Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c7.s4.30

c7.s4.30

From what has been said above, it is clear that the account of Gopāla Bhaṭṭa found in the records of the sect itself is not only meagre but also uncertain and unsatisfactory. But here the matter does not end. Another work is definitely ascribed to our Gopāla Bhaṭṭa by Narahari Cakravartin and Manohara-dāsa, but the ascription is falsified by what is recorded in the ascribed work itself! And this is a good commentary on the trustworthiness of the traditions recorded by these writers. Narahari informs us² that Gopāla Bhaṭṭa composed a Ṭippaṇī on Līlāśuka's Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta, which became a source of delight to devout Vaiṣṇavas;³ while Manohara not only mentions and characterises this commentary but also quotes and comments on its two Maṅgala-ślokas and declares Gopāla Bhaṭṭa's authorship of the work.¹ These verses do indeed occur, as they are quoted, in the Kṛṣṇa-vallabhā commentary² of Gopāla Bhaṭṭa on the Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta, as its first two opening verses. The first verse is an invocation of Kṛṣṇa, there being no Namaskriyā to Caitanya, while the second