Dancing Gopala. Chaitanya in Udupi

To continue the theme of the “dancing Gopāla” (nartaka-gopāla) from Chaitanya Charitamrita 2.9.245-246.

“Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went to Udupi, the town of Madhvacharya, where the Tattvavadi philosophers lived. On seeing Krishna’s Deity there, He became distraught with ecstasy” (2.9.245)

“In the monastery at Udupi, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu saw a beautiful Deity who goes by the name of Nartaka Gopala [“dancing Gopala”]. This Deity appeared to Madhvacharya in a dream” (2.9.246)

In the Bengali original, Krishnadasa Kaviraja does not speak of a “monastery”. The word “monastery” was added by Prabhupada and his followers, apparently translating the word sthāne (place, house, etc.) with it. A monastery is usually called (vihāra, maṭha, āśrama). In the sixteenth century there were nine “monasteries” (maṭhas) built around the Krishna-temple (kṛṣṇa-maṭha) in the centre of Udupi. In which particular Udupi monastery was Chaitanya, the Chaitanya-charitamrita does not say. 

However, in that monastery Chaitanya saw the deity “dancing Gopala” (2.9.246, nartaka gopāla dekhe). It is said simply “in the place of Madhvacharya saw the Udupi dancing Gopala.” Kaviraja adds that this deity appeared to Madhvachrya in a dream. 

So, in some monastery in Udupi there was a deity of dancing Gopala. Which monastery exactly? In the Krishna-temple, the main deity is Krishna with a whorl (as tradition says). This deity was on the ship. In 2.9.247 Kaviraja says that the dancing Gopala was on the ship. But according to Madhva tradition, it was the deity of Krishna with the whorl, not the dancing Gopala, who was on the ship. And here an interesting story begins.

In 2013-2014, I asked Bannanje Govindacharya —  a leading pandita and acharya of the Madhva school at that time, if the deity of dancing Gopala was known in the history of Udupi temples? Bannanje said that there never was and is no such deity. According to one of the Shankara-vijayas (hagiographies of Shankara, of which there are many), Shankara came to a sacred pilgrimage site, Udupi (in the text "Rajatapitha") and a local brahmana named Hastamalaka from a village near Kodavura (6 km from Udupi) became his disciple. Rajatapitha (the place where there is silver) is one of the names of Udupi. The area of several dozen square kilometres around Udupi has been considered the place of Shiva since ancient times. According to the Madhva-vijaya, "Udupi" — means "Lord Shiva carrying the moon in his hair". The oldest of the local temples is the Shiva-temple of Chandramulishwara (opposite the Krishna-temple).

According to Anantanandagiri's Shankara-vijaya, about what is also written by Bannanje in his book Udupi: past and present, Shankara sent two disciples to preach to the east and west. Lakshmana went to the east and Hastamalaka went to preach to the brahmanas in the west, where he taught them how to wear the five important signs on the body (urdhvapundra and the signs of Vishnu) and also revealed to them the secret of the eight-syllable mantra. Anantanandagiri goes on to say that Hastamalaka established (pratiṣṭhāṃ) Krishna's deity Gopala with a flute (veṇugopāla). It's not very clear yet why the advaitin Ḥastamalaka taught Vaishnavism to brahmanas and installed idols of Krishna. But that is the legend.

Bannanje writes that Gopala with the flute of Hastamalaka was installed in Kangur-matha in Kodavur. In the fourteenth century, the deity came under the patronage of Balegar-matha (82 km from Udupi, 88 km from Kodavur) and its head, Akshobhyatirtha, who allotted one brahmana to worship the deity. In course of time the brahmana ceased to puja and the deity was transferred to the Krishna-temple in Udupi. It is not known if the deity was in intermediate temples/mathas on the way to Krishna's temple in Udupi. After 200 years, Krishnadasa Kaviraja tells the story of Chaitanya's visit to Udupi and his ecstasy at seeing the dancing Gopala.

Venugopala now stands in the same room as Krishna with the whorl, only a little apart. He is swathed in chauri before the evening puja. A puja is performed for him in the hall after the night worship of Krishna. The deity of Krishna with a flute (veṇugopāla) has a kind of dancing pose (tribhaṅga-lalita).

Could Chaitanya being a mayavadi-sannyasi (2.9.250) have known from Shankara-vijaya about Venugopala's deity in Udupi, which was installed by Shankara's disciple himself and wanted to see it? In case of this assumption, three elements are the same: place (Udupi), name of the deity (Gopala), form of the deity (dancing posture). Usually deities installed by famous personalities are treated with great piety.

What exactly was the deity of Krishna that Krishnadasa Kaviraja had in mind? Kaviraja himself had not been to Udupi himself and had not seen the deity, but had only heard about it. The rest was surmised for a beautiful image ("Madhva's dream"). Whether Chaitanya was even in Udupi remains an open question. At this point most arguments refute Chaitanya's dispute with any of the Tattvavadins in Udupi.

In Madhva-sampradaya there is no any legends about “dancing Gopala”. 
In Udupi, there has never been a deity called "dancing Gopala" in any of the temples. This is confirmed by the history of Udupi and the leading panditas and acharyas of the Madhva school, including Bannanje Govindacharya.