Charanadas

(“slave of [God’s] feet”; 1733–1782 C.E.)
Founder of the Charanadasis, an ascetic
religious community. Charanadas was
born in the town of Dehra in the princely state of Alwar (in the modern state of
Rajasthan). The Charanadasis are also
known as the Shuka Sampraday because,
according to tradition, Charanadas
received initiation from the puranic
sage Shuka. Charanadas formed his
community in protest against the corruption and worldliness of the Pushti
Marg, the religious community founded
by Vallabhacharya (1479–1531 C.E.),
whose members are devotees (bhakta)
of the god Krishna. Like the Pushti
Marg, the Charanadasis are Vaishnavas,
but their patron deity is not Krishna
alone but also his consort, Radha.
Charanadas countered the Pushti Marg
by stressing upright and appropriate
behavior and an insistence on learning.
His disciples translated and wrote commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita and the
Bhagavata Purana, both important
Vaishnava texts.