Nanoor Group of Temples – History

Nanoor Group of Temples – History

Chandidas was a medieval poet of Bengal. There are over 1250 poems related to the love of Radha and Krishna in Bengali are attributed to Chandidas. He is mentioned by his nick names like Baru, Dvija and Dina in these poems. It is assumed that the poems are actually the works of at least four different Chandidas, who are distinguished from each other by their nicknames. Dvija Chandidas possibly belonged to Nanoor and composed the finest traditions of Bengali Padavali (gathering of songs).

The poet’s father Bhavanicharan was the priest of Basuli temple. After his demise, Chandidas took over as the priest. Initially, the poet was a Shakta and later, he became a Vaishnavite. He wrote poems in praise of Krishna and his magnum opus was the book Srikrishna Kirtan. His compositions were a possible source of inspiration for Sri Chaitanya (1486-1534). There are claims that Chandidas originally belonged to Ketugram and later came to Nanoor. Chandidas fell in love with a low-caste washerwoman Rami. Rami has a melodious singing voice and was a fan of Chandi Das’s poetry.

Chandidas left his post as priest of the temple and left with Rami. After the demise of Chandidas, the temple was buried under the earth with the deity. Later, a Tilli family and a Bhattacharya Family of Nanoor recovered the Bishalakshmi idol from the mound. A local Zamindar built the current temple in 17^th century CE. The mound called Chandidasas's Bhita, was excavated by the university of Calcutta in 1945 – 46 but nothing important was found. The mound is datable to 14^th century CE and the Temples are of 17^th century CE. Excavation has been conducted at the mound by the Archaeological Survey of India (Eastern Circle) in 1964.