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 .
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 .
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 !
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 .
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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 .
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
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 |
.jpg) |
| 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 !
.jpg) |
| 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
well written indeed .........!!!!!!
ReplyDeletethanks so much :)
ReplyDelete