Jagat

This article first appeared on Vrindavan Today. I have a book, a PhD thesis by Maura Corcoran, which is published in English here at the Vrindavan Research Institute . She was a student of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, which begat several other important scholars of Braj, including Alan Entwistle whose book on Braj ( Braj: Center of Krishna Pilgrimage ) is really the geographical and historical point of reference for the entire Braj region, encyclopedic in its scope. Another is Rupert Snell, who did his work here on Harivansha’s Hita Caurasi . It was Ramdas Gupta, a professor of Hindi at SOAS and the founder of the VRI, who built these relations between the two institutions. After his death, the connections between the two institutions seems to have weakened somewhat, but the historical relation is definitely there. At any rate, to return to Maura Corcoran’s book, Vrindavan in Vaishnava Literature , in which she examines Vrindavan primarily from the ...

Joshua Greene (Hofstra University) There is a theory that the Gaudiyas "went underground" in the post-Caitanya period, to avoid persecution by Muslim invaders. This idea would explain the reclusive nature of the community in the 16th and 17th centuries. I believe both David Haberman and Alan Entwistle have posited this idea. Does anyone have access to their writings on the subject. John Stratton Hawley (Professor and Chair, Department of Religion, Barnard College, Columbia University) I'd be very grateful to you for tracing out this "theory"--who says this? The very most important Gaudiya texts were produced in this period of time, evidently very publicly, and some of the most influential among them were produced by gentlemen who were apparently recruited by Chaitanya because of the expertise they brought to their tasks in part from having served in "Muslim" courts--Rupa and Sanatana. Furthermore, Akbar's patronage (with more than a little ...