Scholarly squabbles 2: King Lion dethroned!

Whenever the lion appears in Indic allegorical compositions, it is usually as the epitome of strength, courage, and dignity. However, there is one particular epigram that casts this apex predator in a not-so-favorable light: the eighth verse of the Nitiratna (नीतिरत्न), "the jewel of precepts", ascribed to the enigmatic Vararuchi (वररुचि) and quoted by at least two modern anthologists, Purnachandra De Kabyaratna of Udbhata Sagara fame and Kashinath Sharma of Subhashita Ratna Bhandagara fame. In the oral traditions of the Mithila-Bengal circle, there are two interesting instances of this stanza being used as a rhetorical weapon against a person boldly likening themselves to a lion.

(1) This is one of many anecdotes portraying the (actual or perceived) bitter rivalry between two of the most ancient and prominent schools of Indic philosophy: Nyaya and Vedanta. The protagonist of this story is Pakshadhara Mishra (पक्षधरमिश्र), a leading exponent of Navya-Nyaya from 15th-16th century Mithila, who has appeared on this blog before (here and here); the Vedanta camp is represented by Hansa Bhatta (हंसभट्ट) of Kashi, who is said to have driven Pakshadhara's father to an untimely death by inflicting a crushing defeat upon him in a public debate. Motivated in part by revenge, Pakshadhara spent his childhood studying hard and, when he turned twenty, petitioned Hansa Bhatta for a debate. The seasoned Varanasian Vedantist agreed to comply, but on one condition: If Pakshadhara lost, the entire scholarly community of Mithila, the stronghold of Nyaya, would have to accept defeat at the hands of Hansa Bhatta. Pakshadhara accepted the challenge, and showed up at the venue at the appointed hour after duly obtaining a permit from Shankara Mishra (शङ्करमिश्र) and Vachaspati Mishra II (द्वितीयवाचस्पतिमिश्र), who, according to this story, were residents of Kashi at that time and had both been Pakshadhara's teachers. Before long, Hansa Bhatta made a dramatic entrance, accompanied by his disciples chanting the following minatory verse.

Devanagari script:

पलायध्वं पलायध्वं रे रे बर्बरतार्किकाः|
हंसभट्टः समायाति वेदान्तवनकेशरी||

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

palAyadhvaM palAyadhvaM re re barbaratArkikAH|
haMsabhaTTaH samAyAti vedAntavanakezarI||

Loose translation: Run away! Run away, all you barbarous logicians^{[see notes]}! For here comes Hansa Bhatta, the lion of the forest of Vedanta!

Notes: I have translated tArkika (तार्किक) as "logician" for lack of a better single-word equivalent; it refers to a student / exponent of an academic discipline (especially the Nyaya system) that concerns itself with ratiocination and argumentation, and is often used interchangeably with naiyAyika (नैयायिक). Colloquially, it can refer simply to a debater or a sophist. 

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Instead of running away, the young Maithila scholar raised his voice and uttered the following retort:

Devanagari script:

भिनत्तु नित्यं करिराजकुम्भं बिभर्तु वेगं पवनातिरेकम्|
करोतु वासं गिरिराजशृङ्गे तथापि सिंहः पशुरेव नान्यः||

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

bhinattu nityaM karirAjakumbhaM bibhartu vegaM pavanAtirekam|

karotu vAsaM girirAjazRGge tathApi siMhaH pazureva nAnyaH||

Loose translation: Let him rip the frontal globes on the heads of great elephants apart on a regular basis; let him run faster than the wind; let him haunt the summits of majestic mountains; the lion is still nothing but a beast!

Notes: Variants exist where the first three quarters begin with भिनत्ति, बिभर्ति, and करोति respectively, and पवनातिरेकम् is replaced with पवनादतीव; the third quarter sometimes reads करोति वासं गिरिगह्वरेषु, "he dwells in mountain caves". 

Conclusion: The heated debate that ensued ended in the defeat of the proud Vedantic scholar from Varanasi. It is said that at this point, Hansa Bhatta saw an unidentified goddess dancing on top of his youthful opponent's head, and, in his fear and confusion, started yelling, "इयं का? इयं का?" ("Who is this? Who is this?"). This gave the playful Pakshadhara the opportunity to clinch his victory with the sardonic observation, "इदानीं हंस: काकायते!" ("And now, the swan has turned into a crow!"). 

Source: I found this story in the introduction to the critical edition (including commentaries and a Bengali translation) of Gangesha Upadhyaya's Vyapti-Panchaka (व्याप्तिपञ्चक), authored by Rajendranath Ghosh and published in 1915; Ghosh cites as his source the scholar Banikantha Tarkatirtha (वाणीकण्ठतर्कतीर्थ्) who himself claimed to have discovered it in a book preserved at the royal library of Darbhanga.

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(2) The Baro-Bhuiyans (বার-ভুঁইয়া; द्वादशभौमिकाः) of Bengal were a group of twelve (mostly Muslim) warlords who started as vassals of the Mughal Empire but asserted sovereignty and resisted Mughal hegemony during the late 16th and early 17th centuries (see also this); although they have exerted a strong influence on local imagination for generations, reliable historical records are rare. One person often included in this list is Kedar Rai (কেদার রায়; केदारराय) who is said to have controlled the Bikrampur (विक्रमपुर) pargana with its capital at Sripur (श्रीपुर) along with his close relative and co-regent Chand Rai (চাঁদ রায়; चन्द्रराय). The imperial army deployed to deal with the disturbance caused by these rebels in the eastern part of the Bengal Subah was headed by the Rajput commander, Raja Man Singh of Amer, who was appointed Governor of Bengal in 1594; there are several popular accounts of his hostilities, on land and at sea, with his Bengali adversaries including Kedar. It is said that right before Kedar Rai's third and final battle with Man Singh's army, the Rajput chieftain dispatched a messenger carrying a chain (symbolizing the option to surrender without a fight), a sword (representing the alternative), and a missive with the following versified threat in a mixture of Hindustani and (pseudo-)Sanskrit to the Bengali Bhuiyan.

Devanagari script:

त्रिपुर-मघ¹-बाङ्गाली-काककुली-चाकाली²
सकलपुरुषमेतत् भागि³ जाओ पलायी|
हय-गज-नर-नौका-कम्पिता वङ्गभूमि
विषम-समर-सिंहो मानसिंहः प्रयाति||
variants: ¹मग; ²चाकुली; ³भाग

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

tripura-magha-bAGgAlI-kAkakulI-cAkAlI
sakalapuruSametat bhAgi jAo palAyI|
haya-gaja-nara-naukA-kampitA baGgabhUmi
viSama-samara-siMho mAnasiMhaH prayAti||

Loose translation: All you Tripuri, Magh (see also this and this), and Bengali men from Kakakuli to Chakuli^{[see notes]}! Take flight! Horses, men, elephants, and (naval) vessels will cause the land of Bengal to tremble, for Man Singh, who is as a matchless as a lion in battle, is marching upon it!

Notes: Assuming the meter to be Malini (मालिनी), the first quarter is obviously defective. However, since most of the words here are not part of standard Sanskrit vocabulary, and since this verse (along with the entire incident) might have been invented by speakers of (some dialect of) the Bengali language in which vowels are of flexible length, the metrical defect can be fixed by pronouncing the last three words in the compound as बँगाली / बङाली, काककूली, and चकाली respectively. I have no idea what Kakakuli and Chakali mean but here is my speculation based on my limited knowledge (which has also influenced my  above translation): Most readings contain चाकाली, but there is at least one version, recorded by historian Anandanath Ray (see source below), with चाकुली (which should be pronounced like चकूली here for the sake of metrical consistency) instead. Chakuli is known to be the name of a village within Kedar Rai's Bikrampur; so, I have imagined Kakakuli and Chakuli to be villages under Kedar Rai, perhaps marking the boundaries of his territory. चाकाली could be a corruption (influenced by बाङ्गाली) which was recorded in some text that ended up being the primary source of all the erroneous published versions. 

A similar story (involving a sword and a chain) is also told about Man Singh and Maharaja Pratapaditya of Jessore, but no exchange of poetry features in this narrative. 

Conclusion: Kedar Rai accepted the sword and the letter, and sent the messenger back with the chain and a written response that contained the verse, "भिनत्ति नित्यं करिराजकुम्भं बिभर्ति वेगं पवनातिरेकम्| करोति वासं गिरिराजशृङ्गे तथापि सिंहः पशुरेव नान्यः||". The response was purportedly penned by Kedar's official scribe, a man of the Vaidya (वैद्य) caste named Bishwanath Sen (বিশ্বনাথ সেন; विश्वनाथ सेन), who was well-versed in both Sanskrit and Farsi; according to Anandanath Ray, there was a tradition in parts of Bengal that Bishwanath was the true author of the couplet under consideration.

Sadly (or perhaps not so sadly, depending on whose side you are on), this story does not end well for our protagonist: Kedar Rai was defeated and wounded in the ensuing battle, and passed away while he was in the process of being brought before Man Singh. In another version, Kedar never made it to the battlefield: Man Singh's assassin stole into the temple of the ten Mahavidyas (दशमहाविद्याः) at Sripur, where Kedar was sitting unarmed and absorbed in meditation, and unceremoniously decapitated the devout Shakta warrior; as his severed head hit the floor, it uttered the words, "छिन्नमस्ते नमस्ते!" ("Obeisance to you! O Chhinnamasta!"), with its last breath. 

Source: This Man Singh-Kedar Rai episode is recorded in several Bengali-language books published in the early 20th century. My primary source is Banglar Baro-Bhuiyan O Maharaj Pratapaditya (বাংলার বারোভুঁইয়া ও মহারাজ প্রতাপাদিত্য), "The Baro-Bhuiyans of Bengal and Maharaja Pratapaditya", a collection of articles by late 19th to mid-20th century historians on the political history of Bengal in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, compiled by Kamal Chowdhury and first published in 1999.

Parody / pastiche 1: Purusha Sukta

Both the terms parody and pastiche refer to an artistic creation that imitates the style of an artist, genre, or period; but the first is necessarily jocular (often sarcastic or nonsensical), and the second is an homage more often than not. In this series, I will quote snippets of poetry that can be considered examples of intertextuality: Some of these are genuine parodies, and others (which I would classify as pastiches) were often produced as solutions to literary puzzles, samasyas (समस्या): In a samasya, the poet is usually given a segment of a verse (that may sound inconsistent or indecorous) and is required to include it in an original, impromptu epigram respecting the dictates of grammar, prosody, and tradition (also see this post, last paragraph). 

Without further ado, here is the first offering of the series.

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One of the most prominent hymns of the Rigveda is Hymn 90 of Book 10, known as Purusha Sukta; it is dedicated to the complex concept called purusha (पुरुष), often translated as "cosmic being" (and I will not make a fool of myself by trying to go into detail on the topic). More everyday meanings of the word purusha include "man", "male being", "human being", and "grammatical person". The opening half-verse of the hymn goes सहस्रशीर्षा पुरुषः सहस्राक्षः सहस्रपात्, "Purusha has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, and a thousand feet (or legs)", where "a thousand" is a metaphor for an indefinitely large number. Below are two stanzas written centuries apart in each of which the author has cleverly embedded this hemistich, altering its meaning in an interesting way.

(1) This first verse is attributed to the poet-scholar Mahamahopadhyaya Shankara Mishra (शङ्करमिश्र), son and student of Mahamahopadhyaya Bhavanatha Mishra of Mithila; both of them were great exponents of the Navya Nyaya  (नव्यन्याय) school of Indic philosophy, but their dates are uncertain. The story goes that Shankara Mishra was still a child (and a child prodigy) during the reign of Shiva Singh (शिवसिंह), king of Mithila in the early 15th century, and had his talent recognized and rewarded by the latter. The king once asked Shankara to add his own half-verse to the one under consideration in today's post, and he came up with a tribute (चाटु) to the king himself (in another variant, the monarch was less specific and just wished him to pastiche any excerpt from the Vedas). 

Devanagari text:

सहस्रशीर्षा पुरुषः सहस्राक्षः सहस्रपात्|

चलितश्चकितश्छन्नः प्रयाणे तव भूपते||

– शङ्करमिश्र

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

sahasrazIrSA puruSaH sahasrAkSaH sahasrapAt|
calitazcakitazchhannaH prayANe tava bhUpate||

– Shankara Mishra

Loose translation: O Lord of the Earth! As you march (to battle, with your army), he who has a thousand heads (i.e. Ananta) is shaken, he who has a thousand eyes (i.e. Indra) is shocked, and he who has a thousand rays (i.e. the Sun) is shrouded!

Notes:  Ananta (अनन्त), also called Shesha (शेष) or Adishesha (आदिशेष), is the serpent king who bears the Earth upon his one thousand expanded hoods, and the trembling of Ananta is a standard metaphor for the earth quaking under a marching army; Indra, being the monarch of heaven, is supposed to command the greatest military force in existence, but he too is struck with awe at the sight of the earthly king's legions – classic hyperbole employed by panegyrists; the Sun vanishing behind great clouds of dust (raised by feet, hooves, and wheels) is another poetic device (over)used in the description of marching armies. But the ingenuity with which our poet has invoked all these tropes here just leaves one dumbfounded (for a justification of the reading of सहस्रपात् as "thousand-rayed", recall that the alternative meaning "ray of light" is attested by lexicographers for each of the words पद and पाद which primarily denote the foot or the leg).

In some versions, the first and second halves of the stanza are interchanged (but that does not change the meaning).

(2) Ambika Datta Vyas (अम्बिकादत्तव्यास) (1858-1900) of Varanasi was a leading literary figure of 19th century India who wrote extensively in Hindustani dialects as well as in Sanskrit, his magnum opus being the Sanskrit prose romance Shivarajavijaya (शिवराजविजय) based on the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji. It is said that one day, after a tour of the grand Amer Fort in Jaipur State, he was given the same samasya as in (1) by Thakur Hari Singh, the then commander-in-chief of Jaipur. His solution was as delightfully apropos as that of his predecessor.

Devanagari text:

प्रविष्टो राजभवने प्रतिबिम्बैर्न् को भवेत्|
सहस्रशीर्षा पुरुषः सहस्राक्षः सहस्रपात्||

– अम्बिकादत्तव्यास

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

praviSTo rAjabhavane pratibimbairna ko bhavet|

sahasrazIrSA puruSaH sahasrAkSaH sahasrapAt||

– Ambika Datta Vyas

Loose translation: There is not a single person who, on entering this royal residence, is not rendered thousand-headed, thousand-eyed, and thousand-legged by their (numerous) reflections!

Notes:  Presumably, this is a reference to the famous Sheesh Mahal, "mirror palace", a hall where parts of the walls and the ceiling are patterned with small mirrors of various shapes, located within the fort that the poet had just visited.

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Source:  Both anecdotes are found in Subhashit Aur Vinod (सुभाषित और विनोद), "epigrams and entertainment", a Hindi-language collection of bite-size stories about South Asian poets and scholars of various eras and their interesting creations, compiled by Shri Gurunarayan Sukul and published in 1952.

Today's first quote (or a variant) is found in many modern anthologies as an example of a samasya; the 14th century Shaarngadharapaddhati gives a variant (Verse 494) in which the second half reads दलितश्चकितश्छन्नस्तव सैन्ये विसर्पति||, i.e. Ananta is crushed and not just shaken as the army marches on! That the compiler Shaarngadhara is dated to the 14th century does not necessarily rule out the authenticity of the first story in this post; it is believed that this anthology in its present form includes many later additions. 

Devious devotees

Vasanta Panchami (वसन्तपञ्चमी), the fifth day of the bright fortnight in the lunar month of Magha (माघ), is one of the most culturally significant days in South Asia for it signals the beginning of the Spring season. In many parts of the Subcontinent, especially in the east, this day is dedicated to Saraswati, the goddess of learning, speech, and the creative arts (music and literature, in particular). In fact, so close is Saraswati's association with Spring in Bengal that her idols venerated on Vasanta Panchami are often dressed in the 'vernal' shade of yellow (Hindi: वसंती/बसंती; Bengali: বাসন্তী), although the only color sacred to her according to all scriptures and (other) traditions is white!

Below are two modern humorous verses dedicated to the goddess of learning.

(1) When Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar was still a student at Sanskrit College, Calcutta, one of the many professors who took a liking to him was Joygopal Tarkalankar (জয়গোপাল তর্কালঙ্কার; जयगोपालतर्कालङ्कार) (1775-1846). On the occasion of Vasanta Panchami every year, Tarkalankar would observe Saraswati Puja with great pomp and invite his students to his house where they would be treated to lunch, dinner, and great music; on the eve of the festival, he would also urge some of his more advanced students to compose Sanskrit verses in honor of the goddess, but Ishwarchandra did not usually oblige for his lack of self-confidence (in his own words). However, after repeated requests, he ended up giving it a shot, just once. The result was a distich in a classical twelve-syllable upajAti (उपजाति, blended) meter, the first and third quarters in indravaMzA (इन्द्रवंशा) and the rest in vaMzastha (वंशस्थ), following the rules of Sanskrit grammar but liberally seasoned with Bengali vernacularisms. 

Devanagari text:

लूची-कचूरी-मतिचूर-शोभितं
जिलेपि-सन्देश-गजा-विराजितम्|
यस्याः प्रसादेन फलारमाप्नुमः
सरस्वती सा जयतान्निरन्तरम्||

– ईश्वरचन्द्रविद्यासागर 

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

lUcI-kacUrI-maticUra-zobhitaM
jilIpi-sandeza-gajA-virAjitam|

yasyAH prasAdena phalAramApnumaH
sarasvatI sA jayatAnnirantaram||

– Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar

Loose translation: Eternal glory to that Saraswati, by whose grace we receive lavish meals consisting of luchis, kachauris, motichur laddoos, jalebis, sandesh, and gajas!

Notes: This nugget of tasteful humor is evidently a nod to the sumptuous Vasanta Panchami feasts served at Tarkalankar's residence. The spellings of some of the words above, such as कचूरी, मतिचूर, and जिलेपि, are sure to raise some eyebrows; the author, who is writing for an exclusively Bengali-speaking audience, has clearly exploited the peculiarities of Bengali pronunciation and orthography to make these non-Sanskrit words fit the metrical scheme he chose. Also noteworthy is the Bengali word फलार which is derived from Sanskrit phalAhAra (फलाहार), "fruit-meal", and denotes a lacto-vegetarian meal devoid of rice, ritually served to a Brahmin. 

Source: Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar's Sanskrita Rachana (সংস্কৃত রচনা; संस्कृतरचना), "compositions in Sanskrit", 1888 edition.

(2) This snippet was not composed on the occasion of Saraswati Puja, but I think it is quite relevant.

Devanagari text:

न मेऽस्ति विद्या न तथास्ति मेधा
न वास्ति बुद्धिः प्रतिभोज्ज्वला च|
मन्दः परीक्षार्णवमुत्तरीतुं
देवीं गिरां स्वां जननीं च वन्दे||

– अलोकनाथन्यायभूषण 

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

na me(a)sti vidyA na tathAsti medhA
na vAsti buddhiH pratibhojjvalA ca|

mandaH parIkSArNavamuttarItuM
devIM girAM svAM jananIM ca vande||

– Alokanatha Nyayabhushana

Loose translation: I am devoid of learning, (the) mental acuity (needed to acquire it), and intellectual brilliance. Hence, being a dimwit, I have (no choice but to) sing the praises of the goddess of speech and my own mother just to be able to get across the ocean of examinations.

Source:  Prefatory benediction of Vidaya-Vidyalaya (বিদায়-বিদ্যালয়; विदाय-विद्यालय), "a farewell address to the college", by Alokanatha Nyayabhushana, Late Senior Scholar and Head Pandit, Calcutta Government Sanskrit College, published on June 25, 1902.

Notes: If you were to think that this is not a composition of the best quality, I would probably agree with you. But I still like it for it is so easy to relate to! The author, a recently retired academic, is evidently having a laugh at his students to whom this piece is addressed; but this verse, perhaps inadvertently, also calls attention to a procrustean education system that places too much emphasis on scores secured in certain examinations, forcing many students to rely solely on prayers and the blessings of their elders.

Scholarly squabbles 1: Prakashananda and Chaitanyadeva

One of the most important figures in the history of South Asia is the 15th-16th century spiritual leader Sri Chaitanya – often endearingly called Gauranga (गौराङ्ग), "fair-bodied", – the founder of what is known today as Gaudiya Vaishnanism. His hagiographies are replete with (often apocryphal) anecdotes of him winning over former adversaries, sometimes by dint of his wit and wisdom and sometimes by sheer charisma. I found one such story, involving the renowned sannyasi (सन्न्यासिन्) Prakashananda Saraswati (प्रकाशानन्दसरस्वती) of Varanasi (see this and this), in the early 20th century Bengali-language encyclopedia Biswakosh (বিশ্বকোষ; विश्वकोष), compiled by Nagendranath Basu (নগেন্দ্রনাথ বসু; नगेन्द्रनाथवसु), and I will now recount an amusing correspondence that the compiler claims these two scholars engaged in. However, I have reasons to doubt the authenticity of parts of the Biswakosh article on Prakashananda Saraswati (see my final notes at the end of the post).

(1) The story goes that, before meeting Chaitanya in person, Prakashananda was a proponent of mAyAvAda (मायावाद), a term used in Gaudiya Vaishnavism to denote Adi Shankara's philosophy, and had significant ideological disagreements with the concept of bhakti (भक्ति) to Krishna as promulgated by Chaitanya. Riled by the young Bengali preacher's rising popularity, especially following the induction of Prakashananda's beloved disciple Gopala into Chaitanya's order, the Varanasi resident wanted to take the Vaishnava sannyasi on, but Chaitanyadeva was yet to set foot in Varanasi, a city sacred to Shiva. When Prakashananda ran out of patience, he wrote the following chastising note in Sanskrit verse addressed to no one in particular, and had a traveler deliver it to Chaitanya.

Devanagari script:

यत्रास्ते मणिकर्णिकामलसरः स्वर्दीर्घिका दीर्घिका
रत्नं तारकमक्षरं¹ तनुभृते शम्भुः स्वयं यच्छति|
तस्मिन्नद्भुतधामनि स्मररिपोर्निर्वाणमार्गे स्थिते
मूढोऽन्यत्र मरीचिकासु पशुवत् प्रत्याशया धावति||
variant: ¹तारकमोक्षदं 

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

yatrAste maNikarNikAmalasaraH svardIrghikA dIrghikA
ratnaM tArakamakSaraM tanubhRte zambhuH svayaM yacchati|

tasminnadbhutadhAmani smararipornirvANamArge sthite
mUDho(a)nyatra marIcikAsu pazuvat pratyAzayA dhAvati||

Loose translation: Where the tank called Manikarnika sits in its immaculate glory, and the heavenly river (the Ganges) of great length flows by, and Shiva himself bestows the precious gift of the mantra of liberation upon living beings – in spite of the existence of this wondrous abode of the Enemy of Cupid (i.e. Shiva) which grants access to nirvana, it is but a moron who seeks the fulfillment of his desires elsewhere, just like an animal running towards a mirage (to quench its thirst)!

Notes:  Manikarnika is a major ghat (ghat: a flight of steps leading down to a body of water) in Varanasi and one of the most hallowed cremation grounds in Hinduism; a sacred stepwell called Manikarnika Kunda (मणिकर्णिकाकुण्ड) is located on top of the flight, and this is what the author of the above verse is referring to in the first quarter. दीर्घिका denotes an "oblong" lake or pond, but the anthologist Purnachandra De identifies स्वर्दीर्घिका, "the (oblong) water-body of heaven", as the Ganges; I have not found this particular appellation of the holy river in any lexicon but the near-synonymous term svarvApI (स्वर्वापी) is well-known. As such, I have interpreted the दीर्घिका at the end of the first quarter as an adjective, meaning "long", of the preceding word. tAraka (तारक), "the deliverer", in this context refers to the mystical formula, usually called tArakabrahma (तारकब्रह्म), that Shiva is said to "whisper into the ears" of those who die or are dying or are cremated in Varanasi, especially at Manikarnika Ghat, thus liberating them from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth (the word तनुभृत्, which I have translated as 'living being' here, literally means 'body-bearer'). 

(2) On receiving this veiled invitation, peppered with choice insults (मूढ, पशु), to visit his challenger's home ground, Chaitanya turned Prakashananda's words around and against him, and penned the following rejoinder in the same meter (zArdUlavikrIDita (शार्दूलविक्रीडित)) as the original, affirming his conviction that Krishna is svayaM bhagavAn (स्वयं भगवान्). 

Devanagari script:

घर्माम्भो मणिकर्णिका भगवतः पादाम्बु भागीरथी
काशीनां पतिरंशमस्य² भजते श्रीविश्वनाथः स्वयम्|
एतस्यैव हि नाम शम्भुनगरे निस्तारकं तारकं
तस्मात् कृष्णपदाम्बुजं भज सखे निर्वाणमोक्षप्रदम्³||
variants: ²पतिरर्धमेव; ³श्रीपाद निर्वाणदम्.

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

gharmAmbho maNikarNikA bhagavataH pAdAmbu bhAgIrathI
kAzInAM patiraMzamasya bhajate zrIvizvanAthaH svayam|

etasyaiva hi nAma zambhunagare nistArakaM tArakaM
tasmAt kRSNapadAmbujaM bhaja sakhe nirvANamokSapradam||

Loose translation: The Manikarnika tank is (filled with) the Lord's perspiration, and the Ganges is but water from his feet; Vishwanatha, i.e. Shiva in his capacity as the Master of Kashi, himself constitutes but a part of Him; His very name is the mantra of liberation in this city of Shiva. Hence, my dear friend, devote yourself to the nirvana-bestowing lotus-feet of Krishna!

Notes: According to at least one mythological source – the Kashikhanda (काशीखण्ड) of the Skanda Purana (स्कन्दपुराण) – it was Vishnu (often identified with Krishna) who dug the tank that is now called Manikarnika Kunda with his cakra (चक्र), and filled it up with his sweat. पादाम्बु भागीरथी invokes one of the several myths that associate the Ganges with the feet of Vishnu or one of his incarnations. The word Kashi (काशी) is used at present as an alternative name of the city of Varanasi, mostly by religious Hindus; it has been assigned the plural number by our author, perhaps just to glorify the city (according to a well-known rule of Sanskrit grammar) or to allude to one of the traditions that accord the status of a "subordinate Kashi" or a "Kashi-equivalent" to locations sacred to Shiva scattered across the Subcontinent. In many belief systems, particularly those current in Bengal, tArakabrahma is identified with an invocation to Vishnu, Krishna, or Rama (ॐ रामाय नमः|; ॐ श्रीराम राम|; हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे| हरे राम हरे राम राम राम हरे हरे|| etc.). The word zrIpAda (श्रीपाद) occurring in the second variant noted above is an honorific that is frequently applied to religious / spiritual scholars and is ubiquitous in Chaitanya hagiographies; अर्धमेव भजते, "shares a half only", is presumably a reference to the syncretic deity Harihara.

(3) The proud pandit from Varanasi was not to be cowed so easily, and responded with a vicious personal attack on his rival. 

Devanagari script:

विश्वामित्रपराशरप्रभृतयो वाताम्बुपर्णाशना⁴-
स्तेऽपि स्त्रीमुखपङ्कजं सुललितं दृष्ट्वैव मोहं गताः|
शाल्यन्नं सघृतं पयोदधियुतं ये भुञ्जते मानवा-
स्तेषामिन्द्रियनिग्रहो यदि भवेद्विन्ध्यस्तरेत्सागरम्⁵||
variants: ⁴ये चाम्बुपर्णाशना / ये वारिपर्णाशना; ⁵भवेत् पङ्गुस्तरेत्सागरम्.

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

vizvAmitraparAzaraprabhRtayo vAtAmbuparNAzanA-
ste(a)pi strImukhapaGkajaM sulalitaM dRSTvaiva mohaM gatAH|

zAlyannaM saghRtaM payodadhiyutaM ye bhuJjate mAnavA-
steSamindriyanigraho yadi bhavedvindhyastaretsAgaram|| 

Loose translation: Even the likes of Vishwamitra and Parashara (great ascetics and scholars) who subsisted on air, water, and leaves, had their minds deluded as soon as they saw the charming lotus-faces of women; (hence,) if those human beings who gorge themselves on rice prepared from high-quality autumnal paddy along with ghee, milk, and yogurt were to succeed in taming the flesh, then the Vindhyas would be able to swim across the ocean as well!

Notes: The author is definitely alluding to Vishwamitra and Parashara's infamous dalliances with Menaka and Matsyagandha respectively. There are several instances in religious literature of ascetics abstaining from solid food or even water for extended periods of time – such fasting is often considered crucial to disciplining the mind and the body, and acquiring superhuman powers or making spiritual progress. Chaitanyadeva had a long and intimate association with the Jagannath Temple at Puri, Odisha, where he is said to have regularly partaken of the mahAprasAda (महाप्रसाद), a lavish lacto-vegetarian meal ritually offered to the central deity jagannAtha (जगन्नाथ), then to the goddess vimalA (विमला), and finally distributed among devotees. In Prakashananda's worldview, this act would violate the principles of asceticism; so he is calling Chaitanya out on his perceived hypocrisy, and insinuating that someone given to such gastronomic excesses is unlikely to be abstinent in other aspects of life. The compiler of Biswakosh identifies the celebrated zAli (शालि) rice with the aaman (আমন) rice variety of Bengal. In Indic literature, a mountain (or a rock) floating on water is a standard metaphor for an impossibility.

(4) Before long, Prakashananda received a versified repartee which, according to Biswakosh, was authored by an outraged follower of Sri Chaitanya, but is ascribed to Chaitanya himself in Radhakanta Deb's 19th century Sanskrit dictionary Shabdakalpadruma (शब्दकल्पद्रुम) in its entry for the word अनुदिनम्.

Devanagari script:

सिंहो बली द्विरदशूकरमांसभोजी⁶
संवत्सरेण कुरुते रतिमेकवारम्। 

पारावतः खलु शिलाकणमात्रभोजी
कामी भवेदनुदिनं वद कोऽत्र हेतुः॥
variant: ⁶सिंहो बली द्विरदकुञ्जरमांसभोजी / सिंहो बलिद्विरदमस्तकमांसभोजी.

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

siMho balI dviradazUkaramAMsabhojI
saMvatsareNa kurute ratimekavAram|

pArAvataH khalu zilAkaNamAtrabhojI
kAmI bhavedanudinaM vada ko(a)tra hetuH||

Loose translation: The mighty lion, which devours the flesh of elephants and boars, makes love but once a year; on the other hand, the pigeon, which sustains itself merely on grit and grains, engages in sexual activity on a daily basis – pray tell, what is the explanation for these phenomena?

Notes: शिलाकण can be translated as "particle of stone"; some birds including pigeons are known to swallow small pieces of stone to help grind food in the gizzard. However, कण also refers to a single seed or grain of corn (Monier-Williams), which, I believe, is a more appropriate reading here. The contrast between a sexually temperate predator and a grain-eating bird notorious for its prurience is meant to highlight the point that food choice is not necessarily correlated with libido (according to the commentary by Chandramohan Tarkaratna Bhattacharya in Udbhata Chandrika, सत्यपि उत्तमान्नादिभोजनरूपविकारहेतौ सर्वेषां मनो न विकृतिमायाति परन्तु लघुचेतसामेवेति दर्शयन्नाह . . .). 

---

Sources: My primary source is the entry for Prabodhananda Saraswati (see final notes below) in Bishwakosh. However, the versions of verses (1) and (2) quoted above occur in Udbhata Sagara Part III (Verses 84 (a) and (b)), and the collection of all four with slight variations is also found in the 1899 edition of Udbhata Chandrika Volume I (Verses 39-40). The compilers of both anthologies present this sequence of stanzas as an exchange of wits between a Shaiva resident of Varanasi named Shripaada (श्रीपाद) and his Vaishnava friend living in Vrindavana. Subhashita Ratna Bhandagara, in its chapter on the glorification of women (स्त्रीप्रशंसा), quotes verse (3) from Prof. D. D. Kosambi's critical edition of bhatRharisubhASitasaMgraha (भर्तृहरिसुभाषितसंग्रह), a collection of epigrams traditionally ascribed to Bhartrihari who is generally placed long before Chaitanyadeva.

Final notes: According to Biswakosh, Sri Chaitanya ultimately converted Prakashananda Saraswati to Krishnabhakti (कृष्णभक्ति), "devotion to Krishna", and renamed him Prabodhananda Saraswati (You can read some English-language retellings of their encounter here and here, for example). However, Prabodhananda Saraswati is the name of a famous Sri Vaishnava sannyasi from Srirangam, the uncle of Gopala Bhatta Goswami, who was converted by Chaitanya (see this), and I do not know if he had any association with Varanasi whatsoever. I would really appreciate if an expert could help me out here.