knowledge and built religious doctrines rather than scholastic philosophies on
the lines of the Vais.n.ava schools of Veda ̄nta of the tenth to thirteenth centuries.
The importance which the Vais.n.ava schools of Veda ̄nta gave to devotion which
could be practiced by all, irrespective of their social status, did not affect their
social conservatism. By contrast, Vallabha’s and Caitanya’s traditions which
held the same position with regard to access to devotion had to envisage
integrating backward classes, women, and other converts in a congregation of
devotees which implied social promiscuity.
Vallabha’s tradition, called Vallabhasamprada ̄ya, consists of a doctrine, the
S ́uddha ̄dvaita (“Nondualism of the pure,” that is, of S ́rı ̄kr.s.n.a-Parabrahman),
and a religious path guided by it, the Pus.t.ima ̄rga. According to hagiography,
Vallabha was born in 1479 in a family of Telugu Brahmans in a village on the
Godavari river. He passed his childhood in Varanasi, studied Vedas, S ́a ̄stras, and
Pura ̄n.as and spent 19 years debating with scholars and spreading his doctrine
during pilgrimage tours. In 1493–4 he is said to have identified at Kr.s.n.a’s
command, an image on the Govardhana Hill in Braj as S ́rı ̄govardhanana ̄thajı ̄,
the very form (svaru ̄pa) of S ́rı ̄kr.s.n.a whose worship became an important feature
of his tradition. This image was later moved to Na ̄thadva ̄ra in Rajasthan and
is now known as S ́rı ̄na ̄thajı ̄. In 1494 again, according to Vallabha himself,
S ́rı ̄kr.s.n.a revealed to him the brahmasambandha(direct relation with the Brahman
who is S ́rı ̄kr.s.n.a). This initiation is said to remove the impurities (dos.as) of the
soul, who then proceeds to worship S ́rı ̄kr.s.n.a by dedicating all actions and pos-
sessions to him. According to hagiography, Vallabha, who was celibate, married
in around 1502 under the order of the image of Vit.t.hala of Pandharpur. His
tradition does not consist of ascetics and all preceptors and laymen are
householders. In 1531 Vallabha became a renouncer and retired to Varanasi
where he died (Barz 1992: 16–55).
Eighty-four Sanskrit works are ascribed to Vallabha, among which Subodhinı ̄
and An.ubha ̄s.ya commentaries on the Bha ̄gavatapura ̄n.a and Brahmasu ̄tras, the
Tattva ̄rthadı ̄pa, based on the Bha ̄gavatapura ̄n.a, the S.od.as ́agrantha, 16 tracts
which discuss dedication to God and the three obstacles to it, are considered as
important. According to Vallabha, sentient beings and insentient world are the
real manifestations of S ́rı ̄kr.s.n.a-Parabrahman. Sentient beings are nondifferent
from S ́rı ̄kr.s.n.a in nature but do not realize it due to ignorance (avidya ̄) imparted
to them by S ́rı ̄kr.s.n.a himself. Their release (uddha ̄ra) too is bestowed by the god
himself through his grace (anugraha) and out of his own free will (iccha ̄). S ́rı ̄kr.s.n.a
appears in different incomplete divine “descents” (avata ̄ras) in sport (lı ̄la ̄) and out
of compassion for his devotees but his only complete avata ̄rais that of S ́rı ̄kr.s.n.a
who lived in Braj and whose deeds are described in the Bha ̄gavatapura ̄n.a. The
institutional and doctrinal connections which hagiography ascribes between his
tradition and that of Vis.n.usva ̄min remain uncertain (Barz 1992: 45).
Vallabha’s elder son Gopı ̄na ̄tha, and later his younger son Vit.t.halana ̄tha, suc-
ceeded him at the head of the organization. Vit.t.halana ̄tha (died in 1586)
received several grants from Emperor Akbar, one of which was used to found a
new village at Gokula near Mathura, where he settled with his family and his
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