Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c10.s1.7

c10.s1.7

The work is composed in the usual Anuṣṭubh Śloka metre, but each rule or prescription is supported and illustrated copiously by long quotations from the Purāṇas and other scriptures. The main contents of the work can be summarised briefly, but the quotations swell the work into an enormous bulk. The second of the four opening stanzas of the work names Gopāla Bhaṭṭa, a disciple of Prabodhānanda, as compiling it to satisfy Raghunātha-dāsa, Rūpa and Sanātana. The fourth verse refers to the venerable Vaiṣṇavas residing in the circle of Mathurā and to Kāśīśvara and Lokanātha then living at Vṛndāvana. This is followed by a synopsis of nearly 140 heads of subjects dealt with in the work, after which the first Vilāsa begins with the topic of Mantra-Dīkṣā or initiation of a Vaiṣṇava. The running commentary on the work, entitled Digdarśanī, is attributed to Sanātana Gosvāmins, but no name of the author is found in the commentary itself. We give below a brief survey of the principal contents of the work, chapter by chapter, and it will fairly indicate the peculiar character of the various religious practices of Bengal Vaiṣṇavism.