Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c6.s2.68

c6.s2.68

The first short stay at Puri³ was marked by two important incidents. The first was the conversion of a famous Vedāntist, Vāsudeva Sārvabhauma, and the other was the homage of Gajapati Pratāparudra, ruler of Orissa, who is also said to have come under the spell of Caitanya's influence. Vāsudeva Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, some of whose devotional verses are cited in the *Padyāvali*,⁴ was a Navadvīpa scholar, born about the middle of the 15th century. His father was (Maheśvara ?) Viśārada, whom Vāsudeva mentions reverentially at the close of his commentary on Lakṣmīdhara's *Advaita-makaranda*,¹ and to whom the so-called *Pratyakṣa-maṇi-māheśvarī* on the *Tattva-cintāmaṇi*, is dubiously ascribed.² There is a legend that Vāsudeva went to Mithilā to study Nyāya at the school established by Pakṣadhara Miśra.³ As his teachers in Mithilā, it is said, would not allow any outsider to copy out their famous manuscripts on Nyāya, Vāsudeva committed the entire *Tattva-cintāmaṇi*, as well as the metrical portion of the *Kusumāñjali*, to memory, and brought them in this manner to Bengal. This is said to have transferred the study of Navya Nyāya from Mithilā to Bengal,