Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c11.s2.46

c11.s2.46

Caitanya on his return, in the eighth Act, recounts in a few words his impression of devotion in Southern India by saying that the few Vaiṣṇavas that he found were devotees of Nārāyaṇa; the rest were Tattva-vādins, whose views were not above reproach; but there were also Śaivas and a large number of very powerful Pāṣaṇḍas (atheists); the only views he liked those of Rāmānanda.² Caitanya meets at Puri his friends and followers and some devotees; but the main theme of this Act (which is entitled Pratāparudrānugraha) is his grace towards Pratāparudra, who falls at his feet during the Ratha-yātrā festival. In the ninth Act (Mathurā-gamana), we hear of Caitanya's visit to Mathurā, first from a Kimnara couple and then from Gajapati and Sārvabhauma, to whom a messenger brings news. The poet takes care to inform us that Caitanya visited the house of the poet's own father Śivānanda on his way. At Prayāga Caitanya met Rūpa¹ and Anupama, while at Benares Sanātana came to him, but no instruction in the Śāstras is mentioned. At Benares, we are told that some of the great Saṃnyāsins did not, out of jealousy, see Caitanya or come to him.² The tenth and last Act, called Mahāmahotsava, describes Caitanya's devotional acts and ecstasies, in company with his followers, during his remaining years at Puri at the Snāna, Dola, Ratha and Guṇḍicā-mārjana ceremonies, which are depicted in greater detail in Kavikarṇapūra's Kāvya. There is one interesting passage in which Śivānanda is represented as bringing his own son, apparently the poet himself, before Caitanya (x. 7) and exclaiming in adoration in a Mandākrāntā stanza: