Gokulanatha
editVallabha, popularly known as Gokulanātha, was an Indian religious figure of the Puṣṭimārga sect of Vaishnavism. Gokulanātha was the fourth son of Viṭṭhalanātha, and was the founder of the fourth house of the Puṣṭimārga. He wrote several theological works in Sanskrit, and is considered the progenitor of the sampradāya's Vārta tradition in the vernacular Braj Bhasha language.[1]
Life
editGokulanātha was born in 1551 A.D. in the village of Adel, the fourth son of Viṭṭhalanātha, head of the Puṣṭimārga sampradāya. Viṭṭhalanātha's father Vallabha had founded the sampradāya. At the age of sixteen Gokulanātha married an eight-year-old girl named Pārvatī. Gokulanātha had six children, the last three of which were boys: Gopāla, Viṭṭhalarāya, and Vrajaratana, of which only Viṭṭhalarāya had any male issue. Viṭṭhalanātha, before his death, distributed seven deities or svarūpas of Kr̥ṣṇa amongst his sons, of which Gokulanātha recieved the deity Gokulanātha, which had previously been worshiped by the family of Vallabha's wife. After their father's death, Gokulanātha's eldest brother Giridhara ordered the splitting of the family's residences. Gokulanātha had to live separately, and took custody of his youngest brother Ghanaśyāma and nephew Kalyāṇarāya (son of Govindarāya). Gokulanātha once made a journey to Gujarat where he engaged in preaching and conversion at several sites.[2][3]
According to sectarian sources, Gokulanātha defended the right of members of the Puṣṭimārga to wear their sectarian tilakas and tulasī mālās from a Shaiva-Tantric ascetic named Jadrup or Cidrūpa who exerted great influence over the emperor Jahangir. This incident is considered to be of doubtful historicity by modern scholars.[4][5]
Gokulanātha was also involved in the dispute between his nephews Dvārakeśa (son of Bālakr̥ṣṇa) and Madhusūdana (son of Yadunātha) over the deity Bālakr̥ṣṇa. Bālakr̥ṣṇa's service had been entrusted to Yadunātha by Viṭṭhalanātha, however the deity was jointly worshiped with Dvārakānātha by Yadunātha and his elder brother Bālakr̥ṣṇa. Yadunātha's son Madhūsūdana later wished to worship the deity separately, however Dvārakeśa refused to give Bālakr̥ṣṇa away. Gokulanātha acknowledged Madhusūdana's right to worship the deity separately, but within a year Madhūsūdana wanted to give Bālakr̥ṣṇa back to Dvārakeśa. Gokulanātha then had the cousins sign a contract resulting in Dvārakeśa's custody of Bālakr̥ṣṇa and Madhusūdana's of an alternate idol.[6][7]
Gokulanātha initiated his grandnephew Harirāya (son of Kalyāṇarāya) into the Puṣṭimārga sect.[8][9]
Gokulanātha died in 1640 or 1647.[10]
Works
editSanskrit
editGokulanātha wrote several works in Sanskrit, however lists of his work tend to be incomplete and incorrect. Among his original works include Tilakanirṇaya, Vijñāpti, and Śrīvallabhācārya Bhaktānāṁ Nāmāvalī, however his authorship of these works is doubted by modern historians. He also wrote commentaries on the works of Vallabha and Viṭṭhalanātha, mantras, and other subjects.[11]
Braj Bhasha
editA series of discourses by Gokulanātha was recorded and compiled by his disciple Kalyāṇ Bhaṭṭ called Śrī Gokulnāthjī ke caubīs vacanāmr̥ta. This work details Gokulanātha's speeches which reemphasized Vallabha's teachings in terms of what it means to be a servant or Kr̥ṣṇa and how to perform proper service to him.[12]
Vārtā Literature
editAll the prose vārtā literature in Braj Bhasha is generally attributed to Gokulanātha. The most important vārtās are the Caurāsī Vaiṣṇavana kī Vārtā ("Stories of the 84 Vaishavas") and Do Sau Bāvana Vaiṣṇavana kī Vārtā ("Stories of the 252 Vaishnavas), which depict the lives of the disciples of Vallabha and Viṭṭhalanātha, respectively.[13] According to Entwistle, while it is possible some of the stories were composed by Gokulanātha, they were revised, expanded, and commented upon by Harirāya.[14]
First House Family Tree[15][16]
| Giridhara | |||||||||||||||||||
| Muralidhara | Damodar | ||||||||||||||||||
| Vitthalray | |||||||||||||||||||
| Lal Girdhar | |||||||||||||||||||
| Damodar aka Bade Dauji | |||||||||||||||||||
| Vitthaleshray | |||||||||||||||||||
| Govardhanesh | Govind | ||||||||||||||||||
| Girdhar | |||||||||||||||||||
| Damodar aka Dauji II | |||||||||||||||||||
| Govind (Adopted from Second House) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Girdhar | |||||||||||||||||||
| Govardhanlal | |||||||||||||||||||
| Damodarlal | |||||||||||||||||||
| Govindlal | |||||||||||||||||||
| Dauji III | |||||||||||||||||||
| Indradaman aka Rakesh | |||||||||||||||||||
| Bhupesh Kumar | |||||||||||||||||||
Braj Bhasha Grammar
edit| Masculine | Feminine | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weak | Strong | Weak | |||
| Singular | Nominative | ghoṛā ("horse") | ghar, gharu ("house") | nārī ("woman") | bāt ("a word") |
| Oblique | ghoṛā, ghoṛe, ghoṛai | ghar, gharu | nārī | bāt | |
| Plural | Nominative | ghoṛā, ghoṛe, ghoṛai, ghoṛẽ, ghoṛaĩ | ghar, gharu | nārī̃, nāriyā̃ | bātaĩ |
| Oblique | ghoṛaũ, ghoṛā̃, ghoṛani, ghoṛan | gharaũ, gharani, gharan, gharanu | nāriyaũ, nāriyani, nāriyan, nārin | bātaũ, bātani, bātan | |
| Agent | nẽ, naĩ | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Accusative-Dative | kũ, kū˜, kaũ, kaĩ, kẽ | ||
| Ablative-Instrumental | sõ, sū˜, tẽ | ||
| Genitive | kau | ||
| Oblative | Masculine | kẽ | |
| Feminine | kī | ||
| Locative | mẽ, maĩ, pai, laũ | ||
| Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | Oblique | Nominative | Oblique | |||
| Declinable | m. | -ā | -e | |||
| Strong | -au | -ai, -e | -e, -ẽ, -ai, -aĩ | |||
| f. | -ī | |||||
| Indeclinable | -Ø | |||||
Pronouns
edit| 1st person | 2nd person | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sg. | pl. | sg. | pl. | |
| Nominative | haũ, maĩ | ham | tū | tum |
| Oblative | mo | ham | to | tum, tumhaũ |
| Dative | mohi, moy | hamaĩ | tohi, tuhi, toe, toy, toi, to | tumhaĩ |
| Accusative | ||||
| Genitive | merau, | hamārau | terau, teryau | tumhārau, tumhāryan, tihārau, tihāryau |
| Case | Demonstrative | Relative | Interrogative | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd person | ||||||||||||
| Proximal | Non-proximal | Non-proximal (Inanimate) | sg. | pl. | sg. | pl. | Inanimate | |||||
| sg. | pl. | sg. | pl. | sg. | pl. | |||||||
| Nominative | yah, yih | ye, yai | wo, wah, wu | we, wai | so, taun | so, te | jau, jaun | jau | ko, kau, kaun | ko, kau | kahā, kā | |
| Dative | yāhi, yāe, yāy, ise | inhaĩ, ihaĩ | wāhi, wāe, wāy, wise | unhaĩ, winhaĩ | tāhi, tāe, tāy, tise | tinhaĩ | jāhi, jāe, jāy, jise | jinhaĩ | kāhi, kāe, kāy, kise | kinhẽ | ||
| Accusative | ||||||||||||
| Oblique | is, yā, yāhi | ini, in, inhaũ | wis, wā, wāhi | uni, un, unhaũ, wini, win, winhaũ | tis, tā, tāhi | tini, tin, tinhaũ | jis, jā, jāhi | jini, jin, jinhaũ | kis, kā, kāhi | kini, kin, kinhaũ | kāhe | |
Verbs
edit| 1P | 2P | 3P | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sg. | pl. | sg. | pl. | sg. | pl. | ||
| Present | haũ | haĩ | hai | hau | hai | haĩ | |
| Past | m. | hau, ho | he, hẽ | ||||
| f. | hī | hī̃ | |||||
Ahmedabad Demographics
edit| Religiousgroup | 1891[17] | |
|---|---|---|
| Pop. | % | |
Hinduism 
|
102,619 | 69.14% |
Islam 
|
30,946 | 20.85% |
Jainism 
|
12,747 | 8.59% |
Christianity 
|
1,031 | 0.69% |
Zoroastrianism 
|
723 | 0.49% |
| Animism | 156 | 0.11% |
Judaism 
|
153 | 0.1% |
| Other | 37 | 0.02% |
Buddhism .svg){kind=small}
|
20.85% | |
| Others | 9 | 20.85% |
| Total population | 148,412 | 100% |
Notes
editCite error: A list-defined reference with the name "a" has been invoked, but is not defined in the <references> tag (see the help page).
<references> tag (see the help page).- ^ Entwistle 1987, p. 178: "Gokulnath is also the reputed author of the stories (vārtā) dealing with the disciples of Vallabha and Vitthalnath. He may well have been the author of some of them, especially those dealing with the disciples of Vallabha, but it seems more likely that they were collected, expanded, and provided with a commentary by Hariray, a grandson of the second son of Vitthalnath."
- ^ Gandhi, R.H. (1964). Śrī Gokulanāthajī's Contribution to Śuddhādvaita Vedānta (PhD thesis). M.S. University of Baroda.
- ^ Shah, R.G. (2005). Vallabha Cult and Śrī Harirāyajī (Contributions of Śrī Harirāyajī to Vallabha School). Pratibha Prakashan. p. 51.
- ^ Gandhi 1964, p. 68-98.
- ^ Entwistel, A.W. (1987). Braj: Center of Krishna Pilgrimage. Egbert Forsten. p. 178.
- ^ Entwistle 1987, p. 178
- ^ Gandhi 1964, p. 120
- ^ Shah 2005, p. 52.
- ^ Gandhi 1964, p. 120.
- ^ Entwistle 1987, p. 178.
- ^ Gandhi 1964, p. 155-296.
- ^ Saha, Shandip. Creating a Community of Grace: A History of the Puṣṭi Mārga in Northern and Western India (1493-1905) (PhD thesis). University of Ottowa. p. 130-131.
- ^ Drocco, Andrea (June 2017). "Rājasthānī Features in Medieval Braj Prose Texts: The Case of Differential Object Marking and Verbal Agreement in Perfective Clauses". Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale. 53: 211.
- ^ Entwistle 1987, p. 154, 178.
- ^ Ghose, Madhuvanti, ed. (2015). Gates of the Lord: The Tradition of Krishna Paintings. Yale University Press. p. 167.
- ^ Relia, Anil (2013). The Indian Portrate-II: Sacred Journey of Tilkayat Govardhanlalji (1862-1934), Nathdwara. Archer Art Gallery.
- ^ "Census of India, 1891. General tables for British provinces and feudatory states".