SRILA PURUSHOTTAMA DASA THAKURA KI JAYA

Purushottama Dasa Thakura – Biography

Disappearance Day of Shri Purushottama Das Thakura

 

sadasivasuto namna nagarah purusottamah

vaidya-vamsodbhavo namna dama yo vallavo vraje

 

   Nagar Purushottam was previously the cowherd named Daman in Vraja. He is now born in a Vaidya family as the son of Sadashiva. (Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika 131)

 

   Daman was one of the twelve Gopals and a companion of Krishna in his childhood pastimes in Vraja. In the eleventh chapter of the Adi-lila of Chaitanya Charitamrita, Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami has listed Purushottam Das amongst the Devotees of Lord Nityananda.

 

   Sadashiva Kaviraj was a great personality. Purushottam Das was his son. From birth, Purushottam das was absorbed in the service of the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda Prabhu, and he always engaged in childish play with Lord Krishna. His son was named Shri Kanu Thakur, a very respectable gentleman. His body was saturated with the nectar of Love for Lord Krishna. (Chaitanya Charitamrita 1.11.38-40)

 

   Vrindavan Das Thakur has also named Purushottam Das as one of Nityananda Prabhu's chief associates.

 

   Sadashiva Kaviraj was very fortunate to have a son like Purushottam Das. Purushottam Das had no external consciousness of his body, for Nityananda Prabhu is constantly acting through him. (Chaitanya Bhagavata 3.5.741-2)

For four generations the family of Purushottam Das consisted of eternally perfect direct associates of Mahaprabhu: Kamsari Sen, Sadashiva Kaviraj, Purushottam Thakur, and Kanu Thakur. The Gaura-ganodesha-dipika identifies Kamsari Sen as Ratnavali Sakhi and Sadashiva Kaviraj as Chandravali (156). (In the image: Krishna Chandravali, Rithora).

 

   For four generations the family of Purushottam Das consisted of eternally perfect direct associates of Mahaprabhu: Kamsari Sen, Sadashiva Kaviraj, Purushottam Thakur, and Kanu Thakur. The Gaura-ganodesha-dipika identifies Kamsari Sen as Ratnavali Sakhi and Sadashiva Kaviraj as Chandravali (156).

 

   Purushottam Thakur's wife was named Jahnava Devi. She died while her son, Kanu Thakur, was just a young child. Nityananda Prabhu named the boy Shishu Krishna Das. It is said that Nityananda Prabhu's wife Jahnava Devi adopted Kanu and took him with her to Vrindavan. Some say that he was also one of the twelve Gopals. One legend about Kanu Thakur holds that when in Vrindavan, while he was dancing in kirtan, his ankle bell flew off. He vowed that he would make his residence wherever the ankle bell was recovered. When it was found in the town of Bodhkhana in Jessore district, he established his Shripat there. In the opinion of some, Madhavacharya (Madhava Chattopadhyaya) of Jirat in Hooghly district, the husband of Nityananda Prabhu's daughter Ganga Devi, was Purushottam Thakur's disciple.

 

   Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur has the following to say about Purushottam Thakur's Shripat: "Purushottam Das Thakur lived at Sukhasagara, midway between the Chakdaha and Simurali railway stations. The Deities he installed were formerly served in Beledanga village, but when the Temple fell into the river, the Deities were taken to Sukhasagara. That Temple was also swallowed by the Ganges and so the Deities were brought with Jahnava Mata's Deity to Sahebdanga Berigram. Since that place was also destroyed, all the Deities were again moved about three or four miles to the village named Chanduregram, on the banks of the Ganges about one mile up from Pal Para." (Anubhasya 1.11.39)

 

   Devakinandana Das, the author of the Vaishnava-vandana, was Purushottam Thakur's disciple. There he writes,

 

   "I worship Sadashiva Kaviraj with great attentiveness. He was constantly intoxicated with love and had no external consciousness… I bow down to my worshipable Lord, Purushottam Thakur. Who can list his incomparable qualities? He was merciful to those who were devoid of virtue, displaying the natural power of his compassion. When only seven years old, he was so intoxicated with love for Krishna that he danced in a way that enchanted the entire world."

 

   The following supplementary information is given in the Gaudiya-Vaishnava Abhidhana:

 

   "Some people say that Purushottam's surname was Nagar, while others say that the name Nagar comes from the name of the area where he lived. Since the five villages (Beledanga, Berigram, Sukhasagar, Manasapota and Pal Para) are so close together, this area is sometimes called Nagaradesh. Purushottam once ate snake poison when in a trance state without experiencing any ill effects. This was a source of great astonishment to all who witnessed it. Many of Nityananda Prabhu's associates often displayed such miraculous powers."