A protest against the immorality of the Vallabhi sect was made by Swaminarayana, a Brahman who was born in the district of Lucknow about 1780.[631] He settled in Ahmedabad and gained so large a following that the authorities became alarmed and imprisoned him.  But his popularity only increased:  he became the centre of a great religious movement:  hymns descriptive of his virtues and sufferings were sung by his followers and when he was released he found himself at the head of a band which was almost an army.  He erected a temple in the village of Wartal in Baroda, which he made the centre of his sect, and recruited followers by means of periodical tours throughout Gujarat.  His doctrines are embodied in an anthology called the Sikshapatri consisting of 212 precepts, some borrowed from accepted Hindu scriptures and some original and in a catechism called Vacanamritam.  His teaching was summed up in the phrase “Devotion to Krishna with observance of duty and purity of life” and in practice took the form of a laudable polemic against the licentiousness of the Vallabhis.  As in most of the purer sects of Vishnuism, Krishna is regarded merely as a name of the Supreme Deity.  Thus the Sikshapatri says “Narayana and Siva should be equally recognized as parts of one and the same supreme spirit, since both have been declared in the Vedas to be forms of Brahma.  On no account let it be thought that difference in form or name makes any difference in the identity of the deity.”  The followers of Swaminarayana still number about 200,000 in western India and are divided into the laity and a body of celibate clergy.  I have visited their religious establishments in Ahmedabad.  It consists of a temple with a large and well-kept monastery in which are housed about 300 monks who wear costumes of reddish grey.  Except in Assam I have not seen in India any parallel to this monastery either in size or discipline.  It is provided with a library and hospital.  In the temple are images of Nara and Narayana (explained as Krishna and Arjuna), Krishna and Radha, Ganesa and Hanuman.[632]

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The sect founded by Caitanya is connected with eastern India as the Vallabhis are with the west.  Bengal is perhaps the native land of the worship of Krishna as the god of love.  It was there that Jayadeva flourished in the last days of the Sena dynasty and the lyrical poet Chandidas at the end of the fourteenth century.  About the same time the still greater poet Vidyapati was singing in Durbhanga.  For these writers, as for Caitanya, religion is the bond of love which unites the soul and God, as typified by the passion[633] that drew together Radha and Krishna.  The idea that God loves and seeks out human souls is familiar to Christianity and receives very emotional expression in well-known hymns, but the bold humanity of these Indian lyrics seems to Europeans unsuitable.  I will let a distinguished Indian apologize for it in his own words: