
Narottama Dasa Thakura, also known as Thakura Mahasaya is a
Gaudiya Vaishnava saint. He spread Vaishnava
Bhakti in the states of
Odisha and
West Bengal. He was a lifelong
Brahmachari. Narottama is mainly known for his
devotional poetry, where he expressed his intense feelings towards
Radha and
Krishna. His prayers Sri Rupa Manjari Pada and Sri Guru Carana Padma are still sung in
temples of Gaudiya Math and
ISKCON.
Life of Narottama Dasa Thakura
Narottama was born in a Kayastha
family in 1520 A.D. to the King Shri Krishnananda Datta of Gopalpura in Rajashahi District of Bangladesh and Narayani Devi. Since his childhood, Narottama was attracted to
Mahaprabhu Chaitanya. According to the scholars, Narottama after the death of his father entrusted all the royal duties to his eldest paternal uncles son and left for Vrindavan. Narottama was received in
Vrindavan by
Rupa Goswami and
Sanatana Goswami. Later Lokanath
Goswami, who initiated Narottama, instructed him to go and study from
Jiva Goswami. He traveled to Bengal with other
sadhus to distribute devotional writings to the general public. Fifty years after the disappearance of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Narottama organized annual
festivals in Bengal, which served to keep the Gaudiya
philosophy unified. Narottama had many disciples mostly from the regions of Bangladesh. He died under a
tamarind tree at Prema Ghat on the
River Ganges at Kheturi, where Mahaprabhu Chaitanya had sat. Narottamas life is described in
Prema-Vilasa.
(Last Updated on : 26/06/2019)