Post by Jagannāth Miśra Dās on Feb 20, 2022 1:22:32 GMT -6
Caitanya Mangala
By Jayānanda.
Introduction.
Haribol everyone. I have just read all of Jayānanda’s Caitanya Mangala, written in Bangala, and containing approximately as many verses as the CC. As I enjoyed reading it, i thought to share some of my favourite passages with you. Jayānanda’s Caitanya Mangala (not to be confused with Locan Dās Thakura’s Caitanya Mangala) basically follows the same account of Gaurānga’s Adi, Madhya and Antya lilas as described in the Caitanya Bhagavat and indeed Locan Das Thakura’s Caitanya Mangala. Here is a brief introduction to the poet Jayānanda and his book the Caitanya Mangala, followed by a few samples of his work.
Jayānanada Miśra was a brahman born between 1511-13 near Bardhaman in West Bengal in the village of Āmāipurā. His nick name was Guiyā. His father, Subuddhi Miśra, is mentioned in the CC Ādi Līlā/10/108, and also a later work, the Vaisnavadarpana, which states that Subuddhi is one of Gaurānga Mahāprabhu’s followers. Jadunath’s Sakhanirnayāmrita says Jayānanda is part of the branch belonging to Gadādhara Pandita’s lineage.
Jayānanada, in song 3 of the Vijaya-Kanda, says that Caitanya Mahāprabhu, while on route to Bengal from Puri, actually took rest in his family home, and Rodanī, the poet’s mother, cooked for Mahāprabhu whilst holding baby Jayānanda in her arms. Thus he must have born around 1511-13 as he was an infant when Mahāprabhu travelled to Bengal at this time. In the Ādi-Kanda, song 1, he says he was born on the 12th day of the bright fortnight in the month of Vaisakha. The poet was around twenty when Mahāprabhu left the world, and as his father and mother knew Gaurānga, he would have heard Gaura līlā from them. Some hold the opinion that as Jayānanda seems unacquainted with the writings of the Goswamis of Vraja, that this confirms that he completed his work before 1560, as the works of the Goswamis began to be known and read in Bengal shortly after that date. The Gauḍiya Vaisnava Abhidana says, “The Caitanya Mangala was written by the son of Subuddhi Miśra who is mentioned in the CC. By the grace of Virabhadra Prabhu, and the wish of Gadādhara Pandita, he divided his granta into nine Kandas,(Ādi-Kanda, Nadīyā-Kanda, Vairāgya-Kanda, Sannāyasa-Kanda, Utkala-Kanda, Prakaśh-Kanda, Tirtha-Kanda, Vijaya-Kanda and the Uttara-Kanda) and wandered from region to region, from village to village, and from town to town in Bengal, singing his Caitanya Mangala with a cāmarā held in his hand.”
Jayānanda states that it was Gadādhara Pandita himself who asked him to write this biography. Like all Gaurānga biographies written in Bangala Padavalli, it seems that his Caitanya Mangala is likewise suited for reading at home and for hearing and singing at popular gatherings. Jayānanda’s Caitanya Mangala is a popular ballad that has survived the ravages of time, and in his role as a wandering bard and singing minstrel he took delight in the edification and enlightenment of the masses by singing before them the glorious and charming life story of Lord Caitanya. The Gaudiya Vaisnava Abhidana continues, “The composition is conspicuously anachronistic and its arbitrary recounting of certain events have rendered his work distasteful to some in the Vaisnava world,” further adding that his book is not even mentioned in Bhaktiratnakar. Haridās Dās curiously lists fifteen matters concerning the narrative and biographical detail which find discord with other more popular Caitanya biographies, yet the value of Jayānanda’s Caitanya Mangala is not so much in the accuracy of chronological details or even theological expositions, as in the revelation of its important and fresh insights into Mahaprabhu’s līlā, in its novel and rich descriptions of his astonishing form, his dance, dress and bodily decorations, his companions, his religion and the social conditions and ritualistic customs of these times.
Neither is Jayananda’s biography without its literary merits, the majority of his composition, in my opinion, possessing the same charm, poetical meters, graceful metaphors and the lively and strikingly colourful flare of Vrindāvana Dās, Locan Dās and Kaviraja.
The text printed in this edition is based on the Asiatic Society Manuscript no. G 5398-6-C-4, which includes variations in readings cited from six other manuscripts.
A few samples then from Jayānanda Miṣra’s Caitanya Mangala, beginning with the Adi-Kanda, song number three, verses 13-18. (verses 1-12 describe how in all his previous incarnations and other yugas Bhagavān rarely bestowed prema bhakti.)
nārada balena uddhava śuna ekacitta
sarvajīva vaisnava hebeka ācambita (13) dwijakūle janmiba gaura bhagavān
akhila jivere karibena premadāna (14)
“O Uddhava,” said Nārada, “hear me with one pointed attention as to how, as if all of a sudden, every jiva in this world will become a Vaisnava when Bhagavān takes birth as Gaura, for he will now simply bestow the wealth and riches of prema to each and every soul when he appears in a family of Dwijas. (13-14)
ghare ghare prati grame habe devālaya
kaliyuge sarvaloka habe dharmamaya (15)
In every home, and in every village, there will be a temple, and in this kaliyuga everybody will become a full of dharma. (15)
sāngapānge pārisade jata avatāre
kaliyuge janmibena prati ghare ghare (16)
mahānta vaisnava saha prakate vaisnavī
sevakānusevake vyāpibeka prithibī (17)
adiksita naranārī kalite nā habe
ācandala ādi sabe premabhakti pabe (18)
His eternal companions who accompany the Lord in his various incarnations will be born with him, appearing as great Vaisnavas and Vaisnavīs, as sevakas, and servants of servants, and they will dwell in every home, spreading themselves all over the land until there will be no man or woman who has not received diksha, and all, including those lower than candalas, will achieve premabhakti.” (16-18)
Another sample, from the Nadiyā-Kanda, song five, verses 11-20.
sāta asṭa naya daśa pūrṇa garbha jāni
dibase dekhena swapna śaci ṭhakuranī (11)
nadīyā nagarī lavana samudra kule
nīlācala dekhila aksaya baṭamūle (12)
Seven months, eighth, nine, and now as her pregnancy enters into the fullness of her tenth month, Śaci Ṭhākurani, one day has a dream, wherein the town of Nadīyā transports itself to the banks of the salty ocean. She now beholds the blue mountain (Nīlācala) which rests at the base of the deathless Asvatta tree.
garuḍa rohinī kunda mārkaṇdayaśvara
gundicā mandapa indradyumna sarovara (13)
konārka bhubaneśwara virajā vimalā
jagannāth balarāma subhadrā kamalā (14)
(She sees) Garuda, Rohini kunda and Mārkaṇdayaśvara, the Gundicā mandapa and Indradyumna sarovara, Konārk, Bhubaneśwara, Virajā, Vimalā, Jagannāth, Balarāma, Subhadrā and Kamalā.
nāṭamandire rahi saci ṭhākuranī
jagannāth mukha dekhe śune devavāṇī (15)
sacī ṭhākuranī dekhe śrījagannāth
sacī kole sāmāilā prasāriyā hātha (16)
Then Śaci Ṭhākuranī finds herself in the nāṭamandira, listening to some words the Lord speaks to her, and while she gazes upon Jagannāth’s face, Śrī Jagannāth stretches out his arms, and carefully places Saci Ṭhākuranī in his lap. (15-16)
ei svapna dekhe tabe śacī ṭhākurānī
misra jagannathe svapna kahila vani (17)
svapna śune premānade pulakite hayā
hridaya prakaśh tāre kahila bhāngiyā (18)
kona mahāpurusa āsi kaila garbhavāsa
āmāra mandire jagannāthera prakāśh (19)
Having witnessed this dream Śaci Ṭhākuranī tells Jagannāth Misra, who begins to horripulate in premānanda as he reveals what is in his heart by declaring, “Some mahāpurusa has arrived, and now dwells in your womb. Lord Jagannāth shall appear in our home.” (17-19)
cintiya caitanyacandra carana kamala
jayānanda anande gāye prabhura mangala (20)
Contemplating Caitanya Candra’s lotus like feet, Jayānanda sings in bliss of the auspicious Lord. (20)
And the third and last sample for today’s post is from the Prakaśh Kanda, song 9, verses 11-19.
visnupūrī saraswatī brahmānada pūri
nrisimha bhāratī jagannāth rāmagiri (11)
esabha calilā jagannāthe dekhibare
sankīrttanānande sabhe gela simhadwāre (12)
Enjoying the bliss of Sankīrttan in the fellowship of Visnupūrī Saraswati, Brahmānanda Pūrī, Nrisimha Bhāratī, Jagannāth Rāmagiri and others, Gaurānga arrives at the Simhadvāra as they all proceed ahead intent on taking Lord Jagannāth’s darasan. (11-12)
carana pākhāle prabhu karankera jale
ekaśata dandavat haila nīlācale (13)
simhadvāre praveśiyā gela aksyabaṭe
nāṭamandire rahilā garuda nikate (14)
Prabhu washes his feet with water sprinkled from his water pot, and he then pays hundreds of dandavats to Nīlācala. Having thus entered the Simhadvāra, he now wanders to the base of the aksyaya baṭa (the immortal tree) and then he strays in the nāṭamandira, keeping himself close to the Garuda stamba. (13-14)
ratnasimhāsane dekhe jagannāth
animithe jhare aṅkhi śire joḍa hātha (15)
kaupina bhijiā pade rānga aṇkhira jala
premajale sikta haila sakala kalevara (16)
And as the Lord beholds Jagannāth resting upon his bejewelled Simhāsana, ceaseless tears fall from his eyes and his hands are held aloft in a prayerful posture upon his head, as all the while tears of prema pour from his reddened eyes which drench his kaupina, and soak his entire body. (15-16)
aṇṭu pāti mahāprabhu jāena jena bhita
nīlācala hoite simhadvāra bahisthita (17)
nīlācale carana paraṣa bhaya kari
hāmākuḍi diā jāna āsena hāmākudi (18)
Mahāprabhu seems restless, and fearing that his feet are touching Nīlācala, he now retreats crawling on his hands and knees, as he takes his leave, crawling his way out of the Simhadvāra. (17-18)
cintinya caitanyagadādharapadadvanda
anande prakaśh kanda gāya jayānanda (19)
Dwelling upon the feet of Caitanya and Gadādhara, Jayānanda sings the Prakaśh Kanda in joyful delight. (19)
THE END.
By Jayānanda.
Introduction.
Haribol everyone. I have just read all of Jayānanda’s Caitanya Mangala, written in Bangala, and containing approximately as many verses as the CC. As I enjoyed reading it, i thought to share some of my favourite passages with you. Jayānanda’s Caitanya Mangala (not to be confused with Locan Dās Thakura’s Caitanya Mangala) basically follows the same account of Gaurānga’s Adi, Madhya and Antya lilas as described in the Caitanya Bhagavat and indeed Locan Das Thakura’s Caitanya Mangala. Here is a brief introduction to the poet Jayānanda and his book the Caitanya Mangala, followed by a few samples of his work.
Jayānanada Miśra was a brahman born between 1511-13 near Bardhaman in West Bengal in the village of Āmāipurā. His nick name was Guiyā. His father, Subuddhi Miśra, is mentioned in the CC Ādi Līlā/10/108, and also a later work, the Vaisnavadarpana, which states that Subuddhi is one of Gaurānga Mahāprabhu’s followers. Jadunath’s Sakhanirnayāmrita says Jayānanda is part of the branch belonging to Gadādhara Pandita’s lineage.
Jayānanada, in song 3 of the Vijaya-Kanda, says that Caitanya Mahāprabhu, while on route to Bengal from Puri, actually took rest in his family home, and Rodanī, the poet’s mother, cooked for Mahāprabhu whilst holding baby Jayānanda in her arms. Thus he must have born around 1511-13 as he was an infant when Mahāprabhu travelled to Bengal at this time. In the Ādi-Kanda, song 1, he says he was born on the 12th day of the bright fortnight in the month of Vaisakha. The poet was around twenty when Mahāprabhu left the world, and as his father and mother knew Gaurānga, he would have heard Gaura līlā from them. Some hold the opinion that as Jayānanda seems unacquainted with the writings of the Goswamis of Vraja, that this confirms that he completed his work before 1560, as the works of the Goswamis began to be known and read in Bengal shortly after that date. The Gauḍiya Vaisnava Abhidana says, “The Caitanya Mangala was written by the son of Subuddhi Miśra who is mentioned in the CC. By the grace of Virabhadra Prabhu, and the wish of Gadādhara Pandita, he divided his granta into nine Kandas,(Ādi-Kanda, Nadīyā-Kanda, Vairāgya-Kanda, Sannāyasa-Kanda, Utkala-Kanda, Prakaśh-Kanda, Tirtha-Kanda, Vijaya-Kanda and the Uttara-Kanda) and wandered from region to region, from village to village, and from town to town in Bengal, singing his Caitanya Mangala with a cāmarā held in his hand.”
Jayānanda states that it was Gadādhara Pandita himself who asked him to write this biography. Like all Gaurānga biographies written in Bangala Padavalli, it seems that his Caitanya Mangala is likewise suited for reading at home and for hearing and singing at popular gatherings. Jayānanda’s Caitanya Mangala is a popular ballad that has survived the ravages of time, and in his role as a wandering bard and singing minstrel he took delight in the edification and enlightenment of the masses by singing before them the glorious and charming life story of Lord Caitanya. The Gaudiya Vaisnava Abhidana continues, “The composition is conspicuously anachronistic and its arbitrary recounting of certain events have rendered his work distasteful to some in the Vaisnava world,” further adding that his book is not even mentioned in Bhaktiratnakar. Haridās Dās curiously lists fifteen matters concerning the narrative and biographical detail which find discord with other more popular Caitanya biographies, yet the value of Jayānanda’s Caitanya Mangala is not so much in the accuracy of chronological details or even theological expositions, as in the revelation of its important and fresh insights into Mahaprabhu’s līlā, in its novel and rich descriptions of his astonishing form, his dance, dress and bodily decorations, his companions, his religion and the social conditions and ritualistic customs of these times.
Neither is Jayananda’s biography without its literary merits, the majority of his composition, in my opinion, possessing the same charm, poetical meters, graceful metaphors and the lively and strikingly colourful flare of Vrindāvana Dās, Locan Dās and Kaviraja.
The text printed in this edition is based on the Asiatic Society Manuscript no. G 5398-6-C-4, which includes variations in readings cited from six other manuscripts.
A few samples then from Jayānanda Miṣra’s Caitanya Mangala, beginning with the Adi-Kanda, song number three, verses 13-18. (verses 1-12 describe how in all his previous incarnations and other yugas Bhagavān rarely bestowed prema bhakti.)
nārada balena uddhava śuna ekacitta
sarvajīva vaisnava hebeka ācambita (13) dwijakūle janmiba gaura bhagavān
akhila jivere karibena premadāna (14)
“O Uddhava,” said Nārada, “hear me with one pointed attention as to how, as if all of a sudden, every jiva in this world will become a Vaisnava when Bhagavān takes birth as Gaura, for he will now simply bestow the wealth and riches of prema to each and every soul when he appears in a family of Dwijas. (13-14)
ghare ghare prati grame habe devālaya
kaliyuge sarvaloka habe dharmamaya (15)
In every home, and in every village, there will be a temple, and in this kaliyuga everybody will become a full of dharma. (15)
sāngapānge pārisade jata avatāre
kaliyuge janmibena prati ghare ghare (16)
mahānta vaisnava saha prakate vaisnavī
sevakānusevake vyāpibeka prithibī (17)
adiksita naranārī kalite nā habe
ācandala ādi sabe premabhakti pabe (18)
His eternal companions who accompany the Lord in his various incarnations will be born with him, appearing as great Vaisnavas and Vaisnavīs, as sevakas, and servants of servants, and they will dwell in every home, spreading themselves all over the land until there will be no man or woman who has not received diksha, and all, including those lower than candalas, will achieve premabhakti.” (16-18)
Another sample, from the Nadiyā-Kanda, song five, verses 11-20.
sāta asṭa naya daśa pūrṇa garbha jāni
dibase dekhena swapna śaci ṭhakuranī (11)
nadīyā nagarī lavana samudra kule
nīlācala dekhila aksaya baṭamūle (12)
Seven months, eighth, nine, and now as her pregnancy enters into the fullness of her tenth month, Śaci Ṭhākurani, one day has a dream, wherein the town of Nadīyā transports itself to the banks of the salty ocean. She now beholds the blue mountain (Nīlācala) which rests at the base of the deathless Asvatta tree.
garuḍa rohinī kunda mārkaṇdayaśvara
gundicā mandapa indradyumna sarovara (13)
konārka bhubaneśwara virajā vimalā
jagannāth balarāma subhadrā kamalā (14)
(She sees) Garuda, Rohini kunda and Mārkaṇdayaśvara, the Gundicā mandapa and Indradyumna sarovara, Konārk, Bhubaneśwara, Virajā, Vimalā, Jagannāth, Balarāma, Subhadrā and Kamalā.
nāṭamandire rahi saci ṭhākuranī
jagannāth mukha dekhe śune devavāṇī (15)
sacī ṭhākuranī dekhe śrījagannāth
sacī kole sāmāilā prasāriyā hātha (16)
Then Śaci Ṭhākuranī finds herself in the nāṭamandira, listening to some words the Lord speaks to her, and while she gazes upon Jagannāth’s face, Śrī Jagannāth stretches out his arms, and carefully places Saci Ṭhākuranī in his lap. (15-16)
ei svapna dekhe tabe śacī ṭhākurānī
misra jagannathe svapna kahila vani (17)
svapna śune premānade pulakite hayā
hridaya prakaśh tāre kahila bhāngiyā (18)
kona mahāpurusa āsi kaila garbhavāsa
āmāra mandire jagannāthera prakāśh (19)
Having witnessed this dream Śaci Ṭhākuranī tells Jagannāth Misra, who begins to horripulate in premānanda as he reveals what is in his heart by declaring, “Some mahāpurusa has arrived, and now dwells in your womb. Lord Jagannāth shall appear in our home.” (17-19)
cintiya caitanyacandra carana kamala
jayānanda anande gāye prabhura mangala (20)
Contemplating Caitanya Candra’s lotus like feet, Jayānanda sings in bliss of the auspicious Lord. (20)
And the third and last sample for today’s post is from the Prakaśh Kanda, song 9, verses 11-19.
visnupūrī saraswatī brahmānada pūri
nrisimha bhāratī jagannāth rāmagiri (11)
esabha calilā jagannāthe dekhibare
sankīrttanānande sabhe gela simhadwāre (12)
Enjoying the bliss of Sankīrttan in the fellowship of Visnupūrī Saraswati, Brahmānanda Pūrī, Nrisimha Bhāratī, Jagannāth Rāmagiri and others, Gaurānga arrives at the Simhadvāra as they all proceed ahead intent on taking Lord Jagannāth’s darasan. (11-12)
carana pākhāle prabhu karankera jale
ekaśata dandavat haila nīlācale (13)
simhadvāre praveśiyā gela aksyabaṭe
nāṭamandire rahilā garuda nikate (14)
Prabhu washes his feet with water sprinkled from his water pot, and he then pays hundreds of dandavats to Nīlācala. Having thus entered the Simhadvāra, he now wanders to the base of the aksyaya baṭa (the immortal tree) and then he strays in the nāṭamandira, keeping himself close to the Garuda stamba. (13-14)
ratnasimhāsane dekhe jagannāth
animithe jhare aṅkhi śire joḍa hātha (15)
kaupina bhijiā pade rānga aṇkhira jala
premajale sikta haila sakala kalevara (16)
And as the Lord beholds Jagannāth resting upon his bejewelled Simhāsana, ceaseless tears fall from his eyes and his hands are held aloft in a prayerful posture upon his head, as all the while tears of prema pour from his reddened eyes which drench his kaupina, and soak his entire body. (15-16)
aṇṭu pāti mahāprabhu jāena jena bhita
nīlācala hoite simhadvāra bahisthita (17)
nīlācale carana paraṣa bhaya kari
hāmākuḍi diā jāna āsena hāmākudi (18)
Mahāprabhu seems restless, and fearing that his feet are touching Nīlācala, he now retreats crawling on his hands and knees, as he takes his leave, crawling his way out of the Simhadvāra. (17-18)
cintinya caitanyagadādharapadadvanda
anande prakaśh kanda gāya jayānanda (19)
Dwelling upon the feet of Caitanya and Gadādhara, Jayānanda sings the Prakaśh Kanda in joyful delight. (19)
THE END.