Replicating Vaiṣṇava worlds: organizing devotional space through the architectonics of the maṇḍala

Abstract

The community in Bengal, Orissa and Braj that coalesced around Kṛṣṇa Caitanya (1486–1533) identified themselves as part of his maṇḍalī, as these Vaiṣṇava communities today are called. Devotees saw Caitanya as Kṛṣṇa, svayaṃ bhagavān, who appeared replete with his dhāma, his entire entourage and environment. Consequently, every historical devotee was identified with one of Kṛṣṇa's entourage in the mythical ancient time of Kṛṣṇa's life. To organize these relations, individuals were mapped onto a maṇḍala, which provided the meditative yogapīṭha. All five of the original lineages were marked, so that even today any devotee can trace his or her place in the structure. The architectonics of the maṇḍala is very frequently deployed within the tradition, although never formally addressed. These architectonics structured spiritual lineages, established social hierarchies, organized ritual cycles and pilgrimages and even structured historical narratives. Nostalgia for the mythic time of Kṛṣṇa himself, and subsequently for its later manifestation in the time of Caitanya, drove an organization of collective memory to replicate those structures to the point that history itself was only understood to be valid if it followed them. India's Vaiṣṇava kings were seen to rule the maṇḍala of earth as Nārāyaṇa did the celestial realms. But after their eclipse under the Mughals, Caitanya became the ‘mobile’ Jagannātha, whose entourage and environment accompanied him everywhere. This mobility transformed the Vaiṣṇava world into heaven-on-earth wherever Vaiṣṇavas congregated. Each lineage, each community propagates itself in precisely the same fashion so that the whole is always present, giving the community a decentred coherence, that has continued over the last five centuries.