Gauranga Vijaya - A rare book by Chudamani Das from Nityananda Prabhu's line

Gauranga Vijaya – composed by Shri Chudamani Das

Introduction –

Many of you may not have heard of this book written by Chudamani Das who was in the line of Nityananda Prabhu following Dhananjaya Pandit. I recently came across this scripture and decided to do a little research regarding its contents, authenticity and history. Whatever I have found during this short research, I have decided to share with the Vaishnavas and interested readers.

What’s this book about? –

It is a book glorifying the pastimes of Shri Gauranga (Chaitanya Mahaprabhu) and Nityananda Prabhu. In fact just like Vrindavan Das Thakur, Chudamani Das gives almost as much attention describing Nityananda Prabhu’s glories as he does Gauranga’s glories.

A little about Chudamani Das’ illustrious Guru, Shri Dhananjaya Pandit –

Chudamani Das was the disciple of Dhananjaya Pandit and he mentions this in the Gauranga Vijaya on many occasions. Dhananjaya Pandit himself was a follower and disciple of Nityananda Prabhu and one of the twelve cowherd boys (Dvadasa Gopala), Krishna and Balaram’s 12 cowherd friends in Vrindavan.

Vrindavan Das Thakura tells us in Shri Chaitanya Bhagavata – “Dhananjaya Pandit was a very rare soul. Nityananda Prabhu was always present in his heart."

Kavi Karnapura further states in his Gaura Ganodessa Dipika -

“Krishna's cowherd friend Vasudhaam appeared in Shri Chaitanya's pastimes as Shri Dhananjaya Pandita.”

In the Pada-kalpa-taru book (a collection of Gaudiya Vaishnava poetry) we find a poem by Chudamani Das (1142). This identification seems strong since both the poem found there and this book, Gauranga Vijaya, contain a strong Brajabuli language influence.

 Dating the Gauranga Vijaya –

This book relies on a single manuscript copy that has been found in the library of the famed Asiatic Society and is estimated to have been in the library for around 100 years or so. Unfortunately the old manuscript has been mutilated at both ends and no other copy of the work has been found so far.

Considering the age of the Bengali, the manuscript is considered to be quite old. The paper, ink and style of writing show that it was copied sometime in the middle of the 17^th century which began from 1600 to 1700. Shri Chaitanyadev performed his disappearance lila in 1534 and so this manuscript doesn’t seem to have been copied much later from its original author, Chudamani Das’ original book.

The Gaudiya scholar Tony K Stewart mentions in a conversation with Steven J. Rosen (Satyaraja Das), “We do have an incomplete Gauranga Vijaya in Bengali by Chudamani Dasa, who was in Nityananda’s lineage. That actually looks like a very old text, but we only have about the first quarter of the book. It deals only with Chaitanya’s youth. And Sukumar Sen has edited that lone manuscript, but it is 130 folios long. That is a massive work.”

General discussion about the work –

As I have mentioned previously, this manuscript is very old and somewhat damaged. We find from internal evidence that in its complete form it consisted of 3 sections (Khandas). However from this singular manuscript we have only a part of the first section (Adi Khanda). This ends with Shri Chaitanyadev’s return from Gaya which we are familiar with from other works such as Shri Chaitanya Bhagavata of Vrindavan Das Thakur.

Chudamani Das mentions that he received the material for his biography from his Guru, Dhananjaya Pandita as well as other followers of Nityananda Prabhu such as Gadadhara Dasa and Ramadasa. Chudamani Das says

“kahichen nityananda ei saha parabandha gadadhara dhananjaya sane

gaura madhavendra meli prema ananda keli chudamanidasa rachane”

“Nityananda was discussing the meeting of Gauranga and Madhavendra and the joyful sports of Gauranga. I, Chudamani Dasa then put that into writing.”

“kahichen nitai gadadhara dhananjaye

samsarge sunina acho kahilu nischaya”

“Nitai was speaking to Gadadhara and Dhananjaya. I heard it in their company, I say this firmly (nischaya).”

Chudamani Das further says that he was told to write the work in an auspicious dream by Nityananda Prabhu “Suswapna gochara Nityananda Ajnaye”.

A few details about Chudamani Das –

Chudamani Das also mentions a few details about himself at the end of the Adi Khanda. He says

“abalak kala haite svabhava amara

alasa adaksha ajna akritira sara

esaba durgati dekhi thakur dhananjaya

karila kripa more dekhi durashaya

kona karma dharme tora nahi anurodha

krishna vaishnava tora haiba satya bodha

ei ta bharosae buli bhiksa kari sara

thakura ramai kripa karila apara

tore bada kripa kari vaishnava dhananjaya”

“From my childhood, I am lazy, ignorant, incompetent and completely useless. My Gurudev, Dhananjaya Pandita saw all these bad qualities and finding me a good for nothing fellow, his heart was moved by pity and mercy towards me. He told me, “You have no inclination for any work, good or otherwise, but may you have some faith in Krishna and the Vaishnavas.” On the faith of this blessing, I have become a wanderer simply depending on alms (bhiksha). The great Ramai Thakur was very kind to me, (and he said that) “The Vaishnava, Dhananjaya, has given you a lot of mercy.”

In whatever we have left of the Gauranga Vijaya, Chudamani Das does not refer to any other book written about Gauranga. This could be due to the fact that we only have a portion of the Adi Khanda available and he may have mentioned other works in his complete book. Of course this is complete speculation on my part.

Possible reference to Gauranga Vijaya –

Jayananda’s Chaitanya Mangal which is often derided by Gaudiya Vaishnavas for some its strange content and in particular its account of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s disappearance (see my paper “The disappearance lila of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu”) possibly mentions Chudamani Das’ book, Gauranga Vijaya. Jayananda’s Chaitanya Mangal definitely has some descriptions of Shri Chaitanya’s lila that are at odds with some of the other major biographies, however, this doesn’t necessarily make the entire book unauthentic for there are even some differences between books such as Chaitanya Bhagavata and Chaitanya Charitamrita when narrating the same lilas of Gauranga. In the coming weeks, I will also produce a few notes and a summary on Jayananda’s Chaitanya Mangal.

“paramananda puri gosani mahasaya

sanskipte karila tiha gauranga vijaya

adikhanda madhyakhanda sesakhanda kari

sri vrindavandasa racila sarvopari

gauridasa panditera kavitva susreni

camara prabandhe tara pade pade dhvani

sanskipte karilena paramananda gupta

gauranga vijaya gita sunite adbhuta”

“The Goswami Paramananda Puri wrote briefly in Gauranga Vijaya. Vrindavan Das produced a poem in 3 parts above all. Gauridasa Pandita’s poetry is smooth and being written in a form that is to be sung, every line is melodious. Paramananda Gupta also wrote something essential, to the point. The Gauranga Vijaya when sung is wonderful (adbhuta) to hear.”

Identifying the books that Jayananda refers to –

Paramananda Puri” must refer to Paramananda Sena (also known as Kavi Karnapura or Puridas) and his Sanskrit poem Caitanya-Caritamrita-Maha-Kavya, otherwise if the word “sanskipte” (briefly) is to be taken literally, it could refer to his Gaura Ganodessa Dipika.

Gauridas Pandita wrote a few songs describing Gaura Lila and Jayananda surely refers to them.

Paramananda Gupta also wrote some songs on Gauranga and these also exist.

“The Gauranga Vijaya when sung is wonderful (adbhuta) to hear.” This short line could refer to Chudamani Das’ work although Jayananda doesn’t specifically say who wrote it.

Summary of Gauranga Vijaya’s contents –

Sukumar Sen has given a summary of the poem as follows

Just before the birth of Shri Chaitanya, the country was steeped in worldliness and impiety. Various devas and devis were worshipped but not for a spiritual end. There were some devotees of Shri Ram but Krishna bhakti was little known. Advaita Acharya and Shrivas were feeling unhappy about the state of affairs when Madhavendra Puri happened to come and initiated them into Krishna Bhakti. He also assured them that their common prayer would melt Krishna’s heart and that he would take avatara/incarnate in this world. Madhavendra Puri then went to the Jharkhand forest and practised austerities (tapasya) for this purpose too. Madhavendra Puri’s worship satisfied Krishna and he appeared before him and said that he would be born very soon as the son of Jagannath Mishra and Sachidevi in Navadvipa.

Madhavendra Puri was about to leave the forest when 7 of his disciples arrived there. They wanted to know the final instructions that would make them paramahansa sanyasis, sanyasis of the topmost order. Madhavendra Puri told them not to pursue the path of yoga but instead worship Krishna. He then went to Khalapapur (in other texts Khalakapur), a village in northern Radha to see Nityananda the new born son of Padmavati and Mukunda Ojha. From there he went to Mathura and Vrindavan. At the last place he dismissed his disciples bidding them to worship Krishna with selfless devotion.

Shri Chaitanya was born at a very auspicious moment when the city of Navadwip was in a fit of pious excitement. The various rites performed after the birth of a male child in a middle class family were duly performed. As the child grew up he began to manifest traits not found in an ordinary child, and this first affected the mother and then others too. Madhavendra Puri came to Navadwip and saw the child at home. Madhavendra Puri was received as a guest by Jagannath Mishra but he lived most of the days there at the house of Advaita Acharya. The Chudakarana ceremony of young Nimai was performed under the direction of Madhavendra Puri. He also witnessed some of the peculiar sports played by Nimai and his playmates. Nimai’s elder brother Vishvarupa was greatly attached to him. He was a very good scholar but already he was attracted to the path of Bhakti and reading Gita and Bhagavata with Advaita Acharya. When Nimai came of school going age Sachi asked her husband to send the boy to school. But Jagannath would not agree and he replied to his wife that he did not like the way the elder son was going. He assured the mother that he would leave enough wherewithal for Nimai to live on even without an education. Nimai however had thought otherwise of his own future. He did a trick to compel his father to send him to school. His parents soon came to know that Nimai was doing a very heinous act, he was carrying the bones of men and animals that were scattered in the dumping ground and was throwing them into the Ganga. When taken to task the child replied that he was doing an extremely meritorious deed, he was helping the souls of the dead men and animals to attain heaven.

Jagannath Mishra relented and he sent the child to the school of Ganga Das Chakravarti. Soon after the ceremony of investiture of the sacred thread was performed. Nimai started kirtan at the house of Shrivasa. Vishvarupa left home. Nimai started sankirtan publicly.

 Nityananda Prabhu meets Gauranga

The book then turns to Khalapapur. Devotional and mystic manifestations appeared in Nityananda and he was hankering after the sight of Nimai. As soon as his birthday ceremony was gone through he sent a letter and some valuable presents to Nimai through their trusted servant Subhai (or Subhankara). Nimai was overjoyed to receive the letter and he sent a suitable reply. After this Nityananda began worshipping Shri Gauranga although he had not met him yet. Now he would make no further delay. He soon left home for Navadvipa with men, money and goods. His parents were distressed to lose him even for a short time. On his way to Navadvip, Nityananda came to Shrikhand and stayed for a few days at the house of Mukundadasa, a physician to Sultan Hussein Shah of Bengal. From there Nityananda came to Kuliya and sent Subhai to Navadwip (on the other side of the Ganga). Then Subhai returned and they crossed over to Navadwip. Nimai received him (Nityananda) at the house of Shrivasa. The two had a hearty talk and in a few days Nityananda hurried back home (his parents home?). His first act was to call on his teacher Gangahari Chakravarti and asked him to teach him for three months. At the end of that part period a religious mendicant was received by the family as guest, and Nityananda was induced by the latter to leave home secretly. This was a very hard blow to the parents. (This seems like a reference to the sanyasi with whom Nityananda left home with).

In the meantime, Gauranga had lost his father. After performing the annual Sraadh rite, Gauranga became ready to pay a visit to his ancestral home at a village in Sylhet. His mother at first was not wiling to let him undertake so hazardous a journey. But the son’s arguments prevailed. A boat was hired and Nimai was accompanied by some of his pupils. His visit to East Bengal was a complete success. He won the heart of the people there and returned home with valuable presents offered by them. Gauranga’s wife Lakshmipriya had died of a snake bite when he was away from home and his second marriage with Vishnupriya was arranged.

A Digvijaya (one who has defeated everyone in the 10 directions) scholar from South India came to Navadwip and he was defeated in a learned contest by Nimai Pandita, Gauranga. Gauranga then went to Gaya to do the rites for his dear departed father. Accompanied by some of his admirers and friends, he took the land route via Gour, Bhagalpur and Monghyr. At Gour he threw hundreds of lotus flowers into the river Ganga as an offering. The flowers floating along attracted the attention of the Sultan. At or near Gaya, Gauranga met Ishvara Puri and received from him a formal initiation into Vaishnavism. He returned home and his spiritual life and mission began.

The mutilated manuscript ends here with a few lines devoted to the poem and its writer.

 A few last comments –

Chudamani Das’ Gauranga Vijaya contains a lot of interesting information. It does confirm a few pastimes that we hear from other books and in some cases adds new information to consider.

The new information regarding Madhavendra Puri is especially interesting. The first brief meeting of Nityananda and Gauranga is very interesting and may not have been described as such in any other book. We do not know how far that account is true but it is definitely noteworthy. The order of the pastimes do not necessarily appear in a chronological successive fashion and this is something important to keep in mind when reading the Gauranga Vijaya.

Over the next few years, I hope to work with devotees and produce an English translation of the Gauranga Vijaya for which I currently possess a copy in Bengali. I hope I will be able to take part in this Grantha/Shastra Seva.

Joy Nitai!