Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c5.s1.4

c5.s1.4

As a religious attitude, Bengal Vaiṣṇavism appears indeed as a fairly homogenous result, but in reality it is a complex product. Its tradition is not only multiple but also polygenous. Two principal sources, however, can be broadly distinguished. On the one hand, it relates itself to the general history of Vaisnavism in India; on the other, some of its peculiar dogmas and practices were developed by Caitanya and his disciples, giving it its distinctive character. To trace the general course of development of the Vaisnava faith in India, which forms the distant historical background of Caitanyaism, is beyond the limited scope of the present work; but we must distinguish two fundamental elements, which go to form the texture of Bengal Vaisnavism, as derived more or less from Vaisnavism in general. The first and foremost of these is the general doctrine of Bhakti, or emotional service of love and devotion as a means of spiritual realisation; but equally important is the Krsna cult, intimately connected with it, as forming the ground of this devotional attitude.