Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

"Krishna Chaitanya" redirects here. For the Telugu lyricist, see Krishna Chaitanya (lyricist).

"Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu" redirects here. For the 1954 Hindi film, see Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (film).

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
Wooden murti of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as Dhāmeśvara, Nabadwip
Personal life
Born	Vishvambhara Mishra (1486-02-18)18 February 1486 Nabadwip, Bengal Sultanate (present-day West Bengal, India)
Died	14 June 1534(1534-06-14) (aged 48) Puri, Gajapati Kingdom (present-day Odisha, India)
Spouse	Lakshmi Priya (first wife) and Vishnupriya
Known for	Expounded Gaudiya Vaishnavism, kirtan
Religious life
Religion	Hinduism
Founder of	Gaudiya Vaishnavism Achintya Bheda Abheda
Philosophy	Bhakti yoga, Achintya Bheda Abheda
Religious career
Guru	Swami Isvara Puri (mantra guru); Swami Kesava Bharati (sannyas guru)
Disciples Rupa Goswami, Sanatana Goswami, Gopala Bhatta Goswami, Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami, Raghunatha dasa Goswami, Jiva Goswami, others

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (Bengali: মহাপ্রভু শ্রীচৈতন্য দেব; Sanskrit: चैतन्य महाप्रभु, romanized: Chaitanya Mahāprabhu), born Vishvambhara Mishra (IAST: Viśvambhara Miśra) (18 February 1486 – 14 June 1534), was an Indian Hindu saint from Bengal and the founder of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mode of worshipping Krishna with bhajan-kirtan and dance had a profound effect on Vaishnavism in Bengal.

He is considered the chief proponent of the Vedantic philosophy of Achintya Bheda Abheda. The concept of inconceivable difference in non-difference, known as achintya-bhedabheda, was explained later by Jiva Gosvami in his book Bhagavat Sandharbha, and in his Sarva-samvadini.

Mahaprabhu founded Gaudiya Vaishnavism. He expounded Bhakti yoga and popularised the chanting of the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra. He composed the Shikshashtakam (eight devotional prayers).

Chaitanya is sometimes called Gauranga (IAST: Gaurāṅga) or Gaura due to his molten gold–like complexion. His birthday is celebrated as Gaura-purnima. He is also called Nimai because he was born underneath a Neem tree.

Life

The religious hagiographies of Gauḍīya sampradāya are the only sources available for the reconstruction of Caitanya's life. These texts (in Sanskrit and Bengali), consider Caitanya to be an avatāra of Kr̥ṣṇa, Svayaṁ Bhagavān, Rādhā-Kr̥ṣṇa (joint and separate), Nārāyaṇa, Viṣṇu, and Jagannātha. A canonical narrative was accepted by the Gauḍīya community in the early 1600s via the Chaitanya Charitāmr̥ta of Kr̥ṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, which has been described as the "final word" on Gauḍīya history and theology.

Chaitanya was born in a Brahmin family as Viśvambhara Miśra aka Nimāi, the second son of Jagannātha Miśhra and his wife Śachī Devī, the daughter of Nilambara Chakrabarti, both Brahmins of Sylhet region. Jagannātha Miśra's family were from the village of Dhakadakshin in Srihatta (Sylhet) (now in Bangladesh). The ruins of their ancestral home still survive in present-day Bangladesh. The hagiographic of Chaitanya portray his birth as a divine event and state that it predicted his future mission of propagating harināma saṃkīrtana in Kali Yuga.

The accounts of Chaitanya's childhood are depicted to be reminiscent of Lord Kriṣhna's childhood playtimes. While still a student, his father died, and he soon married Lakṣmīpriyā. He travelled to east Bengal to become a scholar and support his family, but his wife died in his absence. He then married Viṣhnupriyā, the daughter of paṇḍit Sanātana Miśra. Viśhvambhara, also known as Nimāi Paṇḍit, was a promising Sanskrit scholar and is said to have once defeated Keśhava Bhaṭṭa of the Nimbārka school in a debate on Sanskrit prosody in an example of "superhuman erudition".

In 1508-1509 he left Nabadvwip to go to Gaya to perform śhtāddha, a ritual homage to his dead father. There, he met an ascetic named Īśhwara Purī, who initiated him using a mantra for Krishna worship. After this meeting Viśhwambhara abandoned all scholarly and domestic pursuits and had no interests except for an intense desire to hear and speak of Krishna. Within a year he took a vow of saṃnyāsa (renunciation) and changed his name to Krishna Chaitanya under his guru Keśhava Bhāratī. His mother then asked him to at least live in the city of Puri so that he would not be too far from Bengal.

After his renunciation, Chaitanya spent his time teaching Kr̥ṣhhṇa bhakti and engaging in communal saṁkīrtana. Hagiographic describe debates with followers of Advaita Vedānta and other theological opponents in form of digvijaya (conquest through debate). He spent two months in Vrindavan in c. 1515, where he instructed Sanātana Gosvāmī and Rūpa Goswami. He spent the last two decades of his life in Puri, where his ecstatic seizures yearning for Kr̥iṣhṇa and his consorts, mainly Shri Rādhā, intensified. He left this world in c. 1528-1534.

Biographies

Works on Chaitanya:

• Krsna-Caitanya-Caritamrta (c. 1513 or 1536–1540; Sanskrit): By Murari Gupta. Known as a kadcha or chronicle. Chaitanya's Navadwipa līla and each panca-tattva presented as a form of the Lord. Caitanya went for the first time to Murari's house at Navadwipa. Murari's standing and reputation for learning gave his biographical materials great weight in the Vaishnava community. This Kadcha (notes) became the guiding lines for other biographers.

• Kadcha or chronicle (Sanskrit): By Svarupa Damodara. He was the personal secretary of Chaitanya. Details the life of Caitanya.

• Govindadaser Kadcha (Bengali): By Govinda Dāsa who accompanied Chaitanya on his tour of Deccan. This poem describes their experiences on the journey and some imaginary events in the life of Chaitanya as well as his ideas and philosophy. It is another significant biographical work, but it was regarded as controversial because of the authenticity.

• Chaitanya Bhagavata (c. 1535 or 1546–1550; Bengali): By Vrindavana Dasa Thakura. Three parts: Adi-Khanda, Mādhya-Khanda, and Antya-Khanda. Chaitanya's earlier life, activities, early movement in Navadwip.

• Krsna-Caitanya-caritra-mahakavya (c. 1535): By Kavi Karnapura (Paramanand Sen).

• Krsna-Caitanya-candrodaya-natakam (c. 1535 – 1570s): By Kavi Karnapura. Based on Murari Gupta's Krsna-Caitanya-Caritamrta. When Karnapura was a small child, he interacted with Chaitanya personally.

• Caitanya-candrodaya-natakam (c. 1538 or 1540 or 1572 or 1579; Sanskrit): By Kavi Karnapura (Paramanand Sen). Dramatic play in ten acts of Chaitanya's life.

• Caitanya-caritāmṛta-kavya (c. 1542 – late 1500s; Sanskrit): By Kavi Karnapura (Paramanand Sen). A long biographical poem on Chaitanya's life and acts.

• Caitanya-caritāmṛta (c. 1557 or 1580 or 1615; Bengali): By Krishnadasa Kaviraja. Three parts: Adi-lila, Madhya-lila, and Antya-lila. Massive authoritative composition of Chaitanya's biography and teachings. According to Manring, he draws liberally from previous writers (poets, theologians and biographers) as he deems correct, omitting Kavi Karnapura's works perceived as threatening Rupa's authority.

• Caitanya-Mangala (c. 1560 or late 1500s; Bengali): By Jayananda. Nine parts: Adikhanda, Nadiyakhanda, Vairagyakhanda, Sannyaskhanda, Utkalkhanda, Prakashkhanda, Tirthakhanda, Vijaykhanda, and Uttarkhanda. Biographical poem in the form of a narrative play focused on Chaitanya's godly image. It is the only work in which his death is mentioned. Introduction mentions several previous biographers, of whom only Vrindavan is known. Written for the common people (not devotees).

• Chaitanya Mangala (c. 1560–66 or 1575): By Lochana Dasa (a.k.a. Trilocan Dasa). Four parts: Sutrakhanda, Adikhanda, Madhyakhanda, and Antyakhanda. A narrative play depicting Chaitanya's childhood activities and his human side without highlighting any divine matters to make it popular. Influenced by Murari Gupta's Krsna-Caitanya-Caritamrta and Vrindavana Dasa Thakura's Chaitanya Bhagavata as well as the Mahabharata and different Puranas.

• Chaitanya-chandrodaya-kaumudi (Bengali): By Premadas (Purushottam Mishra). A verse adaptation to Kavi Karnapura's Caitanya-candrodaya-natakam drama.

• Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika (c. 1576): By Kavi Karnapura (Paramanand Sen).

• Chaitanya-samhita (Bengali): By Bhagirath Bandhu. Work follows the tradition of agama or tantric texts in its presentation as a story told by Shiva to his spouse.

• Chaitanya-vilasa (c. 1500s; Odia): By Madhava Dasa. A short poetical work in ten sections dealing with the life of Chaitanya. The poet probably came into contact with the saint when the latter came to Puri.

• Gauranga-vijay (c. 1500s): By Chundamani dasa. Biographical epic, believed to have been written in three volumes, only part of the first volume still exists. It contains some information about Chaitanya, Nityananda and Madhavendra Puri not found elsewhere.

• Sriman-mahaprabhor-asta-kaliya-lila-smarana-mangala-stotram (c. late 1600s; Sanskrit): By Visvanatha Chakravarti. Eleven sutras (seed verses) describing the eternal eight-fold daily pastimes of the fair-complexioned Lord.

• Sri Gauranga-Lilamrta (c. late 1600s – 1700s; Bengali): By Krishna Dasa (disciple of Visvanatha Chakravarti). Expounded on his guru's eleven sutras, often quoting verses from Vrindavana Dasa Thakura's Chaitanya Bhagavata, plus songs by Narahari Ghanashyama (author of Bhakti-Ratnakara) and Lochana Dasa (author of Chaitanya-Mangala).

• Caitanya-upanisad: A book that is a part of the Atharvaveda which offers overwhelming evidence of Chaitanya's identity as the Supreme Lord and Yuga Avatara.

• Sri Caitanya-caranamrta Bhasva (1887): By Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Commentary on an original handwritten manuscript of the Caitanya-upanisad from one pandita, Madhusudana Maharaja, of Sambala-Pura.

• Amrita-pravaha-bhashya (c. late 1800s – early 1900s; Sanskrit): By Bhaktivinoda Thakur. Commentary on Caitanya-upanisad.

• Anubhāsya (1915): By Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. Commentary on Krishnadasa Kaviraja's Caitanya-caritāmṛta

• Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (1974; English): By A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami in English with original Bengali and Sanskrit. Commentary on Krishnadasa Kaviraja's Caitanya-caritāmṛta, based on Bhaktivinoda Thakur's Amrita-pravaha-bhashya and Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati's Anubhāsya commentaries.

• Krishna-Caitanya, His Life and His Teachings (2014; English; ISBN 978-91-981318-1-9): By Walther Eidlitz, originally written in German - Kṛṣṇa-Caitanya: sein Leben und seine Lehre, and published by Stockholm University, 1968, as a part of the scientific series "Stockholm studies in comparative religion".

Teachings

Main article: Gaudiya Vaishnavism § Philosophical concepts

The Śikṣāṣṭaka is the only work accepted to be composed by Caitanya. The poem expounds upon the subjects of harināmajapa, saṁkīrtana, the relationship between individual souls and Kr̥ṣṇa, devotional submission to Kr̥ṣṇa, and Caitanya's personal virahabhakti. Scholars debate the extent to which Caitanya played in the development of the complex Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava theology.

According to Murari Gupta, one of Caitanya's close associates, Caitanya taught that kirtana (chanting God's name) is the most effective spiritual practice in the Kali Age. He first gathered the community for kirtana in Srivasa's courtyard. Caitanya revealed bhakti as the primary means to approach Krishna, and he appointed the Goswamis, such as Srinivasa Acarya and Narottama Dasa, to gather and compose texts explaining this devotion.

Cultural legacy

See also: Bengal Renaissance

Chaitanya's influence on the cultural legacy in Bengal, Odisha and Manipur, has been significant, with many residents performing daily worship to him as an avatar of Krishna. Some attribute to him a Renaissance in Bengal, different from the more well-known 19th-century Bengal Renaissance. Salimullah Khan (b. 1958), a noted Bangladeshi linguist, maintains, "Sixteenth-century is the time of Chaitanya Dev, and it is the beginning of Modernism in Bengal. The concept of 'humanity' that came into fruition is contemporaneous with that of Europe".

Noted Bengali biographical film on Chaitanya, Nilachaley Mahaprabhu (1957), was directed by Kartik Chattopadhyay (1912–1989). A Bengali film based on Chaitanya's demise, Lawho Gouranger Naam Re, will be directed by Srijit Mukherji where Parambrata Chatterjee will be seen portraying Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Image gallery

• 
  Kisangarh painting of Chaitanya dancing in a puddle of his own tears, surrounded by followers, c. 1750.
• 
  Chaitanya with a dog, Murshidabad, 19th century CE
• 
  Yogapith temple at Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's birthsite established in the 1880s by Bhaktivinoda Thakur in Mayapur, West Bengal
• 
  Nineteenth century lithograph by Calcutta Art Studio of Caitanya and Nityānanda performing a kirtan in the streets of Nabadwip, Bengal.
• 
  Pratap Rudra bowing to Chaitanya, an early 20th century print copy of a painting held by the family of Maharaja Nandakumar, Zamindars of Kunjaghata
• 
  Deities of Sri Sri Radha Madhava, Jagannath, Balarama, Subhadra and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (in middle), at the ISKCON Durgapur Temple.

See also

• Vrindavan
• Gauranga
• Jagannath Temple (Puri)
• Pancha Tattva (Vaishnavism)
• Prabhupāda

References

Works cited

• Carney, Gerald T. (2020). "Baba Premananda Bharati: His trajectory into and through Bengal Vaiṣṇavism to the West". In Sardella, Ferdinando; Wong, Lucian (eds.). The Legacy of Vaiṣṇavism in Colonial Bengal. Routledge Hindu Studies Series. Milton, Oxon; New York: Routledge. pp. 135–160. ISBN 978-1-138-56179-3.
• Dasa, Satyanarayana (2007). "The Six Sandharbhas of Jiva Gosvami". Krishna: A Sourcebook (PDF). Oxford University Press, USA. pp. 373–408. ISBN 978-0-19-514891-6.
• Delmonico, Neal (2007). "Chaitanya Vaishnavism and the Holy Names". Krishna: A Sourcebook (PDF). Oxford University Press, USA. pp. 549–575. ISBN 978-0-19-514891-6.
• Gupta, Ravi M. (2007). The Caitanya Vaisnava Vedanta of Jiva Gosvami: When knowledge meets devotion (PDF). Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-40548-5.
• Jones, Constance A.; Ryan, James D. (2007). "Encyclopedia of Hinduism". In Melton, J. Gordon (ed.). Encyclopedia of World Religions. New York: Facts On File. ISBN 978-0-8160-5458-9.
• Krsna Dasa, T. (29 June 2022). "Śrī Jīva Goswami coins the term 'acintya bheda-abheda'". The Krishna Bhakti site. Retrieved 25 July 2025.

• Modi, Narendra (8 February 2024), PM addresses program marking 150th anniversary of Srila Prabhupada Ji, retrieved 15 February 2024

• Manring, Rebecca J. (2005). "Chapter 2: Advaita Acarya: A New Imminence". Reconstructing Tradition: Advaita Ācārya and Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism at the Cusp of the Twentieth Century. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12954-8.
• Mukherjee, Sujit (1999). A Dictionary of Indian Literature: Volume One, Beginnings-1850. New Delhi: Orient Longman. ISBN 81-250-1453-5.
• Nair, K. K. (2007). Sages Through Ages – Volume II: India's Heritage. AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-4208-7802-8.
• Sherbow, Paul H. (2004). "Chapter 9: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami's Preaching in the Context of Gaudiya Vaishnavism". In Bryant, Edwin F.; Ekstrand, Maria L. (eds.). The Hare Krishna Movement: The Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12256-X.
• Stewart, Tony K. (1 March 2010). The Final Word: The Caitanya Caritamrita and the Grammar of Religious Tradition. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195392722.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-539272-2.

Further reading

• Dae, (Romesh Chunder Dutt) Ar Cy (1877). The Literature of Bengal: Being an Attempt to Trace the Progress of the National Mind in Its Various Aspects, as Reflected in the Nation's Literature from the Earliest Times to the Present Day with Copious Extracts from the Best Writers. Calcutta: I. C. Bose & Co. pp. 66–81.
• Dasa, Shukavak N. (1999). Hindu Encounter with Modernity: Kedarnath Datta Bhaktivinoda, Vaiṣṇava Theologian (revised, illustrated ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sanskrit Religions Institute. ISBN 1-889756-30-X. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
• Fuller, Jason Dale (2005). Religion, class, and power: Bhaktivinode Thakur and the transformation of religious authority among the Gaudīya Vaishnavas in nineteenth-century Bengal (Ph.D.). University of Pennsylvania. UMI Microform 3179733. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
• Manna, Sandipan (2013). In Search of a Forgotten Mahatma: Kalachand Vidyalankar (1st ed.). Kalyani Foundation. ISBN 978-81-927505-4-5.
• Rosen, Steven (1988). India's Spiritual Renaissance: The Life and Times of Lord Chaitanya. Folk Books. ISBN 0-9619763-0-6.
• Sarkar, Jadunath (1913). Chaitanya's Pilgrimages and Teachings - From his contemporary Bengali biography the Chaitanya-charit-amrita: Madhya-lila. Calcutta: Brahmo Mission Press.
• Wilkins, William Joseph (1913) [1882]. Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Purānic (3rd ed.). Calcutta: London Missionary Society. pp. 260–262.

External links

• Works by or about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at the Internet Archive
• Works by or about Chaitanya at the Internet Archive
• Gaudiya Vaishnavism – The Tradition of Chaitanya
• Caitanya Upanisad
• Caitanya Bhagavata Biography
• Gaudiya Vaishnavism – The Tradition of Chaitanya
• Life of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Archived 12 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine
• Scriptural Statements/Predictions regarding Caitanya Mahaprabhu's birth
• Lord Gouranga and His Message of Devotion (theosophical.ca)
• YogPeeth, Mayapur, Navadvipa – The birthplace of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
• at Chaitaniya mahaprabhu biography
• Who is Lord Chaitanya?