Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c6.s2.53

c6.s2.53

² Although the antiquity of the Kirtana is probable, Caitanya's biographies distinctly say that this mode was Caitanya's creation: cf. Murāri I. 1. 5; I. 4. 25-27: कलियुगे सङ्कीर्तन धर्म पालिबारे । अवतीर्णा इहला प्रभु सर्वपरिकरे ॥ (*C-bh*, Ādi i): आरम्भिला महाप्रभु कीर्तन प्रकाश (op. cit. Ādi ii). Kavikarṇapūra in his drama (viii. 32) (also in his Kāvya) speaks of the Kirtana as: *iyam iyam bhagavac-caitanya-sṛṣṭiḥ*. On the superiority of the Kirtana over other modes of worship, see Sanātana, *Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta*, ii. 3. 146-148, 158.