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RESEARCH
CENTRE
A
project
of
ISKCON
Mayapur
110A
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Nehru
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Kolkata
700
029,
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India
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5216
Newsletter
ISSUE
#8,
August
2013
On the 175th birth anniversary of the founder of modern day Gaudiya Vaisnavism, Srila Saccidananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura, the BRC is very pleased to announce a major development from Birnagar, his birthplace the scanning and preservation of their entire literary collection.
A
Little
History
Birnagar,
formerly
known
as
Ulagram
(a
name
of
Durga),
is
situated
only
fifty
minutes
south
of
Sridham
Mayapur
and
ten
minutes
from
Ranaghat.
At
the
time
of
the
Thakuras
birth
the
family
estate
was
large
and
opulent.
In
1817-18
his
maternal
great-grandfather,
Sri
Isvara
Chandra
Mitra,
constructed
a
temple
complex
comprising
one
Durga
mandira,
one
Kali
mandira
and
ten
small
stupa- style
Shiva
mandiras.
To
date
the
place
is
still
known
as
Dvadasa-mandira
(12
temples).
In Bhaktivinodas teens the place fell into hard times and was lost to the family. Decades later his seventh son Srila Lalita Prasada Thakura managed to recover approx. five acres including the temples and the actual birthsite of his father and today there is a small samadhi to mark the spot.
He
visited
again
in
1976
and
although
Lalita
Prasada
was
favorable
he
was
by
that
time
96
years
old
and
things
were
being
managed
by
a
committee.
Consequently
nothing
came
of
it.
There
was
however
the
beginnings
of
a
literary
collaboration.
In
1972
through
Acyutananda
Swami
Prabhupada
came
to
know
that
there
were
many
original
hand-written
manuscripts
being
kept
in
poor
conditions
and
seriously
deteriorating.
He
immediately
dispatched
Yadubara
dasa
to
go
there
with
instructions
to
photograph
all
the
works,
stressing
the
importance
of
his
task:
Letter
June
12
1972
to
Acyutananda:
I
have
asked
Yadubara
to
come
there
to
Birnagar
from
Bombay
for
photographing
all
of
the
manuscripts
in
the
possession
of
Lalita
Prashad
Thakura
page
by
page
very
completely
before
it
is
too
late.
The
pages
are
in
very
decrepit
condition,
so
best
thing
is
to
request
Lalita
Prashad
if
we
may
take
care
of
them
by
treating
them
against
insects
and
storing
them
in
a
tight,
dry
storage
place
where
they
may
be
preserved
for
future
generations
of
Vaisnavas
to
see
the
actual
handwriting
and
words
of
such
great
saintly
persons.
Treat
this
matter
very
seriously
and
thoroughly,
and
take
all
precautions
to
protect
this
wonderful
boon
of
literatures
forever.
Yadubara
may
photograph
every
page,
never
mind
Bengali
or
English
or
any
other
language,
and
later
we
shall
see
where
to
send
the
copies
to
different
places.
These
items
are
very,
very
priceless
and
are
a
great
treasure
house
of
Vaisnava
lore,
so
be
very
careful
in
the
matter
and
take
all
precautions
to
guard
them.
Yadubara spent one week taking several hundred photos but could not complete the task. The bulk of the works remained untouched. (Yadubaras film was eventually sent to the Bhaktivedanta Archives where it was recently digitized.)
Thus after 41 years and in the 175th anniversary year of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, the desire of Srila Prabhupada has now been fulfilled!
Birnagar
Collection
The
total
number
of
manuscripts
is
137,
plus
17
letters
and
27
books.
Nine are original, hand written works by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, including his auto-biography Svalikhita Jivani.
One of the letters in the collection is of special historical value to followers of Srila Prabhupada a hand-written Bengali letter to Lalita Prasada Thakura, sent from Moscow on June 21 1971:
National Hotel, Red park, Moscow, Russia 21st June, 1971. My dear uncle Prabhupada Lalita Prasad Thakur, Kindly accept my humble obeisance to your lotus feet. At present I am staying at the above mentioned hotel in Moscow, Room No. 356. With me there are two American disciples. Here the preaching subject will be 1. Vedic Conception of Communism, 2. Knowledge derived from authoritative tradition, 3. Scientific classless society. Now with your blessing in this severely atheistic country the teachings of Sriman Mahaprabhu will be preached. Here many local and foreigner girls and boys have visited. I advise them to do the Bhajana of the Lord. A few boys of this place have become very much impressed after listening to our Harinama. They want to join us. But the laws of this country are so tough that they cannot go against them. Here discussions are going on to meet many reputable professors and there will be the arrangement of lecture in the Indian Embassy. You bless me. From here I will go to Paris, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London etc. This is the first time I came to Moscow. If you want to write to me, send it to this address3764 Watseka Avenue. Yours affectionately, Sri Bhaktivedanta Swami
Of the remainder, there are 44 works written, edited or compiled by Lalita Prasada Thakura, as well as 33 hand copied manuscripts by Rupa and Jiva Goswamis and Visvanatha Chakravarti. Two books are by Sri Bipin Behari Goswami, the diksa guru of Bhaktivinoda Thakura. With scanning now completed we face a great challenge in preserving them by de-acidification and encapsulation. Some unkown person previously tried to laminate an unpublished work Rasa- rasodaya by Bhaktivinoda Thakura with plastic with near disasterous results. The wrong type of plastic was used and its shrinkage has damaged the manuscript considerably.
Once the preservation is completed the originals will be returned to Birnagar for storage and display. Most of the scanned works will be available on the BRC website.
Preservation of the literature will cost approx. $4,000.00. If anyone would like to take this chance of rendering service to the founder of modern Gaudiya Vaisnavism on this auspicious occasion please contact BRC Director Hari Sauri dasa: harisauri@gmail.com +919830120437 website: brcindia.com This concludes our special edition on Birnagar. We hope you have enjoyed this glimpse into what we regard as one of the most important developments since the BRC opened in 2009. Please visit us whenever you are passing through Kolkata and see the hundreds of original and historical works of our acaryas there is nothing like the bliss of being surrounded by these transcendental artifacts! Your humble servants at the BRC