The Forgotten Story of Narayan Bhatt: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

This article was intended to be a summary of the life and work of the great Vaishnava South Indian saint, Narayan Bhatt, who is credited with rediscovering many of the holiest sites in Braj and creating the Ban Yatra (Braj Yatra or Braj Dham Parikrama), a pilgrimage circuit that annually attracts throngs of pilgrims to Vrindavan, the sacred land of Lord Krishna.
However, the figure of Narayan Bhatt as a biographical subject proved to be challenging on many levels. His numerous works in Sanskrit, though clearly of great significance to the tradition of Bengali Vaishnavism, remain buried in the Sanskrit language, inaccessible, obscure and difficult to locate even in Braj. While many of the Goswamis of Vrindavan have been translated and commented upon in English, Narayan Bhatt works have not drawn similar attention. Furthermore, even locating hagiographical material on Narayan Bhatt presented many challenges. All this information, I assure you, is not meant to gain the sympathy of the reader or to bore you with details about the laborious work that has gone into presenting this article.