Adi-lila, Chapter 11 377
years old he went to Vrndavana with Jahnava-mata, and upon seeing the ecstatic
symptoms of Kanu Thakura, the Gosvamis gave him the name Kanai Thakura.

In the family of Kanu Thakura there is a Radha-Krsna Deity known as Prana-
vallabha. It is said that his family worshiped this Deity long before the appearance
of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. When there was a Maharastrian invasion of Bengal,
the family of Kanu Thakura was scattered, and after the invasion one Harikrsna
Gosvami of that family came back to their original home, Bodhakhana, and re-
established the Pranavallabha Deity. The descendants of the family still engage in
the service of Pranavallabha. Kanu Thakura was present during the Khetari-utsava
when Jahnava-devi and Virabhadra Gosvami were also present. One of Kanu
Thakura’s family members, Madhavacarya, married the daughter of Sri Nityananda
Prabhu, who was named Gangadevi. Both Purusottama Thakura and Kanu Thakura
had many disciples from brahmana families. Most of the disciplic descendants of
Kanu Thakura now reside in the village named Gadabeta by the River Silavati in the
Midnapore district.

TEXT 41
ARS ATS-cSS 4S arse |
ATSICA CHCA forSTCAA BAS 8d H
mahda-bhagavata-srestha datta uddharana
sarva-bhave seve nityanandera carana
SYNONYMS

maha-bhagavata—great devotee; Srestha—chief; datta—the surname Datta;
uddhdrana—of the name Uddharana; sarva-bhdve—in all respects; seve—worships;
nityGnandera—of Lord Nityananda; carana—lotus feet.

TRANSLATION

Uddharana Datta Thakura, the eleventh among the twelve cowherd boys, was an
exalted devotee of Lord Nityananda Prabhu. He worshiped the lotus feet of Lord
Nityananda in all respects.

PURPORT

The Gaura-ganoddesa-dipikd, verse 129, states that Uddharana Datta Thakura was
formerly the cowherd boy of Vrndavana named Subahu. Uddharana Datta Thakura,
previously known as Sri Uddharana Datta, was a resident of Saptagrama, which is
situated on the bank of the Sarasvati River near the Trisabigha railway station in the
district of Hugali. At the time of Uddharana Thakura, Saptagrama was a very big
town, encompassing many other places such as Vasudeva-pura, Bansabediya,
Krsnapura, Nityananda-pura, Sivapura, Sankhanagara and Saptagrama.

Calcutta was developed under British rule by the influential mercantile commu-
nity and especially by the suwvarna-vanik community who came down from Sapta-
