Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c6.s2.105

c6.s2.105

The rather uneventful course of Caitanya's life of worship and ecstasy which now began at Puri was broken twice during the many years he settled there; and this was to realise his long cherished desire to visit the great temple-city of Vṛndāvana, the holy centre of Kṛṣṇa-līlā. The recovery of the sacred sites of Vṛndāvana by the Bengal Vaiṣṇavas and its erection into one of the religious centres of Northern India form one of the most interesting events in the history of mediaeval Vaiṣṇavism; for the modern Vṛndāvana, eclipsing to-day the glory of the adjacent city of Mathurā by its fine temples, groves, seminaries and bathing ghats, is the creation chiefly of Bengal Vaiṣṇavism. We are told that the inspiration originated from Mādhavendra Puri, but it culminated in the constructive enthusiasm of Caitanya and his faithful followers. The sacred Vṛndāvana, with its romantic associations of the Kṛṣṇa-legend, must have charmed the devotional fancy of Caitanya; but the place had been long neglected even by Kṛṣṇa-worshippers. At an early stage of his career he had selected Lokanātha Ācārya¹ and entrusted him with the mission of reclaiming the holy city which was then lying desolate. The site of the old mythical Vṛndāvana is perhaps lost, like that of the old historic Mathurā, but the present sacred sites were identified by the disciples of Caitanya, and a new city was built up as their seminary and their stronghold, invested with a new sanctity and glory.