senses of mankind.

The Charitamrita being composed by one of his disciples, is written
throughout on this supposition. Chaitanya is always spoken of as an
incarnation of K.rish.na, and his brother Nityanand as a re-appearance
of Balaram. In order to keep up the resemblance to K.rish.na, the
Charitamrita treats us to a long series of stories about Chaitanya's
childish sports among the young Hindu women of the village. They are
not worth relating, and are probably purely fictitious; the Bengalis of
to-day must be very different from what their ancestors were, if such
pranks as are related in the Charitamrita were quietly permitted to go
on. Chaitanya, however, seems to have been eccentric even as a youth;
wonderful stories are told of his powers of intellect and memory, how,
for instance, he defeated in argument the most learned Pandits. A
great deal is said about his hallucinations and trances throughout his
life, and we may perhaps conclude that he was more or less insane at
all times, or rather he was one of those strange enthusiasts who wield
such deep and irresistible influence over the masses by virtue of that
very condition of mind which borders on madness.

When he was about eighteen his father died, and he soon afterwards
married Lachhmi Debi, daughter of Balabhadra Acharjya, and entered on
the career of a _grihastha_ or householder, taking in pupils whom
he instructed in ordinary secular learning. He does not appear,
however, to have kept to this quiet life for long; he went off on a
wandering tour all over Eastern Bengal, begging and singing, and is
said to have collected a great deal of money and made a considerable
name for himself. On his return he found his first wife had died in
his absence, and he married again one Bishnupriya, concerning whom
nothing further is said. Soon after he went to Gaya to offer the usual