The Ancestral Home Of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami:
Several days ago we visited the ancestral home of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur in Choti, Orissa. We are continuing the efforts of Fakir Mohan prabhu, a friend of ISKCON, to acquire the original land that Bhaktivinode Thakur resided on there for many years. We hope to build a small temple on the property to accommodate his deities, Sri Sri Radha Madhava. We met with the mayor of the village and a number of landholders in the area. They were very favorable to the project. In his book, Maths of Orissa, Bhaktivinode Thakur writes: “I have a small village, Choti Mangalpur, in the country of Cuttack, of which I am the proprietor.” In his autobiography, Sva-likhita Jivani, he writes, “In Choti we have six or seven big thatched houses. Radha Madhava and Jagannath are being worshipped in one of these houses. Behind these houses is a pond named Uasa Pokhari. There is a fence of kanta ( bamboo ) around the palace.” Though Bhaktivinode Thakur took birth in his maternal uncle’s house in Ula, West Bengal, his native place is the village of Choti in Orissa. Srila Bhaktisiddhata Sarasvati would sometimes visit this place. While there he would stay in the compound of a local Durga temple because being a sannyasi he would not stay in the hereditary property. Choti is also know as Tulasi-Ksetra, because of the many Tulasi plants nicely worshipped by the inhabitants of the village. I have added comments to a number of photos so devotees can appreciate them. Jaya Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur! Jaya Sri Sri Radha Madhava! Jaya Srila Prabhupada!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/81u0fD