Rasikendra Nath Nandi

Rasikendra Nath Nandi (Bengali: রসিকেন্দ্র নাথ নন্দী) (also known as Rasik Nandi) was a Vaishnav scholar, social reformer and zamindar. He was born in 1882 in the village of Bhat-bera in district Pabna of undivided Bengal (now in Sirajganj District, Bangladesh). As a serious scholar of Vaishnavism, he wrote several manuscripts explaining Vaishnavism in simple Sanskrit. Apart from his scholarly activities, he established schools for spreading modern education in Pabna and in Agarpara (near Kolkata), where he died in 1962. Rasikendra Nath is an important figure in the history of Bengal, but was almost forgotten in the midst of the political and economic turmoil after Indian independence.

Family

Rasikendra Nath Nandi belonged to a Varendra Kayastha family of Pabna. His father Radhabinod Nandi, a follower of Gaudiya Vaishnavism was a petty zamindar of Pabna district. Radhabinod's family originally belongs to Nandi family of Baghutia, which was a staunch follower of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. They used to worship Radha-Vinod[1] (deities of Sree Radha and Lord Krishna). Their family vigraha (idol) of Radha-Vinod was crafted in Jaipur sometime between 1840 and 1850, a replica of the original vigraha of Radha-Vinod presently kept in Jaipur, Rajasthan. A portion of the zamindari in Pabna was dedicated for the service of Radha-Vinod. The present members of the family of Rasikendra Nath still worship Radha-Vinod.

Education

As per the family tradition, Rasikendra was educated in Sanskrit and Vaishnav literature at Nabadwip (now in Nadia district, West Bengal). He obtained Kavya Vyakarana Tirtha, a traditional diploma in Sanskrit grammar and poetics. Later he graduated from Bangabasi College of the University of Calcutta.

Life

As a scholar of Vaishnavism, Rasikendra Nath wrote several manuscripts in Sanskrit, explaining Vaishnav philosophy. Unfortunately, most of those manuscripts are lost today. Rasikendra Nath translated Ujjwal Neelmani, famous work of Sri Roop Goswami, into simple Bengali.

Rasikendra Nath Nandi was actively involved with the spread of education in rural Pabna. In 1915 he set up K.M. Institution[2], one of the earliest schools in the region, at Lahiri Mohanpur (now part of the upazila of Ullahpara, Bangladesh) with the help of Kshitish Mohan Lahiri of Lahiri Mohanpur. Rasikendra Nath provided his service as the Headmaster of the school for first twelve years. He was associated with the establishments of several other schools in that region of Bengal.

After the partition of Bengal in 1947, he and his family migrated to Ushumpur, Agarpara in North 24 Parganas district, near Kolkata, along with thousands of other refugee families. In Agarpara, Rasikendra Nath established another school named Netaji Adarsha Vidyalaya.

He died in 1962 at the age of 80 in Agarpara.

References

This article is based on an interview, given by Rajendra Nath Nandi.