Page 15 - Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu (English)

Chapter One

Birth and Childhood

Pastimes

Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu appeared in this
world at a time of transformation in both the
West and East. In Europe the Renaissance
was flourishing, inspiring navigators to find
new territories, astronomers to explore the
heavens, and scholars to discover facts about the
universe that overturned traditional paradigms
and concepts. Simultaneously, in India a
different kind of renaissance was taking place.
Against a background of unprecedented social
change, including widespread conversion of lower-
class Hindus to Islam, the bhakti movement was
revolutionizing religious outlooks and practices.
At that time many brähmaëas came to domicile
in Navadvépa, Bengal, being attracted by its
location on the sacred Gaìgä and its renown
as a center of scholarship. One such brähmaëa,
Jagannätha Miçra, migrated from East Bengal and
settled on the bank of the Gaìgä in Mäyäpur, a
neighborhood of Navadvépa. Jagannätha Miçra

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