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BY: SUN STAFF
Campaka Floweres Mar 31, 2014 — CANADA (SUN) — A serial presentation of the holy places mentioned in the Jaiva Dharma of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur - Part 42.
In Jaiva Dharma's 'Glossary of Places', the next holy place listed is Campahatta:
"Campahatta - a place in the southwest part of Rtudvipa, also known as Campahati. It was formerly known as Campakahatta because there was a market (hatta) there that sold the flowers of the Campaka trees that grow profusely in this area. It is considered non-different from the Khadiravana forest of Vrndavana. The great poet Jayadeva Gosvami wrote the Gita-Govinda while residing in Campahatta."
Only one mention of Campahatta is found in Jaiva Dharma, in chapter eleven, which describes the scene as a play of Sri Caitanya-mangala is going on. The Vaisnavas in attendance were informed that the head mullah of Satsahaika Paragana was interested in talking with them about spiritual truths:
"The mullah also asked that only one or two Vaisnava panditas engage in the conversation about scripture. He thought in that way the pure Vaisnava religion would be defeated. Hearing that an opportunity to preach the Vaisnava religion had now come, the desire to talk with this mullah arose in the hearts of some of the Vaisnavas. Talking among themselves, they decided that Goracanda dasa Pandita Babaji of Sri Mayapura, Sri Vaisnava dasa Pandita Babaji of Sri Godruma, Prema dasa Babaji of Jahnu-nagara, and Kali-pavana dasa Babaji of Campahatta would go and talk with the mullah, and when the play Sri Caitanya-mangala ended, everyone else would come and join them."
Srila Bhaktivinoda gives a more broad description of Campahatta tirtha in his Navadvipa-dhama-mahatmya, which describes Lord Nityananda's tour of Navadvipa:
"Nityananda Prabhu then came to Campahatta, and the party took rest at Vaninatha's house. In the afternoon, as they toured Campahatta, Nityananda Prabhu said, "Listen, son of Vallabha, there was once a campaka forest at this beautiful place, which is a portion of Khadiravana of Vrindavana. Campakalata-sakhi takes campaka flowers, strings garlands, and offers them to Radha and Krishna as her eternal pastime. When Kali-yuga grew in influence, capitalists moved here and eagerly took the flowers. They set up a hatta, or market, and sold the campaka flowers to the villagers and townsfolk. Therefore this enchanting place is called Campakahatta, or, more commonly, Canpahati."
(Navadvipa-dhama-mahatmya, Parikrama-khanda, Chapter Eleven - Sri Koladvipa, Sri Samudragada, Sri Campahatta, and Descriptions Regarding Jayadeva)
Sri Sri Gaura Gadadhara at Campahatta In the Bhaktivedanta Purport to Caitanya-caritamrta Adi lila 10.114, Srila Prabhupada mentions one of the most transcendental sites in Campahatta -- the temple of Sri Sri Gaura-Gadadhara: gopala acarya, ara vipra vaninatha "The seventy-eighth branch of the original tree was Jagannatha Tirtha, the seventy-ninth was the brahmana Sri Janakinatha, the eightieth was Gopala Acarya, and the eighty-first was the brahmana Vaninatha. PURPORT Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura writes in his Anubhashya, "Jagannatha Tirtha was one of the nine principal sannyasis who were Lord Caitanya's associates. Vaninatha Vipra was a resident of Canpahati, a village in the district of Burdwan near the town of Navadvipa, the police station of Purvasthali and the post office of Samudragada. The temple there was very much neglected, but it was renovated in the Bengali year 1328 [A.D. 1921] by Sri Paramananda Brahmacari [one of Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura's disciples], who reorganized the seva-puja (worship in the temple) and placed the temple under the management of the Sri Caitanya Matha of Sri Mayapur. In the temple as it now exists, the Deity of Sri Gaura-Gadadhara is worshiped strictly according to the principles of the revealed scriptures. Canpahati is two miles away from both Samudragarh and the Navadvipa station of the eastern railway."
(Campahatta, to be continued…)
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Bhaktivedanta Book Trust