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Bhakti Paradigms, Syncretism and Social Restructuring in Kaliyuga: A Reappraisal of Some Aspects of Bengali Religious Culture

Amiya P. SenView all authors and affiliations
Volume 14, Issue 1
https://doi.org/10.1177/025764309801400104
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1 Roger Chartier, 'Culture as Appropriation: Popular Cultural Uses in Early Modern France', in Steven J. Kaplan, ed., Understanding Popular Culture, New York, 1984, pp. 229-30.
2 Here smriti literature is taken to include two epics, the eighteen Mahapuranas and the Manusmriti. For a fairly extensive list of such texts in which references to degenerative time occurs, see Arvind Sharma, 'The Notion of Cyclical Time in Hinduism', Contribution to Asian Studies, Vol. 5, 1974, pp. 29-30. For a recent discussion on the concept of time and history in early India, see Romila Thapar, Time as a Metaphor of History: Early India, Delhi, 1996.
3 For some typical references see Lochandas, Chaitanya Mangal, ed., Atul Krishna Gos wami, (hereafter Lochan) Calcutta, 1901, p. 23; for its use in Baul songs see Sudhir Chakravarti, Bangla Dehatattwer Gan, Calcutta, 1990, p. 85. The Mahanirvan Tantra refers to greed and gluttony in Kaliyuga: see John Woodroffe, Sakti and Sakta Essays and Addresses on the Sakti Tantrasastra, Madras, 1959, p. 568; the Kartabhajas refer to both the yuga theory and degenerative time in Kali: see Manulal Misra (compiled) Bhaber Geet, Calcutta. 2 edn, 1918, pp. 34-35; for its use in orthodox Islam, see Meheruddin Fakir, Fakirer Monovilas. Barisal, 3 edn, 1926, p. 18; M.A. Rehman, Kalir Muslim, Sylhet, 1931. Islamic syncretic cults outside Bengal can also be seen using these themes: see W. Ivanow, 'The sect of the Imam Shahis in Gujerat', in Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 12: 1-2, 1936, pp. 19f.
4 Vishnu Purana, translated (into English) with notes by H.H. Wilson, Vol. 2, Delhi, 1989, p. 62.
5 Hasina Jasimuddin Moudud, A Thousand Years of Old Bengali Mystic Poetry, Dhaka, 1992, p. 104.
6 Prabodh Chandrodaya or the Rising Moon of Intellect: An Allegorical Drama, and Atmabodh or The Knowledge of the Spirit, translated by J. Taylor, London, 1812 Act 5, pp. 62f.
7 Cited in Sukumar Sen, Sukumar Sener Probandhabali (Vichitra Devata), Vol. 1, Calcutta, 1984, p. 196.
8 Sumit Sarkar, 'The Kathamrita as a Text: Towards.an Understanding of Ramakrishna Paramhansa', Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Occasional Papers on History and Society, No. 22, mimeographed, New Delhi, 1985, p. 100.
9 Harimohan Bandopadhyay, Kalki Upanishad, Calcutta, 1929, p. 15. Also, see the anony mous article appearing in a contemporary journal alleging Kali to be totally bereft of Brahmins. 'Turki Sultan', Gaudiya, Vol. 1:14, 9 Aghrayan 1329 (November 1922), p. 24. For a similar argument see Vivekananda, 'India's' message to the World, The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Mayavati Memorial Edition, (hereafter CWV), 1972-73, Vol. 4, p. 310.
10 Vrindavan Das, Chaitanya Bhagavat ed., Sukumar Sen (hereafter CBH), Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, rpt. 1991, 3.13.157; Lochan, Chaitanya Mangal, p. 57.
11 Vivekananda, however, refers to Chaitanya's commentary on the Vyasa [Brahma] Sutra, a work not found to date. See 'Reply to the Madras Address'. CWV, Vol. 4, p. 336.
12 The CBH for instance claims that Chaitanya descended on earth to initiate the use of the Sankirtan. CBH, 1.2.21.
13 F.L. Damien, Crisis and Religious Renewal in the Brahmo Samaj, 1860-84, Leuven, 1983, pp. 187, 191, 234 (fn. 16), Hitesh Ranjan Sanyal, Bangla Kirtaner Itihas, Calcutta, 1989, p. 242.
14 On the exploits of the Kalki avatar see Kalki Purana, ed. and translated (into Bengali) by Jaynarayan Tarkalankar, Calcutta, rpt. 1878.
15 See, for instance, one of Lalan Fakir's baul songs cited in Upendranath Bhattacharya, Banglar Baul O Baul Gaan, Calcutta, 1957, song nos 15, 21.
16 See Sri Sri Satyanarayaner Panchali (based on the texts of Shankaracharya and Rames war Bhattacharya), translated (into Bengali verse) by Pandit Kali Prosonno Vidyaratna, Akshay Library, Calcutta, n.d.
17 At the Yog Maya temple at Mehrauli, New Delhi. The Kalki icon is evidently a recent addition, installed, I am told, after the BJP government came to power in Delhi.
18 I say this on the basis of a scrutiny of old library catalogues as well as lists of works appearing from time to time in leading Vaishnava journals like Gaudiya, Sajjantoshini, Gaurabgasebak and Vishnupriya Patrika.
19 Kalki Purana, ed. and translated (into Bengali) by Panchanan Tarakaratna, Bangabasi Press, Calcutta, 1908. As a member of the expert team of Sanskritists hosted by the Bangabasi, Pandit Panchanan was also instrumental in translating a large number of Hindu religious texts. On the nature of the activities of this press, see Amiya P. Sen, Hindu Revivalism in Bengal, 1872-1905: Some Essays in Interpretation, Delhi, 1993, Chap. 4.
20 Vishnu Purana, 6.2.36. This incidentally appears fairly regularly in medieval Vaishnava hagiographies like the CBH and the Chaitanya Charitamrita of Krishna Das Kaviraj.
21 Sumit Sarkar, 'The Kalki Avatar at Bikrampur: A Village Scandal in Early 20th Century Bengal', in Ranajit Guha, ed., Subaltern Studies, Vol. 6, Delhi, 1992, p. 28.
22 Kavi Kanka was a Patit Brahmin from Mymensingh and composed his verses around 1502. See Dinesh Chandra Sen, Vrihat Bongo, Vol. 2, Calcutta, 1935, p. 978.
23 As for instance the Brahmin Harihar in Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhyay's Aparajito and Pather Panchali. I owe this reference to Sumit Sarkar.
24 Kumud Nath Mallik, 'Dharma O Jatiya Jignasa', Birbhumi, Vol. 6:4, 1330 B.S. (1923), p. 39.
25 Akshay Kumar Dutta, Bharatvarshiya Upasak Sampradaya, ed. Baridboron Ghosh, Karuna edition, Calcutta, 1987, p. 229.
26 H.H. Risley, The Tribes and Castes of Bengal: Ethnographic Glossary, Vol. 2, Calcutta, 1892, p. 346; Ramakanta Chakravarti, Vaishnavism in Bengal, Calcutta, 1985, pp. 169-70; Amulya Chandra Sen, Itihaser Chaitanya, Calcutta, 1965, p. 25.
27 For an excellent study of this cult, see Sudhir Chakravarti, Balahari Sampradaya Ar Tader Gan, second rpt. Calcutta, 1994.
28 CBH, 2.8.259; 1.9.181-84; 1.14.249-50. Today, gender-mixing in Kirtan-parties is strongly discouraged. Vivekananda thought that the excessive emotionalism displayed in these parties ultimately led to sexual arousal. This he claimed to have seen among his American devotees and admirers. Sarat Chanda Chakravarti, Swami Sisya Samvad, 11th edn, Calcutta, 1995, p. 247.
29 J.C. Heesterman, The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Culture, Kingship and Society, Chicago, 1985, p. 197.
30 As can be gauged from the secrecy with which Kirtan-parties were held at night, behing closed doors. CBH, 2.16.2.
31 As for example with Prakashananda, CCM, 2.6.48f.
32 On the strong blending of Advaitic non-dualism and Bhakti, see Daniel P. Sheridan, The Advaitic Theism of the Bhagavata Purana, Delhi, 1987.
33 Sri Srimat Prabhupad Bejoy Krishna Goswami Mouni Abasthar Upadesh, compiled by Vrindavan Chandra Ghosh and edited by Swami Asimananda Saraswathi, Manbhum/Calcutta, 1953, p. 119.
34 Edward J. Thompson and Arthur Marshman Spencer, Bengali Religious Lyrics: Sakta, Calcutta, 1923, p. 17; Atul Chandra Mukhopadhyay, Gaudiya Vaishnav Tattwa, Calcutta, 1992, p. 62.
35 Variously attributed to Sanatan and Gopal Bhatt Goswamis. The work was published by Ramgati Vidyaratna in 1882. An initiate of the Gaudiya Math once informed me that the Haribhaktivilas was fast falling into disuse as very few of those now recruited had any knowledge of Sanskrit. This however may reflect equally on the social basis of recruitment as on the declining status of Sanskrit.
36 A typical work of this kind is Rupa Goswami's Ujjwalnilmani. For a useful introduction to Vaishnav Rasasastra, see Neal Delmonico, 'Sacred Rapture: The Bhakti Rasa Theory of Rupa Goswami', in Tony K. Stewart, ed., Shaping Bengali Worlds, Public and Private, East Lansing, 1989; S.K. De, Early History of the Vaishnav Faith and Movement, Calcutta, 1961; Vishnu Pada Bhattacharya, Gaudiya Vaishnav Sampradaya: Bhaktirasa and Alankarshastra, Calcutta, 1993.
37 Mildred Archer, Indian Popular Paintings in the India Office Library, London, 1977, p. 24.
38 Sukumar Sen, 'The Etymology of the Name Radha', Indian Linguistics, Vol. 7: 1, 1940-41; S.B. Dasgupta, Sri Radhar Kromobikash: Darshan O Sahitye, Calcutta, 1963; S.K. Das, The Mad Lover: Essays on Medieval Love Poetry, Calcutta, 1984.
39 David Shulman, 'The Enemy Within: Idealism and Dissent in South Indian Hinduism', in S.N. Eisenstadt et al., eds, Orthodoxy, Heterodoxy and Dissent in India, Berlin, 1984, p. 35.
40 For Swakiya-Parakiya concepts, see De, The Early History.
41 Dinesh Chandra Sen once explained to Nivedita how, given the nature of Indian marriages, romance often became conjoined to adultery. D.C. Sen, Padaboli Madhurya, Calcutta, 1937, p. 92.
42 Nirad Chandra Chaudhuri, Hinduism, Oxford, 1979, p. 272; for specimens of coquettish folk-poetry of north India, see R.C. Temple, 'Some Hindu Songs and Caches from the Villages of Northern India', Calcutta Review (hereafter CR), 1882, p. 33.
43 The stories occur in the Sahajiya works Karnananda of Y. Das and Vivarta Vilas of Akinchan Das. Edward J. Dimock, Jr., The Place of the Hidden Moon, Chicago, 1966, p. 10.
44 Bama Charan Basu Das, 'Swakiya Parkiyar Chudanta Mimangsa', Gauranga Sebak, Vol. 2: 7-8, Bhadra-Aswin, 1319 B.S.(1912), pp. 412-20.
45 D.C. Sen, History of Bengali Language and Literature, Calcutta, 1911, p. 540.
46 As in Jiva Goswami's Gopal Champu. In Brahmavaivarta Purana Radha and Krishna are married according to Gandharva rites. See Brahmavaivarta Purana (Krishna Janma Khanda).
47 Sukumar Sen, Bangla Sahityer Itihas, Calcutta, Vol. 2, 1975, p. 16.
48 CCM, 1.4.52-53; B.B. Majumdar, Panchshoto Batsarer Padabali, 1410-1910, Calcutta, 1966, p. 1; Jnandas O Tahar Padabali, Calcutta, 1965, p. 40.
49 Peter van der Veer, 'Taming the Ascetic: Devotionalism in a Hindu Monastic Order', Man, n.s., Vol. 22: 14, December 1967, p. 682.
50 The Dabistan or The School of Manners, translated by David Shea and Anthony Troyer, Paris, 1843, p. 183. The Dabistan is a seventeenth century work attributed to a Muslim traveller, Mohsin Fani. William Jones first drew the attention of orientalists to this work. A Calcutta edition was edited and published by Moulavi Nazr Ashraf in 1809. Together with the Persian Kitab-al-Mila wal-Nihal (Book of religious and philosophical sects) it may have constituted a major influence on the early Rammohun. See Ajit Kumar Ray, The Religious, Ideas of Rammohun Roy, New Delhi, 1976.
51 These are texts he picked up during his pilgrimage of south India. See CCM, 2.1.41; 2.9.287f.
52 For the famous meeting between Chaitanya and Ramananda on the banks of the Godavari and the discourse on Raganug Sadhana, see CCM, 2.8.
53 A song from the Sahebdhani cult in early modern Bengal cited in Sudhir Chakravarti, Sahebdhani Sampradaya, Tader Gan, Calcutta, 1985, p. 91.
54 Purnima Singha, 'Barahabhumir Loksangit O Marga Sangit Biboroner Sutra', Sahitya Patra, Ashad 1377, B.S. (1970), pp. 44-45, cited in Ramakanta Chakravarti, Vaishnavism, p. 474.
55 Jatindra Mohan Bhattacharya, Banglar Vaishnav Bhavapanna Musalman Kabi, Calcutta, 1949, pp. 3, 64; Brojo Sundar Sanyal, ed., Musalman Vaishnav Kabi: Aliraja, Rajshahi, 1904, pp. 12, 14, 18.
56 CCM, 1.4. 49-50.
57 See Lalan's song cited in note 11 above; see also Jayananda, Chaitanya Mangal, Invocation to Adikhanda.
58 D.C. Sen, History, p. 274; A.N. Chatterji, Sri Krishna Chaitanya: A Historical Study of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Delhi, 1983, p. 171, note 155, states that some Vaishnav manuscripts were in fact recovered from the rickshaw-pullers of Vrindavan. Chatterji, however, does not fully specify the source of this information.
59 The Kartabhajas, Khushi Biswasis and Pratap Chandis, to cite only the better known cases. Chaitanya ascriptions were also made in respect of Birbhadra (son of Nityananda), Keshub Chandra Sen, Ramakrishna and Haranath Bandopadhyaya (Thakur Haranath). Of these, the most interesting is the case of Thakur Haranath. See the multi-volume biography of Haranath by A. Ramakrishna Sastri, Lord Haranath, Rajahmundry, 1970-72.
60 Melville T. Kennedy, The Chaitanya Movement. A Study of the Vaishnavism of Bengal, Calcutta, 1925, p. 158.
61 Samachar Darpan, 27 Kartik 1244, B.S. (November 1837), cited in Brojendranath Bandyopadhya, Sambadpotre, p. 277.
62 CBH, 1.3.19; 3.4. 17-18; 3.5 163-64.
63 E. Alan Morinis, Pilgrimage in the Hindu Tradition. A Case Study of West Bengal, Delhi, 1984, p. 215.
64 Umesh Chandra De, 'Bhakta Naryan Das Thakur', Bangiya Sahitya Parishat Patrika, Vol. 19: 2, 1319 B.S. (1912), p. 113; 'Sri Vaishnaver Varnashram', Sajjantoshini, Magh 1306 B.S. (1900), pp. 27-30. The CBH itself suggests that Haridas was a Hindu deliberately born as a Muslim so as to prove the irrelevance of one's birth. CBH, 1.14. 225-28.
65 Duddu Shah, cited in Sudhir Chakravarti, Sahebdhani, p. 79.
66 Amra Hindure dekhi na khai bhat (As Muslims we do not eat in the presence of the ritually polluting Hindu). These incidentally are words which the Kazi of Nadia uses to admonish the Muslim Haridas, who, reportedly under the influence of Chaitanya, had started proclaiming the oneness of the Hindu and Islamic Gods. See CBH, 1.14.57.
67 CCM, 1.17.142.
68 CCM, 1.17.224.
69 Chudamani Das, Gauranga Vijaya, ed. Sukumar Sen, Calcutta, 1957, p. 40.
70 CBH, 1.10.136; Chudamani Das, Gauranga Vijay, 53. There was, incidentally, also the fear of state reprisal on this account. See CBH, 1.2.11; 2.2.235, 237.
71 CBH, 3.4.56-66.
72 CCM, 1.17.124-25; CBH, 2.23.385-86.
73 CCM, 1.17.171-80.
74 CCM, 1.17.146-59.
75 CCM, 2.16.178f, 186.
76 W. Helbfass, India and Europe: An Essay in Understanding, New York, 1988, p. 364.
77 See for e.g., 'Brahman O Vaishnav Sampurna Vaidik', Sajjantoshini, Vol. 1: 4/7 (1884), p. 70; Avinash Chandra Kavya tirtha, 'Vaishnav Dharma Vaidik', Gauranga Sebak, Vol 2: 1-2, Phalgun-Chaitra 1318 B.S. (1912). The claim that bhakti is textually rooted in the Vedas is controverted by the fact that the majority of figures in the early years of its evolution would have been denied access to Vedic texts. Only two of the twelve Alavar saints were Brahmans. See Hymns for the Drowning: Poems for Vishnu by Nammalvar, translated by A. Ramanu jan, Princeton, 1981, p. 121.
78 In his Tattwasandarbha Jiva Goswami claimed that the Bhagavat Purana was in fact the last and most authentic commentary on the Vedas. Especially after its attempt to affiliate itself to one of the four established Vaishnav Sampradayas of all-India standing, the Madhava, such claims became quite important. In accepted tradition claims to form a sampradaya were in fact contingent on producing an independent textual exegesis on the so-called prasthan trayi consisting of the Brahma Sutra, the Gita, and the Upanishads.
79 See Lata Mani, 'Contentious traditions: The Debate on Sati in Colonial India', in K. Sangari and S. Vaid, eds, Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial History, New Delhi, 1989.
80 W. Helbfass, India and Europe, p. 366.
81 Tantric sectarianism is sometimes offered as explanation of the relative absence of Vedic manuscripts in Bengal. See Rajendra Lal Mitra, 'Report on Sanskrit Manuscripts', Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Proceedings), March 1875, p. 74.
82 K.S. MacDonald, 'Tantra Literature', CR, July 1901; Jagan Mohan Tarkalankar, ed., Tantrokta Dasbidh Sanskar Paddhati, Calcutta, 1907; Yugal Kishore Das, Ujjwal Rasa Chintamani ba Vaishnav Dharmer Nigudh Tattwa, Munshiganj, 1909, p. 170. For claims of doctrinal affiliations between the Vedas and Tantra, see Chintaharan Chakravarti, 'Applica tion of Vedic Mantras in Tantric Rites', Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Letters) Vol. 18: 2, 1952; A.K. Majumdar points to such affinities in the context of Rammohun. A.K. Majumdar, Bhakti Renaissance, second edn, Bombay, 1979.
83 Sudhir Chakravarti, Gabhir Nirjan Pathe, Calcutta, 1989, p. 191.
84 Maulavi Abdul Wali, 'On Curious Tenets and Practices of a Certain Class of Faqirs in Bengal', The Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay, Vol. 5, 1899-1901, pp. 214-15.
85 Linda Hess, 'The Cow is Sucking at the Calf's Teat: Kabir's Upside-down Language', History of Religion, Vol. 22:4, 1983, pp. 314-33; Charlotte Vaudeville, 'Kabir's Language and Languages: Hindavi as the Language of Non-Conformity', Indo-Iranian Journal, Vol. 33, 1990.
86 Sudhir Chakravarti, Bangla Dehatattwer Gan, p. 43; idem., Gabhir Nirjan Pathe, p. 188; Surajit Sinha, 'A Note on the Concept of Sexual Union for Spiritual Quest Among the Vaishnav Preachers in the Bhumij belt of Purulia and Singhbhum', Eastern Anthropologist, Vol. 14, May-August, 1961, p. 195; Sudhir Chakravarti, Bratya Lokayat Lalan, Calcutta, 1992, pp. 203f. Incidentally, the word bhag is used to denote female genitals in the Sakta-Tantric tradition.
87 For a list of tantric texts mentioned in the Vaishnav treatises in Sanskrit, see S.C. Banerji, Tantra in Bengal, Appendix IV.
88 T. Groudriaan, 'Hindu Tantric literature in Sanskrit', in T. Gourdriaan and S. Gupta, eds, History of Indian Literature, Wiesbaden, 1981, pp. 109-10.
89 Sudhir Chakravarti, Bratya Lokayat Lalan, p. 52.
90 Hare Krishna Mukhopadhyay, Goud Banga Sanskriti, Calcutta, 1972, p. 82.
91 Hitesh Ranjan Sanyal, Literary Sources of Medieval Bengali History: A Study of a few Mangal Kavya Texts, Calcutta, November 1982, p. 13.
92 Harendra Nath Banerji, 'Socio-ritual State of the Kharias in the Ethnic Background of Manbhum', Bulletin of the Cultural Research Institute, Vol. 1:2, 1962, p. 25.
93 Surajit Sinha, 'Some Aspects of Change in Bhumij Religion in South Manbhum, Bihar', Man in India, Vol. 33:2, April-June 1953, pp. 149f; 'A Note on the Sexual Union', p. 195.
94 This was translated into Sanskrit by Bhagavan Chandra Visharad, a Sanskrit teacher in Hoogly Normal School. The work was entitled Behula Lakhindaram. See Sukumar Sen's Introduction to Vipradas, Manasa Vijaya, Asiatic Society, Calcutta, 1953, p. 13.
95 B.C. Pal, Memories of My Life and Times, Calcutta, 1973.
96 Richard Maxwell Eaton, The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier: 1204-1760, Univer sity of California, 1993, pp. 207, 213.
97 L.S.S. O'Malley, Bengal District Gazetteers: Bankura, Calcutta, 1908, p. 176.
98 J.C. Heesterman, Inner Conflict, p. 9.
99 Capwell notes Tagore's misunderstanding of the key Baul concept of 'Maner Manush'. See Charles Capwell, The Music of the Bauls of Bengal, Kent State University Press, 1986, p. 24f; Sudhir Chakravarti, Bratya Lokayat Lalan, p. 277f.
100 Lalmohun Vidyanidhi, Sambandha Nirnaya, Calcutta, n.d., p. 31.
101 Both Chaitanya and Ramakrishna, for example, use the analogy of the adulterous woman who even while attending to the needs of the husband, has her mind on other things. See CCM, 2.1.97; M, Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, Vol. 1, 17th edn, 1961, p.3.
102 Compare, for example, Ramprosad Ami kee dukkhere dorai, tobe de dukho Ma ar koto tai (O Mother, do not test me with sorrow for I am not scared of it) with the Sahebdhani poet Kuber Gossain Ami dukker pothe dukkher mote dukkher nam koree sadhan (I tread.on the path of sorrow and remain forever engrossed in its ways). See Ramprosad Bharatchandra Samgraha, Reflect Edition, Calcutta, 4th rpt, 1995, p. iii; Sudhir Chakravarti, Sahebdhani, p. 179. There is also the metaphor of eating sugar as againt the mere uttering of the word 'sweet'. Ramakrishna and the baul poets Lalan and Duddu Shah use this freely. See Katham rita, Vol. 1, p. 98; Chakravarti, Bangla Dehatattwer Gan, pp. 39, 99.
103 'To them', Wali observes, 'nothing is unclean except the man's flesh'. Wali, 'On curious tenets', p. 211.
104 M.M. Basu, The Post-Chaitanya Sahajiya Cults in Bengal, 2nd rpt, Delhi, p. 73.
105 See, for instance, the songs collected from Murshidabad by Grierson. G.A. Grierson, Linguistic Survey of India, Vol. 5, Indo-Aryan Family: Eastern Group, Part 1, Specimens of the Bengali and Assamese Languages, Calcutta, 1903, p. 64. Such songs also appear from time to time in the Bangiya Sahitya Parishat Patrika, especially in the 1890s.
106 Chakravarti, Bratya Lokayat Lalan, pp. 134-35. Some very moving Sakta songs (Shyama Sangit), I am told, were composed by Bengali zamindars. I am grateful to Sumit Sarkar for pointing this out to me.
107 Translated from a Sahebdhani song, Chakravarti, Sahebdhani, p. 158.
108 'You should respect all (religious) opinions but put your faith in one', Translated from Kathamrita, Vol. 3, p. 92. Also see Sarkar, Kathamrita as a Text, p. 83; Sen, Hindu Revivalism, chap. 5.
109 Jayananda, Chaitanya Mangal, Part 3, 22.21. In Ramakrishna's case, his early days of sadhana may be taken to be a reference point. See Kathamrita, Vol. 3, pp. 168-69.
110 Akshay Kumar Dutt, Bharatvarshiya, p. 222; Nabin Chandra Ghosh, Yugadharma, Nabadwip, 1921, p. 133(fn). Ghosh mistakenly ascribes this to Bauls and reveals the tendency in upper class critics to lump together all popular, esoteric cults.
111 Ralph W. Nicholas, 'Vaishnavism and Islam in Rural Bengal', in David Koph, Bengal Regional Identity, East Lansing, 1969, p. 45.
112 For his strong ridicule of Kartabhaja visitors at Dakshineswar see Kathamrita, Vol. 2, p. 113; 196; Vol. 4, p. 198. Ramakrishna once turned down a Baul's plea to sit beside others in a community feast, presumably at Dakshineswar, on the ground that this would be improper. See Kathamrita, Vol. 2, p. 196.
113 Swami Sardananda, Sri Sri Ramakrishna Lilaprosongo, Vol. 2, Part 1, Calcutta, 1976, p. 309. The connection between consuming onion and garlic on the one hand and an Islamic way of life seems to have been fairly deep-rooted in contemporary Hindu society. A biographical work on one Fakir Paran Shah, incidentally by a Hindu, notes how the Fakir's syncretism was amply borne out by his abstaining from these. Rajendra Kishore Chakravarti, Fakir Prasongc, Dacca, 1910, p. 13.
114 Richard Maxwell Eaton, Sufis of Bijapur: 1300-1700, Princeton, 1978, p. 152.
115 Richard Maxwell Eaton, The Rise of Islam, p. 78f; Panchanon Mondol, Punthi Porichoy, Vol. 2, p. 11; Vol. 4, p. 5.
116 'Kartabhaja', in Tattwabodhini Patrika, II, IV, 181, Baisakh 1772 Saka (1850), p. 15. This article was based on information supplied by one Bhairab Chandra Dutta.
117 Mayurbhatta, Sri Dharma Purana, ed., Basanta Kumar Chattopadhyay, Calcutta, 1930, see notes, pp. 1f.
118 'Kartabhaja', p. 15; Satish Chandra De, Gaurangadeb O Kanchanpalli, Calcutta, 1933, p. 62.
119 'Folk Custom and Folklore of the Sylhet district in India', Man in India, Vol. 10: 2-3, April-September 1930, p. 116. In the Satyanarayan punthi of Faizullah too, the maulvis are seen distributinng sirni among Hindus and Muslims alike. See M. Enamul Haq, A History of Sufism in Bengal, Dacca, 1975.
120 See Sri Satyanarayaner Panchali, pp. 9-10.
121 T.C. Hodson, India: Census Ethnography, 1901-31, New Delhi, 1937, p. 84.
122 Satyanarayan Broto Brittanta Rasoddhar Ebong Dharma Shastrokta: Mul Sanskrit Bhag. Compiled and translated into Bengali by Rasik Chandra Basu, Barisal, 1899, pp. 2-3.
123 Mukunda Misra, Basuli Mangal, eds, S. Bandopadhyay and S. Singha Roy, Calcutta, 195, p. 5.
124 CBH, 1.2. 60-64; 3.4. 417-21. Chaitanya asked one of his close followers to propitiate the deity Manasa so that his dwindling fortunes may be changed for the better. CBH, 1.10. 150-54.
125 M. Enamul Haq. History of Sufism, p. 292(fn).
126 Ralph W. Nicholas, 'Vaishnavism and Islam', p. 41.
127 Ramesh Basu, 'The Bauls of Bengal', Viswa Bharati Quarterly, April 1926, p. 54.
128 Vaishnava women were engaged as instructors in the Tagore household. See Debendra nath Tagore, Atmajeeboni, Viswabharati, 1962, p. 252.
129 W. Adam, Second Report on the State of Education in the District Rajshahi, Calcutta, 1836. Reproduced in Joseph Di Bona, ed., One Teacher, One School: The Adam Report on Indigenous Education in Nineteenth Century India, New Delhi, 1983, p. 93.
130 Swami Madhavananda and R.C. Majumdar, Great Women of India, Almora, 1953, pp. 374-75.
131 Dinesh Chandra Sen was one of the very few to consistently defend its authenticity. See his introduction to Gobinda Daser Kadcha.
132 Bairagis and not 'Jat Vaishnavas' are said to have allowed widow marriages. See 'Chaitanya Sampradaya', Tattwabodhini Patrika, I,3,77, Pous 1771 Saka (1850), p. 135. The definition of a 'Jat Vaishnav', interestingly enough, appears to have changed from Chaitanya's time. Originally, the term was used for those (usually from upper castes) who willingly gave up their jati status on accepting bhek (initiation). By about 1850 it came to be identified with those who used their upper caste origin to distance themselves.
133 For the popularity of Vaishnavism among low-caste women, widows, prostitutes and victims of village scandals see W. Ward, Account of the Writings, Religions and Manners of the Hindoos (including translation of their principal works in four volumes), Vol. 2, Serampore, 1811, p. 282; Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya, Hindu Castes and Sects, Calcutta, 1896, p. 467.
134 Ralph W. Nicholas, 'Vaishnavism and Islam', p. 42.
135 A.W. Entwhistle, Braj: Centre of Krishna Pilgrimage, Groningen, 1987, p. 92. In the CCM, Chaitanya in 'Radhabhav' forbids Ramananda Ray to touch him. See CCM, 2.8.223.
136 Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Krishnacharita, in J.C. Bagal, ed., Bankim Racha nabali, Vol. 2, Calcutta, 1957. For an excellent study of Bankim's political construction of Krishna see Sudipto Kaviraj, The Myth of the Praxis: The Construction of the Figure of Krishna in the Krishnacharita, New Delhi, 1987.
137 See his autobiographical fragment 'Sisir Babur Atmakahini', in Sri Sri Gaurvisnupriya Patrika, Vol. 1:7, Bhadra, 1308 B.S. (1901); Wayfarer (pseud), Life of Shishir Kumar Ghosh; Anatha Nath Basu, Mahatma Sisir Kumar Ghosh, Calcutta, 1920.
138 See his letter dated Almora, 1.6.97; CWV, Vol. 5, p. 130.
139 Sukumar Sen, Bangla Sahityer Itihas, ed., Ananda, Calcutta, Vol. 1, p. 344.
140 Surendra Mohan Bhattacharya, Rastattwa O Sakti Sadhana, Calcutta, 1905, p. 635. Interestingly enough, there are echoes of this in a quasi-feminist journal of the nineteenth century. See the anonymous article entitled 'Atmai Satitwa', Bamabodhini Patrika, Bhadra- Aswin, 1306 B.S. (1899), p. 190.
141 This too comes from a female writer in a Bengali daily. See Kumari Asima Basu, 'Krishna Bhojon Korbo Keno?', Dainik Nadia Prakash, Vol. 8:150, 25 August 1933, p. 5.
142 See A.K. Ramanujan, 'Woman Saints', in J.B. Hawley and D.M. Wulff, The Divine Consort: Radha and the Divine Goddesses of India, Berkeley, 1982.
143 Swami Nikhilananda, Holy Mother, London, 1963, p. 78.
144 Vishnupriya Patrika, Vol. 1:3, Baisakh 405 Chaitanya Era (1891), pp. 22-23.
145 June McDaniel, 'The Indwelling of God: Sacred Biology among the Bauls and Sahaji yas', in Stewart, Shaping Bengali Worlds, p. 24.
146 D.C. Sen, Vribat Bongo, Vol. 2, p. 771.
147 The expression used is bashibhuta nari (women fully under control). Panchanan Das, Charijanma Tattwa Nirupan O Madhur Upasana, Nadia, 1897, p. 141; Ashray Siddhanta Chandrika ba Swarup Damodarer Kadcha, Vol. 5, 4th edn, Kansat, 1907, p. 9.
148 See his 'Raja Yoga', CWV, 1, p. 170. Incidentally, this also rules out cohabitation by Parakiya women fancied greatly by esoteric cults.
149 Basu, The Post Chaitanya Sahajiya Cults, p. 63; K.S. McDonald, 'The Sakta Religion and the Female Sex', CR, July 1902, pp. 47, 54; for complexities in the Nayika classification, see the works Rasakalpaballi and Rasamanjari cited in B.B. Majumdar, Panchshoto Batsarer Padabali, p. 12.
150 Ashray Siddhanta Chandrodaya, p. 118; Ujwal Rasa Chintamani. Also, see the brief summary to the Sahajiya manuscript Dehakadcha and the anonymous manuscript No. 58 in M.M. Basu, 'An Introduction to the Post-Chaitanya Sahajiya Cult', in Calcutta University Journal Of Letters, Vol. XVI, 1927, pp. 116, 141-42.
151 John Woodroffe, Sakti and Sakta, p. 511.
152 S.C. Banerji, Tantra in Bengal, p. 153.
153 Akinchan Das, Vivarta Vilas, cited in Basu, 'An Introduction', p. 76. Incidentally, this is a metaphor that Bauls or fakirs use to this day. Sudhir Chakravarti found it being used by one fakir Arjan Shah. See Chakravarti, Gabhir Nirjan Pathe, p. 14.
154 See Brahmavaivara Purana (Brahma Khanda). For the idea rooted in Samkhya see S.C. Banerji, Tantra in Bengal, pp. 26-27.
155 For an excellent and detailed study of the technicalities involved in the sexo-yogic practices see Rahul Peter Das, 'Problematic Aspects of the Sexual Rituals of the Bauls of Bengal', Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 112: 3, July-September 1992. Also see S.B. Dasgupta, Obscure Religious Cults, Calcutta, 1946.
156 Ashray Siddhanta Chandrika, pp. 11, 20, 49; June McDaniel, The Madness of Saints: Ecstatic Religion in Bengal, Chicago, 1989, p. 171; Charles A. Capwell, 'The Esoteric Belief of the Bauls of Bengal', Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. XXIII: 2, February 1974, pp. 260, 262.
157 Charlotte Vaudeville, 'The Evolution of Love Symbolism in the Bhagavata', Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 82: 1, 1962, p. 32; Basu, An Introduction, p. 5.
158 Ronald B. Inden, Marriage and Rank in Bengali Culture, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1976, p. 50; Nityananda Das, Premvilas, 2nd edn, Murshidabad, 1911, See Vilas: 1.
159 Lochan, Chaitanya Mangal, p. 27.
160 Robert Lingat, 'Time and Dharma', Contributions to Indian Sociology, Vol. 6, Decem ber 1962, p. 10.
161 Mahanirvana Tantra (iv. 73ff), cited in S.C. Banerji, Tantra in Bengal, p. 199.
162 Sri Satyanarayaner Panchali, pp. 10-11.
163 Stephen Fuchs, Rebellious Prophets. A Study of Messianic Movements in Indian Reli gions, London, 1965; Norman Cohn, In Pursuit of the Millennium, London, 1957; Bryan R. Wilson, Magic and the Millennium, London, 1973.
164 See his 'Karma Yoga', CWV, Vol. 1, p. 113.
165 Kalki Purana, Part III, p. 19.
166 The earth weeps before Prajapati (Creator) at the moral and material degradation in Kali which it can no more bear. Jayananda, Chaitanya Mangal, 1.5. 1-17; 1.5. 6-8; 6.2.
167 Keshab Chandra Karmakar, Kali Kautuk O Masir Mar Kanna, Calcutta, 1863, p. 10.
168 Dinanath Gangopadhyay, Hindudharmer Andolan O Samskar, Calcutta, 1893, quoting Parasar, 2.2; 2.7; 2.8. It might be recalled however that the Bengal orthodoxy refused to accept Vidyasagar's use of Parasar in legitimizing widow marriages.
169 Haran Chandra Mitra and Mahendra Lal Mitra, Dekhe Sune Hotogyan, Calcutta, 1863, p. 20; Harimohan Bandopadhyay, Kalki Upanishad, p. 73.

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