Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada inaugurated the first center of his institution in Calcutta, later known as the Gaudiya Math. Registered on 5 February 1919, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati's missionary movement was initially called
Vishva Vaishnava Raj Sabha, in the name of the society founded by Bhaktivinoda. It soon became known as the Gaudiya Math after the Calcutta branch and his weekly Bengali magazine
Gaudiya. The Gaudiya Math published material on religious, philosophical and social issues through its periodical publications in English, Bengali,
Assamese,
Odia, and
Hindi. These publications included the daily Bengali newspaper
Nadiya Prakash, the weekly magazine
Gaudiya, and the monthly English and Sanskrit magazine
The Harmonist (
Shri Sajjana-toshani). The Gaudiya Math's outreach programs found support in urban areas, where supporters contributed to the construction of new temples and "theistic exhibitions" – public expositions on the Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy using displays and
dioramas. It soon developed into a dynamic missionary and educational institution with sixty-four branches across India and three centres abroad (in
Burma, Germany, and England). The Math propagated the teachings of Gaudiya Vaishnavism by means of daily, weekly, and monthly periodicals, books of the Vaishnava canon, and public programs as well as through "theistic exhibitions" with dioramas. During 1919-1937, the Gaudiya Math leadership consisted mainly of educated Bengalis and eighteen
sannyasis who were sent to establish the movement in new places in India, and later, in Europe. Its growing
ashrama residents hub, however, included disciples from both educated urban and simple rural milieus. Householder disciples and sympathizers supported the temples with funds, food, and volunteer labour. The Gaudiya Math centres emphasized the individual discipline of their residents, including mandatory ascetic vows and daily practice of devotion (
bhakti) centred on individual recitation (
japa) and public singing (
kirtan) of Krishna's names, regular study of philosophical and devotional texts (
svadhyaya),
traditional worship of temple images of Krishna and Chaitanya (
archana) as well as attendance at lectures and seminars (
shravanam). Soon after the Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati's death (1 January 1937), a dispute began and the original Gaudiya Math mission divided by the court in 1948 into two administrative bodies which continued preaching on their own, up to the present day. In a settlement they divided the 64 Gaudiya Math centers into two groups. Sri Chaitanya Math Branch were headed by Srila Bhakti Vilasa Tirtha Maharaj.
Gaudiya Mission were headed by Ananta Vasudev Prabhu, who became known as Srila Bhakti Prasad Puri Maharaj after accepting
sannyasa for short duration. Many of the disciples of
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati did not agree with the spirit of these newly created two fractions, or were simply inspired to expand the mission of their guru on their own enthusiasm, started their own missions. Many of these autonomous missions are still known as Gaudiya Math. Some of the other notable new missions are: •
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math established by
Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Maharaj (1941) • established by Srila Bhakti Dayita Madhav Goswami Maharaj (1953) •
International Society for Krishna Consciousness established by
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1966) • established by Srila Bhakti Vaibhava Puri Goswami Maharaj (1966) •
Science of Identity Foundation established by Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa (1977) •
Sri Sri Radha Govindaji Trust established by Srila
Bhakti Hridaya Bon (1979) • Sri Caitanya Sangha, a.k.a. Gaudiya Vaishnavite Society, established by Tripurari Swami (1985) • established by Srila Bhakti Pramode Puri Goswami Maharaj (1989) Some are very large missions, and some are smaller branches started by individual Vaishnavas. What they hold in common is that they are autonomous branches of the tree of the Gaudiya Math. Almost all of them have published books and periodicals and opened one or more temples. There is little cooperation among these missions. Nevertheless, in 1994 many of them formed united the
World Vaisnava Association — Visva Vaisnava Raj Sabha (WVA–VVRS). ==References and notes==