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History of Classical Sanskrit Literature c19.s4: Section 4

History of Classical Sanskrit Literature c19.s4

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English

Section 4

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**219. Sri Gauranga**, whose original name was Nimai, was born of Jagannātha and Śacī at Nadia in Phalgun, of Śaka 1407 (1486 A.D.) on the banks of the Bhāgīrathī. His childhood foretold his future greatness. He married Viṣṇupriyā, daughter of Sanātanamiśra. He was called Gaurāṅga or Gour for his fair complexion. When he became inspired and an ascetic, he took the name Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. He sang the glories of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and became the founder of the school of Bhakti or devotion. He passed away in 1527 A.D.⁶ Among his poems are Gopālacaritra,⁷ Premāmṛta,⁸ Saṅkṣepabhāgavatāmṛta,⁹ Harināmakavaca,¹⁰ Dānakeliciṇtāmaṇi.¹¹

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⁶ For an account of his life, see S. K. Ghose, *Lord Gauranga*, Calcutta; R. B. Dineschandra Sen, *Chaitanya and his age* and *Chaitanya and his companions*; M. T. Kennedy, *Chaitanya and his movement*; Y. Sircar, *Chaitanya's pilgrimages and teachings*; Farquhar, *ORL*, 476.

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⁷ *CC*, I. 161.

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⁸ *CSC*, (1907), No. 54; (1908) No. 67. with commentary by Vitthala.

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⁹ *CC*, I. 864.

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¹⁰ *CC*, I. 758.

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¹¹ *CSC*, (1908) 67.

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**220. Rupa**¹² was born in 1490 A.D. He was a scion of the Goswāmī line and Kumāra was his father. Vallabha and Sanatāna were his brothers. His sixth ancestor Aniruddha was a Raja of Karnat about Saka 1338. His family was immensely rich. Rūpa and Sanātana were made the prime ministers of Hosen Sahara, Emperor of Gauda.¹ By nature, of a religious disposition, they were attracted by the teachings of the reformer Caitanya,² and gave up home to become ascetics. Their greatness as religious teachers is described in the Vaisnava literature of Bengal.³ Rūpa passed away in 1563 A.D.⁴

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¹² For an account, see D. C. Sen's *History of Bengali Literature* (Calcutta), 503; Introduction to Ujvalanīlamaṇi (Kavyamāla); Introduction to Caitanyacandrodaya (Kavyamāla).

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¹ Rupa is mentioned by Rājaśekhara in his Kāvyaṁimāṁsa Rupadeva mentioned in *Skm*, and Padyavali and Rupadeva, author of commentary on Gītagovinda, are different poets.

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² Sanātana lived between 1484—1558 A.D.

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³ For a fuller account, see Narahari Chakravarṭi's Bhaktiratnākara.

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⁴ Printed Kāvyamāla, Bombay. There is a commentary on it by Cakravarṭi. It is in fact Gītagovinda dramatised. "The piece is also in its different portions supposed to be applicable to the different seasons of the year, at which the chief festivals in honour of Kṛṣṇa are held, or the festival of Spring in Chaitra of Vaisakha, that of the birth of Kṛṣṇa in Sravana of the rains, and the Rāsayātra or dance of Kṛṣṇa with the Gopis in the autumn." Wilson, *Theatre*, II. 393.

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As a poet and rhetorician, Rūpa is of a high order.⁵ The poetic instinct saturated with bhakti or love for Kṛṣṇa manifested itself in several forms of composition, always with the life of Kṛṣṇa as its theme. Vidagdhamādhava, and Lalitamādhava⁶ are dramas in seven acts describing the loves of Kṛṣṇa, and Rādhā as related in the Bhāgavata, Dānakelikaumudī⁷ and is a bhāṇa with its hero, Kṛṣṇa. Hamsadūta and Uddhavasandeśa are poems of message,⁸ on the model of Meghadūta. Padyāvali is an anthology and names the authors it quotes.⁹

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⁵ For a list of his works, see *CC*, I. 533.

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⁶ *IO*, VII. 4179; *CC*, I. 542; III. 115; also note a commentary by Nārāyaṇa.

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⁷ *DC*, XI. 8406. There are commentaries on it by Jīvāgresari and Raghunāthadāsa. See Vaisṇavadharmaprakāsikā (Murshidabad), Parts I to VI.

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⁸ There is a commentary on Hamsadūta by Mādhavamiśra *alias* Puruṣottama.

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⁹ See Thomas, *Kav*. 11.

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Among his other works,¹⁰ are Ujjvalacandrikā (a dialogue between Caitanyacandra's sister Rādhā and her friend about Kṛṣṇa), Yamunāstotra, Gandharvaprārthanāstotra, Gaurāṅgastavakalpataru, Kusumastabaka, Mukundamuktāvali, Cātupuṣpāñjalistava, Utkalikāvallari, Laghu-Bhāgavatamṛta, Ānandamahodadhi, and Mathurāmahimā.¹¹ By far his greatest work is the Ujjavalanīlamaṇi.¹² As a treatise on poetics it describes classes and conditions of lovers and the several stages and modes of their affection and is profusely illustrated with verses, all devoted to Kṛṣṇa. There are commentaries on it by Jīvagoswāmi,¹ by Viśvanāthacakravartin,² and three anonymous.³ His Nāṭakacandrikā⁴ is a treatise on drama based on the Nāṭyaśāstra and he refers to the views of Viśvanāṭha as opposed to Bharaṭa.

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¹⁰ *CC*, I. 533, III. 113; *TC*, IV. R. No. 3050.

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¹¹ *CC*, I, 68. Composed in 1560 A.D.

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¹² Ed. Kāvyamāla, Bombay, 95.

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¹ Ed. Bombay. Composed in 1580 A D.

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² Ed. Bombay. Composed in 1695 A.D. He wrote a commentary on Bhāgavata in Kavikarṇapūra's Alaṅkārakaustubha.

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³ CC, I. 62; CSC, XI. 3.

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⁴ Ed. Kasimbazar. DC, XXIII. 8669.

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**221.** Rūpa had two brothers. Vallabha and Sanāṭana. Sanāṭana commented on Rūpa's Ujjvalanīlamaṇi and wrote among other works,⁵ Haribhaktivilāsa⁶ and Bhāgavatāmṛta.⁷ He lived in 1484-1558 A.D.

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⁵ See CC. I. 693.

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⁶ See CC, I. 758. There is another work of this name by Gopāla Bhatta *Ibid*.

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⁷ See CC, I. 403-4.

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Rūpa's desciple RAGHUNATHADASA wrote the short but beautiful poem the Muktācarita,⁸ a funny tale in which Kṛṣṇa told Satyabhāma that pearls could be grown as a crop and demonstrated it by sowing a pearl and watering it with milk. Then the Gopīs sowed all the pearls they had, but no plants came out. After repeated entreaties, Kṛṣṇa relented and returned the pearls.

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⁸ TC, IV. 4830-2.

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**222. Jīva Goswami** was the son of Vallabha, Rūpa's younger brother. He was born in Śaka 1445 (1435 ?) at Rūmakeli near Fatehbad. He became an ascetic when he was twenty and was head of a Goswami mutt at Bṛndāvana, until his demise in Saka 1540 (1618 A.D.) Among his works⁹ are Gopālacampū, Mādhavamahotsava, Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu, Govindabirudāvali and Jāhnavyaṣṭaka.¹⁰

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⁹ For a complete list of his works, see *Int*. to Ujjvalanīlamaṇi, *loc. cit*.

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¹⁰ TC, IV. 4471-4.

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**223. Kavikarṇapūra** was the son of Śivānanda Sena of Kancanapalli near Nadia. His father was the purveyor of the Bengali followers of Caitanya to Puri, so long as Caitanya lived, at the cost of Vasudevaḍaṭṭa, a millionare.¹¹ He was born in 1524 A.D. He was educated at Kumārahaṭṭa, modern Hailasar, north of Calcutta. He was a pupil probably of Jīvagoswāmi. In his Gaurāṅgagaṇoddeśadīpikā,¹² composed in Saka 1498 (1577 A.D.) he traces Caitanya's followers to their prior births; for instance, Caitanya's father Jagannāṭha is traced to Nanda, the father of Kṛṣṇa, and to Dasaratha, the father of Rāma. Every follower of Caitanya is traced to one of the Gopikas or milkmaids in the Kṛṣṇa incarnation and to one of the monkeys in the Rāma incarnation.

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¹¹ See CSC, (1909), No. 36.

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¹² CSC, (1907), 45; *HPR*, II. (for an account).

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In his play Caitanyacandrodaya,¹ composed in 1543 A.D., he depicted the life of Caitanya. Besides Alaṅkārakaustubha,² on rhetoric, he wrote Camatkāracandrikā,³ and Ānandabṛndāvanacampū,⁴ on the loves of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

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¹ Printed Calcutta and Bombay.

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² Ed. partly by Sivaprasad Bhaṭācārya; *Oxf.* 209. There are commentaries by Lokanātha (*CC*, I. 31) and by Bṛndāvanacandra (*IO*, 240).

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³ *IO*, 1463; *Mitra*, VI. 212 and 2150.

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⁴ *IO*, 492, 645. There is another of that name by Paramānandadāsa (printed Benares) and another by Keśava (*NP*, X. 16).

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**224.** Among the great men of Goswami's order, Śrīdāsa wrote Rādhākuṇḍaṣṭava, Raghunātha wrote Vilāpakusumāñjaliṣṭava, and Kṛṣṇakavirāja wrote Rādhāṣṭaka,⁵ and Govindadāsa (1537-1612 A.D.) wrote Sangītamādhava and Karṇāmṛta.⁶ In his Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu, Sanātana describes the four varieties of Bhakti to Lord Kṛṣṇa and develops the sentiment according to the theories of rhetoric.⁷

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⁵ See *TC*, IV. No. 3050-3. Yadunandana wrote Vilāpakusumāñjali, *CSC*, (1907) No. 59.

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⁶ See D. C. Sen, *History of Bengali Literature*, 547.

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⁷ In *CC*, I 390 Aufrecht gives it as the work of Sanātana composed in 1542 A.D. (*IO*, 820). But in *TC*, VI. 4434, it is cited as the work of Rūpagoswāmi.

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Raghunātha's desciple Kṛṣṇadāsa wrote the poems Govindalīlāmṛta,⁸ and Kṛṣṇalīlāṣṭava.⁹

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⁸ This poem is described as the work of (i) Raghunāthadāsa (*IO*, VII. 3875); (ii) Raghunāthabhaṭṭa (*Mitra*, II. 571). But the real author of Kṛṣṇadāsa (*Ulwar*, 38). See article by C. Chakravarti (*IA*, LVII. 208).

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⁹ See *TC*, IV. R. No. 3053.

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