(“nectar of Chaitanya’s deeds”) A name shared by at least three separate texts, all devoted to recounting the life of the Bengali saint Chaitanya (1486–1533). The earliest was written by Murari
Gupta, an associate of Chaitanya. Most
of this text focuses on Chaitanya’s early life up to his southern Indian pilgrimage ending in 1513, but it also briefly men- tions his pilgrimage to the town of
Brindavan in 1514 and his final return
to the sacred city of Puri, in which he lived until his death. The second account was written nine years after
Chaitanya’s death by Kavikarnapura, who freely acknowledged his debt to Murari Gupta. The final account was written by Krishnadas Kaviraj about ninety years after Chaitanya’s death. Kaviraj’s account focuses mainly on Chaitanya’s later life, particularly his time in Brindavan. This last version is marked by the philosophical influ- ence of Chaitanya’s most important disciples, the Goswamis (Rupa Goswami,
Sanatana Goswami, and Jiva Goswami),
whose ideas were a major influence in shaping the Gaudiya Vaishnava religious community. None of these texts gives an “objective” biography; the works are hagiographies written by passionate devotees (bhakta). See also philosophy.
Chaitra
According to the lunar calendar, by which most Hindu religious festivals are determined, Chaitra is the month in which the lunar year both begins (dur- ing the two weeks of the bright or wax- ing, half of the moon) and ends (during the two weeks of the dark, or waning, half of the moon, which precedes the bright half ). Thus, the waning half of Chaitra ends one lunar year, while the waxing half that follows it begins the next lunar year. This month usually falls within March and April. This is one of the months of spring, and in northern India the weather is warm and pleasant at this time. The major festivals in Chaitra are Papamochani Ekadashi, the
spring Navaratri, Ram Navami,
Kamada Ekadashi, Hanuman Jayanti,
and in Tamil Nadu, the Chittirai festival.
Chaitya
(“place of worship”) A rock-cut cave temple. This architectural form is closely associated with Indian Buddhism but was also used in early Hindu temple
architecture. The earliest chaityas were
simple caves, but these grew more elab- orate as the form developed. In its later stages, the builders would not only cut Chaitanya-Charitramrta
out the side of the hill to make a cave; they would also sculpt pillars and other architectural details that mimicked free-standing construction. Another characteristic architectural feature was a ceiling carved into the shape of an arch. The true arch, built from the bottom up and used in Roman architecture, was not used in ancient India. A third common feature was a large window opening over the doorway to let in additional light. During the construction, the builders began removing stone at the top of the structure and worked their way down; this eliminated the need for any scaf- folding during the building process, but it also meant that the builders had to work carefully to avoid mistakes. This construction method creates structures considered gigantic sculp- tures rather than buildings. The earliest examples are Buddhist caves carved into the side of the western ghats in
Maharashtra. The form was later used
to create Hindu temples, specifically at Ellora (in which the oldest caves are Buddhist) and on the island of Elephanta.
Chakora
The red partridge (Perdrix rufa). According to popular belief, the chakora bird eats nothing but moonbeams. It is thus happy and content during the night but tormented by hunger during the day. In court poetry the chakora bird often symbolized a cultured and dis- criminating person who appreciates the finer things in life. In bhakti (devotion- al) poetry the chakora is often a symbol for a devotee (bhakta), since the chakora bird is said to be in love with the moon. Thus it is joyful when the moon is out but pines for it during the day, just as a devotee is blissful in the deity’s pres- ence and in its absence is consumed with longing.
Chakra
(“wheel”) In Hindu iconography the chakra is the discus-weapon carried by several of the Hindu deities. It is often associated with the god Vishnu and is one of the four objects he invariably carries, along with the club (gada), lotus (padma), and conch shell (shankha). The discus was an actual weapon in the Indian military arsenal, and its sharp edges made it fearsome in close com- bat. Vishnu’s discus (named Sudarshana) is even more fearsome in its power. According to tradition it was fashioned by the divine craftsman, Vishvakarma, from pieces trimmed off of the sun; thus it carries the power of the sun’s blazing energy. The discus is also carried by certain powerful forms of the
Goddess. In her charter myth, she was
formed from the collected radiance of all the gods and received duplicates of all their weapons.
In the esoteric ritual tradition known as tantra, a chakra is a psychic center in the subtle body. The subtle body is an alternate physiological sys- tem that corresponds to the material body but is believed to reside on a dif- ferent plane of existence. The subtle body is visualized as a set of chakras, or psychic centers, that are arranged in a column from the base of the spine to the top of the head and connected by three vertical channels. Each chakra is pictured as a multipetaled lotus flower. All tantric traditions speak of six chakras: muladhara, svad-
hishthana, manipura, anahata, vishud- dha, and ajna; some traditions name
additional ones. Each of these chakras has important symbolic associations— with a different human physiological capacity, subtle element (tanmatra), and with differing seed syllables (bijak-
shara) formed from the letters of the
Sanskrit alphabet, together encompass- ing all sacred sounds. For further infor- mation see Philip S. Rawson, The Art of
Tantra, 1973.
Chakravyuha
(“circular phalanx”) A circular military formation described in the Mahabharata,
one of the two great Hindu epics (along with the Ramayana). The Chakravyuha
was widely believed to be unconquer- able because each person in the forma- tion was protected by those behind him. During a battle in the Mahabharata war, Abhimanyu becomes trapped in the chakravyuha by his enemy. Because his father, Arjuna, is the only person who knows how to get out, Abhimanyu is killed.