Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/405

 Brindavan rendered it impossible for Chaitanya to proceed any distance. He had to postpone the journey for a time; and when he finally satisfied his desire, he could do so only by resorting to obscure and unknown paths. On his way to Madhura, he visited Benares and Allahabad. After spending a full year amidst the classic scenes of Brindavan, Chaitanya retraced his steps to Orissa. On his way he converted several Pathans, afterwards known as Pathan Vairagees; discomfited the head of the Pantheists at Benares; and spread Vaishnavism wherever he went.

Chaitanya's return was marked by immense rejoicings among his followers. He was not thirty years of age. The next eighteen years he spent in Orissa, making that Province the chief field of his work. Adwaitacharya and Nityananda were in charge of Bengal; and Roopa and Sana tan in that of Upper India. Little is known of the sage's life during these eighteen years. The probability is that he spent his days and nights in proclaiming the