Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Sri Caitanya Caritamrita Madhya 19.61

se-kale vallabha-bhatta rahe adaila-grame

mahaprabhu aila suni' aila tanra sthane

SYNONYMS

se-kale -- at that time; vallabha-bhatta -- Vallabha Bhatta; rahe -- resided; adaila-grame -- in the village known as Adaila; mahaprabhu -- Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu; aila -- has come; suni' -- hearing; aila -- came; tanra sthane -- to His place.

TRANSLATION

At that time, Sri Vallabha Bhatta was staying at Adaila-grama, and when he heard that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu had arrived, he went to His place to see Him.

PURPORT

Vallabha Bhatta was a great learned scholar of Vaishnavism. In the beginning he was very much devoted to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, but since he thought that he could not receive proper respect from Him, he later joined the Vishnu Svami sect and became the acarya of that sect. His sect is celebrated as the Vallabhacarya-sampradaya. This sampradaya has had great influence in Vrindavana near Gokula and in Bombay. Vallabha Bhatta wrote many books, including a commentary on Srimad-Bhagavatam called Subodhini-tika and notes on the Vedanta-sutra in the form of an Anubhashya. He also wrote a combination of sixteen short works called Shodasa-grantha. The village where he was staying -- Adaila-grama, or Adeli-grama -- was near the confluence of the rivers Ganges and Yamuna, on the other side of the Yamuna from Prayaga, about one mile from the river. A temple of Lord Vishnu there still belongs to the Vallabha-sampradaya.

Vallabha Bhatta was originally from a place in southern India called Trailanga. There is a railway station there called Nidadabhalu. Sixteen miles from that station is a village called Kankadabada, or Kakunrapadhu. A learned brahmana named Lakshmana Dikshita used to live there, and Vallabha Bhatta was his son. There are five sections of the brahmana community of Andhra Pradesh, known as Bella-nati, Vegi-nati, Muraki-nati, Telagu-nati and Kasala-nati. Out of these five brahminical communities, Vallabhacarya took his birth in the community of Bella-nati in the year 1400 Sakabda Era (A.D. 1478). According to some people, Vallabha Bhattacarya's father took sannyasa before Vallabha's birth, and he returned home to take Vallabhacarya as his son. According to the opinion of others, Vallabhacarya was born in 1400 Sakabda Era on the Ekadasi day of the dark moon in the month of Caitra, and he took his birth in a brahmana family surnamed Khambhampatibaru. According to this account, his father's name was Lakshmana Bhatta Dikshita, and he was born in Campakaranya. In someone else's opinion, Vallabhacarya appeared near the village named Canpa-jhara-grama, which is near a railway station named Rajima in Madhya Pradesh.

After studying for eleven years at Varanasi, Vallabhacarya returned home. On his return, he heard that his father had departed from the material world. Keeping his brother and mother at home, he went to the banks of the river Tungabhadra, to a village called Vidyanagara, where he enlightened Krishnadeva, the grandson of King Bukkaraja. After that, he traveled throughout India thrice on trips lasting six years each. Thus he passed eighteen years and became victorious in his discussions of revealed scripture. When he was thirty years old, he married Mahalakshmi, who belonged to the same brahmana community as his. Near Govardhana Hill he established a Deity in the valley. Finally he came to Adaila, which is on the other side of the Yamuna from Prayaga.

Vallabhacarya had two sons, Gopinatha and Viththalesvara, and in his old age he accepted the renounced order. In 1452 Sakabda Era (A.D. 1530), he passed away from the material world at Varanasi. His book known as Shodasa-grantha and his commentaries on the Vedanta-sutra (Anubhashya) and Srimad-Bhagavatam (Subodhini) are very famous. He wrote many other books besides.

<<< >>>

Copyright (c) The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness