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Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c6.s1.t6: Locana-dāsa and Jayānanda

Early History of the Vaiṣṇava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c6.s1.t6

Language
English

Locana-dāsa and Jayānanda

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Of the remaining smaller biographies of Caitanya, two or three are well known. The *Caitanya-maṅgala*¹ of Locana-dāsa, son of Kamalākara-dāsa and Sadānandi of Kogrāma, which refers to the work of Vṛndāvana-dāsa² but not to that of Kṛṣṇadāsa, was composed probably towards the last quarter of the 16th century. It is divided into three, or rather four, Khaṇḍas, namely, Sūtra, Ādi, Madhya, and Śeṣa ; but there is no definite division of chapters. The work, however, is more poetical than historical. Its author was also a well-known composer of Bengali Vaiṣṇava songs, and the undoubted lyrical qualities of his biography are evidenced by the use made of it by professional Vaiṣṇava singers. It presents the ascetic Caitanya in a more romantic light, but it is in many places a professed free translation of Murāri-gupta's Sanskrit work ; and as a record of incidents, it does not add very materially to the information contained in the biographies, mentioned above, especially with regard to the devotional phase of Caitanya's life at Puri. Just as Vṛndāvana enlarges upon incidents connected with Nityānanda, so Locana-dāsa glorifies his Guru Narahari Sarkār into one of the five Tattvas of Caitanyaism, proves his intimacy with Caitanya, and accepts his Gaura-Nāgara doctrine.

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¹ Ed. Radharaman Press, Murshidabad 1918; also ed. Mrinal Kanti Ghosh, Amrita Bazar Patrika Office, Calcutta 1930. Also ed. Gaudiya Madhva Matha, Calcutta (with notes and indices).

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² The work was written, as the author himself informs us, at the instance of his Guru, Narahari Sarkār of Śrikhaṇḍa, an associate of Caitanya himself; and one of its objects appears to be to record particulars about Narahari, whose name was left out by Vṛndāvana-dāsa. Locana freely acknowledges his debt to Murāri's Sanskrit work. No influence of Vṛndāvana-dāsa or Kavikarṇapūra is perceptible. From what he tells us about himself (Seṣa-khaṇḍa), Locana (or rather Trilocana) belonged to the Vaidya caste, and was the son of Kamalākara and Sadānandi of Kogrāma in the district of Burdwan. His exact dates are not known. His Guru Narahari composed Bengali songs in which he symbolised his religious longings in the form of womanly love, such as the Gopīs in the *Bhāgavata* felt towards Kṛṣṇa, but he imputed a distinct, but unjustifiable, erotic colouring even to the Caitanya legend. This Nāgara-bhāva of Caitanya is deprecated by Vṛndāvana-dāsa (Ādi xiii), and it might have been one of the causes which gave rise to the alleged difference of opinion between Vṛndāvana and Narahari. Hence Locana, who accepted his Guru's views, was inspired to write a fresh biography from a different point of view. In their Bengali songs, both Narahari and Locana make this erotic tendency even more prominent. Regarding works cited by or known to Locana, see B. Majumdar, *op. cit.*, p. 251f. The argument that Locana's work was composed before *Gaura-gaṇoddeśa* (1576 A.D.) is not conclusive, for its omission or hesitation to refer to the doctrine of Avatāra in the Sūtra-khaṇḍa proves nothing.

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On the other hand, Jayānanda's work, also entitled Caitanya-maṅgala, is in many respects more interesting, being independent of Vaiṣṇava orthodoxy, from which it does not appear to have received much recognition. Unlike the other works, which accept the conventional division of Caitanya's life into Ādi, Madhya and Antya Līlās, this biography is divided into nine parts or Khaṇḍas, entitled respectively, Ādi, Nadiyā, Vairāgya, Saṃnyāsa, Utkala, Tīrtha, Prakāśa, Vijaya and Uttara Khaṇḍas. Although the author, who was the son of a follower of Caitanya's,¹ yields to the general tendency of accepting a large number of miraculous legends and fables, there is yet much in it (e. g. the manner of Caitanya's death over which a veil of mystery is drawn by the piety of his followers) which does not follow the beaten track, and gives us a few facts or traditions not recorded elsewhere. The work appears to have been written at the instance of Gadādhara Paṇḍita (a favourite Navadvīpa companion of Caitanya), whose disciple the author must have been. Jayānanda knew Vṛndāvana-dāsa's work, but he does not always accept the orthodox views. He tells us that his work was composed in the form and manner of a Pālā-gān, in which extraneous Purāṇa matters were not out of place, nor strict historical accuracy a necessary requisite. He does not appear to have a clear idea, for instance, of Caitanya's pilgrimages, nor any personal or authentic knowledge of important men and incidents. Even the new information that he supplies should not be taken without examination.¹ The date of composition of Jayānanda's work is not known, but in its opening list of previous biographies² it mentions

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¹ The work was published by Nagendra Nath Basu and Kalidas Nath from the Vaṅgiya Sāhitya Pariṣad, Calcutta, in 1905. A comparison of this text, however, with an incomplete MS of the work existing in the Dacca University collection shows material differences of reading ; and a fresh critical edition of the work is much to be desired, especially as the VSP edition is already out of print. Jayānanda, son of Subuddhi Miśra and Rodanī, was a Vandyaghaṭīya Brahman by caste. Subuddhi

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¹ For a discussion of Jayānanda's omissions, errors and additions, see B. Majumdar, *op. cit.*, pp. 232-249.

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² The existence of some other works on Caitanya is proved by this list. Jayānanda mentions (p. 3): (i) a *Caitanya-carita* in verse (probably in Sanskrit), as well as a *Caitanyāṣṭaka* (p. 125) and a *Caitanya-sahasra-nāma* in 100 verses (also probably in Sanskrit) by Vāsudeva Sārvabhauma, of whom we shall speak later, (ii) A series of poems or songs ( कवित्वसुश्रेणी सङ्गीतप्रबन्धे ) by Gaurī-dāsa Paṇḍita, probably

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is mentioned by Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja in the genealogy chapter of Caitanya's disciples (Ādi x); he appears to have been a disciple of Gadādhara. The name Jayānanda is to have been given by Caitanya himself on an occasion when he came to Subuddhi's house (p. 140) at the village of Āmāitpurī in Burdwan, at a time when Jayānanda was a child in the lap of his mother. Jayānanda's dates are uncertain, but he must have been born before Saka 1436 (=1514 A.D.) when the visit of Caitanya mentioned above is conjectured to have occurred. He must have been alive during the latter part of Caitanya's career. His work is supposed to have been composed between Sakas 1480 and 1492 (=1558 and 1570 A.D.).

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Vṛndāvana-dāsa's work but not that of Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja. It is probable, therefore, that it was composed towards the last quarter of the 16th century, and was thus almost contemporaneous with Locana's work of the same name.

Cites (3)