Jaydev Kenduli
Encyclopedia
Jaydev Kenduli (also known as Kendubillo) is a village and gram panchayat
in Ilambazar
community development block in Bolpur subdivision
of Birbhum District
in the India
n state
of West Bengal
. It is believed by many, to be the birth place of Jayadeva
, although its authenticity is contested, and in spite of the academic controversy, has developed as a religious centre with many temples and ashramas (hermitages). An annual fair, popular as baul
fair, is organized on the occasion of Makar Sankranti.
in Sanskrit. However, now there appears to be a consensus among scholars that Jayadeva was born in another place in Orissa bearing the same name, in Kenduli Sasan
. He was populalrly believed to be the court poet of Raja Lakshman Sen
, who ruled in the 12th–13th century. The image of Radhamadhav set up by him is daily worshipped. The asana (mat) on which the poet sat and obtained siddhi (salvation) through meditation is carefully preserved.
During the Mughal
era Jaydev Kenduli was part of Senpahari pargana. As per a firman issued by Aurangzeb
in the 17th century, Senpahari was added to the property of Krishnaram Rai of Bardhaman Raj
. Maharani Brajakishori of Bardhaman had set up temples in different places such as Puri
and Vrindaban. Jugal Kishore Mukhopadhyay of Jaydev Kenduli was then court-poet at Bardhaman. It is said that it was at his request that the Maharani set up the Radhabinod temple at Jaydev Kenduli in 1683. The temple stands where the house of the poet Jayadeva, was believed locally to have stood, based on the prior assumption of his birth there.
Around 1860-70, Radharaman Brajabasi of the Nirbak Vaisnava
sect set up the Nirbak Ashrama at Jaydev Kenduli, the place of birth of their kula guru (patron saint) of the sect, the poet Jayadeva. In the first half of the 20th century, the Radhaballav temple of the Mukhopadhyay family was established. Many more ashramas (hermitages) were set up and thus Jaydev Kenduli developed as a religious centre.
.
Villages in Jaydev Kenduli panchayat are: Joydev Kenduli, Tikarbeta, Sahapur, Janubazar, Raghunathpur, Mundira, Balarpur, Santoshpur, Bhubanaswer, Sugar, Chhata Chak, and Akamba.
carvings, some depicting Ramayana
scenes.
month, Poush
and continues up to 2 Magh
. The start of the fair commemorates the auspicious day on which Jayadeva is claimed to have taken a bath at the Kadaambokhandi ghat of the Ajay river at Jaydev Kenduli. In 1982, the district authorities took control of the fair to provide a better environment, a good sanitation system, drinking water, lighting and security.
Several thousand baul
s, a community of wandering minstrels who sing devotional songs to the music of the ektara
(one stringed instrument), assemble for the fair and as such it is also referred to as Baul Fair. The bauls stay in 160 temporary hermitages at Jaydev Kenduli for around a month. These bauls appear to have inherited the legacy of Jayadeva songs.
However, in recent years, the greatest baul fair in the state is gradually losing its character, as the bauls have been outnumbered by kirtan
ias, who perform in the mela to gain popularity. In 2008, around 2,000 kirtanias came to attend the mela and they obtained contracts worth Rs. 2 crore
.
It is not known whether Rabindranath Tagore
ever visited Jaydev Kenduli. However, many personalities linked with Santiniketan
such as Kshiti Mohan Sen, Nandalal Bose
, Provat Kumar Mukhopadhyay, Ramkinkar Baij
, and Santideb Ghosh visited Jaydev Kenduli and contributed substantially towards the spread of its name outside Birbhum and added to its fame.
The fair, which is believed by some to have been there for around centuries, caters primarily to the requirements of village folk. Everything from cooking utensils to fishing nets are sold in the fair.
Gram panchayat
Gram panchayats are local self-governments at the village or small town level in India. As of 2002 there were about 265,000 gram panchayats in India. The gram panchayat is the foundation of the Panchayat System. A gram panchayat can be set up in villages with minimum population of 300...
in Ilambazar
Ilambazar
Ilambazar is a town with police station in Birbhum District in the Indian state of West Bengal. A traditional weaving and trading centre it serves as a gateway to Birbhum district.-Geography:Ilambazar is located at . It has an average elevation of ....
community development block in Bolpur subdivision
Bolpur subdivision
Bolpur subdivision is a subdivision of the Birbhum district in the state of West Bengal, India. It consists of Bolpur municipality and four community development blocs: Bolpur–Sriniketan, Ilambazar, Labhpur and Nanoor. The four blocks contain 40 gram panchayats...
of Birbhum District
Birbhum District
Birbhum district is an administrative unit in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the northernmost district of Burdwan division—one of the three administrative divisions of West Bengal. The district headquarters is located at Suri...
in the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n state
States and territories of India
India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
of West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
. It is believed by many, to be the birth place of Jayadeva
Jayadeva
Jayadeva was a Sanskrit poet circa 1200 AD. He is most known for his composition, the epic poem Gita Govinda, which depicts the divine love of Krishna-an avatar of Vishnu and his consort, Radha, and it is mentioned that Radha is greater than Hari, and is considered an important text in the...
, although its authenticity is contested, and in spite of the academic controversy, has developed as a religious centre with many temples and ashramas (hermitages). An annual fair, popular as baul
Baul
Baul .Though Bauls comprise only a small fraction of the Bengali population, their influence on the culture of Bengal is considerable. In 2005, the Baul tradition was included in the list of "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO.-Etymology:The origin of the word...
fair, is organized on the occasion of Makar Sankranti.
History
Jaydev Kenduli had long been considered as a possible birthplace of the poet Jayadeva, who had composed Gita GovindaGita Govinda
The Gita Govinda is a work composed by the 12th-century poet, Jayadeva, who was born in Kenduli Sasan near Puri in Orissa. It describes the relationship between Krishna and the gopis of Vrindavana, and in particular one gopi named Radha...
in Sanskrit. However, now there appears to be a consensus among scholars that Jayadeva was born in another place in Orissa bearing the same name, in Kenduli Sasan
Kenduli Sasan
Kenduli Sasan in Khurda district is the birth place of the Sanskrit lyricist, Jayadeva. Medieval Indian literature refer to this place by the name Kenduvilva.-Location:...
. He was populalrly believed to be the court poet of Raja Lakshman Sen
Lakshman Sen
Lakshman Sen was the fourth king of the Sen dynasty of Bengal, who ruled for about 28 years. Lakshman Sen succeeded his father Ballal Sen...
, who ruled in the 12th–13th century. The image of Radhamadhav set up by him is daily worshipped. The asana (mat) on which the poet sat and obtained siddhi (salvation) through meditation is carefully preserved.
During the Mughal
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
era Jaydev Kenduli was part of Senpahari pargana. As per a firman issued by Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb
Abul Muzaffar Muhy-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir , more commonly known as Aurangzeb or by his chosen imperial title Alamgir , was the sixth Mughal Emperor of India, whose reign lasted from 1658 until his death in 1707.Badshah Aurangzeb, having ruled most of the Indian subcontinent for nearly...
in the 17th century, Senpahari was added to the property of Krishnaram Rai of Bardhaman Raj
Bardhaman Raj
The Bardhaman Raj was a zamindari estate that flourished from about 1657 to 1955, first under the Mughals and then under the British in the province of Bengal in India...
. Maharani Brajakishori of Bardhaman had set up temples in different places such as Puri
Puri
Puri is district headquarter, a city situated about south of state capital Bhubaneswar, on the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal in the Indian state of Orissa. It is also known as Jagannath Puri after the Jagannath Temple . It is a holy city of the Hindus as a part of the Char Dham pilgrimages...
and Vrindaban. Jugal Kishore Mukhopadhyay of Jaydev Kenduli was then court-poet at Bardhaman. It is said that it was at his request that the Maharani set up the Radhabinod temple at Jaydev Kenduli in 1683. The temple stands where the house of the poet Jayadeva, was believed locally to have stood, based on the prior assumption of his birth there.
Around 1860-70, Radharaman Brajabasi of the Nirbak Vaisnava
Vaishnavism
Vaishnavism is a tradition of Hinduism, distinguished from other schools by its worship of Vishnu, or his associated Avatars such as Rama and Krishna, as the original and supreme God....
sect set up the Nirbak Ashrama at Jaydev Kenduli, the place of birth of their kula guru (patron saint) of the sect, the poet Jayadeva. In the first half of the 20th century, the Radhaballav temple of the Mukhopadhyay family was established. Many more ashramas (hermitages) were set up and thus Jaydev Kenduli developed as a religious centre.
Geography
Jaydev Kenduli is located at 23.63°N 87.43°E. It has an average elevation of 48 metres (157.5 ft). It is located on the banks of Ajay RiverAjay River
The Ajay River is a major river in Jharkhand and West Bengal. The word “Ajay” means “not conquered”.-Geography:The Ajay River originates on a small hill about 300 metres high, south west of Munger in Bihar. It then flows through Jharkhand and enters West Bengal at Simjuri, near Chittaranjan...
.
Villages in Jaydev Kenduli panchayat are: Joydev Kenduli, Tikarbeta, Sahapur, Janubazar, Raghunathpur, Mundira, Balarpur, Santoshpur, Bhubanaswer, Sugar, Chhata Chak, and Akamba.
Demographics
In the 2001 census, Jaydev Kenduli village had a population of 2,755, of whom 976 belonged to scheduled castes.Transport
Jaydev Kenduli is off the Panagarh–Morgram Highway. When one is travelling from Panagarh, one has to turn left a little after Ilambazar.Terracotta carvings
The Radhabinode temple has exquisite terracottaTerra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
carvings, some depicting Ramayana
Ramayana
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
scenes.
Fair
A fair is organized in memory of Jayadeva on the occasion of Poush Sankranti or Makar Sankranti. It starts on the last day of the Bengali calendarBengali calendar
The Bengali calendar or Bangla calendar is a solar and sidereal Hindu calendar used by the Bengali people. It is used in the eastern Indian states of West Bengal, Assam and Tripura and in Bangladesh...
month, Poush
Poush
Poush is the 9th month of both the Bangla calendar and the Nepali Calendar. It overlaps December and January of the Gregorian calendar. It is the first month of the winter season....
and continues up to 2 Magh
Magh
Magh may refer to:* Magi* Magh people, the Arakanese nationalities known in Bengal as Maghs* Maagha, a month in Hindu calendar* Magh * Magh * Magh * Magha , author of Shishupala Vadha...
. The start of the fair commemorates the auspicious day on which Jayadeva is claimed to have taken a bath at the Kadaambokhandi ghat of the Ajay river at Jaydev Kenduli. In 1982, the district authorities took control of the fair to provide a better environment, a good sanitation system, drinking water, lighting and security.
Several thousand baul
Baul
Baul .Though Bauls comprise only a small fraction of the Bengali population, their influence on the culture of Bengal is considerable. In 2005, the Baul tradition was included in the list of "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO.-Etymology:The origin of the word...
s, a community of wandering minstrels who sing devotional songs to the music of the ektara
Ektara
Ektara is a one-string instrument used in Bangladesh, India, Egypt, and Pakistan.thumb||EktaraIn origin the ektara was a regular string instrument of wandering bards and minstrels from India and is plucked with one finger...
(one stringed instrument), assemble for the fair and as such it is also referred to as Baul Fair. The bauls stay in 160 temporary hermitages at Jaydev Kenduli for around a month. These bauls appear to have inherited the legacy of Jayadeva songs.
However, in recent years, the greatest baul fair in the state is gradually losing its character, as the bauls have been outnumbered by kirtan
Kirtan
Kirtan or Kirtana is call-and-response chanting or "responsory" performed in India's devotional traditions. A person performing kirtan is known as a kirtankar. Kirtan practice involves chanting hymns or mantras to the accompaniment of instruments such as the harmonium, tablas, the two-headed...
ias, who perform in the mela to gain popularity. In 2008, around 2,000 kirtanias came to attend the mela and they obtained contracts worth Rs. 2 crore
Crore
A crore is a unit in the Indian number system equal to ten million , or 100 lakhs. It is widely used in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan....
.
It is not known whether Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
ever visited Jaydev Kenduli. However, many personalities linked with Santiniketan
Santiniketan
Santiniketan is a small town near Bolpur in the Birbhum district of West Bengal, India, approximately 180 kilometres north of Kolkata . It was made famous by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, whose vision became what is now a university town that attracts thousands of visitors each year...
such as Kshiti Mohan Sen, Nandalal Bose
Nandalal Bose
Nandalal Bose was a notable Indian painter of Bengal school of art. A pupil of Abanindranath Tagore, Bose was known for "Indian style" of painting. He became the principal of Kala Bhawan, Shanti Niketan in 1922...
, Provat Kumar Mukhopadhyay, Ramkinkar Baij
Ramkinkar Baij
Ramkinkar Baij was an Indian Santhal sculptor, known as the Pioneer of Modern Indian Sculpture. He was one of the first Indian Adivasi artists to understand the language of modern Western art and use it in his sculptures...
, and Santideb Ghosh visited Jaydev Kenduli and contributed substantially towards the spread of its name outside Birbhum and added to its fame.
The fair, which is believed by some to have been there for around centuries, caters primarily to the requirements of village folk. Everything from cooking utensils to fishing nets are sold in the fair.