He is frequently
called "Gaurang" or "Gaurchandra," _i.e._, the pale, or the pale
moon, in contrast to the Krishna of the Bhagvat who is represented as
very black.
The name Chaitanya literally means 'soul, intellect,' but in the
special and technical sense in which the teacher himself adopted it, it
appears to mean perceptible, or appreciable by the senses. He took the
name ? r?® K.rish.na Chaitanya to intimate that he was himself an
incarnation of the god, in other words, K.rish.na made visible to the
senses of mankind.
The Charit??mrita 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 Nity??nand as a re-appearance
of Balar??m. In order to keep up the resemblance to K.rish.na, the
Charit??mrita 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 Charit??mrita were quietly permitted to go
on.
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