ANNADA THAKUR Biography - Religious Figures & Icons

 
 

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ANNADA THAKUR
       

Annada Thakur was born in a Brahmin family at Chittagaon, West Bengal. He came to Kolkata to study Ayurvedic medicine against the wishes of his family. However, even after receiving a degree in Ayurvedic, he never practiced as a doctor. Not only this, Annada’s marriage was arranged against his wishes.

       

While staying in Kolkata, Thakur went into trance. During a week long trance, he had narrated poems to Kali, Krishna and Ramakrishna Paramhansa who told him to shave his head and bathe in the Ganges and bring the statue lying in the mud of Eden Garden. Annada brought back the statue to his home but later it turned out to be a statue of nude Kali or Bhavani.

       

Annada travelled through India visiting both Shakta and Vaishnava religious sites, and he bemoaned the infighting and hostility between these two groups. In 1914, he established Adya peeth at Dakshineswar. In West Bengal, he is admired for his devotion to the Goddess Kali.