The Bengali saint whose ecstatic public chanting of Krishna's names ignited the Gaudiya Vaishnava bhakti movement, later carried worldwide through ISKCON.
जन्म १४८६ ई. · born 1486 CE
Born in Nabadwip, Bengal, in 1486, Chaitanya is held by his tradition to be a joint incarnation of Radha and Krishna, whose intense public sankirtan, group chanting and dancing, drew large followings and reshaped Bengali devotional practice around open, emotional expression of bhakti.
The Gaudiya Vaishnava lineage he founded remains centered on Krishna worship at Vrindavan and Puri, and directly inspired the 20th-century founding of ISKCON, carrying his chanting practice, the Hare Krishna mahamantra, to a global audience.