A Note on the History and Myth of Radha Krishna and Chaitanya

A Note on the History and Myth of Radha Krishna and Chaitanya

Due to the late dates of the Bhagavatam and initial mention of Radha by Jayadev in Gita Govinda, I can safely say, the pastimes of Radha Krishna are a lovely myth containing profound universal spiritual truths. They are not historically accurate on the physical plane.

Chaitanya is a more complex problem. He is clearly a historical person, yet his “biographies” are highly mythologized and meant to serve an evangelistic purpose; therefore, they are not totally “historical.” Christology provides a good model for dealing with the problem of Chaitanya’s full humanity and full divinity. We may separate the historical Chaitanya and the Chaitanya of faith. We are presented the Chaitanya of faith. A search for the historical Chaitanya is needed, and that is yet to be seriously undertaken.

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3 Responses to “A Note on the History and Myth of Radha Krishna and Chaitanya”

  1. Kris Wiggins says:

    lets get the ball rolling

  2. […] time ago, I wrote a blog expressing the need for a scholarly exploration of just who the historical Krishna Chaitanya really […]

  3. It’s rolling. Check this out– Chaitanya Charitamrita