Today is the appearance day of Jahnava-devi, as well as Sita-devi and Madhupandit. I was thinking how we hear a lot about Sita-devi, but how for our sampradaya Jahnava Ma is even more important. It's a nice day to remember her and pray for her mercry. It is also mine and Nama-shrestam, Jiva-daya, Caitanya-daya and Madan Gopal's initiation anniversary. So please everyone give me your blessings to always remain in service to Guru and Gauranga.
A friend sent me a little something about Jahnava-devi and so I thought I'd share it here. Jai Jahnava Ma!
nikhila baisnaba-jana doya prakasiya
sri-jahnava-pade more rakhaha taniya
I pray to all you assembled Vaisnavas throughout the entire universe to please show your compassion by attracting me to the shade of the lotus feet of Sri Jahnava Devi, my eternal shelter and the very pleasure potency of Sri Nityananda Prabhu.
- from Kalyana Kalpataru, by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur
sri-jahnava-pada-padma koriya smaran
dina krishna-da kohe nama-sankirtana.
" Remembering the lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu's consort, Sri Jahnava Devi, this very fallen lowly servant of Krishna sings the Sankirtan of the holy names "
- from Sri Vraja-Dhama Mahimamrta
Here is an extract from 'Sri Panca-tattva: The Five Features of God',
by Satyaraja Dasa (Steven J. Rosen)
When Nitai returned to Bengal at Mahaprabhu's request, He decided to abandon His avadhuta status and take to the householder asrama. A statesman named Suryadasa Sarakhel had two daughters who were great devotees; their names were Jahnava and Vasudha. As qualified girls who felt great affection for Nityananda Prabhu, they were chosen to marry Him, and He, in turn, loved them dearly. According to Kavi Karnapura, the two girls were incarnations of Revati Devi and Varuni Devi respectively, who were the wives of Lord Balarama.
After some time Vasudha gave birth to two children - a boy named Virabhadra and a girl named Ganga-devi. Virabhadra, especially, became a great leader in the Vaisnava community and continued to spread the Gaudiya teachings in the mood of His distinguished father. Soon after the birth of her two divine children, Vasudha passed away, and Jahnava vowed to raise them as her own.
As the years went by, Jahnava Ma developed a reputation as a superlative Vaisnavi, embodying the ideals of devotion in the Gaudiya sampradaya. She initiated her son Virabhadra as well as many other male and female members of the Vaisnava community. Major figures in Mahaprabhu's lineage took shelter at her lotus feet, and personalities like Narottama Dasa Thakura, Srinivasa Acarya, and Syamananda Prabhu accepted her as the most prominent Vaisnava in Bengal.
In Ekacakra-grama, not far from Nityananda Prabhu's birthplace, there is a Krishna Deity known as Bankima Raya - a Deity that was established by Nityananda Himself. On the right side of this Deity is a Deity of Jahnava Ma and on the left is one of Sri Radha. The priests of this temple say that Nityananda Prabhu merged into the form of Bankima Raya when He was ready to leave the planet for his eternal pastimes in the spiritual sky. There are no other stories of Nitai's departure and so this one is generally accepted by the orthodox Vaisnava community. Be that as it may, His presence, as well as that of His personal sakti, Jahnava Thakurani, is always felt in the presence of one's own guru, for the guru is considered a living manifestation of Nityananda Prabhu's love, and His sakti is what gives a true disciple the ability to perform devotional service and to experience the bliss of devotional life.
Once, when Srimati Jahnava devi was travelling with a large group of Vaisnavas on a pilgrimage to Braj, the party passed through a village en route. The residents of the village were Candi (Durga Devi) worshippers who mocked the group of Vaisnavas when they saw them bowing to and touching Jahnava Devi's feet. Considering that by offering respect to Jahnava Devi, rather than their local deity of Candi, the Vaisnavas had committed a great offense, they vowed to slaughter the whole group of travellers. Candi, however, found this proposal unacceptable and appeared in an angry form to her worshippers in a dream, and revealed to them the glories of Jahnava Devi, saying :
'You fools! You do not know the truth about her who you look down upon and whom you have called a brahmana woman. She is the wife of Nityananda-Balarama, an object of respect even to me and worshipable by all. Her name, Jahnava Isvari, is exceedingly sweet. Simply by uttering this name, one can be freed from life's worries. She is beloved of Nityananda, the incarnation of compassion; she voluntarily distributes loving devotion to Krsna to the living beings. Whoever worships her lotus feet and sings her glories will be delivered from the threefold sufferings.'
Candi continued by telling the villagers to beg Jahnava Devi for forgiveness; which they did. Jahnava Devi stayed in the village for several days and converted the villagers to Vaisnavism before moving on.
- from Sri Sri Bhakti-ratnakara by Narahari Cakravarti Thakura.
From Women Saints in Gaudiya Vaishnavism by Jagadananda Das:
Sri Jahnava Ishwari (16th century).
Karen Sinclair has observed that though women have attained great prominence in
Hindu sects, it is generally as "Holy Mothers" or the consorts of male religous
adepts, and she gives Sarada Devi, the consort of Ramakrishna, and Aurobindo's
"The Mother" as modern examples. In her view, in such circumstances women are
normally venerated, but their role is circumscribed, as is the case with the Virgin
Mary in Christianity.(26)
In many places in Asia, widows, daughters and sisters of martyred political leaders
have risen to political prominence. Nowhere is this truer than in South Asia, where
such women have risen to the highest political posts in four countries. Mary
Katzenstein, in her analysis of the factors leading to the political prominence of
women in India, has concluded that in societies where kinship plays an important
role, in the absence of a regularized, stable system whereby succession of political
leaders is assured, daughters, widows, or sisters are often called upon to lead.(27)
Nevertheless, for any woman to succeed in a role of leadership in such
circumstances, it would be necessary that she show qualifications of a more
practical sort; simple relationship could only play a temporary role. Indira Gandhi in
India and Sirimavo Bandaranaike in Sri Lanka, are particularly salient examples.
Most of the early generations of Gaudiya Vaishnava women leaders were similarly
related to earlier charismatic male leaders of the movement. Of all these women,
who are yet few in number, Jahnava, the wife of Chaitanya's chief associate
Nityananda, stands out. A number of reasons might be conjectured for her rise to
prominence. She was widowed, it would seem, when still fairly young. She had no
children herself, but her nephew and stepson, Nityananda's son Virabhadra (born of
Jahnava's younger sister and co-wife Vasudha), was not yet of an age where he
could exercise leadership in the dynastic system that had apparently been
envisioned as appropriate for the continuation of the movement In the absence of
another appropriate leader; Jahnava stepped into fill the leadership void.
It is quite clear that Jahnava won respect throughout the Vaishnava community as
well as constituting a strong influence on her two principle disciples, Virabhadra
and Ramachandra. She was known as Ishwari (IzvarI), the feminine form of the
commonly used word for God, Izvara. At the very least, the term implies a great
mastery over others. Narahari recounts in his Bhakti-ratnakara that Yadunandan Das
and the other devotees gathered in Katwa as Jahnava made her way to Kheturi out
of respect ate only after she had finished her repast.
Jahnava and Vasudha were sisters, daughters of a Brahmin scholar, Suryadas
Sarkhel, and nieces of Gauridas Pandit, both of which brothers were significant
devotees of Nityananda and Chaitanya in their own right. The two girls were given
in marriage to Nityananda, but Jahnava remained without issue while Vasudha gave
birth to two children: a girl, Gahga, and a boy, Virabhadra. Though Jahnava was
Virabhadra's stepmother, she played a more significant role in his spiritual
development than did his natural mother. One legend is recounted in the
Nityananda-vamsa-vistara in which it is said that Virabhadra was seeking a spiritual
master (having been orphaned before receiving initiation from his own father). In
the course of his search, he approached Sita Thakurani, the wife of Advaita, the
third member of the Gaudiya Vaishnava divine triumvirate. She told him that he
should seek closer to home, but Virabhadra was not convinced that Jahnava was
sufficiently qualified to be his guru. On his return home, however, he saw his
stepmother as she was completing her bath. While drying her hair, her wet sari
slipped and in order to conceal her nakedness, she sprouted two extra arms to hold
up the failing cloth. Virabhadra was impressed by this show of divinity and asked
Jahnava to initiate him.(29)
Though some comparable epiphanies are related in legends about Nityananda, there
is a proliferation of such simplistic attempts at legitimizing the divine character of
personalities in the later hagiographical histories of Chaitanya Vaishnavism. The
Nityananda-vamsa-vistara also recounts that Virabhadra (who is also identified as
Izvara by Krishnadas [CC 1.11.8) and as Kshirodakashayi Vishnu in the Gauraganoddesha-
dipika manifested divine forms of this nature on various occasions
during his preaching career.
Jahnava is not the only woman to have manifested such a four-armed form. Stories
similar to the one recounted above are also told about two other women in Gaudiya
Vaishnava history. Nityananda's powerful disciple Abhiram Thakur married a
Muslim girl, Rami, an act that met with considerable criticism. Though some
devotees were prepared to accept her presence in the Vaishnava community, they
were certainly not ready to take food, not even prasad, from her hand. They were
quieted when Rami sprouted extra arms to hold up the cloth covering her head
when it slipped as she was serving. Again, a similar story is told by Haridas Das
(Gaudiya-Vaishnava Abhidhana, 1422) about Hemalata Thakurani, the daughter of the
important third generation Gaudiya Vaishnava leader Srinivasa Acharya. The legend
about Hemalata is particularly significant, not so much in its details, but rather in
that, as with Jahnava, it confirms her personal authority as guru.
Virabhadra was not Jahnava's only important disciple. Other disciples of distinction
begin with Ramachandra Goswami. Grandson of Vamsivadanananda Thakur
(mentioned above in connection with Vishnupriya Devi), Ramachandra was adopted
by Jahnava after she gave the benediction to his father that he would have two sons.
When the second son was born, when Ramachandra was 11 or 12 years old (ca.
1545), Jahnava took him to live with her.
Ramachandra was given special treatment by his stepmother and guru, and to some
extent became a rival to Virabhadra for her favors, accompanying her on her last
trip to Braj. He later founded the Baghnapada branch of Goswamis through his
nephew Rajavallabh's family; he himself never married.
It would appear that Jahnava had imbibed some of the scholarship of her father and
uncle, and it stood her in good stead when she began to take on the role of
Nityananda's successor. In Murali-vilasa, Jahnava is described as giving instructions
to Ramachandra Goswami in the details of the path of worship (manjarI-bhAvasAdhana)
outlined by Rupa Goswami. Nevertheless, despite her personal scholarship,
she does not seem to have given public discourses on scripture and was even selfeffacing
when in the association of male devotees. For instance, in Kheturi, she did
not ascend to the podium with the associates of Chaitanya and Nityananda who
were present there.(31)
Nor did she do anything more than act as an audience for kirtan. On the other hand,
she appears to have liked to cook for large numbers of devotees, herself serving
them, and participated directly in deity worship, at least by offering foodstuffs. At
Kheturi, she orchestrated many of the activities, such as the greeting (satkAra) of the
guests (BRK 10.511), the playing of phAgu-khelA, etc.(32)
Perhaps Jahnava's most significant contribution was to the organization and
character of Bengali Vaishnavism as it endeavored to deal with the theological
sophistication of the Vrindavan Goswamis. The event at which this took place was
the famous Kheturi festival already mentioned above, the date of which is still a
matter of conjecture, but likely took place in the 1570s. Her role there was to lend
approval to the innovations in the practice of kirtan as well as the theological
formulations on the nature of Chaitanya and his incarnation that Narottam and
Srinivas Acharya had brought with them from Vrindavan.(33)
Jahnava, doubtless impressed by the culture of the new leaders of the movement
and the learning they had received at the hands of Jiva Goswami, decided to go
herself to Braj and witness firsthand the developments that had taken place there.
Traveling with a large group of Vaishnavas and being carried in a palanquin that
protected her modesty, she led the undoubtedly rather impressive group that made
the lengthy pilgrimage, taking between five and six months to make the trip.
Narahari describes an incident that took place in a village en route. The residents of
the village were Chandi worshippers who mocked the group of Vaishnavas when
they saw them bowing to Jahnava and touching her feet. Considering that by
offering respect to Jahnava rather than to their local deity of Chandi, the
Vaishnavas had committed a great offense, they vowed to slaughter the whole
group of travelers. Chandi, however, found this proposal unacceptable and appeared
in an angry form to her worshippers in a dream and revealed to them the glories of
Jahnava, saying,
You rascals! You do not know the truth about her whom you look down upon and
whom you have called a mere Brahmin woman. She is the wife of Nityananda-
Balaram, object of respect even to me and worshipable by all. Her name, Jahnava
Ishwari, is exceedingly sweet. Simply by uttering this name, one can be freed from
life's worries. She is the beloved of Nityananda, the incarnation of compassion; she
voluntarily distributes loving devotion to Krishna to the living beings. Whoever
worships her lotus feet and sings her glories will be delivered from the threefold
sufferings. (34)
Chandi concludes by telling the villagers to beg Jahnava for forgiveness, which they
did. Jahnava converted them all to Vaishnavism and stayed for several days in the
village before moving on. Another similar miraculous event took place at another
village where robbers thought to attack the group. They were unable to find
Jahnava and her party of travelers despite knowing clearly their location. They too
converted to Vaishnavism when they realized that Jahnava was divinely protected.
On her way back home from Braj, Jahnava stopped with her entourage at the
birthplace of Nityananda in Birbhum. She made a second and perhaps even a third
trip to Braj before the end of her life, ultimately dying there. It is said that while still
alive, she had an image of Radha made and placed on the right-hand side of
Gopinath in Vrindavan, where an image of Radha already stood on the left. When
she died, she is said to have entered into that deity, thenceforth known as Ananga
Manjari.
Jahnava's apotheosis as Ananga Manjart, the sister of Radha, is perhaps what sets
her apart from most other woman saints in Gaudiya Vaishnavism. The Gauraganoddesha-
dipika of Kavi Karnapur identifies her first with Revati (the wife of
Balaram in Krishna lila) by virtue of her being the wife of Nityananda (who is
identified with Balaram), but also recognizes the Ananga Manjari identification as
well. By way of contrast, though Vishnupriya is identified with Satyabhama, the
wife of Krishna in Dvaraka, (35) this identification is far less prestigious in the
heavily Vrindavan-influenced Gaudiya Vaishnavism of later days than that of
Jahnava with Ananga Manjari.
It was Jahnava's adopted son and disciple Ramachandra Goswami who developed
the theology of Ananga Manjari in his short work Ananga-manjari-samputka.(36)
Ananga Manjari has an ontologically special status in that she is both a manjari, or
maidservant to Radha, and sakhi, who enjoys dalliances with Krishna in her own
right. Furthermore, she is the consort of Balaram on the one hand, and identical
with him in that metaphysical slight of hand known to Vaishnava theologians,
which states that a power and its possessor are not distinguishable. Thus, Balarama
(= Nityananda), who enjoys his own rasa-lila with gopis attached erotically to him,
also enjoys access to the superior rasa-lila enjoyed by Krishna through his presence
there in the form of Ananga Manjari. This bit of theological contortionism arises
directly out of Jahnava's "conversion" to the higher standards of devotion
established by the Vrindavan goswamis. In order to give legitimacy to his line, it
was now necessary to show that Nityananda, who had always been understood to
possess the friendly mood (sakhya-bhava), was also privy to the erotic mood as well
(madhura-bhava). If Chaitanya had come to distribute this type of love to all humans
who had never before had access to it, then how could his most intimate associate
and primary distributory agent be deprived of it?
Virabhadra's wife, Subhadra Devi, wrote a Sanskrit hymn called Ananga-kadambavali,
which consisted of one hundred verses in glorification of Jahnava. This work has
been lost, but a single verse of it has been preserved in the Murali-vilasa (and is cited
in Haridas Das, Gaudiya Vaishnava Abhidhana 5). It is not unlikely that Jahnava
encouraged female learning, for literacy amongst Vaishnava women was
maintained at a higher level than amongst other women of Bengal society. Donna
Wulff points out that Vaishnava women ascetics in the 19th and 20th centuries were
leaders of female literacy, much more so than those who belonged to other Hindu
sects. (37)
Jahnava's exceptional status no doubt led to the common occurrence of maternal
initiation in many Nityananda-dynasty families. In some cases, such as the family of
Pran Gopal Gosvami of Nabadwip, the tradition is that the sons are always initiated
by their mother. Pran Gopal would say that when the power of the mercy of the
guru was coupled with maternal love, an extremely powerful spiritual force was
created.(38) The Gaudiya Math movement directed by Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati
fought strongly against the principle of inherited disciplic succession and was even
more vehement in such criticism where female members were involved. Even so,
they too accepted Jahnava's legitimacy as a spiritual master in the line. (39)
Whatever the attitude of neo-orthodoxy to Jahnava, there is little to support Edward
Dimock's contention that she was a sahajiya, or in any way influenced by sahajiyas,
nor that her adopted son was one. Nor is it necessarily true that the increased
influence of women in Gaudiya Vaishnavism is a result of increased sahajiya
influence. It shows rather the potential power of women that was given the
opportunity to develop when Chaitanya instructed his chief lieutenant Nityananda
to return to Bengal and get married, thus giving increased legitimacy to the
householder life. The Gaudiya movement has always held that the renunciates and
householders operate in separate spheres with different rules.
Gee, how dry... am I the only one who is disturbed by the tone? I mean, thanks for the info, but brrrrrr.... :Nail Biting: