Instructing the Vernacular Mind Through Song: Bhaktivinoda’s Bengali Transcreation of Sanskrit Stotra: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

The foundational theological canon of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava tradition was largely developed by a cohort of renunciate-scholars who took up residence in and around Vṛndāvana in the 16th century and came to be known collectively as the “Six Gosvāmins.”1 Their scholarly and literary output was vast and varied, including commentaries on the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, independent theological treatises, poems and plays, and bhakti-infused textbooks in otherwise secular disciplines such as grammar and dramaturgy. Of particular
importance were the many stotras (praise-poems) composed by the Gosvāmins, especially Rūpa and Raghunātha Dāsa.2 While stotras commonly address a divine audience on their surface level, they often function as an important medium for religious leaders like the Gosvāmins to communicate with the human community of devotees in their traditions, exhibiting a relatively simple and accessible style of Sanskrit.3 This pedagogical agenda of stotras was sometimes implicit, but often enough was made explicit. A key instance of the latter is Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmin’s Manaḥśikṣā (Instruction to the Mind), a work of only twelve verses4 that summarily highlights the core priorities and practices of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava tradition. Although the canon would continually develop as
the tradition adapted to changing historical circumstances, the writings of the Gosvāmins, including these stotras, have retained their foundational status.