The Gaudiya Vaishnava Heritage and Architecture of Bengal
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Dates: 7 - 8 March 2025
Time: 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Venue: KCC 4th Floor
KCC in collaboration with Kolkata Society for Asian Studies presents a 2-day seminar aiming to reveal the rich tangible and intangible heritage and cultural traditions of West Bengal related to Gaudiya Vaishnavism, while researching ways of safeguarding them. Featuring lecture demonstrations, digital archive documentation of heritage terracotta temples, deliberation of deferent scholars about their experiences and research works, and kirtan and gaudiya nritya performances, this seminar will explore the intersectional disciplines in the context of the Bhakti Movement of Lord Chaitanya.
CONCEPT NOTE
The advent of Shri Chaitanya is considered as a revolution in the contemporary Bengali society of sixteenth seventeenth century. He brought a three-fold revolution in Bengal – religious, cultural, and social. During this period Hindu Dharma was relegated to observance of obnoxious rituals. Some were so obscene that it had to be observed outside human habitation, in forests or cremation grounds. The common people had no relation with those activities. Lord Chaitanya’s Bhakti (complete devotion to supreme lord Krishna by chanting Hari naam only) movement of worshiping god without any intermediary was adopted by Bengali population en masse by storm. They began to chant Harinam in large groups – sometimes thousands of people flocked together. These chanting together (Kirtan) gave them psychological strength which was absent amongst themselves for the previous few centuries.
Socially the Bhakti Movement of Lord Chaitanya made the strict caste system and clutch of Brahminical doctrines to subjugate lower castes loose to a large extent. If a Brahmin follows the path of dishonesty, he is not a Brahmin, but if a Chandal (the lower of lower castes) chants the holy name of Lord Krishna is not a Chandal. Thus, a great number of the lower caste people who being morally and physically oppressed by upper caste people instead of converting into Islam joined the great Bhakti Movement of Lord Chaitanya, where there was no difference between human beings.
An all-round development including cultural development throughout Bengali society was envisaged due to the advent of Lord Chaitanya. Literary and other cultural activities started with great enthusiasm. Number of Mangal Kavyas was composed, epics were translated (though Ramayana was translated before birth of Shri Chaitanya but other epic Mahabharata was translated under overwhelming influence of Shri Chaitanya). Volumes of Vaishnava literatures were produced. Thousands of highly acclaimed ‘Vaishnava Padabalis’ were composed. Woodcrafts flourished especially in making images of Lord Chaitanya and Lord Krishna. Thousands of temples of various architectural patterns were built. This time terracotta artworks were again revived, and the ornamental terracotta plaques began to be profusely used in decorating the walls of temples throughout Bengal for subsequent three centuries from 17th to 19th century CE. New types of music (kirtan) musical instrument (Shri Khol), dances (Gaudiya Dance) were developed.
With this revolution as the background, the object of this seminar will be to project the Vaishnava Heritage and Architecture of Bengal. For obvious reasons, the seminar will be confined to West Bengal only. From preliminary survey it appears that there are about 500 sites in West Bengal having maximum concentration of sites in 7(seven) districts viz, West Medinipur, East Medinipur, Bankura, Nadia, Hooghly, East Bardhhaman and North 24 Parganas. This seminar and cultural programme will reveal the rich heritage and cultural tradition of Bengal and search the ways to safeguard our heritage.
