The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.s1.185

v2.c17.s1.185

In the time of his successor Pratāparudra, however, the place was visited by the great Vaiṣṇavite reformer Caitanya and he found here a promising field for the promulgation of his doctrine. Born at Navadvīpa in Bengal, on the full-moon Phālguṇa in the Śaka year 1407, i.e., A.D. 1485, he had early turned his attention to religion : on his 28th year adopted the life of a hermit and devoted the remaining thirteen years of his life to the dissemination of his faith. His doctrine was the same as that of Sāṇḍilya as elaborated by Rāmānuja ; but the credit of giving it practical currency was entirely his own. Pratāparudra received him with great honour and soon became one of his followers. And between the tutor and the pupil the system of Bhakti or love was made to supplant the theory of veneration. From the time of Yayāti Keśari to that of Puruṣottama, Jagannātha was looked upon as the Supreme Divinity to whom the highest veneration was due, and the rituals of the feasts and festivals were so regulated as to display that feeling in every from. But Caitanya looked upon the divinity as an object of love and evinced for him the same feeling which a human lover entertains for his mistress. Of the nature of this system of faith, a brief summary has already been given in Vol. I (pp. [154f]), and nothing further need be said here. Caitanya, who was most ardently attached to it, and was at the same time its most zealous disseminator, found the Temple of Puri the best adapted for his purpose. The old Buddhist character of the place had been preserved to a great extent. The images there were those of divinities who were as yet no members of the Hindu pantheon, except by analogy ; the name of the principal divinity was of so unsectarian a character (lord of the world) that is left a wide room for innovation ; and caste distinctions, which elsewhere raised insuperable barriers against a wide system of proselytism, had been long since destroyed by Buddhism, and never been revived, — every one within the sacred precincts of the temple enclosure was equal to his neighbour and the holy rice-offering to the images could be touched and eaten by all without any let or hindrance. These were exactly the conditions which suited his purpose best and he did not fail to take advantage of them to the utmost extent possible. With the co-operation of the Rājā, he caused the mystic songs of Jayadeva to be recited before the images every morning and evening as a part of the daily service, and gave such a turn to the ritual as to make the worship thoroughly anthropomorphic. The divinity ceased, and in his place rose the being who may be loooked upon at option as the master, friend, parent, or mistress of the worshipper, and his service was modelled accordingly. [III] A human being, on rising from bed, must first wash his mouth and brush his teeth, and the first service was accordingly made to typify washing and brushing. Bathing, berafast, recreations, dining and sleeping all followed in symbolisms, and the worship of the divinity was changed to the service of man. This anthropomorphic form of worship, first introduced by Caitanya, still obtains and traits of it will be seen in the account of the feasts and the festivals which will be given further on. The memory of the reformer is held in the highest veneration and there are upwards of 800 temples devoted to his worship to Orissa.