Inexorable in his resolve, Chaitanya with a solitary companion left Puri on the 7th day of Baisakh, Saka 1432 (1510 A.D.) He had stayed at Puri for a little above two months from April 1509 A.D.
We are glad to say that for an account of Chaitanya for a period of two years and ten months from the 7th Baisakh, 1432 Saka, during his tour in the Deccan, we have a clear and reliable record in the karcha by Govinda Karmakar, who took notes daily of what he saw and heard. Though the karcha begins with an earlier account, viz., that of the period immediately before sanyas, yet I believe the notes were actually taken from the time when Chaitanya left Puri.
The notice of the period of five or six months previous to sanyas is somewhat imperfect and seems evidently to have been written from memory, whereas the notes relating to the latter period are full and exhaustive, abounding with graphic sketches of all that had taken place. It is natural for us to surmise that the idea of jotting down notes originated in Govinda's mind in connection with Chaitanya's tour in the Deccan. For at Nadia and in Puri there were many scholars who were Chaitanya's companions, who, like Swarup Damodar and Murari, were ever ready to record the incidents of his life; and an unassuming man like Govinda could not possibly have conceived the idea of writing a sketch of the Master in the presence of these scholars, as his education was of a very humble kind.
It was when no one else could be near to record the events of his life, that Govinda felt tempted to do so; and this surmise of ours is substantiated, as already staled, by the very nature of the narration of facts, the earlier events being written off-hand, as if from recollection, and the notes of later ones possessing all the freshness and living interest of a chronicle written on the spot.
The picture of the Master in this narrative is divested from all manner of glorification by ascribing supernatural powers to him. Such exaggeration in reality in most instances mars true glory. The karcha shows how the young ascetic wandered from village to village intoxicated with God's love and passed into trances as often as he saw a river, a flower or a newly-risen cloud. The sight of this trance was so attractive that everywhere it drew large crowds. We also read in the karcha that in the midst of his maddening love for God, he every now and then displayed a great eloquence inspired by spiritual fervour, and defeated the scholarly argumentations of the great pantheist leaders of Southern India, such as Ishwar Puri of Chandipur, Bhargadev of Tripatra and others.
Kamgiri, the famous Buddhist leader, had a tough fight with Chaitanya on spiritual questions. The Raja of Trimanda acted as judge. Ramgiri was completely defeated and became a follower of Chaitanya, adopting the Vaishnab name of Haridas.
On many occasions the extraordinary learning of the young ascetic made a great impression; but when establishing the cause of devotion and faith by his scholarship, he recited the name of Krishna fervently with tears in his eyes and followed his vision through woods and marshes, heedless of physical pain, they all beheld in him something more than human and accepted him as God.
At a place called Tripatra we find him followed by children who cried out "There goes the ascetic mad after God." Some threw dust at him; his outer robes were all torn and his body was covered with mud. Says Govinda "He looks like a mad man". The name of Krishna raised him to a state of poetic frenzy and completely distracted him. At Munna we find him giving instructions listened to by hundreds of men and women with rapt attention, the women shedding tears over pathos created by God's name.
[Editor's Note: We present the manuscript for its historical interest. The author's representation of historical events is not necessarily accurate, and should be taken as fact only insofar as it is corroborated by authorized sastra and the purports of our Sampradaya Acaryas. There is a great deal of interesting information presented in the book, much of it helpful in pursuing research on Sri Chaitanya's pastimes.]
