3. Travels of Nityananda Prabhu

  

  The travels of Bengalis in the past

                ---- Sumana Dam

Among the Bengali biographies in the Chaitanya literature, the most prominent and popular is "Chaitanya Bhagavata," written by Vrindavan Das. Vrindavan Das (1507-1589) describes not only the life of Shri Chaitanya Dev but also the biography of his chief associate, Nityananda Prabhu. Nityananda Prabhu (1474-1540) was older than Shri Chaitanya (1486-1534). He had embarked on a pilgrimage before Shri Chaitanya. Therefore, before discussing Shri Chaitanya’s travels, today I present the account of Nityananda’s travels.

Undoubtedly, he undertook these pilgrimages on foot. Since much time has passed, many places have developed new settlements, many names have changed, and several rivers or canals have altered their courses or dried up. Thus, not all the places mentioned in those texts can be found today. However, with the help of Google Maps, I have managed to locate several places, some I could not find, and some remain uncertain. I have noted these in brackets () where appropriate, and used question marks (?) for places that could not be identified.

At the age of twenty (circa 1494 AD), Nityananda embarked on his pilgrimage. This suggests that pilgrimage was a tradition among Bengalis, albeit not widespread at that time. He visited Bakreshwar (a Shakti Peeth in Birbhum), Baidyanath Dham, Kashi, Prayag, Mathura, and Vrindavan in succession. In Gokul, it is mentioned that he visited Nanda’s residence. He then traveled to Hastinapur (in present-day Uttar Pradesh), followed by Dwarka, where he bathed in the sea. He visited the place of Kapila in Siddhpur (now the Kapil Muni Ashram in Gujarat). The order of some of the places in his writings is somewhat disordered, possibly due to the poet’s personal inexperiences. Several place names have changed, which I have attempted to clarify in brackets. Some places are no longer extant. Nityananda then visited Matsya Tirtha (currently unknown), Shiva Kanchi (present-day Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu), Vishnu Kanchi (also Kanchipuram), Bindu Sarovara (Siddhpur, Gujarat), Prabhasa (Gujarat), Tritakupa (unknown), and Mahatirtha—Brahmatirtha—Chakratirtha (Naimisharanya in Uttar Pradesh), and finally reached Ayodhya. In Ayodhya, he wept upon seeing the birthplace of Ram. He visited the kingdom of Guhaka Chandal (unknown), the place of Kaushik Muni (unknown), the Paulsta Ashram (currently in Nepal), Gomti, Gandak, and Shon Tirtha (rivers still exist but the tirthas are no longer there), Mahendra Parvat Peak (unknown), Sapta Godavari (unknown), and Benu Tirtha (unknown). 

After visiting Sri Parvat (possibly Shrishailam in Andhra Pradesh), he went to Dravida (southern India). He visited Venkat Nath (Tirupati Temple, Andhra Pradesh), Kanchi (Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu), Srirangam (Srirangam, Tamil Nadu), Rishabh Parvat (possibly Vindhya Range), Tamraparni (a river in Tamil Nadu), the Agastya Ashram (possibly in Dandakaranya?), Badrik Ashram (unknown), Nandigram (unknown), and finally reached Kanyakumari. There he visited the temple of Durga Devi. Is the poet referring to Kanyakumari or the Kanaka Durga temple in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh? He then traveled to the Southern Ocean (possibly the Indian Ocean?), then Sri Anantapur (Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh), Panch Apsara Sarovara (unknown), the Gokarnakshi Shiv Temple (Gokarna Temple in Karnataka), Dhanutirtha (Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu), Rameshwar (Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu), Vijayanagara (Karnataka), and finally arrived at Neelachal (Puri). After that, he crossed the Ganges and returned to Mathura. From there, he stayed for a while before going to Nabadwip. Nityananda Prabhu had no companions during this journey.

Vrindavan Das wrote this book long after Nityananda's travels and relied on oral accounts, so some distortions in the information may have occurred. However, his writings provide an idea of the pilgrimage sites of that time.

The next part will cover the travel account of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

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