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151
was one of these; he in turn caused considerable social
controversy by allowing Brahmins as well as fellow non-
Brahmins to become his students. 116
As far as the movement in Bengal is concerned, there
is evidence of a divergence of opinion between Advaita and
Nityananda, Caitanya's senior devotees and aides-de-camp.
Advaita, a Brahmin, seems to have adopted a more
conservative attitude on social questions while Nityananda,
whose original caste is uncertain, gained a reputation for
sympathy for persons whose status in Hindu society was low.
The movement from an early period showed a tendency to
divide into sub-sects, and some of this division was in fact
on caste lines. 117
Nevertheless, despite the well-known
tenacity of the caste mentality in India, the thoroughgoing
dependence of this school on the BP would have made it very
difficult for any of its members to defend the imposition of
social restrictions on the availability of bhakti as the
paramapuru峁Ｄ乺tha. A verse still popular in this century
among the Vai峁ａ箛avas of Bengal reads:
He who worships K峁涐梗峁嘺 is not a sudra, he is a holy man
among men; but he of whatsoever caste who does not
worship K峁涐梗峁嘺, he is a 艢奴dra. All the 艣膩stras witness
this. 118
Such sentiments would have been worthy of the Bh膩gavata
itself.