Uḍḍanda

The Aesthetic Yardstick of Meditation, Madness, and Time in Caitanya’s Rathayātrā Dance

Abstract

The article "Uddanda: The Aesthetic Yardstick of Meditation, Madness, and Time in Chaitanya's Rathyatra Dance" by Sukanya Sarbadhikary examines the multifaceted meaning of "uddanda" in the context of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's ecstatic dance during the Rathyatra festival in Puri. The article proposes that uddanda, meaning both ecstatic fervor and a disciplined, stick-like stillness, embodies the Bengal-Vaishnava theological concept of achintya-bhed-abhed (simultaneous sameness and difference). Sarbadhikary argues that Chaitanya's uddanda dance is a confluence of meditation and madness, divine and human states, and a unique manipulation of time and space. Through a close reading of the term "uddanda" and related concepts like "chitram" (variegated, wonder) and "shavalya" (dappling of colors, emotional simultaneity), the article reveals how the saint's dancing body becomes a site for continuous, intermingling spiritual emotions and transcendent experiences, blurring distinctions between yoga and bhakti, stillness and ecstasy, and various temporal and spatial realities.