Rasikendra Nath Nandi ( bn, রসিকেন্দ্র নাথ নন্দী) (also known as Rasik Nandi) a Vaishnav scholar, a social reformer and a

zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

was born in the village named Bhat-bera in

district Pabna Pabna District ( bn, পাবনা জেলা) is a district in central Bangladesh. It is an economically important district in Bangladesh. Its administrative capital is the eponymous Pabna town. History Archeologist Cunningham conjectured ...

of undivided Bengal (now in Sirajganj District,

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

) in 1882. As a serious scholar of

Vaishnavism Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...

, he wrote several manuscripts explaining the

in simple

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

. Apart from his scholarly activities, he established schools for spreading of modern education in Pabna and in

Agarpara Agarpara is a locality in Panihati Municipality of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is close to Kolkata and also a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA).Agarpara has two p ...

(near

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

), where he died in 1962. Rasikendra Nath is one among those unsung stars of Bengal who was forgotten in the midst of political and economic turmoil of Bengal after Indian independence.

Family

Rasikendra Nath Nandi belonged to a Varendra

Kayastha Kayastha (also referred to as Kayasth) denotes a cluster of disparate Indian communities broadly categorised by the regions of the Indian subcontinent in which they were traditionally locatedthe Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas of North India, the C ...

family of Pabna. His father Radhabinod Nandi, a follower of

Gaudiya Vaishnavism Gaudiya Vaishnavism (), also known as Chaitanya Vaishnavism, is a Vaishnava Hindu religious movement inspired by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534) in India. "Gaudiya" refers to the Gaura or Gauḍa region of Bengal, with Vaishnavism meanin ...

was a petty

Zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

of Pabna district. Radhabinod's family, originally belongs to Nandi family of Baghutia, was a staunch follower of

. They used to worship Radha-Vino

(deities of Sree Radha and Lord Krishna). Their family vigraha (idols) of Radha-Vinod had been crafted in

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi Language, Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Rajasthan. , the city had a pop ...

sometime between 1840 and 1850. This is a replica of the original vigraha of Radha-Vinod presently kept in

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

. 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 with great respect and devotion.

Education

As per the family tradition, Rasikendra was educated in Sanskrit and Vaishnav literature at Nabadwip (now in

Nadia district Nadia () is a district in the state of West Bengal, India. It borders Bangladesh to the east, North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts to the south, Purba Bardhaman to the west, and Murshidabad to the north. Nadia district is highly influentia ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

). He obtained Kavya Vyakarana Tirtha, a traditional diploma in Sanskrit grammar and poetics. Later he graduated from Bangabasi College of the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...

Life

As a scholar of

, 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. K.M. Institution

one of the earliest schools in the region, was set up by him in 1915 at Lahiri Mohanpur (now in Ullahpara Upazila, Bangladesh). This school was established with the help of

Kshitish Mohan Lahiri Kshitish Mohan Lahiri (also known as Kshiti Mohan Lahiri) was the Zamindar of Mohanpur in District Pabna (now in Sirajganj District, Bangladesh). His family was known for nationalist activities against the British rule in India. His son Rajendra ...

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. The family of Rasikendra Nath migrated to Ushumpur,

North 24 Parganas district North 24 Parganas (abv. 24 PGS (N)) or sometimes North Twenty Four Parganas is a district in southern West Bengal, of eastern India. North 24 Parganas extends in the tropical zone from latitude 22° 11′ 6″ north to 23° 15′ 2″ north and f ...

, near

with thousands of other refugee families after the partition of Bengal in 1947. 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. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nandi, Rasikendra Nandi, Rasikendra Nath Bangabasi College alumni Nandi, Rasikendra Nath 1962 deaths Year of birth missing People from Pabna District