Career and Teachings of the Supreme Lord Sree Krishna-Chaitanya (part 2)

COUNTRY AND SOCIETY

The historical significance of the term Gauda, the name that is borne by the country of Sree Chaitanya's Nativity is obscure. It occurs in the works of the famous Grammarian Panini as the name of a well-known city 'of the East'. The geographical location of the regions bearing the name, referred to in ancient literature, presents a bewildering variety, being applied to tracts and towns scattered in all directions and attaining an extent that is sometimes equivalent to the greater part of Northern India. It supplies the designation to a wide division of the Brahmanas, a well known style of the Sanskrit rhetoricians and a technical term, connected with the metal 'silver', to the industrialists, of Old India. The name of the spiritual preceptor of Sree Sankaracharya is Gaudapada, While Sreeman Madhvacharya, an inhabitant of the extreme south of the country, bears the interesting name of "Gaudapurnananda". No theory regarding the historical origin or application of the word is yet forthcoming that offers any satisfactory clue to the copious use of the word by the ancients in such diverse connections.