378 Sri-Caitanya-caritamrta

grama to establish their businesses and homes all over Calcutta. They were known as
the Saptagrami mercantile community of Calcutta, and most of them belonged to
the Mullik and Sil families. More than half of Calcutta belonged to this community,
as did Srila Uddharana Thakura. Our paternal family also came from this district
and belonged to the same community. The Mulliks of Calcutta are divided into two
families, namely, the Sil family and De family. All the Mulliks of the De family
originally belong to the same family and gotra. We also formerly belonged to
the branch of the De family whose members, intimately connected with the
Mohammedan rulers, received the title Mullik.

In the Caitanya-bhagavata, Antya-khanda, Chapter Six, it is said that Uddharana
Datta was an extremely elevated and liberal Vaisnava. He was born with the right
to worship Nityananda Prabhu. It is also stated that Nityananda Prabhu, after stay-
ing for some time in Khadadaha, came to Saptagrama and stayed in the house of
Uddharana Datta. The suvarna-vanik community to which Uddharana Datta be-
longed was actually a Vaisnava community. Its members were bankers and gold
merchants (suvarna means ‘‘gold,” and vanik means ‘‘merchant’’). Long ago there
was a misunderstanding between Balla Sena and the suvarna-vanik community be-
cause of the great banker Gauri Sena. Balla Sena was taking loans from Gauri Sena
and spending money extravagantly, and therefore Gauri Sena stopped supplying
money. Balla Sena took revenge by instigating a social conspiracy to make the
suvarna-vaniks outcastes, and since then they have been ostracized from the higher
castes, namely, the brahmanas, ksatriyas and vaisyas. But by the grace of Srila
Nityananda Prabhu, the suvarna-vanik community was again elevated. It is said in
the Caitanya-bhdgavata, yateka vanik-kula uddharana haite pavitra ha-ila dvidha
nahika ihdte: there is no doubt that all the community members of the suvarna-
vanik society were again purified by Sri Nityananda Prabhu. :

In Saptagrama there is still a temple with a six-armed Deity of Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu that was personally worshiped by Srila Uddharana Datta Thakura. On
the right side of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is a Deity of Sri Nityananda Prabhu and
on the left side Gadadhara Prabhu. There are also a Radha-Govinda marti and
$alagrama-sild, and below the throne is a picture of Sri Uddharana Datta Thakura.
In front of the temple there is now a big hall, and in front of the hall is a Madhavi-
lata plant. The temple is in a very shady, cool and nicely situated location. When we
returned from America in 1967, the executive committee members of this temple
invited us to visit it, and thus we had the opportunity to visit this temple with some
American students. Formerly, in our childhood, we visited this temple with our
parents because all the members of the suvarna-vanik community enthusiastically
take interest in this temple of Uddharana Datta Thakura. In the Bengali year 1283
one bdbdaji of the name Nitai dasa arranged for a donation of twelve bighds of land
for this temple. The management of the temple later deteriorated, but then in 1306,
through the cooperation of the famous Balarama Mullik of Hugali, who was a sub-
judge, and many rich suvarna-vanik community members, the management of the
temple improved greatly. Not more than fifty years ago, one of the family members
of Uddharana Datta Thakura named Jagamohana Datta established a wooden Deity
of Uddharana Datta Thakura in the temple, but that Deity is no longer there; at
