudeness of descriptions and their monotony areoften tiresome to the extreme. But thesei^


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6 CHAITANYA AND HIS AGlildo not diminish at all the lustre of faith thatilluminates the pages,faith in the great moralvirtues which truly ennoble a race.

But at this very time when stern asceti-cism and strength of character were being

glorified, we find anotherReaction. , -, o it > i i>i-Side of the picture m which

the forces of reaction are clearly indicated.Vaisnavism of old school and Tantricismare shown on the reverse of the picture. Wefind the people of rustic villages, amongst whomthe practice of Yoga and Tantric culture hadbeen current in those days, revolting against allrigour of asceticism and yielding to profligacyand sexual pleasures. We find the courts ofkings steeped in these vices, and favouringlibertinism in the name of religion by a quiteroyal indulgence in sensuous pleasures. We findtantrios, originally imbued with -the object ofattaining a high spiritual goal, sinking low indebauchery. Men and women sat freely aroundthe Ohakra or the circle where all moral lawswere set at naught. King Ballala Sen (1100-1169 A. D.) had a mistress of the Chandal-caste named Padmini whom he openly raisedabove the status of his chief queen, and obligedmany of his noblemen to eat the food servedby her. " ^WRreira^T^^ " is a line which wefrequently come across in our genealogicalrecords, accounting for the loss of social status ofparticular members of our community, and the


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^HE REACTION ttitle ^WQ^ is a contemptuous epithet by whichour social leaders branded those who obtainedrewards from the king, for taking food preparedby Padmini. It is said that this woman was veryhandsome and was brought by the king tohis palace for helping him in tantric practices.The inscriptions openly praise LakshmanSen for intriguing with the beautiful Kalingawomen.^ Abhiram Goswami bcrn in 1095 A.D.,a devout Vaisnava, kept a mistress namedMalini and this woman is publicly applaudedin the Vaisnava traditions.* Jayadev himselfcounts it a point of glory to mention the nameof Padmavati in his songs. She was a " seva-dasi " of Jagannath temple, and ShekhaSubhodaya says that she used to dance in thecourt of LaTfshman Sen, and several authoritiesconfirm that she had been at first dedicated tothe Puri temple from where Jayadev picked herup,^ Jayadev glories in calling himself "*W^-F?*i-5t^t ]5aR^ " implying that she danced, whilehe used to play upon some musical instrumentto keep time. The poets of this period sangpanegyrics of their patrons the kings, for theirlicentiousness ; and the copper-plate inscriptions

'jTO5Rroftsrer^^TKtifti;^%5=T5=infe:" i.a.s.b., Deo. 1909,p. 473.

= See Abhiram Tattwa, Abhiram Fatal and Abiramlilamrita (pub-lished by Bhnpatioharan Goswami and Atnlchandra Goswami).

See Bhaktamala by Chandra Datta and Joydeva Charitra byBanamali Das. ;i;yg ,

,


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% chaitaNya and his agealso unmistakably indicate the tendencies of theage by describing the situations of Siva andParvati inclose embrace, in a language not quitebecoming or decent according to modern taste.^On the door-ways of the Pari and Kaniarakatemples are found many human figures inbas-relief, which are grossly vulgar. In thegtound-floor of the Sahitya Parisat buildings,an image of Siva embracing Parvati is preservedin the gallery of statues ; this image of Sivais shockingly vulgar and evidently belongs tothe age of which we have been speaking. Thelays of Jayadev which sometimes rise to greatspiritual heights are indecent in many placesand the same should be said of the Pavana-dutaby the poet Dhoi of Lakshnian Sen's court. Thiscountry is prone to indulge in religious specula'tions and there is no lack of subtle interpretationsattempting to glorify what a moralist wouldjustly condemn. But when for three centuriesbeginning from the 12th, we find our art, archi-tecture and poetry all dominated by the samespirit of indecendy, we must admit thatduring the decline of Hindu power, the standardof morality had become low amongst our people,due, as I have already said, to a spirit ofreaction against the stern attitude of the Buddhistand Nath ascetics towards materialistic life.This indecency and predilection for sensuous

See I.A.S.B., Dfec. 1909., p. 471, and Epigraphia Indica, Vol. I,p. 307.


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THE REACTION _ 9life are manifest in popular literatures . of theKrishna and Siva cults. In the Siva songs wehave vulgar tales of the Great God's gallantry,amongst the low class women of the Kuchni andDome castes. The evil-eyed jealousy of Parvatidescribed by Rameswar and other poets liasundoubtedly some very gross .humour in it.In one of the poems we find her complainingthat though, she had tried to keep. Siva at home

,

at night by tying the edge of her *aH to histigerskin> it proved of no avail, as the Great Godran away to meet the Kuchni-women as soonas she fell asleep. To the songs of MahasaDe-vi these Siva songs are found prefixed asprologues, and in the Krishna Kirtan of OhandiDas.we find the same vulgar taste, which hasgiven rise to an animated discussion amongstscholars, some of whom, familiar with the highly;refined and platonic songs of the great poet, hai^eexpressed a doubt as to the genuineness of thebook. In Eangpore, Cooch-lbehar, and indeedin many parts of North Bengal, Krishna dhama-lies are still sung in which Krishna as a rustic?cow-herd in (jlownish humour pursues Radhafor,an embrace or a kiss, and greater thevulgarity in these songs, the greater is thefun -enjoyed by the farmers and the artizans ofthe.oountry-side. However greatly these songsmay have been tuodernised in their language,their origin should no doubt be traced tothe ithirteenth and fourteenth centuries and

8


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10 CHAITANYA AND HIS. AGEour readers will find that Chandi Das, being apoet of that age, was at first an exponientof the popular poetical sentiments,, which,intense in their enjoyment of sensual life,were also vulgar to the extreme. It was theprevalent fashion in that age to be addicted toa woman other than one's own wife for tantricpractices. And amongst the Buddhist of thelatter-day Mahayana school and among theirbhikshus and bhikshunis, the Sahaja Dharmabeijame associated with illicit love. In theBuddha-Gan-0-Doha we have many passagesin which this sexual love is used as symbolicof the Sahajia concept of bliss. Chandi Dassays that at his time Sahajia love was amania with young men, and that many noble-minded youths started their career of lovewith the avowed object of reaching a spiritualgoal; this, however, often proved inaccessibleto them, and in their attempts to scale theheight, they fell down to the lowest pitof vices, rolling in the mire of sensuouspleasures. The poet says that it is a dangerousgame for young men to play, as one in a million,and not two, may conquer flesh and find the truespiritual heaven in woman's love. The tantncsnot only became steeped in sexual vices butwere dreaded for inhuman cruelties committedin the name of religion. We have it in theNarott3,n]a Bilasha that a sect of vicious tantricsoffered human sacrifices to Kali and danced with


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nPANTHEiSM i{swords in hands before her image in horridecstasy and no passer-by was safe, if unfortu-nately he happened to walk by the side of thetemple at the time. " Even Brahmins are thenseized and sacrificed before the goddess."^ Inthe Chaitanya Bhagavat we have an elaboratedescription of the robbers who worshipped Kali onthe eve of an expedition for plundering the houseof an innocent citizen named Hiranya Pundit.The Hindu Renaissance had just commencedamong the lay people of this province, but theywere still a prey to those vices which tantricismand vitiated Buddhism had brought on duringthe decline of spiritual forces that had originallyinspired those noble creeds and their rituals.We find drunkards, who spurned all rules ofHinduism, ate beef and ham, though they wereBrahmins.^ We find widows of higher classeseating meat and fish and people spendingenormous sums in making clay idols for worship.^They sang songs of Siva or Manasa Devi, andof Pal kings for whole nights. These songs,however, generally speaking, related to pastorallife with all its crude love-makings ; and faith ingpds they worshipped was but half-expressedin the imperfect popular dialect not yet fullydeveloped for literary composition. "Eeligion"laments Brindaban Das, "was reduced to a

' Narattom Bilash, Canto VII.' Chaitaoya Bhagavata, Madhya, Chap. - XIII ' and Jayananda's

Chaitanya Mangal. ' -''''"


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iz CHAIT^Ai^tA AND HIS AGEmere form and there was no faith in men.'*^Many, people worshipped Jaksha, the lord ofwealth, with offerings of wine and meat.

Pantheism, generally speaking, was thereli^jion of the learned during

am^nl'frctoJ:!"' this period. When Chaitanya'sfollowers sang aloud the name of

God many people of Nadia condemned it sayiig" Who is the god for whom all these frenzieduproar is meant ? Man is his own saviour and hisown god. Where could be any God outside thishximan frame ?"^ Chaitanya travelled throughthe whole of Southern India and met Dhundi-ram Tirtha of Tungabhadra, Mathura-nath ofTripadi, Bhargadev of Tripatra, Bharati Gossainof Chandipore, and many leaders of Sannyasis,who were staunch supporters of pantheism.Vasudeva Sarbabhouma, a great Sanskrit scholarof Bengal, was himself one such. He did notbelieve in a personal god and never took tiiemahaprasad of Puri temple before his conver-sion to Vaisnavism later on.

Chaitanya-chandrodaya Natak gives us afaithful account of the sort of religious life

that was around. It speaksEalse Sannyasis.


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BENGAL IN kEED OF A SaViOUR isbracelets, indicating the approach of women,they slowly opened their eyes and looked withlust; of pantheists who believed in no othergods than their own selves ; of Kapalikas, bothBuddhists and Sivaits, who were false Tantrics,of men who were given to visiting shrines formere curiosity without any spiritual object;and of Sannyasis whose pride was as great astheir haughtiness of temper.

Thus we see that the grandeur of moralvirtues upon which Buddhism had been foundedwas wellnigh reduced to atoms. Nagarjuna'sschool, greatly depraved and confused with crudesuperstitious beliefs expounded the worship oftortoise and owl {ulluha) with curious specula-tive theories about the origin of the Universe.Their temples held rustic festivities and thougha glimmer of faith was occasionally seen in them,the Mahayana had spent its best energies andcould no longer elevate the people. I'he tan-trics vainly strove with the help of humancorpses, wine and women to attain a religious

. goal ; and the pantheists in their self-sufficiencyand pride of scholarship were far off from that

humility and spiritual meeknessThe impetus re- ^^hich mav alonc lead to the

. ceived from Islam. 'growth of true faith. TheIslam, moreover, with its great energy and appealto personal God knocked, about this time, atthe gate of Bengal declaring that One Great Godwas the supporter of the virtuous as He was the


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14 CHAITANYA AND HIS AG^supporter of the world. Their vehement faithwas irresistible and led the Hindu miiidinvoluntarily to the old Aryan faith in a personalGod as the many speculative and philosophicaltheories on religion current in the country couldno longer satisfy their growing spiritual neisd.Our province specially was in need of a saviour,of one who would prove that the true well ofspiritual bliss sprang from faith and not fromintellectual subtleties, and that moral law anda sense of brotherhood were the concomitantforces of love which could alone bring theIncomprehensible One within human realisation.

Chandi Das.At this juncture, when the cries of the

Mahayana Buddhism for the cause of mofalvirtues were becoming less and less audible withthe gradual disappearance of that faith from theGangetic valleywhen Tantricism was losingsfci^gth as a religious force and leading men torevel in debaucherieswhen the temple and thecourt, poetry and art delighted in sensuousness,there appeared on our religious and literaryhorizon a great poet who representing the glowand ardour of impassioned lovethe significantfeature of the past schoolbecame the harbingerof a new age which soon after dawned on ourmoral and spiritual life and charged it withthe white heat of its emotional bliss.


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CHANDI DAS 15We cannot give any accurate date as regards

any incident of Chandi Das's life. There isof course an enigmatic verse which has beenconstrued into implying that in the year 1403 A.D.Chandi Das had composed 996 songs. But themysterious writing will not, I am afraid, standthe test of historical scrutiny and we cannot useit as evidence of any value. .

There are some anonymous verses in whichit is stated that Chandi Das andInterview between it-i x- l xii i Vidyapati and Chandi- V idyapatl mOt OU the baUKS Ofthe Ganges, that during the

interview one E-upanarayanRaja of Mithilaor whoever he might have been, was present, andthat the poets enjoyed each other's company anddiscussed their favourite topic of love from manydifferent points of view. These anonymoussongs are undated, and are to be found in thePadakalpataru compiled in the middle of the18th century. Babu Nagendranath Gupta,* thelearned > editor of Vidyapati's poems, does notattach any historical value to this tradition, thoughh^ does not support his views by any reason. Butwe cannot summarily reject a tradition to whichsome of our early writers have subscribed ; thedetails of conversation between the two poets asgiven by these writers may be called in question,but the interview itself may be accepted as ahistorical incident.But all the same, we do not possess any definiteevidence as regards the time when Chandi Das


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16 CHAITANYA AND HIS AGElived. We may, however, make an approximateguess from certain facts. Narahari Sarkar, oneof the most intimate friends of Chaitanya and bornnot later than 1465 A.D., sings an eulogistic songabout the poet in which he says that Chandi Da&'spoems had literally flooded the country at his tiihe,that Chandi Das was as remarkable . a musician,as he was a poet, and that he was a learnedscholar whose songs were inspired by love forR?imi^-the washerwoman. It is well-known toall that Chaitanya chanted the songs of Chandi,Das night and day. None of the historical workswritten about Chaitanya or his followers givesany firsthand information about the incidents' ofChandi Das's life though many lyrical songs ofthe 15th century and of later periods are prolificin their praise of the poet. Ishan Nagar, whowrote a biography of Adwaita in 1560 A.D., referstoan interview which the latter had with Vidyapatiprobably in the year 1454. Had Chandi Dasbeen alive about this time, there is no doubtthat some of the Vaishnab apostles at least, allof whom were great admirers of Chandi Das,'would have visited the great Bengali poet wholived at Nanoor in the BirbhumcSTs-trr'"' District. But we are not awaTe

of any record relating to suchan incident. So the natural surmise is thatChandi Das must have died at a period earlier'than the middle of the 15th century. How farearlier, that is the question now and let us '


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CHANDI D/ S 17discuss it here. We find that one Deva Sarma, aBrahmin clefk, copied the Kavyaprakas in Novem-ber 1398 by order of Vidyapati. In one of thesongs of this poet we find mention of Gyasuddinwho died in 1373 A.D. So Vidyapati no doubthad already made his mark as a poet before1373. If we accept the statement of theanonymous writers about his interview withChandi Das to be true, that event probably tookplace when the latter was already in the primeof his youth and Vidyapati had just begun to beknown to fame. I cannot altogether reject,as I have already stated, a tradition which haslong prevailed in the country, unless it is upsetby proper historical evidence.

At this stage of our investigation Mr. Basanta-ranjan Ray brought the Krishnakirtan to thenotice of scholars. Expert calligraphic opinionasserts that the handwriting of the copy couldnot be of a date later than the end of the14th century. This work of Chandi Das musthave attained a certain celebrity before otherscould think of copying it out. Hence we believethat Krishnakirtan could not have been writtenlater than the middle of the 14th century. TheKrishnakirtan of Chandi Das belongs to that classof love-songs which is called Krishna Dhamaliand which is current even now in the backwoodsof North Bengal. The poem describes the amoursof Radha-Krishna in many different phases.The rustic element, however, predominates in

3


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18 CHAITANYA AND HIS AGE.these juvenile writings of Chandi Das. Krishnahere is a simple village lad who runs after thep3,storal queen of his heartthe pursuit, isconducted with an intense ardour, amidst thegay natural scenery on the banks of the blaek-.watered Jamuna, amidst market places an.dgroves resounding with the songs of birds; no

condition however low, no situarKrishnakirtau. ,. i i j j j.-tion however hard, daunting

the love-stricken rustic lad who. wears the maskof a god. This passionate ardour of the fleshneed not be condemned in the poetry ofmediaeval school as it supplied inspiration. tQmany of the greatest poets of that age. Towardsthe end of Krishnakirtau the poet strikes a highernote which becomes loudly audible in his latersongs. So this work marks the transition ofVaishnab poetry from the sensuous to the idealis'tic. The earlier songs throb with somewhatgross human instincts, the later songs burst intomelodies of finer idealism, the characteristic ofthe later Vaishnab school. If we read theaccount given by the poet himself as to how hefell in love with Eami, the problem how thistransition came over the spirit of his songs willbe solved. But we shall come to it later on.

The Krishna-dhamali to which we havealready referred was once the craze of wholeBengal, but which now survives being driveninto the borders of Northern Bengal, where theold things of Hindu life have not yet altogether


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DllATH OP CHANDI DAS 19J)erished. Chandi Das greatly embellished thatrustic mode of treating Krishna-topics by freelyindenting treasures of lyrical wealth from Jay-dev. Scholars have come forward to brandKrishnakirtan as a piece of daring literaryforgery. But I have met their argumentsin my previous course of lectures. In mymind there is absolutely no shadow of doubt asto the genuineness of this work. Now acceptingthe expert opinion about the date of the copyof Krishnakirtan I find that the book could nothave been written by the poet later than 1350.I shall show that Chandi Das died a most tragicand shocking death that has ever befallen thelot of a poet, between 1383 and 1385 A.D.

The latest discovery about Chandi Das is thissad and tragic tale of his death. Some years ago,I referred in a note supplied to the editor ofKrishnakirtan to a tradition extant in the neigh-bourhood of Nanoor, the native village of ChandiDas, that the Begum of a Nawab had fallenin love with the poet, and that the result ofthis ill-fated passion was the punishment ofa cruel dekth. inflicted on him. The Sahitya--:parisat library of old Bengali Mss. has latelycome in possession of a few pages, the hand-writing of which is referred to a date about250 years back, substantially confirming thetradition mentioned by me several years ago.Alas! the tale is a harrowing one. It wasthe Emperor of Gour and not a Nawab of the


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20 , CHATTA^NtA AI>fD HIS AGElocality, as I said in my note, who punishedOhandi Das with death. He had invited thepoet to his' court having heard of his greatfame as a musician and poet. Rami, the washer-woman, is herself the writer of this historicaliaccount. She laments the day when Chandi Dasvisited the court of the Moslem Emperor. Hisqueen heard Chandi Das sing some of his master-pieces. They were so sweet that the very treesand the sky seemed to be rapt in silent admira-

tion. The queen was besidechaDdK ^^^^^ * herself with joy and felt a

passion for the poet. Howthis passion developed and the matter attractedthe notice of the autocrat is not knowft.Rami skips over details ; but she says thatthe queen when asked, made a bold frontand confessed all to her royal husband. TheEmperoY ordered that Chandi Das should betied to the back of an elephant and led fromplace to place and scourged in such a mannerthat his flesh, sinews and nerves must bfetorn till he bled to death. The queen inter-ceded and said, "You do not know ' the . ster-ling merit of the man. In the whole worldthere does not breathe aiiother soul as warm ashis." For mercy she pleaded, but in vain.The infuriated monarch was the more enragM.Rami writes that she saw him glance at herfrom the baick of the elephant with tender love^fts the last mbmentdrew near. His clothes day all


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tniTDER ELEPHANT'S Fl^ET i\drenched in blood and looking at her steadilyall the time as the elephant moved on, the greatpoet of Bengal closed his eyes without utteringa moan.

The elephant was often made an instrumentin those days for punishing offenders of high rank,Perdausi was ordered to be placed under the feetof an elephant and trampled down to death, butthe poet succeeded in effecting an interview withSultan Muhammad and averting the punish^ment. We find Jehangir contriving to set anelephant against Sher Afgan, the husband ofMeherunnisa, though that Chief ' could hold hisown by his superior tact and unmatched physicalstrength. The animal after a ferocious attacktook to heels and fled, terror-struck by the blowinflicted on it by the Chief. The Mul^ammadanhistory of Western Asia is replete with instancesof punishment of death inflicted on men of rankby placing them under the feet of elephants.

Thus died Chandi Das by the capricious ordersof the Gour Emperor. He could not have beenpossibly more than forty years of age at thetime of his death. Por in the East a womanseldom falls in love with a man above that age.The sad tale of this tragic affair has not beenall told. The Begum's end was as tragic, if notmore glorious. Repentance was natural to herin the matter, for she felt that if she had notmade the confession, the king's anger would noth^ve possibly reached such a climactic point.'


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aa CHAITANYA AND HIS AGEThere is nothing in the account to show thatthe queen had been guilty of anything dis-honourable. It was her great admiration forthe poet which led to a romantic feeling oflo7e, and there is a hint in the account thatthe poet reciprocated her sentiments. Over-whelmed with repentance for . her confessionwhich she had made relying on a generous spiritof appreciation and indulgent pardon from herhusband, but which led to the unfortunate catas^trophe, she was shocked at the Emperor's atti-tude, and when the cruel scene was enactedbefore her eyes, she fainted away unable to bearthe sight. She never recovered from that swoon,for the beating of her heart had stopped as shesaw the horrible torture and death of her lover.

Rami says that as the queen lay dead shehurried to clasp her feet with tearful eyes. Hereends her verses.Who this Emperor of Gour was, cannot bedefinitely ascertained, but if we take into ac-count the fact that Chandi Das wrote his juvenileworkthe Krishnakirtanabout 1350 and thathe could not have been, as already mentioned,more than 40 years old at the time of his death,we are led to suppose that it was the EinperoEShamsuddin it who probably passed this horriblesentence upon one of the most glorious ofBengal's sons. From 1342 to 1385 five monarchsruled Bengal. Shamsuddin Bhengara from 1342to 1368, who was " much respected and beloved bj?


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SAMSUDDIN II 23..his.people"; Sultan Gayasuddin (1359 to 1373)was a patron of poetry who had sent an invita-tion to Haflz to come to Bengal and settle ashis court-poet and about whom Vidyapati wrotean eulogistic verse. The next Emperor Assulat-win ruled for ten years peacefully and was a verypopular monarch. About the next EmperorShamsuddin II, Stewart says, " on the death ofSultan Assulatwin, the nobles raised to thethrone his adopted son, a youth of very inferiortalent, who took the title of Shamsuddin II..For little more than two years he enjoyed a'tranquil reign, but at the expiration of that-period, Kanis, the Zenaindar of Vetoria, rebelledagainst him, and the youth being unsupportedby the Muhammadan Chiefs was defeated andlost, his life in the year 1385 A.D." He was,80 unpopular that even the Muhammadan Chiefsdid not support him though a Hindu Zemindar-killed him and secured the throne for himself.May we not imagine that the cruel punishment.of death on the greatest poet of Bengal wasprobably one of the reasons which had made hisrule very unpopular in the country ?We can expect no historical clue to thismatter from the records of the Vaishnabs them-selves. They skip oyer anything that is melan-choly or tragic. Their conspiracy of silence inregard to Chaitanya's passing away is wellknown. Nor had they, while writing elaboratememoirs, described when and how Sachi Devi or


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J4 CHAITANYA AND HIS AGEBishnupriya died. So we should not be surprisedat the fact that none of the Vaishnab historianshas written anything about the tragic end ofChandi Das. In Jayananda's Chaitanya Mangalwe come across a hurried line stating thatGadadhar Pandit had burned himself alive toescape from Muhamraadan oppression, but thedetails are not given. It is curious to note thatmany points in the career of Gadadhar Pandit,one of Chaitanya's best friends, are to be foundin all authoritative books of Vaishnabs, savethis most important point of his horrible death.It is true that the Vaishnabs do not at all regardJayananda's Chaitanya Mangal to be a book ofany worth, because he cared not to follow theircanons ; he has not only referred to the tragicdeath of Gadadhara but given us historicalinformation about how Chaitanya passed away,as no other writer has done ; and we instinctivelyfeel that his accounts are quite reliable, how-ever much he might have disregarded thedelicate feeling of the Vaishnab community inthe matter.We have already referred to the fact thatlove for Rami brought on a change over thespirit of Chandi Das's poetry. It was certainlyan epoch-making event in his life. He was aworshipper of Basuli and was piously afraidof any romantic feeling for a woman. Butthe heart runs out of control. The poet'sgti-ength fails him, 'Look how he falls prostrate


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BASULI'S ORDER 35before Basuli and laments himself ! The holi-ness of his vow has gone for naught ! Night andday he prays, but the glimpses of the gloriousform of Rami half-revealed through her blue

Remorse. - ^"^^ '^ the temple-courtyard,maddens him inspite of his vowof self-dedication to Basuli. His heart is exactly

in the same state as a flower fallen in the tide thatflows irresistibly like fate, " Alas ! mother," helaments before Basuli, " You could not preserveyour child from these unworthy feelings for awoman of low caste ! My austerities and efforts,my secret vows could not save me !'" But notlong after, Basuli's voice he heard, as if in adreamit said, "Love this woman, my son,it is your fate that you should do sonay, thislove will sanctify you ; neither I nor hundredsof gods and goddesses like me will be able to giveyou a glimpse of that higher life which thiswoman's love will teach you."^

Chandi Das arosewonder-struck. In hisheart of hearts he had worshipped Rami. Only aconventional sense of immorality, a consciousnessof his difficult social environment had filled his

mind with remorse and fear.He worships Rami. Now Basuli's mandate wasclear. Conventions and fears were set atnaught. Each time he saw her, he found her

1 Chandi Ras's edition, published by the Sahitya Parishat ofCalcutta, Supplement, p. 4.

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26 CHAITANYA AND HIS AGEbeautiful and lovely as a flower, holy as agoddess, a thing to be placed on the head likea gift dropped from the hands of Basuli herself.

He says, " Though T am a Brahmin and youare a washer-woman, you are to me holy as.Gayatri."' He rises above caste-prejudices, andsees good in love far more than in his Brahminicblood or in the scriptures. He declares Ramito be as adorable as Parvati, the giver offortunes, as Lakshmi, the giver of luck and asSaraswati, the goddess of fine arts and learning.Thus he raises his love to the status of legendarygoddesses, and this no Brahmin had, I suppose,done before him.

So the traditional Brahminic superiority,sacredness of scriptures and the unapproachabledignity and sanctity of gods all fell to the ground.Ghandi Das saw one temple in the whole universe,that was the cottage of the washer-woman nearBasuli's courtyard, and he became the highpriest there. His love was not limited by anyconventional idea. He calls Bami his pitrimatri" father and mother." No lover everspoke such a language. Love to him wasa homogeneous and undivided whole. Among

rivers one is called the Ganges,a Mrtedte"fe."' '" another Godavari and another

Jamuna, but when they comedown and fall into the ocean, they loose their

' Chandi Das's edition, published by the Sahitya Farishat ofCalcutta, Supplement, p. 333.


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LOVE'S PHRASEOLOGY NOT LlMlTED ^7individual names and are called by onecommon name. So our paternal affection,brotherly feelings and nuptial love, even friend-ship, in the highest degree of intensity, becomeone and are designated by the same name. Nopoet outside India has signified the stages ofthis one homogeneous idea and classified itso beautifully. The dasya, sahhya, batsalyaand madhuryya of the Vaishnabs indicatedegree and not quality. The old poet Valmikiwas the first to put thi? truth in the mouth ofDasaratha in his appreciation of Kausalya inthe following lines :

*' g^ ?RfI '^ sftsmr ^^^W ^l^^^ 1

But no other poet than Chandi Das has saidthis so forcibly in respect of his lady-love. " Thouart to me my parents." This indicates absolutedependence and resignation. But look from theworldly point of view ! An orthodox Brahmiiispeaking in that irreverent and sacrilegiousway not only trampled upon all conventions ofHinduism about caste and religion, but alsogave a rude shock to the fundamental sense ofsocial morality. Por no lover in the Hinducommunity or in any other community wouldcall his lady-love his parent, that would beblasphemous. Was it not meet that for suchprofane speech he was outcasted and proclaimed


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28 CHAITANYA and HIS AGEfallen from the Brahminic order by the beatof drum? But though his own men treatedhim so, he did not lose his faith in manand he saw no god as high as man. He says,"Hear me, brother man, Man is the highest,none higher than he." He certainly sawdivinity in the human form before him morethan elsewhere. He would believe in no illfrom one whom he loved. Radha in one of hissongs says to Krishna, " I am not accustomed,dear, to see your happiness and mine apart fromone another, what delights you delights me also."So the lover may show all sorts of cruelty, butcannot hurt the soul wearing the armour ofthis love, and Chandi Das says again, " One wholoves and breaks, does not attain the spiritualgoal."^ A lover is bound to retain his love for theperson whom he has once loved. However muchhe may suffer, spiritually he will gain by his devo-tion. Divorce therefore is not recognised in thelaw-book of Ohandi Das. Did Christ forsakehis people because some of them had crucifiedhim ? It is the flower's love, tear off its petals,crush it cruelly, it will have a smile for you still.At this stage only a step further and one attainslove divine. Says Ohandi Das, "One who isunseen and beyond all comprehension, will beperceived by him alone who has loved."^

^ Ohandi Dae's edition, published by the Sahitya Parishat ofCalcutta supplement p. 337.

= Ibid, p. 3*3.


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HIS POEMS BREATHE A FREEDOM 29And we know that before Chaitanya was born,

Chandi Das had felt this love, and been lifted tothe plain from which he had already visions ofhis God. Love human had taught him lovedivine. Otherwise where in the ordinaiyromantic poems of love, do we so frequentlycome across lines which charged with spiri-

tual meaning bring us to theto lovl diviue. ^"^ '"^' threshold of the mystic world ?Radha fasts " %f% 'Sft^tC?, ^^rl^*t^" when love for Krishna has dawnedon her heart ; she wears the ochre-coloured clothof a yogini and recites the name of Krishna, tilllike a Vaishnab apostle she is beside herself withjoy. The advent of Chaitanya is presaged inthe account Chandi Das gives of Radha as pros-trating herself at the feet of every one whospeaks of Krishna. And did not Chaitanya dothe very .same thing ? He too like Chandi Das'sRadha fainted at the sight of the dark-blueclouds which brought to his memory the' lovelycolour of Krishna.

Chandi Das not only frees himself from thegrip of religious and social conventions, but fromthe bonds of Poetics and in fact from all sorts ofrules laid down by scholars. He was himself agreat scholar. Even if we had not his brotherNakul's testimony on that point, supported halfa century later by a statement of Narahari, thenumerous slokas in Sanskrit that adorii hisKrishnakirtan and his closely literal and yai


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30 CHAITANYA and His AGEfelieitous translation of gome of the lays of

Jaydeb evidence his eruditionfronraiitlU'lr" ^nd learning. But he rejects all

Sanskritic high-sounding wordsin his later compositions, though in Krishnakirtanthey are plentiful. He rejects the rules of Sans-krit Poetics that eternally lay down the bee to bea lover of the flower. The flower, he says, doesnot go to the bee when the latter does not come.The moon cannot be a lover of the lily, as wefind in the Poetics, for when the lattef dies infrost, the moon smiles from heaven. Thus freering himself entirely from all religious, social,and literary thraldom, Ohandi Das brings in anew era in Vaishnab poetry and in Vaishnabreligion, which in the next period trampled downall conventions and orthodoxy.

The sensuous element becomes graduallyidealised in Chandi Das's later writings. HisKrishnakirtan shows him at first as one with thepoets of an earlier epoch, a faithful disciple ofJoydev, scholarly and gorgeous in his descripfeitoof the objects of senses. A-t this stage he is notA^ithout spiritual meaning in occasional verses,and is an exponent of the popular sentiment,the echo of which is still found in the KrishnaDhamalis. His language is aglow withimpassioned rural poetry that draws no line ofdemarcation between decency and indecency.But s-uddenly by the grace of Basuli and lovefor Rami we find him at a later stage tlirowing


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BHAGAVATA AND OTHER SACRED BOOKS 31off the mantle of sensuousness as the tree putsoff its bark, and displaying the blossom ofspiritual love and fehcitous emotions whichreached their flowering point in the trances ofthe great apostles of Vaishnavism.

The influence of the Bhagavata, and otherSacred Works.A. century before Chaitanya was born, the

Bhagavata and the Gita had begun to be widelyread in this province, as also in other partsof India. We find Govinda Das, Chaitanya'scompanion, during his tour in Southern Indiain 1510-11 A.D. recording that at Poona

there was a regular craze forGiL^nd^/Bhiavat': ^^^ ^^udy of the Gita and the

Bhagavata.^ When Chaitanyawas there, an illiterate Brahmin was found study-ing the Gita with a zeal which was laughed atby the scholars. For that diligent student of thesacred book neither understood nor correctlyrecited the slokas with which he kept himselfengaged day and night.^ The lays of Jaydev and

'oKta ifa^ ^f^ Tfw r#^ II^t^^ if^^^ C? iltft TtOT II p. 134.

' Govinda Das's Karcha, p. IGO.


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3-2 CHAITANYA AND HIS AGEChandi Das, based on the Bhagavata, were sungthroughout this province, and we know it on theauthority of Narahari that these songs, at histimci filled the whole world^ ;this world wasno doubt Bengal and Orissa. The Chaitanya-bhagavata (1573 A.D.) says that the Gita and theBhagavata were widely read in the countrybefore Chaitanya, though the author regretsthat right interpretation of the sacred books wasmissed by the scholarly pandits in their enthu-siasm to display erudition. Our Dharmamangalpoems, which give us glimpses of the Hinducourts before the advent of Islam record thatthe Bhagavata was studied there regularly,and that the kings at their leisure-hours listen-ed to discourses on that scripture from theircourt-pandits. The 10th Skanda of the Bhaga-vata, however, formed the subject of special studyof the Bengalis. The 11th Skanda treats mattersin a philosophical spirit. Bengal being a pastoralcountry, its inhabitants delighted in pastoral

poetry and pastoral religionJB^Sbaf'^"'^ "' ^re than in anything else, and

the 10th Skanda embodiesthese in a way which has perhaps no parallel inworld's literature.

The sports of Krishna as a boy are describedin the tenth Skanda in such a fascinating mannerthat it has a special appeal for an emotional race

' Chandi Das published by Sahitya Pariaat, Supplement "^,"


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THE SPORTS 33like the Bengalis. These sports on the sunnybanks of the dark-watered Jamuna are richlydetailed in the- canto. The boys sometimesrun pursuing the shadows of birds that flyin the sky. They mimic the apes by showingtheir series of small teeth,they catch; the mon-keys by their tails and often jump from boughto bough pursuing them. They cover theirbodies with striped blankets and crawl on handsand knees and become bulls and cows themselvesamongst their owa bulls and cows. Sometimesone of them shuts his eyes and becomes blind andtries to find out his way in that condition. Onedances in imitation of peacocks,The sports of the ^jjjj another iumps over a smallboys, J-stream imitating the frgg. One

takes fancy for becoming a crane and cover-ing himself with a white cloth sits amongstcranes ; while another shrinks and trembles infear as if he has seen a tiger, where there isnothing of the kind. One hums with the bees,whilst his comrade imitates the sounds of acuckoo or walks with the geese moving tp and froas those birds do.* Krishna and Balaram, whenfive or six years old, do all these merry-makingswith other gay boys of the Vrinda groves. Thebrothers sometimes pull a small cow by the tailand, when the latter runs forward, it carries thestruggling boys behind ita heels to the amuse-

i See Bhagavata, Skanda X, Chap. XII, Verses 6-12 Chap. XVIII,Verses 9-16.

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84 CHAITANYA AND HIS AGEment of the elderly people who witness thesesports.

That Krishna is God incarnate is of coursein evidence everywhere. While playing a hun-dred games in this way, he now and then unfoldshis divinity to his bewildered comrades bysuddenly killing great giants like fiakasura,Triuabarta and Aghasura, and crushing underhis feet the mighty crest of the snakeKaliya. There is a genial breath of affection andemotional tenderness in the whole environmentand specially in the house, for fond Jasodadotes on young Krishna and promising ever-more in her mind not to beat him for the mischiefhe does almost every hour, she sometimesloses her temper very justly. For what mothercould bear to see that during her short absence,the child had broken her milk-pitcher, her vesselsfull of curd and butter, and after having eaten asmall part of the contents himself, the marks ofwhich were on his mouth and teeth, was detectedin distributing the remainder amongst a host ofmonkeys that had gathered round him,^helooking like the very prince of them ! Jasodawas a milk-maid and these pitchers and vesselswere articles of her trade. Now she pursues themischief-making imp, who with many sprightlyleaps evades his mother and at last, caughtby her, submits to the punishment of being boundwith ropes ; but these fall short by a few inches,each time she adds to them by bringing in fresh


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THE TEKTH SKANDA 35ropes, so that she cannot tie them in a knot.The surprised mother looks with wonder andfear. Is it a child or what ? At this stage shesees in the child a manifestation of divinity andis filled with confusion. When the mother is thusconfused and frightened, the child-god withdrawsthe manifestation of his divinity, and once moreappears as a little thing extremely playful aridlovable, whom the mother kisses and calls herown. Sometimes the rainy season, the dark nightand the lonely forest-paths are made a back-ground from which his plays and love-makingsare shown with a singular effect. The wholepastoral country responds as it were to the callof his flute from this background, the irresistiblemusic of which makes the women of the Gokulcome out of their homes and surrenderthemselves unto His love.

The pastoral plays and a thousand attractiveincidents of pastoral life have a special charmfor the Bengalis, and if one examines a libraryof old Bengali manuscripts, one will certainly besurprised to see what a large number ofthese contain the Bengali versions of the 10thSkanda of the Bhagavata. The whole countrybecame literally flooded over by these versions,and, as I have already stated, this liking for theBhagavata-lore had commenced long beforeChaitanya came to the world. In the Krishna-kirtan of Chandi Das there are many passageswhich read like free versions of the 10th Skanda


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S6 CHAITANYA AND HIS AGEof the Bhagavata. This Skanda was translatedlater on by Maladhar Basu in 1480 A.D. or 6years before the birth of Ohaitanya.

The biographies of Chaitanya show that inhis childhood he played with his comrades all theplays that Krishna had played according to theBhagavata. These sports of Krishna had indeedbecome the craze with the children of Bengal atthat time ; some one of Ghaitanya's comradesbecame Baka or Aghasur^ and fought withanother who played the part of Krishna. Inthese Chaitanya was generally the leader. In theChaitanya Bhagavata we find Nityananda as achild playing Krishna-plays with his playfellowsat Ekchaka. The breaking of the cart and thekilling of Kansa were of course the familiar sub-jects ; he sometimes wore false whiskers and beardand played the part of Narada. The juvenilepoems of Ohandi Das illustrate h6w platformswere raised, where players robed themselves inpastoral dresses and played the parts of Krishnaand his little companions. Sometimes they playedall the ? parts of the various incarnations of

f Vishnu,* and Chaitanya himself in his childhoodfollowed the foot-pri!nts of birds, or coveredhimself with a striped cloth to appear as a bullafter Krishna.*

Ramananda born in 1299 A.D. (according toSir R. G. Bhiandarkar) and fifth in apostolic

'. Chandi Das, published by the Sahitya i*ariBat, pp. 14-20.' Chaitanya Bhagavata, Atul GoswAmi's edition, Adi, p. 40.


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A BRAHMIN PLAYER DIES 3^succession from Ramanuja worshipped bothKrishna and Rama and made no distinctionbetween them as they were both held to be incar-nations of Vishnu. In Bengal too we find MurariGupta and others following the footprints of thatgreat Vaishnab apostle of Southern India andshowing devotion to Rama and Krishna alike.'Murari composed many beautiful hymns in San-skrit in praise of Rama, and Chaitanya was sodelighted to hear these that he gave Murari the

title of Ramadas.^ The episodescourse of pia^y"^ '" of Rama's life were acted by

Bengali children along withthose of Krishna ; and Nityananda had playedthem all long before he first met Chaijianya in1508.^ The emotion which inspired the players wasgreat, and rose to a frenzy of excitement whichsometimes produced tragic results. It is said inthe Chaitanya Bhagavata that a Brahmin playring the part of Dasarath was so greatly over-powered by grief at Rama's exile that he diedin course of the play on the platform.*

(iv) Vaishnavism in Bengal before Chaitanya.Vaishnavism was already firmly planted in

Bengal by the endeavours of Sen kings whohad come from Southern India. For we find

' Chaitanya Charitamrita, Bangabasi edition, p. 169.^ Chaitanya Bhagavata, Atnl Goewami's edition, p. 65.

^ ' i6!d,p. 66. . ' ,


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38 CltAn?ANYA AND itlS AGEstone -images of the god, popularly ca liedVashudev

,

from every part of this country, traced from thetime of these sovereigns. Some of the Pal kingsof the later times also became devoted worship-pers of this deity. With a slight change in theform of this god he takes a different name. Hehas four arras, holding the shell, the disc, themace and the lotus. If by the first arm he holdsthe mace he is called Vashudev ; but if by thatarm he holds the disc he is called Pradyumna.

In this way he takes the diffe-ofvathudev'"* "'"""' ^^nt names of Sankarsana,

Aniruddha, Keshava, Narayana,Madhava, Govinda, Vishnu, Madhusudana, Tri-bikrama, Vamana, Sridhara, Hrishikesha, Padma-nava, Daraodara, Purushottama, Achyuta, Krish-na, Hari, Adhaksaja, TJpendra, and Janardana,simply by changing the sacred emblems ofdivinity from one hand to another. Theiconography of' this god popularly known asVashudev is minutely given in the ChaitanyaCharitamrita. For the sake of convenience, how-ever, we will follow the popular name Vashu-dev in designating this god. As all thesedifferent names imply the same deity, it is of nouse to enter into intricacies of names whichconcern those worshippers only who have to per-

form different rituals in regardBeI^^"deTtyf "* *" * *^e different names. This

deity Vashudev, however, wasoriginally no god of Bengal, for there is no


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THE IMAGES OF BLACK STONE 89tradition of the god to be found in the works of ourearlier potters and sculptors who made images ofour gods. In the old sculpture of Bengal we findKrishna with his flute, but nowhere is this deityin evidence to prove that Vashudev had beenworshipped here before the Sen kings becamedictators of the religion under the Brahmanicrenaissance.

But nevertheless the figure of this deitycaught the imagination of the Bengalis in latertimes, for in almost every village of importancethroughout this province we find images ofVashudev recovered from tanks and under-ground. He was certainly imported into Bengalby the Sen kings from Southern India. We findthese Vashudevs disfigured by the hands oficonoclasts lying in largest numbers in EasternBengal, specially Bikrampore, the reputed seatof the Sen kings. ,

These images were generally made of blackstone. They often show a remarkable tendernessand grace in execution inspite of being wroughtout in hard stone. The lips, the nose and thecheeks are so soft that they seem to be madeof clay or wax rather than hard blstck stone.The dark blue tint of this stone lends a Ibvelyinterest to the images, so that when they weremutilated, destroyed and removed from thetehaples, the helpless worshippers associated thecolour with divinity. They began to be fasci-nated by the sight of the dark rang

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0000000000000- Rai Bahadur Dinesh Chandra Sen- Chaitanya and His Age