Narottama Dasa Thakura was born into a family that ruled the Gopalpur pargana from its seat at Kheturi, a town on the Padma River in what is now Rajshahi district, Bangladesh. His father, Raja Krishnananda Datta, and his uncle Purushottama Datta were known across the region for their wealth; his mother was Narayani Devi. Traditional biographies describe the newborn prince as bearing the physical signs of a mahapurusha: long arms reaching to the knees, a deep navel, eyes shaped like lotus petals, and a complexion of molten gold. The family's astrologers, examining the birth chart, are said to have predicted the boy would grow up to be either a great king or a mendicant preacher. His anna-prasanna, the ceremony marking a child's first taking of grain, was itself an occasion for the king to distribute charity, and townspeople are said to have gathered simply to see the boy.
| Detail | Description |
|---|---|
| Father | Raja Krishnananda Datta |
| Mother | Narayani Devi |
| Uncle | Purushottama Datta |
| Cousin (later patron) | Santosh Datta |
| Home | Kheturi, on the Padma River |
A Prodigy Who Lost Interest in Scripture #
As a boy, Narottama was said to be a shruti-dhara, able to remember anything he heard only once. He mastered Sanskrit grammar, poetry, and the scriptures in a remarkably short time, and he was also considered an expert in rhetoric and prosody. But as he grew, he found less and less use for learning that did not lead directly to the service of Krishna. Around this time he heard wandering devotees speak of the mercy of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu, and his heart began to change. He began repeating their names in japa through the day and night. The biographies describe a vivid dream in which Gaurasundara Himself appeared before him with His eternal associates. Other retellings do not stress any single vision. Instead they describe a longing that simply grew, year after year, from the pilgrims and devotees who passed through his father's territory on their way to and from the holy places of Bengal. Both versions agree on the result. Narottama could no longer picture himself as heir to a kingdom. He stopped joining the other children of the household in their games, and stayed absorbed in thoughts of Vrindavana instead.
A Bath in the Padma #
The Narottama-vilasa gives a fuller account of the moment when the family's fears began to come true. It says Nityananda Prabhu appeared to the teenage Narottama in a dream and told him to bathe in the Padma at daybreak. He promised that Narottama would there receive the fullness of Gaura-prema. Narottama obeyed at once. At a spot still shown to pilgrims today as Prema-tali Ghat, Mahaprabhu Himself is said to have appeared in the water and embraced him. In that moment Narottama's complexion is described as changing to Mahaprabhu's own molten-gold hue. He returned home in tears of separation, and at first his parents could not understand why.
Watched, and Then Gone #
Narottama's parents noticed that he cared little for the pleasures and duties expected of a prince. They feared the very thing that later happened, so they set a guard to keep him close to home. According to the Narottama-vilasa, he did not get his chance to slip away until some time after the guard was set. At around sixteen he was summoned to the court of the local Jaygirdar, a Mughal-era district governor. On the way Narottama managed to break away from his escort and vanish into the forest. He went toward Vraja, not toward Navadvipa, which was nearer but too obvious. One of the search parties his father sent finally caught up with him. Narottama is said to have compared himself to a devoted wife resolved to join her husband on the funeral pyre. No well-wisher, he told them, could rightly hold back a wife so determined, and he asked to be allowed to enter the fire of his own devotion in the same way. Other traditions say his chance came earlier still, in the more general account that his father and uncle were summoned away to meet with the ruling authority of Bengal. On the full-moon night of the month of Kartika, Narottama left the palace behind and set out toward Mathura and Vrindavana as a pilgrim travelling alone. He crossed Bengal quickly and found the road to Mathura crowded with fellow pilgrims. Some of them recognized him from his bearing as a king's son, and treated him with special affection along the way. He lived on whatever milk, fruit, or roots he could find, and biographies say his hunger and thirst were forgotten in his eagerness to reach Vrindavana. As he walked he sang his own prayers for the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu: ara kabe nitai chand, karuna karibe, "when will the moon of Nitai show mercy on me," a verse still sung by Gaudiya Vaishnavas today. It expresses the same longing that carried its author out of a kingdom and onto the road.
