BLiterature-Apratim

6
Charitamrita is a poetic gift and historically remarkable. Brindabandas’s Chaitanya-
Bhagabat is a well-reliable work on Chaitanya’s life and contemporary Bengal.
The Vaishnava poets saw him from very close distance. They comprehended
his mystic doctrines and greatness of his life-story. The hagiographers and Padapoets
drew their guru’s life-sketches and images like class painters. He influenced
the whole Bhakti movement of India, which he himself had initiated. The
contemporary poets glorified Chaitanya’s life what Jayadeva had done for Krishna. In
this context, two lines from Sree-Chaitanya-Charitamrita are notable: Vishnu (of who
Chaitanya is recognized an ‘incarnation’) made an oath in heaven –
“I shall descend on the earth for having three tastes
Having the complexion and appearance of Radha.”
(Translated by the author)
And his intention, as the poet says, is to know the madness of Radha’s love
for her divine lover. The message is that one gets salvation if one loves God like a
true lover. And Chaitanya is, to his followers, a ‘fusion incarnation’ of Krishna and
Radha in a single body.
The poets influenced by Chaitanya’s philosophy also made an analogy
between love and lust – lust is the sexual impulse for another living being while love
is such one for Krishna.
Chaitanya declared that there is no caste-divide for the worship of Krishna;
Brindabandas recalls his word in Chaitanya-Bhagabat –
“An untouchable is no untouchable, if he calls ‘Krishna’,
A Brahmin is no Brahmin, if he walks along sinful path,
Whoever worships, is the devotee, a heretic is a mean damned,
Neither caste nor creed Krishna-puja demands.”
(Translated by the author)
Chaitanya gave a sharp conception of the depth of mystic love. In order to
glorify his godlike guru, Krishnadas says –
“He is the main dancer, all the rest are co-dancers;
Everyone dances in the way he wishes.”
(Translated by the author)
However, these are just conceptions of the Middle Ages and quite archaic
now.
Nevertheless, the inner richness, ornamental language and astonishing
philosophy of Vaishnava literature are eligible to be compared to the classics of
world literature.
The period was influenced by Chaitanya in mainly four ways –
1. Vaishnava Padas conveyed his mystic ideas,
2. Vaishnava Padas even about him were composed,
3. A new genre – hagiography was created centering his life, and
4. Verse-fictions (actually Mangal-Kabyas) having humanistic ideas were
written.
Vaishnava Pada-literature reached its peak in this period. The greatest poet of
this genre is Chandidas. Unlike others of the era, his Padas are rich in witty words
and attractive naivety. His historicity is untraced and therefore, I include him in