Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c6.s1.t4.2

c6.s1.t4.2

Kāvya, composed in 1542 A.D., for it mentions Nityānanda as an incarnation of Balarāma, Advaita as that of Śiva and Śrīvāsa as that of Nārada; but the mature theological elaboration of the dogma, such as the present work offers, could not have been worked out as early as 1544 A.D. It is also possible that the idea of the work was suggested by Rūpa Gosvāmin's description of the Gaṇas of Kṛṣṇa, for which Caitanyite parallels had to be found, in his *Rādhā-kṛṣṇa-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā* (about 1550 A.D.). The date 1576, given by the majority of MSS. appears therefore more suitable for this alleged work of Karṇapūra. Doubts have been expressed regarding its genuineness; but it is quoted in the 18th century by Narahari Cakravartin in his *Bhakti-ratnākara*. See B. Majumdar, *op. cit.*, pp. 97-100 for a discussion of the question; but interpolations into the text may be suspected. As an instance, one may point out that this work expressly affiliates the Caitanya Sampradāya to the Madhva, but Karṇapūra's drama testifies to Caitanya's dislike of Mādhva doctrine and his being an Advaita Saṃnyāsin! In style and treatment the work is pedestrian, and its theology is clearly of later development; it is difficult to say if it is really a genuine work of Kavikarṇapūra's. Karṇapūra's other Sanskrit works are: (i) *Ānanda-vṛndāvana-campū*, a voluminous Campū in Sanskrit prose and verse in 22 Stavakas, on the childhood and youth of Kṛṣṇa (ed. in the *Pandit*, Old Series, vol. ix and x, New Series, vol. i-iii. Only 9 Stavakas, ed. Madhusudan Das, Hooghly 1919, with comm. of Viśvanātha Cakravartin, and a Bengali translation, in Bengali characters). The Stavaka i is entitled *Bhagavat-sthāna-tattva-vallī-vistāra*, describing Vṛndāvana; Stavaka ii-vii *Bālya-līlā-latā-vistāra*, dealing with childhood, and Stavakas viii-xxii *Kaiśora-līlā-latā-vistāra*, treating of the early youth of Kṛṣṇa; (ii) *Alaṃkāra-kaustubha* (ed. Murshidabad, Radharaman Press, 1907; also ed. Varendra Research Society, Rajshahi, 1923-34), a regular work on Sanskrit Poetics, of which illustrative verses are mostly in praise of Kṛṣṇa. A short description of this work will be found in S. K. De, *Sanskrit Poetics*, 2nd ed. Calcutta 1960, i, p. 254-55; (iii) *Kṛṣṇāhnika-kaumudī* (ed. Haridas Das, in Bengali characters, Haribole Kutir, Navadvipa 1941), a small Kāvya in six Prakāśas, dealing with the Aṣṭakālīya Līlā of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, and belonging by its theme to the same type of composition as the respect to the early part of Caitanya's life, is the *Caitanya-bhāgavata*, composed by Vṛndāvana-dāsa at the command of Nityānanda.¹ Its date is uncertain² but it was probably writ-