ABSTRACT
Dance lies at the heart of the devotional practices of the Gaudiya Vaishnava community that cohered around Krishna in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 1 The charismatic Bengali saint Chaitanya (1486–1533), led his followers in nagar samkirtan, dancing and singing songs praising Krishna, most often describing the episodes and emotions of his relationship with his beloved, Radha. 2 These sessions lasted through the night, and they were so powerful that they induced visceral responses of tears, trembling, and even fainting. The throngs of worshippers overflowed into the streets of his hometown Nabadwip; the popularity of the nagar samkirtan soon spread through sixteenth-century Bengali towns that resounded with the name of Krishna. These processions gradually swept Bengal in the east and Vrindavan in north India in a frenzy of passionate song, dance, and ecstatic devotion.
