Chaitanya Movement | History | V - 4

Development at Vrindāvan

Before we trace the development of the sect in the century after Chaitanya’s death, we should pause here to describe the remarkable activity that took place at Vrindāvan.

As we have seen, this development at Vrindāvan was the direct result of Chaitanya's own action.

To all Vaishnavas, Mathurā and Vrindāvan are holy sites because of their connection with the legends of Krishna. To a devotee of Rādhā-Krishna the scenes of Krishna’s līlās at Vrindāvan must ever be of supreme sanctity.

Thus it is easy to understand the charm that the groves of Vrindāvan possessed for the Vaishnavas of Bengal.

But aside from this common attraction exercised on all bhaktas, Chaitanya inherited through his gurus a more direct interest in the sacred country.

As we have already pointed out, both his dīkṣā and sannyāsa gurus were disciples of the great Mādhavendra Purī, who, fifty years before had turned the thoughts of Bengal Vaishnavas toward the sacred sites of Vrindāvan. He had even established a small temple there and installed two Bengali priests as its custodians.

Thus in undertaking the restoration of the holy sites, Chaitanya was following a path already marked out in part.

However, to him belongs the credit of conceiving the enterprise on a far larger scale, and inspiring a band of able men with a spirit equal to its completion.

We may count this the one constructive purpose of Chaitanya's life.

Although he was unable personally to work at the task, we must admire the immense enthusiasm which could bring under its thrall men of great capacity and set them to such a life-long task of pioneering, laborious scholarship, and austerity.

By far the greatest names among the Chaitanyas connected with Vrindāvan are those of the two brothers, Rūpa and Sanātana, whose story we have already noted.

The vast learning of these scholars and their contribution to the literature of the sect will be dealt with elsewhere.

Their powers of mind and their prolonged studies in Sanskrit lore, combined with the austerity of their lives as saintly recluses, gave them a commanding position in the religious community centred in Vrindāvan.

With them were associated their nephew, Jīva Gosvāmī, whose name and attainments are held in almost equal veneration with their own, and three others, namely, Gopāl Bhaṭṭa, Raghunātha Das, and Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa.

These six scholars and devotees occupied a unique place in the development of the sect.

They were the six Gosvāmīs, the authoritative teachers and exponents of its doctrines, and as such have been held in highest veneration ever since.

To these men is due in large measure not only the reclamation of the sacred sites, but the popularising of Vrindāvan as one of the chief religious centres in north India.

In his well-known work, Mathurā, Growse says that until the end of the 16th century the whole country was practically woodland:

"The Vaishnava culture then first developed into its present form under the influence of the celebrated Bengali Gosāins of Vrindāvan...

From them it was that every lake and grove in the circuit of Braj received a distinctive name, in addition to the some 7-8 spots which alone are mentioned in the earlier Purāṇas. "

Again he says,

"This last named community (the Bengali Vaishnavas) has had a more marked influence on Vrindāvan than any of the rival schools,

as the foundation of all the material prosperity and religious exclusiveness by which the place is now pre-eminently characterised, was laid by Chaitanya's immediate disciples.”

Rūpa and Sanātana were the authors, probably, of the Māthurā Mahātmya, a work descriptive of all the sacred shrines and now forming a part of the Varāha Purāṇa.

It was under the influence of these leading Gosvāmīs that the great temples of Vrindāvan were built.

The finest of them all, the Govindaji temple, bears record in a Sanskrit inscription that it was built in A.D. 1590, under the direction of the two gurus, Rūpa and Sanātana.

This temple, Growse says, "is the most impressive religious edifice that Hindu art has ever produced, at least in Upper India.”

In addition to the image of Krishna in this temple, there are small images of Chaitanya and Nityānanda.

The other three that make up the oldest series of temples are known as Gopīnātha, Yugal Kiśor and Mādan Mohan.

These four temples were undertaken to commemorate a visit from the Emperor, who came to Vrindāvan drawn by the fame of these Gosvāmīs. The funds were provided by the neighbouring rājās and wealthy disciples.

The names of others of the six Gosvāmīs are associated with the building of temples, 7 of the oldest being ascribed to their influence.

One of these, the Rādhā Dāmodara temple, deserves mention, because the remains of Jīva Gosvāmī, its founder, and also those of Rūpa and Sanātana lie buried there.

When we consider the place of Vrindāvan in the religious life of India today, with its more than 1,000 temples, its 32 ghāṭs, and its ceaseless stream of pilgrims,

it is no small achievement to be laid to the credit of Chaitanya and his followers that their devotion should have laid its foundations.

As Dr. Sen says,

"How this happened is a tale worth telling to Bengali students, for this was done by the influence of Chaitanya and some of his colleagues,

although they were but ascetics and beggars and had nothing themselves to contribute to the material development of the place."

The six Gosvāmīs spent the greater part of their lives at Vrindāvan. Around them gathered other scholars from Bengal, and at their feet young devotees came to study.

Thus it naturally came about that this Vrindāvan coterie of scholars became the intellectual centre of the sect. Here were created its theological works, its philosophy and its ritual.

From Vrindāvan the works of these masters were sent to be preached and taught in Bengal. The standard life of Chaitanya, the Caritamṛta, was written here and then sent to Bengal.

The biography next in Vaishnava favour, although written in Bengal, was sent to Vrindāvan to be read and approved. In this way the approval of the Vrindāvan scholars was set up as the standard of orthodoxy.

As long as the Gosvāmīs lived, and they lived on to the end of the 16th century, this remarkable primacy of Vrindāvan in the Bengal movement continued. How much longer it survived in such a definite way it is difficult to say.

We read of a conference of Chaitanya scholars held in Jaipur at the beginning of the 18th century, composed largely of Vrindāvan Vaishnavas, when an official commentary on the Vedanta Sutras was decided upon.

This would indicate the continued supremacy of Vrindāvan at that date.