Narottama Dasa Thakura's most lasting legacy is not a temple or an institution. It is a body of Bengali devotional songs that are still sung every day in Gaudiya Vaishnava and ISKCON temples. His two best-known collections are Prarthana and Prema-bhakti-candrika ("Moonrays of Loving Devotion"). Prarthana has thirty-three songs arranged in fifty-five sections, with 258 verses in all. More than half of them are devoted to manjari-sadhana, the confidential practice of seeing oneself, in meditation, in service to Radharani. Prema-bhakti-candrika has 120 verses in nine sections. It sums up, in simple Bengali verse that is easy to sing, the teaching on raga-bhakti that Rupa and Sanatana Goswami had set out in Vrindavana. A later commentator, Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakura, wrote a full Sanskrit explanation of the Prema-bhakti-candrika. This shows how seriously the tradition took what might otherwise look like a simple devotional poem. Narottama is also credited with translating the Sanskrit Smaranamangala into Bengali verse. The Smaranamangala is an eleven-sloka description of Radha and Krishna's pastimes across the eight periods of the day. He is also credited with the short prose work Hatapaltana. But some question whether this piece is really his, since its account of events does not agree well with the historical record.
| Detail | Description |
|---|---|
| Prarthana | 33 songs in 55 sections, 258 verses, on humility and longing for Krishna and for Vrindavana |
| Prema-bhakti-candrika | 120 verses in 9 sections distilling Rupa and Sanatana Goswami's teaching on raga-bhakti |
| Smaranamangala (translation) | Bengali verse rendering describing Radha-Krishna's pastimes across the eight periods of the day |
| Disputed work | Hatapaltana, attributed to him though some question its authenticity |
| Kirtana style | Garanahati, developed and first sung at the Kheturi festival |
| Still sung today | "Sri Rupa Manjari Pada" and "Sri Guru-carana-padma," regularly sung in Gaudiya Math and ISKCON temples |
A Kirtana Style Born at Kheturi #
Narottama's legacy is musical as much as literary. At the Kheturi festival he brought to life what came to be known as Garanahati kirtana. It was built on the calm and majestic dhrupada style. It also used tala (rhythm), raga (melody), and abhinaya (gesture) with great skill and refinement. Later music scholars have pointed to this as something truly new within Padavali kirtana. Padavali kirtana is the form that opens with Gaura-chandrika, glorification of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and then turns to the pastimes of Radha and Krishna themselves. The devotees who compiled the Bhakti-ratnakara describe the effect of Narottama's kirtana at Kheturi in words that sound less like ordinary praise of music and more like scripture itself:
Who can describe the wealth of happiness felt by the devotees when, in the midst of their kirtana, appeared the munificent Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself. Like a flash of lightning in the midst of a mass of beautiful clouds, Sri Chaitanya Himself appeared within the crowd of devotees through divine manifestation. (Bhakti-ratnakara 10.572)
How overwhelmed in ecstasy were Advaita and Nityananda! How wonderful was the circle the devotees made around Sri Chaitanya, who danced in its middle. Srinivasa Acharya and Narottama Thakura fully understood these pastimes as the wonderful manifestation of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's causeless mercy. It was an act of grace shown to Srinivasa Acharya and Narottama Thakura. With this their satisfaction was complete. (Bhakti-ratnakara 10.607)
Songs Prabhupada Called Equal to Shastra #
Srila Prabhupada often quoted Narottama's verses in his own lectures. He quoted this line most often: rupa-raghunatha-pade haibe akuti, kabe hama bujhabo se yugala-piriti ("when will my longing for the feet of Rupa and Raghunatha awaken, so that I may understand the love shared by the divine couple"). He cited it in classes on both Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam, in different years and on different continents, from Vrindavana to Calcutta to Los Angeles. In a 1975 Srimad-Bhagavatam class in Vrindavana, Prabhupada recalled that Srinivasa Acharya himself had praised Narottama's songs. Srinivasa told him that although the songs were written in simple Bengali, they carried the weight of shruti, Vedic evidence. Elsewhere, commenting on Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.16.20-21, Prabhupada quoted Narottama's prayer ha ha prabhu nanda-suta ("O Lord, son of Nanda Maharaja"). He gave it as an example of the mood of a devotee who has nothing left to depend on but the Lord's lotus feet. In the early years of his mission, Prabhupada also recorded his own melody for Narottama's kirtana Hari Haraye Namah Krishna. This recording still circulates among devotees today.
A Song of Grief for Srinivasa #
Among Narottama's most personal compositions is ye anilo prema-dhana, said to have been written on receiving the news of Srinivasa Acharya's disappearance. Traditional accounts describe Narottama, already grieving the loss of his own disciple Ramachandra Kaviraja, composing the song while barely able to keep his footing in what he called an ocean of separation. Even centuries later, it is still one of the songs Gaudiya Vaishnava communities turn to especially to mourn the disappearance of a great devotee. This matches the reason the song is said to have been written (see Disappearance and Legacy). Srila Prabhupada's own love for these songs is also part of Narottama's legacy. When Srila Prabhupada carried Gaudiya Vaishnavism to the West, he carried Narottama's melodies and words along with it. So a prayer written in sixteenth-century Bengal is now sung every night in temples on almost every continent.
