Shri Ramachandra and Vanga Bhumi

The increasing popularity of Rama Navami celebrations among the public in recent years has coincided with the rise of Hindu consciousness in the Bengali socio-political milieu. Hence, in order to tackle this rising popularity of Rama Navmi, Leftists have been trying to “prove” that Shri Rama has no presence in the Bengali heart. Furthermore, they have also been trying to portray that Rama belongs to the culture of a certain region who are trying to force their culture upon our society. This propaganda campaign is a compulsory ritual for members of the Communist coterie in Bengal before every Rama Navami. Debunking this misinformation is a must for any Hindu and this article is also aims to do exactly that.

First thing first, Rama Navami is not an alien occasion in the Hindu Bengali society. Rama Navami Vrata is being observed by the Bengali women for centuries. Following instructions from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sanatan Goswami, with the help of Gopal Bhatta Goswami, wrote a book called “Hari-Bhakti Vilasa” about the rituals and conduct of Gaudiya Vaishnava sampradaya. Chaturdas Vilasa of the book mentions Rama Navami Vrata and instructs us about the significance of the occasion along with the phala of observing the vrata. Clearly they were already aware of the significance of Rama Navami and that is why Rama Navami was included in the book. Not to forget, a disciple of Mahaprabhu Shri Chaitanya Dev, Murari Gupta was a Rama-bhakta. This means Bengalis used to worship Rama when Mahaprabhu appeared at Nabadwip. That sadhakas in middle age used to worship Shri Rama becomes clear from an unlikely source – “Brihat Tantrasara” of Krishnananda Agamavagisha. It includes Sri Rama Stotra (given by Mahavir Hanuman), Sri Rama Kavach, Sri Rama Mantra Prayoga & Vir Sadhan of Hanuman. Agamavagisha is said to have compiled Brihat Tantrasara from the already existing Tantras. From this, it should become clear that both Rama sadhana & observation of Rama Navami were not unknown to the Bengalis of middle age. Otherwise, it would not have been included in Bhakti-Vilasa. These evidences will make any person, capable of absorbing logic, to question the grounds of claims like Shri Rama Chandra was not worshipped and Rama Navami was never observed in Bengal in the past.

As far as the presence of Shri Rama in Bengal is concerned, it precedes Mahaprabhu by many centuries. Earliest Rama sculptures from Bengal region have been discovered at Palashbari, Bogra(Bangladesh). Those sculptures belong to the pre-Pala era. Also, sculptures of Bali-Sugriva fighting with each other and Vanar Sena constructing Rama Setu have been discovered from Paharpur(Rajshahi) – these were said to be from the 8th century. It is clear that Shri Rama was being worshipped in North Bengal by that time. 

Poet Abhinanda has been mentioned by Soddhala in his “Udayasundari Katha”. Abhinanda was said to be a court poet of one Pala prince. Historian Nihar Ranjan Ray has identified this Pala prince as Pala emperor Devpala.  Abhinanda wrote a Ramcharit Kavya, where Mahavir Hanuman recited devi-mahatmya. There is another Ramcharit Kavya from the Pala era – it was written by Sandhyakar Nandi, he was proclaimed as Valmiki of Kaliyuga. Nandi took birth more than 200 years after Devapala’s death – so there is no doubt that tales of Shri Rama were very popular throughout Pala & Chandra rule. Even before Chandra rule(circa 900s) started in East Bengal, we got to know interesting information from a king called Kantideva who used to rule what is today’s Chittagong-Noakhali region. From the only inscription belonging to king Kantideva discovered from Chittagong, we have come to know that his father Dhanadatta was well versed in Purana & Ramayana. His mother, Princess Vindurati was a devotee of Shiva and her son king Kantideva was a Paramsaugata(Buddhist). Point to note here is that Kantideva’s grandfather was a Buddhist too. So despite being a Buddhist from birth, his father was well versed in Ramayana & Puranas! 

Kantideva’s inscription doesn’t mention which period he belonged to but it is surely before Chandras started ruling Harikela. Since Chandras are taken as the successor dynasty to Kantideva, it can be stated that Kantideva ruled in the 800s – Sircar has placed him between 800-825 CE though some like D.C Bhattacharya and J.N.Sildar have placed him between 750-800 CE. Either way, it is clear that Ramayana, Rama sculptures(we have at least one Pala era Rama sculpture from Dhaka & four from North Bengal) were popular in important centres of Northern and Eastern Bengal from Pre-Pala era. We have already discussed that knowledge of Ramayana existing from Rajshahi, Bogra, Dhaka and Chittagong. Nihar Ranjan also thinks that Rama vigraha worship was common in the Sena era.

In the Sena era, one of the five Jewels of Lakshman Sena’s royal court, Govardhan Acharya has recalled Sri Rama & Balmika-Bhuva Kavi(taken from Adhyatma Ramayana) in his Arya-Saptashati. Not to mention, he has included many incidents from Ramayana in Arya-Saptashati – which also points to the presence of Ramayana in Sena royal court like in the Pala era. Janhavi Kumar Chakraborty has noted that some Ramayana topics included in the Arya-Saptashati are not part of either Valmiki Ramayana or Adhyatma Ramayana. It proves that Ramayana was very popular in Bengal by that time. There are two poems called “Shri Rama” & “Virahi Shri Rama” in Sadukti-Karnamrita. Also, many Sanskrit dramas which were written by Bengali writers of 11th-13th centuries have been included in Nataka Lakshmana Kosha(1431 CE) of Sagar Nandi. Nihar Ranjan points out the names of some of those dramas. Few of them are Janaki-Raghav, Kekeyi-Bharat, Ayodhya Bharat, Balivadh and Ramavikrama. That the main stories of these dramas depend on Ramayana is clear from their titles. Many more dramas, kavyas and tattva granthas in Sanskrit have been written in later centuries. (I won’t mention them here since it will increase word count and end up repeating same points again.) However, I must mention that Puranas written in Bengali such as Brihaddharma Purana, Maha-Bhagavat Purana and Padma Purana(Bengali edition) have included incidents from Ramayana.

Prakrita-paingala mentions Shri Rama, so does Baru Chandidas later in his Shri Krishna-kirtan. It is clear that Rama worship continued even after the Muslim invasion and was popular among people even after Sena rulers relocated to East Bengal. This will continue as the great Krittibas Ojha appeared in the Bengali society. Krittibas enjoys the same position in Bengal as that of Tulsidas in North India. He was the first person to have presented the Ramayana in Bengali with Niti-dharma, Griha-dharma and Bhakti. Chances of meeting a Bengali who has not heard about Krittibas is rare – such was the influence of Krittibasa Ramayana in our social and cultural life in the medieval era. We have already covered the later medieval period while talking about the age of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu & Agamavagisha. Till now we have seen that Ramayana, Rama worship and occasion of Rama Navami were observed in Bengali society from an early period before Mahaprabhu Shri Chaitanya Dev appeared in Bengal and how important Krittibas Ojha is to the native Ramayana tradition of Bengal.

Valmiki Ramayana doesn’t mention Shri Rama worshipping Ma Durga in autumn but Krittibas does in his ‘Shri Ram Panchali’. Abhinanda too has mentioned Shri Rama worshipping Devi before going to war against Ravana. Abhinanda belonged to the Devapala era and Krittibas finished his kavya in the early 1400s. So, Krittibas was following a Ramayana tradition which was popular in Bengal from ancient times. Mentions of Devi Upasana from such an early period also highlights the popular status of Shakta dharma in Bengali society. 

Many Ramayanas have been written after Krittibas. Manindra Bose has listed 51 such Ramayanas in his book. Many Rama temples have been constructed between 17th and 19th centuries; however, the oldest among them are probably Raghunathjeu temple(1610) of Naogaon(now in Bangladesh) and Raghunath temple(1633) of Ghurisha(Birbhum, West Bengal). Another Rama temple was constructed at Guptipara in this period too, but it was destroyed in a flood in later years. However, the traditional fair held in Rama Navami continued and later the vigraha of that temple was relocated in a new temple which was constructed in 1700s. Thus Guptipara Rama has a 400 year history. Some manuscripts like Ramarchana-Chandrika, Ramachandra Puja Vidhi and Rama Mantrartha Nirnaya were written between 1700 to 1900 in Bengali script are preserved in The Asiatic Society, Kolkata. All these elements point towards a vibrant religious tradition of Rama worship. Coming back to the earlier point, despite the emergence of so many Ramayanas and having a vibrant cultural and religious presence in Bengal, no Rama Sampradaya emerged in Bengal from Krittibas as it happened in North India after Tulsidas. The reason is that the native Ramayana tradition of Bengal slowly merged with Gaudiya Vaishnavism in later centuries.

Slowly native Ramayana traditions of Bengal like Dol Yatra on Rama Navami, Ram Yatra, Ramayana gaan, Ram Panchali etc disappeared from the popular public sphere. Though most of this had taken place even in Colonial Bengal of the last two centuries. 

Ramyatra, equal to ‘Ramlila’ observed in North India, which was being observed in Bengal even in Mahaprabhu’s era has vanished from Bengal now. Ramayana gaan, an entire genre of folk song based on Krittibasi Ramayana which singers used to sing on Rama Navami, Sraddha ceremony, Yatra has been reduced to Yogadya Puja and Gajon of Dharmaraj at Rarh region. Currently, only two-three places observe Dol Utsav on Rama Navami. No one recites Krittibasi Ramayana every evening these days. 

We also have to keep in mind the utter destruction that the rural Bengali society went through in this period of last two centuries – it’s economic base was uprooted, cultural and religious centres were ravaged with western modernity & horrors of partition. Let us hope, this new wave of Rama bhakti will revive the ancient Ramayana traditions of Bengal and give a new life to our traditional cultural festivals & religious customs. 

Some important Ramayanas written in Bangla :- 

• ‘Ramlila’ by Dwija Ganga-Narayan in the mid-1500s. Unfortunately, only a few pages of the manuscript have been recovered.

• ‘Adbhuta Ramayana’ by Adbhutacharya in the mid-1500s. His original name is Nityananda. According to the poet, Shri Rama appeared before him when he was seven years old. Shri Rama gave him the maha-mantra and instructed him to write a Ramayana. 

• Chandravati’s Ramayana written in the 1600s.

• Ramayana written by Ram Shankar Dutta-Ray in 1600.

• Ramayana written by Dwija-lakshman in the 1600s.

• Ramayana written by Bhavani Das in the 1600s.

• Siddha Yogi, Var-putra of Devi Saraswati, Kabi Chandra Shankar Chakraborty’s Ramayana in 1702.

• Jagadrami Ramprasadi Ramayana written in 1790 by Jagatram Ray and his son Ramprasad Ray. Jagatram was a Durga Sadhaka. Durga temple built by him still exists in Bhului village, Bankura. 

Reference :- 

1. বাঙালির ইতিহাস(আদি পর্ব) – নীহাররঞ্জন রায়।

2. কবিচন্দ্র শঙ্কর চক্রবর্তীর বিষ্ণুপুরী রামায়ণ ও অন‍্যান‍্য বা‌ংলা রামায়ণ – গীতা নিয়োগী।

3. বাংলা সাহিত‍্য ও বাঙালীর জাতীয় জীবনে রামায়ণ।