[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Religion and philosophy](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion) › [Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.de-1942) › c7.s5.18 # Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c7.s5.18 Early History of the Vaiṣṇava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c7.s5.18 - **Language:** English ### [c7.s5.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.de-1942.c7.s5.18) ¹ It is our impression (and the reasons have been given above) that Caitanya could not have been such an anti-Saṃkara as depicted by Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja. The Kavirāja, however, is careless enough to give us a rough idea as to what Caitanya's metaphysics could possibly have been, when he makes Caitanya ridicule Vallabha Bhaṭṭa for differing from Śridhara's commentary on the \*Bhāgavata\* and say that Śridhara was 'Jagad-guru'. In his commentary on Jiva's \*Tattva-sandarbha\*, Rādhamohana Gosvāmin says that the Saṃkara sect was divided into two main branches—(i) the Smārtas, possibly the pure Advaitins who did not care about Bhakti and (ii) the Bhāgavatas, who tempered the idea of Mukti with Bhakti; and that Śridhara belonged to the latter branch. Possibly Caitanya was a Saṃkarite Saṃnyāsin of the Śridhara type, although he was far ahead of Śridhara in what he understood to be the implications of Bhakti, and the Bhakti, which he practised may have been very much like what Rūpa and Jiva say about it. For Śridhara's treatment of Bhakti see his brief comment on \*Bhāgavata\* x. 43. 17. - [Previous: c7.s5.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.de-1942.c7.s5.17) - [Next: c7.s5.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.de-1942.c7.s5.19) - [Up: c7.s5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.de-1942.c7.s5) ## Linked texts (1) - [Bhāgavatapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.bhagavata.10.43.17) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.de-1942.c7.s5.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.de-1942.c7.s5.18) · Pramāṇa