A thread on Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and the societal conditions during his life

Shri Chaitany Mahaprabhu lived from 1486-1534 AD. During this period, Muslims had political control in most parts of India, and active proselytising by Sufi Saints were going on, while the iconoclasm and destruction of ancient Hindu culture degraded Hindu society.

During the Islamic invasion, there was a great stratification in society. This is best shown from this example of the Sunnyapuran, which shows how the higher castes often oppressed other people, so much so that Buddhists regarded the Muslims as their saviour.

Bengali Hindu society was attacked especially by the converted Hindu King, who was even more iconoclastic and gave more damage to society than his predecessors

KR Quanungo, an eminent historian makes a good comparison to the proselytising effect on Bengal and Orissa. He explicitly states that it was the Sufis who were more active in conversion than the rulers.

Jadunath Sarkar, shows the modus operandi of these pirs and how the mass conversion of Hindus occured in the medieval era.

This passage of the Riyaz us Salatin effectively shows the viewpoint of medieval Muslims including the Sufi pirs, to Hindu society as a whole

Even Duarte Barbosa, who travelled in Bengal recorded that conversions to Islam were prevalent to "gain the favour of their rulers".

In terms of caste and position of women, there is little to be said which is already not known. Caste was rigid, and lower castes were treated poorly. Women were confined.Sati was prevalent, and the ruling class of nobles exploited women a lot. Widows led a miserable life.

It was in such conditions that the Vaishnavism movement led by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu started.

We shall now see the different viewpoints held by Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu on some of the points I mentioned above.

Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his movement was fluid in terms of caste. They had only one requirement, and that was of devotion to Shri Krishna. Nothing else mattered. Here are four examples of this

Even his followers advocated this. Thakura Haridasa and Nityananda, both show this.

We also see that he never did the distinction of "mleccha" in his movement. Muslims were allowed to convert to Vaishnavism, and follow his teachings without hindrance.

There is a very interesting account of an encounter with the Kazi of that area and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

The Kazi used to attack devotees, and break the drums of the people in the kirtana.

In response, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu wanted to meet the Kazi. He had arrived with a large horde of his followers. The crowd wanted the death of the Kazi

Yet, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not allow that. He guaranteed the safety of the Kazi and wanted to discuss with him

The Kazi and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu discussed a lot of things, in which animal slaughter was a major one. Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gives the below explanation for his stance

After a while, the Kazi was won over and he finally converted. This is a prime example of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's tolerance and compassion, even for iconoclasts.

Finally, we see Chaitanya Mahaprabhus interaction with atheists and Buddhists. He doesn't tolerate atheism, while he regards Buddhism as superior to atheism.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was a strict Brahmachari. He rejected the idea of marriage altogether after his enlightenment.

However, this should not be interpreted that he was against women as a whole.

He says that Vaishnavism is open to all, and we even have references to women making pilgrimages to visit him

Overall, there were many far reaching effects of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his movement. The major effects are summed up by Jadunath Sarkar

References-

History of Bengal- vol 2 by Jadunath Sarkar

Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu by Pradipa Tirtha Maharaj

Riyaz us Salatin- trs by Maulvi Abdul Salam

Chaitanya Bhagavata(all 3 vols)

The Book of Duarte Barbosa(vol 2)

Social History of Muslims in Bengal- Abdul Karim

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