DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.611#0178
132 CHAPTER IX.
13. Everything comes from the Divine Master, no-
thing from the servant;
From a mustard-seed He makes a mountain, and
reduces a mountain to the size of a mustard-
BALLABHACHARYA.
Ballabhacharya's name must be included in the
number of those who have helped to make the worship
of Krishna and Radha (his mistress) widely prevalent.
Though not born in Benares, his childhood and educa-
tion are associated with it; he returned later to Benares,
and is reported to have died here, or rather to have been
translated hence.
His father is said to have been a Dakhni Brahman
hailing from near Madras, by name Lakshman Bhatt.
His mother's name was Illamgaru. Tradition says that
the parents were on their way to Benares, from Ayodh-
ya, when Ballabhacharya was born at a village in the
District of Champaran, in the year 1535 Sambat, i.e.,
1478 A. D. He is stated to have become a disciple of Ma-
dhavanand Tridandi at the age of five, and to have mani-
fested great precocity, holding disputations with most
learned pandits at a very early age, and coming out
victorious. His father died while he was still a boy. He
appears to have left Benares, and made long tours over
different parts of India. These tours are modestly
referred to as "Digbijai," i. e., " Conquest of the world,"
and doubtless refers to his discussions with, and victories
over, pandits.
Ballabhacharya is in the Vaishnavite succession, but
his energies were devoted, not to the spread of the wor-
ship of Ram, but of the incarnation of Vishnu in Krishna
and Radha. The sect which regards him as their foun-
der, the Radhaballabhis, identifies itself with the worship
13. Everything comes from the Divine Master, no-
thing from the servant;
From a mustard-seed He makes a mountain, and
reduces a mountain to the size of a mustard-
BALLABHACHARYA.
Ballabhacharya's name must be included in the
number of those who have helped to make the worship
of Krishna and Radha (his mistress) widely prevalent.
Though not born in Benares, his childhood and educa-
tion are associated with it; he returned later to Benares,
and is reported to have died here, or rather to have been
translated hence.
His father is said to have been a Dakhni Brahman
hailing from near Madras, by name Lakshman Bhatt.
His mother's name was Illamgaru. Tradition says that
the parents were on their way to Benares, from Ayodh-
ya, when Ballabhacharya was born at a village in the
District of Champaran, in the year 1535 Sambat, i.e.,
1478 A. D. He is stated to have become a disciple of Ma-
dhavanand Tridandi at the age of five, and to have mani-
fested great precocity, holding disputations with most
learned pandits at a very early age, and coming out
victorious. His father died while he was still a boy. He
appears to have left Benares, and made long tours over
different parts of India. These tours are modestly
referred to as "Digbijai," i. e., " Conquest of the world,"
and doubtless refers to his discussions with, and victories
over, pandits.
Ballabhacharya is in the Vaishnavite succession, but
his energies were devoted, not to the spread of the wor-
ship of Ram, but of the incarnation of Vishnu in Krishna
and Radha. The sect which regards him as their foun-
der, the Radhaballabhis, identifies itself with the worship