CAITANYA SECT

also spelled Chaitanya intensely emotional form of Hinduism that has flourished from the 16th century, mainly in Bengal and eastern Orissa, India. It takes its name from the medieval saint Caitanya (Chaitanya; 14851533), whose fervent devotion to Lord Krishna (Krsna) inspired the movement. For Caitanya the legends of Krishna and his youthful beloved, Radha, were both symbolic of and the highest expressions of the mutual love between God and the human soul. Bhakti (devotion) superseded all other forms of religious practice and was conceived as complete self-surrender to the divine will. The Caitanya movement had its beginnings in Navadvipa (Bengal), the saint's birthplace. From the first, a favourite and characteristic form of worship was group singing known as klrtana. This consisted of the singing of simple hymns and the repetition of God's name, accompanied by the sounding of a drum and cymbals and by a rhythmic swaying of the body that continued for several hours and usually resulted in states of religious exaltation. Caitanya was neither a theologian nor a writer, and organization of his followers was initially left up to his close companions, Nityananda and Advaita. These three are called the three masters (prabhu), and their images are established in temples of the sect. A theology for the movement was worked out by a group of Caitanya's disciples who came to be known as the six gosvamins (religious teachers; literally, lords of cows). At Caitanya's request, this group of scholars remained in Vrndavana, near Mathura, the scene of the Krishna-Radha legends. The six gosvamins turned out a voluminous religious and devotional literature in Sanskrit, defining the tenets of the movement and its ritual practices. Their reestablishment of the pilgrimage sites of Vrndavana and Mathura was an achievement of importance for all Vaisnavas (devotees of Lord Vishnu ). Although Caitanya appears to have been worshipped as an incarnation of Krishna even during his lifetime, the theory of his dual incarnation, as Krishna and Radha in one body, was systematically developed only by the later Bengali hymnists. The present leaders of the sect, called gosvamins, are (with some exceptions) the lineal descendants of Caitanya's early disciples and companions. The ascetics are known as vairagins (the dispassionate).