The Source and Motivation of the Caritakara: Analysis of a Passage from Daityari

Sometimes in the middle of the carita, the biographer mentions the motivation behind his undertaking to write about the Saints. For instance, Daityari (pp. 154):

Listen, O saintly people! Folding my hands, I say these words to you; forgive me for any chronological fault that might occur.

If something deviates, then do not ascribe any fault to me, know that the holy men discuss [this tale] in various ways [versions].

I have put it down in the same form in which I have heard from the Mahantas, do not find fault with me.

And if anything remains [to be told], then also do not criticize me; you all discuss it in the proper manner yourselves.

Some Mahajanas said to me: “You inscribe the facts of the two Mahapurusas.”

Some [other] Mahajanas joyfully said,

“You put it in verse so that it is great to read.”

Carrying out their word, I am rendering [this tale] in verse-form; please do not find fault with me on this, with folded hands I say.

Thinking of one’s own welfare, O saintly men, keep repeating the name of Madhava and Sankara at regular intervals.

From passages such as these, it appears that the caritas such as the one referred to above were written by the biographers (caritakaras) at the request of the Mahajanas. Further, the source of the caritakara was the Mahanta. Daityari clearly mentions that he has written whatever he has heard from the 'Mahantas' mouth' (mahantara mukhe). The facts relating to the two Mahapurusas (Sankaradeva and Madhavadeva) are referred to simply as katha.

One more fact which emerges from the passage is that the caritakara seems to acknowledge the presence of multiple versions of the katha. That is what seems to be suggested when Daityari says that 'the holy men discuss in various ways' (nanana prakare jana carcce sadhu loka). The expression nanana prakare taken literally would mean 'various ways' of recounting the biography of the Saints. But the context seems to suggest 'various versions'.

What is the meaning of the words mahajana and mahanta in the passage above? Are these terms encountered frequently in the literature? In what sense are these terms employed in the passage in question? Do they refer to some specific personalities?