BREAKING THE DRUMS

 I found it interesting that even at the time of Lord Chaitanya this was there.

In Islam there is no allowance for artwork other than the beauty of the written words of their scriptures and there is no musical glorification. Yes there is chanting but not musical with instruments.

When Lord Chaitanya was starting the sankirtan movement the Muslims were the political rulers. They allowed other religions but it was the Hindu brahmanas who did not like the sankirtan since it was attracting their congregations too much. The brahman priests went to the Muslim government and played into the already existing Muslim prejudice against musical performance for glorification of God.

They complained, that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, He is not following Vedic culture. He is chanting and dancing in public. He is ruining our Hindu culture. The Kazi already was prejudiced against musical accompaniment for glorification of God and with Hindu Brahman priests saying like this to him he took action and stopped the sankirtan parties, Especially breaking the drums.

I just thought it interesting to understand a little more about the activities in and around the actual appearance of the Lord Himself 500 years ago, Seeing this gave me a little more of an appreciation of the Lord's pastimes.

The Lord then organized a massive protest march right to the Kazi's house. Vrnadvan das Thakur in His Chaitanya Bhagavat describes that the numbers of people in the sankirtan march, they marched holding lit torches, was so vast it could not be counted. He says there were not that many people in all of Navadvipa. Where they came from he cannot say, they kept coming like the waves of the ocean... He says millions and millions.

So this march was a miracle in itself. Krishna can do like that He can expand personally and also through His energies. The Kazi panicked. After a discussion between Lord Chaitanya and the Kazi about animal sacrifice, specifically cow killing, the Kazi surrendered to the Lord.

He did not "convert" and become a Hindu. He stayed in his position as Muslim governor of Navadvipa but he had become a devotee. A Vaishnava. To this day there is a law in place that no one is to disturb a sankirtan party in Navadvipa.