Śrī Rāmacandra Kavirāja
Book, Sreela Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj
Rāmacandra Kavirāja visited Vṛndāvana where he associated with Jiva Gosvāmī and the other Vaiṣṇavas, receiving their blessings. They were very pleased to hear his poetry, so much so that Jiva Gosvāmī gave him the Kavirāja title. He was thus one of the eight Kavirājas (asta-Kavirāja). He was Narottam Ṭhākura’s favored companion for preaching activities and spiritual association.
-
svardhunyās tīra-bhūmau
sarajani-nagare gauḍa-bhūpādi-pātrād
brahmaṇyād viṣṇu-bhaktād
api suparicitāt śrī-cirañjīva-senāt
yaḥ śrī-rāmendu-nāmā samajani paramaḥ
śrī-sunandābhidhāyāṁ
so ’yaṁ śrīmān narākhye sa hi kavi-nṛpatiḥ
samyag āsīd abhinnaḥRāmacandra, a great devotee with an attractive figure, was born in the town of Sarajani on the banks of the Ganges as the son of Sunandā and Cirañjīva Sena, a well-known minister of the king of Gauḍa, a devotee of the brāhmaṇas and Viṣṇu. Rāmacandra was not in any way different from Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura, the king amongst the poets. (Saṅgīta-mādhava-nāṭaka, quoted at Bhakti-ratnākara 1.270)
Cirañjīva Sena was a resident of Srikhanda, and wife’s name was Sunandā. They had two virtuous sons, the elder was Rāmacandra, the younger Govinda. Rāmacandra was a disciple of Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, who took the title Kavirāja. His siddha name is Karuṇā-mañjarī. (Verses quoted in Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Abhidhāna)
Rāmacandra Kavirāja was born in a Vaidya family. After the death of his father, he went to live in Kumar Nagar with his maternal grandfather, Dāmodara Kavirāja, who was a disciple of Narahari Sarakāra. Later he went to live with his younger brother Govinda Kavirāja in the village of Telia Budhari in Murshidabad district. This place has the distinction of being his Sripat. Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura, however, mentioned that Rāmacandra Kavirāja’s Sripat is in Kumar Nagar.
-
Rāmacandra’s Wedding
Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura has written that Rāmacandra Kavirāja was a lifelong renunciate and never married. Haridāsa Dāsa, on the other hand, writes in his Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Abhidhāna that Rāmacandra did get married, but never lived with his wife. Śrīnivāsa Ācārya saw Rāmacandra as a groom and said a few words to him about the temporary nature of material life, thus awakening within him an indifference to worldly life such that he never took up the duties of householder life. This story has been taken from a book that is not accepted as authoritative by everyone. The following quote is taken from there:
[Śrīnivāsa Ācārya said,] “Just look at how much enthusiasm everyone has for this wedding! They are spending so much money and for what? Just to purchase illusion and quarrel. They don’t know that Māyā has placed a noose around their necks and so they take great interest in the auspicious invocatory rituals. People celebrate weddings thinking that they are auspicious when they are not and that they have been fulfilled when they have not.”
-
The Kavirāja Title
Overcome with affection for Rāmacandra, Śrīnivāsa Ācārya gave him the dīkṣā mantra and engaged him as his personal servant. He had an unparalleled devotion to his guru and would follow his guru’s words without any reservation. Though Bīrahāmbīra became Śrīnivāsa Ācārya’s disciple, Rāmacandra Kavirāja acted as his śikṣā-guru. Rāmacandra Kavirāja also visited Vṛndāvana where he associated with Jīva Gosvāmī and the other Vaiṣṇavas, receiving their blessings. They were very pleased to hear his poetry, so much so that Jīva Gosvāmī gave him the Kavirāja title. He was thus one of the eight Kavirājas (aṣṭa-kavirāja). He was Narottama Ṭhākura’s favoured companion for preaching activities and spiritual association.
Paramānanda Bhaṭṭācārya, an ocean of love, Jīva Gosvāmī and the other residents of Vraja, listened to Rāmacandra recite his own poetic compositions and they joyfully awarded him the title of kavirāja. Rāmacandra Kavirāja is full of all virtues and Narottama Dāsa’s second self. (Bhakti-ratnākara 1.267-9)
Kaṁsāri Sena, Rāma Sena, Rāmacandra Kavirāja, and the three Kavirājas—Govinda, Śrīraṅga and Mukunda—are Nityānanda Prabhu’s branches. (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 1.11.51)
Rāmacandra wrote several books, including Smaraṇa-camatkāra, Smaraṇa-darpaṇa, Siddhānta-candrikā, and Śrīnivāsa Ācāryera Jīvana-Racita.
-
Rāmacandra in Vṛndāvana
Narahari Cakravartī has written an extensive description of Rāmacandra and his visit to Vṛndāvana in the ninth wave of his Bhakti-ratnākara. Everyone was attracted by his unblemished divinely effulgent form. When Rāmacandra visited the Rādhā-Dāmodara Temple with Jīva Gosvāmī and saw the deities and Rūpa Gosvāmī’s samādhi, he experienced ecstatic transformations that were a source of amazement to all. Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Lokanātha Gosvāmī and Bhūgarbha Gosvāmī gave him their blessings. He went to bathe in Rādhā-kuṇḍa and Śyāma-kuṇḍa and met Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī there. When he paid obeisances to Dāsa Gosvāmī, the venerable saint affectionately embraced him and felt ecstasy.
Śrī Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura has prayed for the association of Rāmacandra Kavirāja in his Prārthanā:
dayā kara śrī-ācārya prabhu śrīnivāsa
rāmacandra saṅga māge narottama dāsaPlease be merciful, Śrīnivāsa Ācārya Prabhu! Narottama Dāsa begs for Rāmacandra’s association.
yau śaśvad-bhagavat-parāyaṇa-parau saṁsāra-pārāyaṇau
samyak sātvata-tantra-vāda-paramau niḥśeṣa-siddhāntagau
śaśvad-bhakti-rasa-pradāna-rasikau pāṣaṇḍa-hṛn-maṇḍalāv
anyonya-priyatābhareṇa yugalī-bhūtāv imau tau numaḥI pay my obeisances to Narottama and Rāmacandra prabhus who are always happily immersed in devotion to the Supreme Lord, who help people to cross over the ocean of material life, who know all the scriptures completely and have understood all the transcendental doctrines, who are the most generous with the distribution of bhakti-rasa and won the hearts of the atheists, who are constantly attached to each others’ affectionate company. (Saṅgīta-mādhava-nāṭaka, quoted at Bhakti-ratnākara 1.277)
Rāmacandra Kavirāja’s disappearance day is the Kṛṣṇā tṛtīyā in the month of Māgha. He disappeared in Vṛndāvana after the disappearance of Śrīnivāsa Ācārya.
Excerpt from "Sri Chaitanya: His Life and Associates" by Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj
Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya
Math © 2025
info@bbtirtha.org