Chaurasi Vaishnavan Ki Varta

(“account of eighty-four Vaishnavas”)
Sectarian hagiography supposedly composed by Gokulnath, the third guru of
the Pushti Marg, a religious community
of Krishna devotees (bhakta) founded
by the philosopher Vallabhacharya
(1479–1531). It is more likely that the
text was written by Gokulnath’s disciple
Hariray, who also wrote a commentary
on the work. The text describes the lives
of eighty-four paradigmatic Vaishnavas,
all of whom were allegedly associated
with the sect’s first two gurus,
Vallabhacharya and Vitthalnath. The
text’s primary purpose is to illustrate
the importance of the Pushti Marg,
particularly the importance of the
Pushti Marg’s leaders on these eightyfour religious figures. This makes it an
interesting sectarian work, but it is not
historically reliable.