sixteenth-century Caitanya texts quote the Gautamı ̄yatantra as their authority.
Later tantras like the I ̄s ́a ̄nasam.hita ̄ and the U ̄rdhva ̄mna ̄yasam.hita ̄ either
mention Gaura ̄n.ga, that is, Caitanya, or promote him as the main object of
worship (Goudriaan 1981: 105 sqq.). Several ritual Tantric texts, tentatively
called “Ka ̄lı ̄-Vis.n.u Tantras,” like the Ka ̄lı ̄vila ̄satantra, the Utpattitantra, the
Ka ̄madhenutantra, tried integrating Vais.n.avism into S ́a ̄ktism by claiming Kr.s.n.a
to be a son of Ka ̄lı ̄. They seem to be associated with the Vais.n.ava revival which
arose in northeastern India from the sixteenth century onwards (Goudriaan
1981: 82–4).
Late Modern and Contemporary Vais.n.ava Traditions
and Groups
New Vais.n.ava movements developed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The Sva ̄mina ̄ra ̄yan.a tradition (nineteenth century) from Gujarat promoted both
social and religious reforms. The Assamese reformist movements that arose in
the 1930s, like the Haridhaniyas (or Nama Kirtaniyas), the Maha ̄kı ̄yas, etc., may
also be mentioned in this context (Cantlie 1985). At the end of the nineteenth
century, Bengal saw a revival of Vais.n.avism inspired by the Caitanya devotional
current. While reformist movements like Bra ̄hmo Sama ̄j and A ̄rya Sama ̄j scorned
this tradition, several historical personalities illustrate the opposite tendency. For
instance, Bijoy Krishna Goswami (born in 1841), previously an ardent and influ-
ential missionary of the Bra ̄hmo Sama ̄j, left it in 1889 and became a follower of
Caitanya. He had several disciples like Bipincandra Pa ̄l whom he initiated, but
did not found any organized movement (Jones 1989: 39–41; Lipski 1971). By
constrast, Keda ̄rna ̄th Datt (1838–1914) founded a branch of the Caitanya tra-
dition, the International Society for Kr.s.n.a Consciousness, which spread outside
India and is popularly known as Hare Kr.s.n.a movement. Serving as a magistrate
in the British Government, in 1868 he discovered the Caitanya tradition into
which he had been born and subsequently wrote and edited around a hundred
books on the subject. He took the Vais.n.avasam.nya ̄sinJaganna ̄tha Da ̄sa Ba ̄ba ̄jı ̄ as
his master and received the name of Bhaktivinoda T.ha ̄kura from the Gaud.ı ̄ya
Gosva ̄mı ̄s in 1887. In the same year he established a printing press in Calcutta
to help circulate Vais.n.ava texts. He was initiated as a renunciate in 1908. His
son Bhaktisiddha ̄nta Sarasvatı ̄ succeeded him at his death in 1914. He reestab-
lished the use of the sacred thread in the tradition (which his father had abol-
ished) as a symbol of “real brahminhood” for every initiate irrespective of his
caste or origin. A. C. Bhaktiveda ̄nta Sva ̄mı ̄, who succeeded Bhaktisiddha ̄nta in
1937, aimed at spreading the message of Caitanya among English-speaking
people and undertook a translation of the Bha ̄gavatapura ̄n.a. Having become a
renouncer in 1959, he visited New York in 1965 at the age of 70 and died in
1977 (Hopkins 1984, passim).
history of vais.n.ava traditions 265