Sarakāra's Caitanya Caritāmṛta

(This file has since been removed from Jeej's site and thus this blog has been a bit rewritten on September 13, 2007:)

Jijaji once posted a 338-page pdf file of an English Caitanya Caritāmṛta rendering by Yadunāth Sarkāra from 1913, in medieval English, hark thee. There is a whole lot missing in this book, but Gaura līlā is nectar in any sequence, language or style, I suppose. On page 10 is the above awesome - vertical - picture of Gaur visiting Sītānāth's house - with Acrobat Reader 8 it can be rotated to horizontal view. It interestingly shows that devotees kept long hair and shaved heads at about a 50/50 rate. The translation-style of 100 years ago is charming and interesting - the Guṇḍica Mandir is named Jagannātha's 'garden house' for instance. There is an interesting list of temples in South India. Sarkāra Bābu claims that many of the temples he charts were not built yet when Mahāprabhu was down south.

This is only a rough script, which starts only with Madhya līlā chapter 3. The author sometimes asks himself questions as is always done in a raw unedited script [fill in names] [ surname?] etc. The last 260 (!) verses have been truncated from Madhya līlā chapter 20, Chapters 23 and 24 seem to be merged and a large piece is truncated about Mahāprabhu teaching Sanātan Goswāmī the Haribhakti Vilāsa. The antya līlā is just summarised in the last 5 chapters, here the entire story of Raghunāth Dās Gosvāmī, the conclusion of the Choṭa Haridās story and the table of the Gosvāmīs' books are missing. Its really a pity that this text is incomplete - I think the style and quality of the translation is - at first sight - OK.

At the end Jayānanda's Caitanya Maṅgal is quoted, about Mahāprabhu's disappearance-pastime. Here it is described that He stubbed His toe at a brick on the road and deceased one evening a week later. "Celestial garlands of many-coloured flowers were thrown on Him from the unseen. Celestial singers (vidyadhar) began to dance on the highway. The gods began to cry out, "Bring the heavenly chariot !" The Master mounted into Vishnu's car with the figure of Garuda on its spire. His material body lay behind on the earth, while He went to Vaikuntha (Vishnu s heaven). Many of His servants killed themselves by serpent-bite. Meteors and thunderbolts fell on the earth. At the news Nityananda and Adwaita Acharya, Vishnupriya and Shachi swooned away Purushottam and other servitors of the Master grew speechless at His departure."

The file is no longer online, but can be attained from me on request via rapidshare.