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Introduction

For my dissertation, I have chosen Nabadwip as my field of research, more specifically

Pora Maa Tola area and Agameshwari para of Nabadwip. I am trying to argue how two
different sects are being practiced parallelly in Nabadwip and what is the perspective and
belief towards practicing these sects among the common people. In Hinduism, there are
four different sects, Shakta, Vaishnav, Shaiva, Smriti. From ancient times, Nabadwip was
the center of attraction including wisdom, divinity and spirituality. Many different sects
including Shakta and Vaishnav appeared in several time periods. Great philosophers and
pandits like Krishnananda Agambagish, Rudranath Tarkabagish, Brajanath Vidyaratna, M
Ajit nath Nyayaratna etc., mentioned about the emergence of these sects in their works.
Nabadwip gradually became the epicenter of Vaishnavite culture, shakta cult and practice
of Tantra. These are my fields of study, but first we have to know when both sects
emerged in Nabadwip. Tantra had emerged after the fall of Buddhism in India, when
higher caste Brahmins departed from Bangladesh. For these circumstances, Brahmins and
Buddhist monks redesigned the Tantra and composed a new form of Tantric practices. As
a result, between the fourth and sixth century, the tantric ideologies started to spread their
branches, and during the seventh century, its impact was at a noticeable stage. Around the
thirteenth century, it made its influence through Bengal,while several philosophers,
intellectual individuals, such as Purnananda Giri Paramhansa, Bhriguram, Krishnananda
Agambagish were shifting the limelight upon themselves. As a matter of this course,
Krishnananda Agambagish was the main entity behind the worship of Shakti in Bengal,
before that there was no evidence and custom of worshiping “Shakti”. In “Nabadwip
Mahima”, Kanti Chandra Rarhi argued, “বর্ত মান সময়ে কার্ত্তিকী অমাবস্যায় যে শ্যামাপূজা হইয়া
থাকে, সেই শ্যামামূর্ত্তি ও তাহার পুজাপদ্ধতি এই আগমবাগীশেরই আবিষ্কৃত। আগমবাগিশের পূর্ব্বে ঐ
পূজা প্রচলন ছিলনা।” (Rarhi, 1937, p-207) Vaishnavism was spreading alongside of Shakta
culture, Vaishnavism emerged during the early period of fifteenth century, Jagannath
Mishra had a significant role for influencing the society about Vaishnavite cult in
Nabadwip, in fact he was the first man to enlighten Nabadwip about Vaishnavism. The
inhuman, wild, savage rituals of Tantra, deliberately consumption of alcohol for the sack
of Tantra made the society switch their culture. The major part of Vaishnav practice in
Nabadwip was influenced by Srichaitanya Mahaprabhu, son of Jagannath Mishra and
Shachi Devi. He made his appearance in 1486, Gouranga and Sri Chaitanya was his
customary name, his real name was Biswarup. His devotees named him “Gouranga” for
his fair complexion. His excellence turned up the Bhakti Movement in Nabadwip to
spread the philosophy of love and adore the almighty through that process of spirituality.
As we know there are several texts, writings, columns that were written and discussed
about the Vaishnavite culture and its entities. The philosophy of those entities were
portrayed in several western philosophers’ works, whereas the impact of shakta and the
worship of Shakti on Nabadwip and its residents are very less in number. While finding
the writing on Shakta there are limited sources and limited writers and mostly are based
on folk tales. The story of Shakta and the emergence of Shakti in Nabadwip is very
religious and miraculous story based, I felt there it needed more evident works with
appropriate philosophical understanding. Apart from this, another most important
discourse that needs to be discussed is the inclusion of two sects, Shakta and Vaishnav.
There are many conflicts between them, from ideologies to rituals. Nabadwip, Santipur,
Krishnanagar had the history of those inclusion, Krishna Chandra Roy (king of
Krishnanagar, 1710-1783) was the pioneer of Shakta rash in Nabadwip. Rash Yatra is
typically based on Vaishnav practices, but Krishna Chandra wanted to observe this
festival through the Shakta philosophy and to minimize the notion of Shakta and
Vaishnav conflict. Rarhi mentioned about Shakta Rash Yatra of Nabadwip, “ বহুদিন হইতে
নবদ্বীপে রাস-পূর্ণিমার দিন বার-ইয়ারী পূজা হইয়া থাকে। ঐ সময় আদ্যাশক্তি ভগবতীদেবীর নানামূর্ত্তি
পূজিত হইয়া থাকে, এবং পূজার পর দিবস ঐ প্রতিমা-সমূহ মহারাজাকে দেখাইবার নিমিত্তে
পোড়ামাতলায় সোৎসাহে আনীত হইত।” (Rarhi, 1937, p-299) The dominance of Shakta in
Nabadwip had emerged from the sixteenth century and faded by the early nineteenth
century. My argument for this research work is what is the sociological aspect among the
residents of Nabadwip, while the epistemic foundation of Shakta was faded. I will engage
with this discourse in the next paper of my dissertation. For this paper I have attempted to
bring the Historical background of these time periods.

Keywords : Tantra-sadhana, Vaishnavism, Shakta, Nabadwip, rituals, Kali idol, idol of

Natuya Gouranga, tole, ideology, sect.
 Inclusion of Shakti and Vaishnavism in Nabadwip:
Through the lenses of History

Krishnananda Agambagish:

With the name “Nabadwip'', most people are familiar with Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and
the vaishnavite cult/tradition, but Nabadwip Dham has a great history associated with
tantra sadhana. In history, there are many references where Nabadwip is referred as an
acclaimed sadhana pitha. In texts, we can get those names of the tantra practitioners
(tantra sadhaks), they had a clear aspect and vision for what reason they had started or
joined these sects. Through the context of shaktism, the first name that comes to mind is
Krishnananda Agambagish, a tantric and a great pundit of “Tantra Shastra''. Agambagish
created the Kali idol in Bengal, not only for creating the idol, he redesigned the tantra so
that it can spread out through society and none could be affected by the sack of tantric
practices. Krishnananda had a great history behind his shakta charcha, his father Pandit
Mahesh Bhattacharya was a true follower of vaishnavite tradition. For education and
occupation, he moved to Nabadwip all the way from Malda’s Gour. Pandit Maheshwar
Gouracharya had two sons, Krishnananda was the older son and Madhabananda was the
younger one, interestingly they chose two different sects to practice for their life,
Krishnananda chose Shaktism and his brother chose to serve for their kuldevta (family
deity). Around 1600-1610 Krishnananda made his first appearance, there is a debate in
which time period he was born, some say that he was born in Sri Chaitanya’s
contemporary period and both were class fellows in tole, some say that he was born after
Sri Chaitanya’s period. In “Nabadwip Mahima'' there is a reference to Krishnananda
Agambagish that he and Sri Chaitanya were from the contemporary time and they are
class fellows. (Rarhi, 1937, p-205)
কৃ ষ্ণানন্দ চৈতন্যদেবের সমসাময়িক ও সহাধ্যায়ী ছিলেন। এক্ষণে নবদ্বীপে উক্ত উভয় ভ্রাতার বংশাবলী
বর্ত মান রহিয়াছে। পুরুষ গণনায় কোন শাখায় ১৬ পুরুষ ও কোন শাখায় ১২/১৩ পুরুষ পাওয়া যায়।
যদি তৎকালের লোকদিগকে কিছু দীর্ঘজীবী মনে করিয়া প্রত্যেকের জীবনকাল গড়ে ২৫ বৎসর ধরা যায়,
তাহা হইলে উক্ত উভয় ভ্রাতাকে খৃষ্টীয় পঞ্চদশ শতাব্দীর শেষে বা ষোড়শ শতাব্দীর প্রথমে দেখিতে পাই।
(Rarhi, 1937, p-205)
Krishnananda was the most influential person who was the pioneer of sathwik puja
(সাত্ত্বিক পূজা পদ্ধতি). During the 16 century, people were facing terrible inconveniences and
disruptions caused by the practices of tantra in Bengal, tantric, kapaliks were engaging
with intoxicating activities, consuming alcohols and killing people for the sack of tantric
upachar. Krishnananda witnessed these problems and misconducts perceptibly, which
drove him to make the “Brihat Tantrasara '', a novel where Agambagish wrote the puja
procedures of Shakta and Vaishnav cult. To find the true self of the tantra and its possible
ways to uplift people from this social inconvenience, Krishnananda started to compose
this book, which would exclude the savage and threatening practices and upacharas. He
extracted 170 tantras and upatantras from Tantra Shastras of different cultures including
Shaiva, Shakta, Shourya, Ganpatya and Vaishnav ideologies. (Sarkar, 2023, p-15) This
composition vividly narrated the rituals and puja paddhati (পূজা পদ্ধতি) of Shakta and
Vaishnav sects. Along with “Brihat Tantrasara '', pandit Kriahnananda composed another
grantha named “Tattvabodhini '', another treatise related with tantra.(Saha, 2023, p-45)
In spite of being brought up in a Vaishnav ideologistic family, Krishnananda chose to
serve himself for Sakti Puja. Later his lineages continued his legacy and journey and
contributed their excellency among the discourse of Tantra upacharas. “Agambagish” was
Krishnananda’s appellation, his name was Krishnananda Bhattacharya, his descendants
were known “Agambagish Bhattacharya'', although Krishnananda and Madhabananda
both were designated with “Shahasrakhyo”(সহস্রাক্ষ). Rarhi mentioned that Harinath was
Krishnananda’s son “তাঁহার পুত্রের নাম হরিনাথ”, although he had four sons Harinath,
Kashinath, Mathuranath and Biswanath, but there is no mention of rest of three
sons.(Rarhi, 1937, p-208) This data is collected from the resident of Agameshwari para
(পাঁড়া) krishnananda used to live. In this matter of course Gopal and Madhusudan, the two
sons of Harinath, were disciples of Shakavite traditions. Just like Krishnananda, his
grandson Gopal was a renowned tantric and absolute pandit of tantra shastra, he also
composed “TantraDipika”, a broad treatise based upon tantra Vidya, mentioning around
11715 stanzas (shloks). (Rarhi, 1937, p-209) Madhusudan’s descendants are currently
living in Haripur near Santipur (Nadia district). In many texts related to the history of
Nabadwip, Krishnananda Agambagish, Tantra, there were no references about Gopal’s
and Madhusudan’s descendants, but locals had a notion that someone from Madhusudan’s
family established Agameshwari kali idol and started the adoration of Agameshwari kali
in Santipur approximately 400 years ago. Adwita Acharya's son Mathuresh Goswami
wanted to remove the conflicts between the Shakta and Vaishnav cults, so he gave his
daughter and the descendant of Madhusudan in marriage. This was a major instance of
compatibility between those two sects, residents and locals have continued the puja and
even till current time the puja is continued maintaining the Shakta and Vaishnav cultural
ideologies.
Krishnananda Agambagish and his brother Madhabananda both serve for their different
cultures, so it was natural to have conflicts between them. Locally there were many
controversies among the two brothers, in Nabadwip Mahima, Kanti Chandra Rarhi
mentioned some folktales that proves that before composing the “Brihat Tantrasara”
Agambagish had conflicts between Shakta and Vaishnav. Both brothers wanted to please
their ishta devata. In that story, both brothers wanted to offer homegrown bananas to their
deities, after returning to home Krishnananda found his brother and bananas were both
missing, he surmised that his brother had already offered those bananas to his ishta
devata Gopal. Suspecting Madhabananda by saying “উহা মাধবানন্দেরই কার্য্য”, he started
finding it, and found something that made him believe it's his fault or religious
narrowness to differentiating between Kali and Gopal, “তিনি দ্বারের অন্তরাল দিয়া দেখিলেন,
যে ভগবতী কালিকাদেবী গোপালকে ক্রোড়ে ধারণ করিয়া আপনি রম্ভা ভক্ষণ করিতেছেন ও গোপালকে
খাওয়াইতেছেন। ইহা দেখিয়া তাঁহার সমস্ত ক্রোধ দূরীভূ ত হইল, এবং ভ্রাতাকে আপনাকে কৃ তার্থম্মন্য মনে
করিয়া প্রত্যাবৃত্ত হইলেন। তিনি বুঝিলেন যে গোপাল ও কালী ভেদজ্ঞান করা বিড়ম্বনা মাত্র।” (Rarhi,
1937, p-206)
I visited the Agameshwari para and the mandir as well, it is also an exact example of
inclusion among Shakta and Vaishnav, there is a panchamundi asan, where Agambagish
used to meditate and practice his tantra rituals, next to its right side there is
RadhaMadhab idol and on its left side a Gopal is placed upon a bed. He also excluded
sacrificial ritual(বলিদান) and usage of alcohol or any practice related to intoxication.
According to the locals, they don't have much knowledge about the history of when
exactly this inclusion was carried forward, but they accepted it, because Krishna was
Krishnananda's kuldevta, he worshiped his Ishta Devi (ইষ্টদেবী)(Kali) along with his
kuldevta (Gopal). In fact in the book “Brihat Tantrasara'' Krishnananda greeted Krishna,
নত্বা কৃ ষ্ণপদদ্বন্দ্বং ব্রক্ষাদি সউরবন্দইতং।
গুরুঞ্ব জ্ঞানদাতারং কৃ ষ্ণানন্দেন ধীমতা।।
তত্তদ্গ্রন্থকৃ তাদ্বাক্যান্নানার্থং প্রতিপদ্য চ।
সৌকর্য্যার্থঞ্ব সংক্ষেপাত্তন্ত্রসারং প্রতন্যতে।। (Tarkalankar, 1932, p-1)
Brajanath Vidyaratna:

In this previous section, I discussed about Krishnananda Agambagish, his history, his
family, his descendants, how he got interest to get into a different cult to serve for the
almighty, what was the reason to practice the Shakta sect in spite of being born and
brought up in a Vaishnav ideologistic family, and how he redesigned the tantra in Bengal.
Practice of Shakta and tantra in Nabadwip took a significant role after Krishnananda
Agambagish, people started to adore the Shakti in their houses, the true self of tantra and
Shakti unveiled to society.

Brajanath Vidyaratna was born in Nabadwip around the nineteenth century. He was the
descendant of pandit Laxmikanta Nyayabhushan(His father), pandit Nyayabhushan was
the rajpurohit of king Girishchandra (king of Krishnanagar, during the eighteenth
century), Brajanath got his excellence on Smriti Shastra from his father. He became the
greatest pandit of Smriti Shastra of his time in Nabadwip. In the early phase of his life, he
was a Shakta devotee and a Vaishnav-Chaitanya hater. Brajanath was not an ordinary
common Shakta devotee, rather the term “Shakta extremist” would define his works to
serve for Shakta ideology. His priesthood was also initiated along with his father,
rajpurohit pandit Laxmikanta Nyayabhushan. He introduced “Mahismardini puja”
(মহিষমর্দ্দিনী পূজা) at Amratola, next to Agameshwari para in 1830, according to the locals,
there was a ritual of sacrificial offering of buffalo (মহিষবলি) before the rash purnima and
it was performed by pandit Brajanath himself.(Saha, 2021, pp-10) These rituals as
sacrificial offering of buffalo was the evidence that at his early age, he was a “Shakta
extremist”, but later in his mid age he got influenced by Vaishnav ideology and it turned
up by converting into a Vaishnav devotee. Brajanath established toles in Shakharipara.
Pandit Mathuranath Vidyaratna, son of Brajanath, instructed students along with his
father and got knowledge on Smriti Shastra from him. But he was not a Shakta devotee
like his father, in fact he was a Vaishnav influenced person, Gourbhakta, this led
Brajanath to worry about his son’s mindset. This is the historical background of Brajanath
Vidyaratna and his family, but if we want to know how he got influenced by Vaishav
culture and how a Shakta extremist turned into a Vaishnav devotee, we need to look in
the folklores. I managed to get a local magazine about Brajanath Vidyaratna, it was
written in a small column about his life story and why he switched to Vaishnav ideology.
Shakta extremist Brajanath Vidyaratna was associated with many intellectual
associations, and being one of a major pandit in Smriti Shastra he was known among the
intellectuals of Nabadwip. One day he got invited to mahamahopadhyaya Bhuban Mohan
Vidyaratna’s house along with several pandits of Nabadwip, on the way of returning from
Dandapanitola he experienced something that made him anxious about it. On returning
for home, he noticed that some people coming towards to Buroshivtola, they were
performing kirtan (কীর্ত ন), but among all a young boy took Brajanath’s whole attention,
he saw some kind of light was coming from that person. This incident got the whole
attention of Brajanath and as soon he reached his tole and enquired about his son, he
found his son was suffering from severe fever. His son was a Vaishnav devotee so, he had
a doubt about his son that he was there in the kirtan. After that incident, he got another
appearance of that person with irresistible beauty, there he got to know that he was the
younger son of Gour Jagannath Mishra, and that figure instructed Brajanath to make an
idol exactly like him. So he stood still in a naton posture (নটন ভঙ্গি), this would be the
posture of that idol and it had to be made by Bihari Pal (Kumbhakar). So he was bound to
inaugurate the idol to his own tole.(Saha, 2021, pp-11) In further time the same kind of
occurrence was experienced by Bihari Pal, Brajanath visited Ramsitatola and found
Bihari Pal, there he got to know about the whole event. Bihari Pal also got the appearance
of that person and he instructed Bihari Pal to make an idol of him. His voice, gesture,
appearance, posture totally enchanted both, it affected so strongly that a shakta extremist
got affectionate for Vaishnavism. This really helped Mathuranath, that his father got
influenced by the Vaishnavite cult. In 1869, Mathuranath inaugurated the idol of
Mahaprabhu on the Holy day of Baishakhi full moon. Renowned Vaisnav individuals,
devotees were invited to join the holy inauguration of “idol of Natuya Gouranga '', on the
day of inauguration he died.(Saha, 2021, pp-12) Same kind of event happened to
Brajanath Vidyaratna, in 1886 when Madhabananda laid the foundation of his father's
Idol along with the “idol of Natuya Gouranga”, his father also died. It's can be a
coincidence but their power of devotion and the truth for the devotion made them to
believe that Gouranga Mahaprabhu appeared to them. Later, Madhusudan changed the
name of that tole and renamed it as “Hari Sabha”. It is located near the Pora Maa Tola
area, around 2 minutes walk from Pora Maa Tola. For the time being pandit Brajanath
Vidyaratna’s idol was worshiped in Hari Sabha along with “idol of Natuya Gour” and
idols of “Sri Radha Rani” and “Sri Radha Raman”.

In this chapter, I have mainly discussed the two eminent figures of Nabadwip,
Krishnananda Agambagish, a great philosopher, who first celebrated the Kali Puja in
Bengal and set a new traditional and boundary in Shakta worship. His dedication and
purity of pursuing Shakti worship changed the societal belief, his philosophy to worship
Shakti turned most of the Vaishnavite devotees to believe in Shakta cult and its
importance. His contribution as an individual entity is very evident. From excluding the
wild and savage rituals of tantra, he made people believe the true self of tantra and tantric
activities, it's not only limited to sacrificial rituals or any activities related with
intoxication, tantra is beyond those elements. On other hand, I discussed Brajanath
Vidyaratna, a Shakta extremist at the early stage of his life, believing in Strict Shakta
traditions, who turned himself into a Vaishnav devotee. In both stories and in their life
stories, the common factor is the inclusion of two different sects, not only just two
different sects, their rituals and method of devotion is purely different. For my next part, I
will cover what is the impact of inclusion among Shakta and Vaishnav on society, and
what is the socio-cultural relation between them. I will prefer to interact with the
residents of Nabadwip and analyze their opinions and thoughts. Another issue that I want
to discuss is the importance of Shakta culture in Nabadwip while Vaishnavism is
influencing the society.

References:

1. Rarhi, K. (1937). Nabadwip Mahima, 203-209

2. Saha, H. (2021, February). Pandit Brajanath Vidyaratna-er Natuya Gour. Bakultola
Praktoni Samachar, 10-12
3. Sarkar, A. (2022). A Historical Background of the Glorious Erudition of
Nabadwip. Journal of Cultural Research Studies, 2(1), 1–20.
4. Saha, H. (2023, August-September). Tantra Sadhak Krishnananda Agambagish-er
Sri Sri Shyama Puja. Jugo Purodha Mangal Jyoti, 45-47
5. Tarkalankar, C. (1932). Brihat Tantrasara. Nababharat publishers, 1-3.