Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c5.s3.6

c5.s3.6

In the midst of such conditions Caitanyaism was born. If we are to place any reliance on the picture of contemporary society given by the biographers of Caitanya, who lived not far from his time, there can be no doubt that there was a lamentable decadence of religious life and ideals in Bengal. The tyranny of an alien rule was aggravated by the greater social tyranny of dominant Brahmanism with its protective, but despotic, spirit. Minute rules and restrictions of an unchanging and stringent code of religious and social duties were prescribed, and the effort is best exemplified by the great, but narrowly conservative, work of Raghunandana who was probably an older contemporary of Caitanya. No doubt, the object of such social legislation was to secure stability of conduct, but it afforded little room for expansion and progress, and little escape from inevitable bondage and burden. On the other hand, even the exclusive Brahmanism in its instinct of self-preservation, had to relax itself so far as to adopt deities and countenance practices of strange origins, such as those associated with the local cults of Manasā, Vāśuli¹ and Dharma Ṭhākur. The degraded Sahajiyā and Nāthism, and various phases of decadent Buddhism and Tāntricism, of which we have spoken above and over all of which the mantle of Hinduism was thrown, brought in superstitious rites and doubtful practices which weakened the inherited spirituality of Brahmanism as a religion. The *Caitanya-candrodaya* of Kavikarṇapūra speaks of false ascetics, terrible Kāpālikas and corrupt Tāntrikas; and references are made in other works to the general preference of unclean meat, drink and women. "Religion" laments Vṛndāvana-dāsa "was reduced to a mere form, and there was no faith in men." The times were such as needed a reformer and saviour.