![]() Vaishnavism made the mistake of trying to raise the spiritual level of a people without trying to raise their material and intellectual level. It enticed its followers to an unreal world of its own fabrication. For two centuries the people of Bengal people sang, danced, and passed out in an ecstatic trance. The poetry inspired by Vaishnavism was exclusively dominated by eroticism and mysticism. It disowned the intellect altogether. It focussed mainly on legends of lord Krishna and Radha. Rabindranath's influence of Vaishnavism was limited. However on Chittaranjan its influence was all all-pervasive. Rabindranath Tagore under Vaishnava influence has written many Baul songs. The tradition of songs on the Radha-Krishna legend was popular with the works of Chandidas (late 14th century.) in Birbhum district. He was among the earliest poets in the emerging Bengali language. In the year 1474, Maladhar Basu translated the 10th and 11th cantos of the Sanskrit Srimad Bhagavat into Bengali which is known by the name of Srikrishnavijay. Chandidas and Maladhar Basu laid the foundation of Vaishnava poetry in Bengal. Major poets who followed the Padavali tradition included Murari Gupta (srikrishnachaitanyacharitrAmrita), Narahari Sarkar, Basudev Ghosh, Lochandas, Jnanadas, Govindadas, Balaram Das, Syed Sultan and Dwija Chandidas. Seventeenth century witnessed the works of Kaviranjan, Kavishekhar, Radhaballabh Das, Ghanashyam Das and Ramgopal Das. In the eighteenth century the tradition wwas carried out by Vaisnavadas, Chandrashekhar, Radhamohan Thakur, Narahari Chakravarty (gitachandroday), Yadunandan and few others. The re-emergence of Vaishnavism and Bhakti confirms how firmly they have entrenched themselves in the national tradition. In the 14th century Baru chandidas composed Shrikrishnakirtan in Bengali that was the first epic in Bengali language. Charitakavya Vaisnava biographies grew out of the life stories of Chaitanya. Monumental poetical works were composed that focussed about the lives of contemporary historical personalities. |