Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c5.s2.1

c5.s2.1

It is difficult to say in what particular form Vaiṣṇavism existed in Bengal before Caitanya. A general diffusion of some form of Vaiṣṇavite worship may be presumed to have existed from the Gupta and Post-Gupta periods, but it probably took the form of general Bhāgavatism of the early type, losing itself in Viṣṇuism. The Gupta princes were styled Parama-bhāgavatas, and the chief object of worship was probably Viṣṇu, of whom Kṛṣṇa might have been regarded as one of the many incarnations. In the Susunia Rock inscription of Candravarman (circa 4th century A.D.) the prince appears as a worshipper of Cakrasvāmin or Viṣṇu. This makes it probable that the mediaeval emotionalism of the Śrīmad-bhāgavata and its mystic adoration of Kṛṣṇa had not yet taken its root in Bengal. But it is believed that one of the figures recovered at the Paharpur excavation represents the united figure (yugala-mūrti) of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā. It is definite, however, that in the Belava inscription of Bhojavarman (circa 11th century A. D.), mention is made of Śrī-Kṛṣṇa not only as the mahābhārata-sūtradhāra, but also as the gopi-śata-kelikāra of the Śrīmad-bhāgavata, although he is still an incarnation (aṃśa-kṛiāvatāra) and not the supreme deity himself. The official religion of the Pāla kings was Buddhism, but they do not appear to have been hostile to other religions, and evidence is not wanting in the inscriptions of the period of erection of Viṣṇu temples. It seems probable that from this period some form of Vaiṣṇava Bhakti cult was developing: for it emerged in a finished literary form in the *Gita-govinda* of Jayadeva, who flourished under the Vaiṣṇavite Sena kings towards the end of the 12th century. Some are of opinion that the advent of the Karṇāṭas in Bengal with the Cedi prince Karṇadeva introduced the *Śrīmad-bhāgavata* emotionalism, which had its most probable origin in Southern India; and it is noteworthy that the Sena kings themselves, who were in all probability Vaiṣṇavas, are described in their inscriptions as Karṇāṭa-kṣatriyas. There can be no doubt, however, that the first and the most important literary record of pre-Caitanya Vaiṣṇavism in Bengal is the passionate lyrical poem of Jayadeva, which must have been the source of inspiration of such later Bengali poems as the *Śrīkṛṣṇa-kīrtan* of Baḍu Caṇḍīdāsa (*circa* end of the 14th century).¹