THE ROAR OF 'GAJON' -- a dying festival

It has its roots in ancient pre historic cults of primitive religions . The gajon festival derives it name from Garjan , which in sanskrit means 'to roar' .  The chorus shouts and drumbeats that contributed to the festival's thunderous sounds also lent its characteristic name . 

 Lithograph from Sir Charles D’Oyly’s ‘Views of Calcutta and its environs’ in 1848 showing procession of Charak Gajon festival

This is a festival of 'lower sections' of the society dedicated to Hindu god Shiva . It is and always have been the festival of the masses . Interested individuals , irrespective of their castes can take up a month long vow of abstinence and physical severity during which they live by begging alms . They are called gajon sanyasis and has a leader who is called mool sannyasi . 

At the end of the month long penances the festivities begin . Kanta jhaanp - jumping on a bed of thorns , bontee jhaanp - jumping on bare blades , walking on fire , piercing the tongue , body piercings are the main show . On Chaitra Sankranti , the final day of bengali new year , giant logs called charak gachh are salvaged from ponds , where they have been kept submerged since last year and erected in fields over which revolving wheels are attached . The gajon sannyasis attach themselves to this wheel and rotate furiously . This is charak , derived from sanskrit chakra meaning wheel . 

The whole five day spectacle is accompanied by big fairs and 'song' - indegenous costumed men in rich make up , depicting or re enacting scenes from mythology or history . At some isolated places , customs of parading with human corpses or skulls still exist , perhaps in sync with the shmashana-chaari nature of Shiva ( one who roams in the crematoriums ) .


At Kalighat situated right within the heart of Calcutta  , the Gajon festival is celebrated with no less gusto . Nakuleshwar Mahadev is the bhairav of DakshinaKali of Kalighat . Early european travellers documented the famous charak festivities of Kalighat Nakuleshwar tola . 
Bishop Heber of Calcutta writes “All the persons who walked in the procession, and a large majority of spectators, had their faces, bodies, and white cotton clothes daubed all over with vermilion, the latter to a degree which gave them the appearance of actually being dyed rose-colour. They were also crowned with splendid garlands of flowers … many trophies and pageants of different kinds were paraded up and down, on stages drawn by horses, or bullocks. "

Sketches of Mrs. Belnos , published from London in 1832 depicting Charak at Kalighat

Sketches of Mrs. Belnos , published from London in 1832 depicting Charak at Kalighat 

 Centuries later , not much have changed . A peek into modern day Gajon celebrations there can take you back in time ! 

Aadi Ganga -- The main course of Ganga some 500 years back .. now a creek and sewer canal combined !

Gajon sannyasis

Although Gajon is still observed all across Bengal , it is steadily on way to extinction . Modern western influenced sensibilities restrict us from appreciating the diversity of this world and its customs . In urban settings body peircings are long extinct . Numerous Gajon festivals are no longer held . Many places and localities still bear the name 'charak tola'  but the charak is nowhere to be found . What was once a extremely popular festival has become a marginalised spectacle , appealing only to curious onlookers and photographers ! 
In this age of decline it is the rural villages which have upheld the originality of Charak gajon festival . Even if cities do away with this ancient festival , we can hopefully assume that the remote villages will continue to protect and preserve our heritage for a few more centuries to come !

Charak Gaachh puja near my home

Luckily I have a charak swing near my home , but with each passing year attendance and fanfare is dwindling !

GOPINATH --- 
A continuing royal struggle for possession and power


500 years ago Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was on his way to Puri after taking sannyasa renounced order of life . Along with him was a group of his faithful admirers and devotees who also wanted to take up sannyasa . Govinda Ghosh was one such devoted man .

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu with associates

 But Mahaprabhu Chaitanya sensed that time had not yet come for this young man to adopt the renounced order of life and he was advised to stay back at Agradweep in Burdwan district and lead a life of householder . Reluctantly Govinda Ghosh obliged to the orders of Mahaprabhu and let go of his desire to be a renunciate monk . In course of time he married and had a son and also established a beautiful deity of Radha Gopinath for his personal sadhana . Gopinath was his life blood and it was through regular prayers to him that bhakta Govinda was successful in continuing his daily existence in the material world .

Original Gopinath Ju of Agradweep , on his way to Krishna-nagar on boat via Ganga

Calamity struck when his wife and son both passed away . Grief stricken , Govinda ghosh stopped the daily worship of Gopinath !
"Ha gour , I had not desired for householders life , I had not desired for material wealth . It is you who had thrown me into this dreadful world and now take away my only son ! What sort of injustice is this ? " - he lamented.

That night he did not take any food and neither did he care to continue his daily puja to Gopinath . The next dawn  Gopinath himself came to him wanting to be fed and worshipped . Seeing Ghosh's remorse , compassionate Gopinath reassured him by saying that he would assume all the responsibilities of a dutiful son towards his father . When Govinda Ghosh passed away , it is said that Lord Gopinath himself materialised and performed the shradha ceremony of his loving 'father' ! Even today on the date of Govinda Ghosh's passing away , the village of Agradweep celebrates this miracle by dressing up their Gopinath in simple white loincloth ( dhoraa-kanchaa ) and kusha grass and pinda in his hands instead of flute ! It is believed that Gopinath still offers pinda to the deceased soul of Ghosh thakur !

Gopinath continued to be worshipped duly by the villagers of Agradweep until 18th century . Once during the annual celebration day ( Ghosh thakurer mela ) several people got killed due to stampede and the then nawab of Bengal , Alivardi Khaan summoned the neighboring zamindaars to demand an explanation from them for this mishap  . The raja of Burdwan , in whose territory Gopinath resided did not owe up to the incident , scared of the wrath of the Nawab ! Clever Maharajah Krishna Chandra , the famous monarch of Nadia , spoke up and accepted the responsibilities of the unfortunate event and by doing so also craftily annexed Agradweep to his zamindaari !

A raja of Krishnanagar royal family

This was just the beginning of a long standing power play over Gopinath .

Maharajah Krishnachandra used to celebrate 'Baro dol' where 12 famous deities of Krishna and Radha from within the precincts of his administrative territory were brought to his palace for month long worship . Gopinath became one of the 12 shortlisted idols to be brought to Krishnanagar Palace , completely disregarding the emotions of people of Agradweep . It has been a tradition since , that Gopinath is brought to Krishnanagar palace on boat across Ganges to be kept for 7 months . Millions of devotees pay respects to him as the boat passes by Nabadwip .

Gopinath comes to Nabadwipa

About the same time another bitter power struggle broke out for possession of Gopinath .

Raja Nabakrishna , the new scion of Shobhabazaar raj family in the newly growing city of Calcutta was busy consolidating his status and influence amongst the elite of Bengal . For this he summoned a special festival at his palace in Calcutta . He invited various famous deities and idols across Bengal to come to his palace and stay for a few days and accept his offerings . It was a dev sabha (a gathering of deities) attended by Radha Shyamsundar ju of Khardah, Radhaballav ju of Ballavpur, Radha Nandadulal ju of Saibana, Madan Mohan ju of Bishnupur , Gopinath ju of Agradweep and many other famous deities . Gopinath was accordingly brought to Calcutta to Shobhabazaar palace for a month long stay to attend the festival . But when time came to return him back to Agradweep , Nabakrishna relented and did not honour his words .

The suit of law that ensued between the two monarchies went up to Privy council in London and finally the decree went against the Shobhabazar monarch . Gopinath was to be returned to where he belonged . From here two versions of the story are found . The Shobhabazaar's version of the story narrates that Nabakrishna supposedly got an identical deity sculpted and when the priests of Gopinath arrived , escorted by police from Fort William , they took back the duplicate one . The Agradweep's version of the story claims that the priests duly identified the true Gopinath and got him back . 

Gopinath at Shobhabazaar royal family

Ever since It has been a continuing tradition that Gopinath is worshipped in seclusion at the private worship room of Krishnanagar royals for half of the year and taken back to his rightful place for the other half .

 But all that is set to change for the first time in three centuries with Agradweep locals refusing to send Gopinath back to Krishnanagar palace last month ! Feelings of resentment was high in the air against Krishnanagar royals , who had earlier similarly brought the original Madangopal deities of Virahee village and never returned them ! 
It had also been a tradition to send Gopinath to a nearby village on the day of snana purnima during his period of stay at the palace . It is the annual great bath of the god . But last year  the royal family discontinued that tradition too , raising fears amongst common people that Gopinath may not be returned back to them after expiry of the tenure . 
During his stay at the palace's private worship room ( thakur ghar ) no common man can have an access to the deity . The last time when the deity was taken back to Agradweep from the palace , the present scion of the royal family made the temple commitee sign on legal papers before handing them over the deity . It required the people of Agradweep to duly return back the deity to the royals after their term finishes off . What was once a age old harmless tradition had now become a cold war of power play between the royals and the bhaktas ! In retaliation the people of  Agradweep took a bold move and declared they ain't sending their beloved God anywhere ! Powerful lights . night vigil and strict security has been set up at the temple to protect their god . Temple committee and trust has been formed to look into smoothe running of the temple .
And the royals , now seemingly helpless against popular sentiments , are trying desperately to malign Agradweep by claiming that the temple committee is actually concerned over the big business that the deity brings annually or that they are trying to sell off the antique idol in international market !


We Indians live in a strange land . Our royals build grand temples for deities , our people treat kings as living incarnations of Vishnu and yet it is these very royals who engage in a nasty power play , reducing their gods to mere puppets ! Raja Man Singh , the legendary general of Akbar's army stole the deity Jessoreshwari , one of the 51 sati peethas in Jessore , Bangladesh , and took her back to his fort at Amber in Rajputana ! Vasanta Ray lifted Dol Govinda idol during the seige of Puri and brought back the deity to his capital at what is now Bangladesh . Malla Raaj Bir Hambir looted the deity of Madanmohan and re installed him at his capital at Bishnupur . His descendant Chaitanya Simha , mortagaged the deity for a sum of one lakh rupees to rich businessman Gokul Mitra of Calcutta ! The royals of Jaipur never bothered to return back the deities of Govinda , Gopinath and Madanmohan back to Vrindavan , after the scare of Aurangazeb's invasion subsided . The Bundelkhand royals looted the Ramachandra idol from Ayodhya and brought it to their own capital at Orchha . History is abound with countless instances where these unholy royals reduced objects of public reverence to mere puppets at their hands ! Welcoming the brave defiant decision of people of Agradweep with open embrace I pray the Gopinath choses to remain where he belongs . Let him stay in the home of Govinda ghosh , in his native village surrounded by love of his own people and near the samadhi of his father .

Gopinath jayatu ...

Gopinath at Agradweep temple

The song of 'VIRAHEE'  ....

A few centuries ago in a small insignificant village in Nadia district of Bengal there lived a poor farmer who employed a little homeless boy named Madan for maintaining his herd of cows . Little Madan had come wandering to the home of his master searching for a job . After being thus employed he would take the herd to the banks of local river called Yamuna and let them loose to graze while he would sit and play on his flute . The cows would wander away and create a menace for neighbours . The villagers soon complained about this to the farmer .

Enraged at his careless acts , the farmer set out to chastise him . But Madan fled the scene and miraculously entered into a tree trunk in front of all villagers . By then , the farmer's daughters had started treating Madan as one of their own brothers and now they were broken hearted at his sudden dissapearance .
That night the farmer had a dream from the lord who revealed that it was infact he who had come down to him as Madan . The tree was ordered to be cut and to everyone's amazement they found a deity of krishna inside ! The farmer installed his newfound deity and named it Madangopal

And on the day of bhaatri-dwitiya (bhai phontaa/ bhai dooj) the farmer's daughters came to put tilak on the deity madan's forehead , as they had been doing when the boy madan was there .

Following in their footsteps , even today all ladies of the village and beyond join in to put tilak on Madanmohan on the day of bhaatri-dwitiya ! Even muslim ladies partake in this tradition !


Days were happy until MadanGopal vanished miraculously from temple , only to be found out again in a distant village . When such dissapearances started occuring repeatedly villagers realised that Madangopal is straying so far in search of Radharani . Hearing of MadanGopal's predicament Maharajah Krishnachandra of Nadia ordered a new deity of sri Radharani to be built and installed beside Madanmohan . That was accordingly done in the year 1760 .

Since Madanmohan had strayed in 'viraha' or seperation of Radharani , the village came to be known as 'Virahee' and the village from where he was found again was named Madanpur .

" sri sri MadanGopal mandir , established by Maharajah Krishnachandra , Virahee ( 1760 a.d. ) "

The river that flows by is poetically named Yamuna

Some original woodwork ( daaru shilpa ) still survives on the arched doorway to the sanctum

Madangopal temple at Virahee

Madangopal and Radharani

The temple , although heavily altered and renovated , still shows signs of antiquity with lintels on ceilings and alcoves in the walls

Spread of Chala architecture .... 


Chala architecture originated in clay homes of bengal but became an instant hit all over India . It was quickly adopted by mughal emperor Akbar for designing his palaces in newly constructed Agra fort . Records show that a significant number of craftsmen hailed from Bengal . From imperial mughals it spread to rajputana rajasthan and soon became popular motif in 'jharoka' balconies .

The first pic shows a traditional thatched roof in Bengal with the distinguishing arched bend .
The second pic shows terracotta temple fashioned on the same style .
In the third pic we see Agra fort and use of Bangla chala in Khaas mahal .
And in the final pic we see the popular jharokha balcony of rajasthan adorned with bangla chala .