Ramkeli, Centre of Krishna Bhakti in Malda, Bengal

 Gauda  or Gour, located in the Malda district, presently is a ruined city that served as the capital of Bengal between the 12th and 16th centuries.

In the heart of Malda, lies the small village of Ramkeli, popular as the land of Rup and Sanatan, the two great disciples of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

In the summer of 1515 AD, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was travelling to Vrindavan and for a short while he had stayed at Ramkeli. Two brothers, Rup and Sanatan Goswami who lived a life of opulence and luxury, were so inspired by His spiritual lessons that they decided to renounce luxury and devote their life to spread the message of Krishna.

"Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu eventually arrived at a village named Ramakeli. This village is situated on the border of Bengal and is very exquisite. While performing sankirtan in Ramakeli-gram, the Lord danced and sometimes lost consciousness due to love of God. While at Ramakeli-gram, an unlimited number of people came to see His lotus feet."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya, 1.167)

 On this very site a Krishna Temple  was built under orders of Sanatana Goswami in 1515 C.E. Presently  on the site of the  old temple  stands Madanmohan Jiu temple which was completed in May of 1938.  Installed in the sanctum sanctorum are two idols. One is of Krishna’s consort Radharani, which is probably of “ashta-dhaatu”, an alloy of 8 metals, considered auspicious. The other is of Krishna as Madanmohan.


At the temple entrance, there is a pair of 600-year-old Kadamba and Tamal trees under which Prabhu meditated for hours during his stay. 


Later the brothers dug eight large kundas (religious ponds or tanks) in and around Ramkeli to help the villagers from severe water scarcity. All the waterbodies are now titled after the Goswamis, namely – Rup Sagar, Shyam Kunda, Radha Kunda, Lalita Kunda, Bishakha Kunda, Surabhi Kunda, Ranjha Kunda and Indulekha Kunda.





 Fair- Ramkeli Mela 

The Goswami brothers had also organized a big fair to celebrate Prabhu’s visit at Ramkeli. Chaitanyadev and Sree Nityananda, were the guiding lights of goswamis. They brought forward an outstanding social reform - introducing mass-marriage among deserted men and women of low-born classes in the social history of Bengal. Along with those exploited and oppressed people, there were huge number of widows—masterless, husband-deserted, abandoned women in the society. Every year a religious ceremony including pious yagjna (oblation of fire) was held at the lawn in front of the temple on the auspicious day of Sankranti of the month of Jesthha (1st week of June). Thousands of people through this system returned back to the society with dignity.

In his Statistical Account of Bengal, Malda, W W Hunter (1876) also reported about the gathering that continued for five days where the vaishnavs opted to get married in strict accordance with the rites prescribed by Chaitanya, and their number was estimated to be around 30,000 heads.

Ramkeli mela is held every year at the same place of old Gaur, but the event of mass-marriage has been stopped for more than one hundred years.

Presently thousands of Chaitnaya Mahaprabhu’s followers gather from around the world. Free accommodation is arranged in the temple quarters. Six days of naam-kirtan is organized on a grand scale. The small village turns to a melodic land during that one week of the fair.



History

The ancient city of Gaur in Malda has also been mentioned in Hindu Puranic texts and its history is recorded since 500 B C. During those days Gaur and Pundrabardhana (Pandua) was under the Mauryan Empire. Archeological findings have also indicated that the whole of North Bengal was part of the Gupta Empire in those ancient times. Thereafter, the Guptas were succeeded by the king of Karnasubarna in 700 A.D, who ruled for almost thirty years. From mid 8th century to 11th century AD the Pala dynasty ruled Bengal and promoted Buddhism in the region actively. After the rule of the Palas it was the turn of the Sen Dynasty. Their religion was Hinduism (Vedic Hinduism, Shaivism, Tantra, and Vaishnavism). Balal Sen was the third ruler of the Sen Dynasty who ruled over Gaur and established sole control over entire Bengal within 1168 A.D. The Sen Dynasty wielded their rule over Bengal till 1204 AD, after which, the Mughals and Afghans ended their rule by invading Bengal.

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