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SWAMI YOGANANDA AND THE SAVARNA SPIRITUAL TRADITION

The focus of this article is on the parampara to which Swami Yogananda belonged. The life of almost every direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna is well known and widely available. But history available on Swami Yogananda is limited. He had a very short life and was the first of Sri Ramakrishnas direct disciples to leave his body. Swami Yogananda was born as Jogindranath Ray Choudhury into a well-to-do aristocratic family at Dakshineswar on 30 March 1861. His father Navin Chandra Ray Choudhury was a pious Brahmin who spent long hours in spiritual pursuits. He did not pay much attention to managing his properties and, as a result, lost most of them. These people belonged to the Savarna Ray Choudhury family: the family which once owned the present metropolis of Kolkata and its adjoins; the family of which Sri Ramakrishna spoke in high terms.1 To narrate to the readers the history of Yoganandas family, we must recede back by a millennium: Bengal in the tenth century of the Christian era. The golden Bengal of the great King Sasanka (a contemporary of Harsavardhana), which has been eulogised in many later literatures, had long ceased to exist. The condition of Bengal then could be best explained by terming it as matsyanyaya or the rule of the fish. Those dark ages played havoc in the socio-politico-economic set-up of the land. Corrupt practices pouring out of Buddhism and the newly evolved Tantric cult was defiling the Vedic religion the Sanatana Dharma in Bengal. With no strong imperial

During Jogindranaths first encounter with Sri Ramakrishna, the Master had thus remarked: I know your father very well. I used to go to your house quite often and listen to readings from the Bhagavata and other scriptures. Your family members were very respectful towards me Come again.

authority to rule over, Bengal2 was repeatedly devastated by wars with her neighbouring kingdoms. At this stage in history came Adisura as the Viceroy of Bengal, who was also a member of the family of the reigning sovereign at Kanauj.3 On coming to Bengal he found that the Vedic form of worship was unknown and that the few families of Sat-sat4 Brahmins who ministered to the spiritual wants of its inhabitants were themselves wanting in the knowledge of Vedic rites. In order to dispel this ignorance and re-establish the Sanatana Brahmanya Dharma in Bengal, Adisura brought down from Kanauj five learned Brahmins5 of Vedic fame with a number of educated attendants. These Brahmins were all fair, stalwart, warlike, handsome men with clear-cut chiselled-out features of the pure Aryan, and their attendants, though serving as clerks and amanuenses, were no less fair, stalwart, warlike, handsome and pure of descent. They all came armed to the teeth. These men and their sons and grandsons were settled by the ruler in different parts of Bengal to spread education and proper worship among the inhabitants. It is their descendants who form the majority of the superior Brahmins and the Kayasthas of modern Bengal. We will now find that Swami Yogananda is a descendant of Vedagarbha, one of the five Brahmins brought to Bengal by Adisura. Vedagarbhas descendants became famous as Gangopadhyayas (Gangulis) and settled on the banks of the Ganga and Ajay rivers somewhere near the modern township of Katwa (in Burdwan district), which was given to them as jagir. For the next six centuries they played the role of leading educationists
Ancient Bengal was a vast country with five divisions Rarh, Gauda, Varendra, Mithila and Utkala. 3 The Pala and the Sena dynasties that ruled over Bengal, and were sometimes occupying the imperial seat of power at Kanuaj, are believed to be chieftains and/or off-shoots of contemporary South Indian empires. Adisura, too, is believed to be a Tamil Brahmin. 4 Actually Sarasvat. They acquired the name owing to their inhabiting the banks of the Sarasvati river. 5 These five Brahmins were Sriharsa, Bhattanarayana, Daksha, Chhandara and Vedagarbha. Their original up-country titles were Pandit (Pande), Chaturvedi (Chowbe), Trivedi (Tewari), Dwivedi (Dobe) and Misra (Misser), which they eventually gave up, and assumed under a royal mandate the names of Gangopadhyaya (Ganguli), Mukhopadhyaya (Mukherjee), Bandyopadhyaya (Banerjee), Chattopadhyaya (Chatterjee), etc.
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and socio-religious reformers, successfully taking part in the process of the revival of Hinduism in Bengal on strict Vedic principles. Vira Raghava, the eldest son of Vedagarbha, was renowned as much for his scholarship as for his physical strength and valour in the battlefield as a commander of Adisuras Brahmin infantry. It was for his military achievements that he obtained from the reigning sovereign the title of Vira. He was also called Hala (plough) owing to his reputation as a skilled farmer. His brother Vasistha Siddhalas descendants are known to have migrated to Orissa and founded a family there, which was renowned for its knowledge of the Shastras and architecture. While the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Vira Raghava were famous for their Vedic culture, physical strength and military skill, those of his brother Vasistha Siddhala Deva were noted for their wealth, learning, piety and munificence. Bhavadeva Bala Ballabha Bhujanga, the eight in descent from Vasistha Siddhala Deva, built and consecrated the famous Ananta Vasudeva temple with its tank at Bhuvaneswar. The temple with its sanctity and beauty of architecture still attracts thousands of pilgrims and votaries from different parts of India annually to its doors. The religious rites for the guidance of the Bengal priesthood prescribed by this renowned Vedic scholar regulate to this day all the social and religious ceremonial functions of the Rarhi Brahmins throughout India. Damodara, tenth in descent from Vedagarbha6, his son Kulapati and grandson Sishu were for their qualities of head and heart, wealth and social and political position placed among the highest of Kulins (aristocrats) by Vallala Sena, a successor of Adisura in the twelfth century of the Christian era. Their chief abode was at Amati, then a flourishing town situated within the area of the present Katwa sub-division in the Burdwan district of Bengal. Of their descendants, Jiva, better known as Shiva, seventeenth in descent from Vedagarbha, was the most renowned Sanskrit scholar of his time, and was

Hereafter, we are dealing only with Vira Raghavas line. Refer to the genealogical tables.

unanimously given the title of Vyasa by his learned contemporaries. He is popularly called the fountainhead of the modern Gangulis in Bengal.7 Vedagarbhas nineteenth descendant, Panchanan

Gangopadhyaya used to adorn a high office in both the imperial army and administration. It was for his valour, that he was awarded the title of Shakti Khan and the pargana of Havelisahar as jagir under an imperial decree. He had the rare insight of a social reformer and was also an able administrator. He shifted from his ancient homeland to his jagir and founded an wellorganized society in the modern Halisahar-Kanchrapara-Kamarhati-Naihati area.8 Haliasahar rose to prominence to occupy the seat of ecclesiastical learning and Sanskrit scholarship in the post-Chaitanya era. It is said that Sri Chaitanya was himself a student for sometime at Halisahar. Panchanan became famous as Panchu Shakti Khan with his son, Shambhupati (b.1500) and grandson, Jiya (1535/1548-1620), both being extraordinary scholars, successfully carrying on with the scholastic traditions of the family. Jiya Gangopadhyaya who had the rare title of Vidya Vachaspati was the most renowned of all Nyaya scholars of the country of his time. Jiya was married to Padmavati an exceedingly charming and beautiful lady. For long time after their marriage, they had no children. So the couple went for sadhana to their family deity, Devi Kalika, at Kalikshetra (presently the Mother Goddess at Kalighat); which had already come into association with the Savarna family from the time of Panchanan. On the dawn of the third day of their penance they saw a divine halo and an oracle predicted the birth of a male child with good fortunes shortly afterwards. Padmavati discovered the mortal remains of the mythical Sati (Shivas consort) from the adjacent tank which is still preserved as the right foot of the Mother Goddess with reverence inside the shrine.

Fortune is proverbially fickle and the fortune of the Amati Gangulis was no exception. Their wealth and influence began to dwindle with the sub-division of their properties among various branches. Several of them had to leave Amati and settle themselves elsewhere to seek fresh field and pastures new. 8 The North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal covers this area today.

In 1570, Padmavati gave birth to a son and died. The child was named Lakshmikanta as he was born on the day of Kojagari Lakshmi Puja one of the most auspicious days in the Hindu almanac. Saddened at the sudden demise of his beloved wife, Jiya renounced worldly life, left the infant with Atmaram Brahmachari the temple priest, and embraced the life of an ascetic (parivrajaka) as Kamadeva Brahmachari. He wrote about the identity of the child and all that had happened in a Sanskrit script. The script is still said to be in possession of a member of the family. Under the able guidance of his fathers guru, Atmaram Brahmachari, and Raja Vasanta Ray, a well-wisher of the family and uncle of Maharaja Pratapaditya Ray of Jessore, Lakshmikanta grew up to be a great scholar of Sanskrit and Persian and also a tough warrior. On attaining age he entered the services of the Jessore state under Pratapaditya. Later, owing to differences arising from the murder of Vasanta Ray and defiance of the imperial sovereignty by Pratapaditya, Lakshmikanta resigned his office and came back to his birthplace, Kalighat, to lead a spiritual life. As a Brahmin ascetic, Jiya became famous in Varanasi for his erudition, piety and devotion. Learned in all the Shastras to an extraordinary degree, he was hailed by Maharaja Man Singh of Amber, the famous Mughal general, as his spiritual guru with unbounded respect. It was under the instructions of this guru that Man Singh became successful in all his military and administrative undertakings throughout India and was acclaimed as a lion amongst men. Meanwhile, Man Singh, on his way to crush the rebellion of Pratapaditya, camped at Varanasi and got diksha (spiritual initiation) from Kamadeva who was then stationed there. The disciple coming to know of the story of his gurus life vowed to re-unite him with his son. There were many high-pitched battles between the Mughal army and that of Pratapaditya. Man Singh finally emerged victorious and was successful in capturing

Pratapaditya.9 He traced Lakshmikanta with the help of Shudramani and Bhavananda, the ancestors of Bansberia and Nadia Raj respectively. Lakshmikanta was discovered at Kalighat as a youthful, quiet, polite, intelligent man, but full of energy, piety and learning. He was presented in the Mughal Durbar and offered the post of Subedar. But being a Brahmin, he objected to accept the rank and work of a Kshatriya. So he was made responsible for the revenue collection of a large area (Jagirdar) of Bengal suba, given a huge tax-free zamindari of nine parganas (namely, Kalkatah, Khaspur, Paikan, Havelisahar, Nimta, Anwarpur, Magura, Hatiagarh and Amirabad) and presented with the prestigious title of Ray-MajumdarChoudhury in circa 1608 by the then Mughal Emperor, Nur-ud-din Muhammad Jehangir Padshah Gazi. The land that was given to Lakshmikanta was largely uninhabited and under dense cover of tropical forests. It was Lakshmikanta, who after much hardship and years of hard labour transformed these fertile forestlands that were once part of the greater Sunderbans into one of the most prosperous estates of Bengal, so that in the 1630s his annual income exceeded twelve lakhs of sicca of the time.10 It will be not be improper and unethical to declare that Ray Lakshmikanta Majumdar Choudhury (1570-1649) is the father of the civilization that now flourishes in this part of the country, as it was his indomitable courage and energy that was responsible for the development of his estates within two decades.11 Lakshmikanta is also credited as the founder of the modern Bengali Durga Puja. In 1610, he started the Saparivara Durga Puja, the first of its kind in Bengal (Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Kartick, Ganesh and

Pratapaditya committed suicide as he was being taken to Agra to be presented in the Mughal Durbar as a prisoner of war. 10 With unflagging industry and unrivalled sagacity, Lakshmikanta converted this vast stretch of land into habitable and cultivable land, and got thousands of tenants from different parts of Bengal and even from Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu border to squat upon it. 11 This historical fact has been established by a recent landmark judgement delivered by the First Bench of the Calcutta High Court on 16 May 2003 in a public interest litigation petition challenging Job Charnock as the founder of Calcutta and the birthday celebration of the city on 24 August.

Mahisasuramardini Dasabhuja Durga all brought together in one structure), at Barishas Sanjher Aatchala.12 The same puja is still celebrated with much pomp and grandeur and is on its way to cross the four-century mark. He also constructed a temple to the presiding family deity of the Mother Goddess, Devi Kalika, at the very site where the present temple of Kalighat stands. He is credited with the donation of 595 bighas of land for the daily seva-puja of the deity. Moreover, the Lakshmikantapur in South 24 Parganas as we see today was a creation of that great man and the settlement still bears his name. Ray Lakshmikanta Majumdar Choudhurys successors were all very prosperous and successful as zamindars. They were the cultural, spiritual and religious leaders of their people and able administrators at the same time. Ray Vidyadhar Majumdar Choudhury (1640-1720), a greatgrandson of Lakshmikanta, was a man of the highest religious fervour and a popular administrator. He built and consecrated three temples to Lord Krishna, Lord Shiva and Goddess Kali at Halisahar. In those days, Vidyadhars name was mentioned along with the names of Hindu deities by old men and women of all castes during their early morning prayer. Another great-grandson, Ray Keshav Ram Majumdar Choudhury (1650-1726) was such a benevolent administrator that he received some additional lands as jagir and the title of Ray Choudhury from the Nawab of Bengal in 1699. Long before that, Keshav Ram had permanently shifted to Barisha.13 He constructed a richly engraved temple dedicated to Lord Shiva in the southern extreme of his zamindari at Mandir Bazar, near the present Diamond Harbour. That huge temple is one of the wonders of terracotta architecture in south Bengal. He also constructed a bathing ghat on the bank of the old flow of Ganges (AdiGanga) and a flight of steps from the river leading to the temple of Goddess Kali. It was only after this that the place came to be known as Kalighat. Kesav Rams fourth son Shivadeva, who later became famous as Santosh Ray Choudhury (1710-1799) owing to his benevolent activities, was
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Barisha is a part of South Kolkata. It is the Savarna Ray Choudhury family of Barisha that is the most prominent of all the branches of the Savarna family today.

the richest of all Savarna zamindars. He reconstructed the temple of the family deity at Kalighat in its present form at an estimated cost of thirty thousand rupees.14 He also consecrated a dozen Shiva temples and a temple to Radhakanta in his residential compound. Santosh Ray Choudhurys land administration is still a subject of interest to law students. He was such a benevolent zamindar that he distributed more than one lakh bighas of cultivable land among his landless peasants and deserving Brahmins.15 Both Shivadeva and his father Keshav Ram were Samajpati (social headman) in south Bengal in their time. The Savarna Ray Choudhurys16 are essentially a spiritual family. Kesav Rams grandson Nandadulal Ray Choudhury (b.1722) built the Karunamayi Kali Temple17 near the present Tollygunj bridge in circa 1760 in memory of his deceased daughter, while his father Krishnadeva (b. 1682) founded a Rathayatra festival in 171918. Another descendant Mahesh Chandra founded the famous Chandi Puja of Barisha, a unique festival of its kind in 1792, which is still celebrated with much pomp and grandeur accompanied with a huge fair. There is also a temple to Goddess Annapurna in Barisha constructed in circa 1850 by Chandrakanta Ray Choudhury. The founding of the Barisha High School in 1856 by Surya Kumar Ray Choudhury was a landmark event in the educational movement in progress at that time. It is

The Goddess Kali at Kalighat is the property of the Savarna Ray Choudhury family (Lakshmikanta and his descendants) who have kept up this system of breaking Kulinism ever since they installed the Goddess at Kalighat as their family deity. The Haldars of Kalighat are merely their purohits whose profession is to worship the Goddess. In the later decades of the last century, the said temple was renovated by the Hindustan Charity Trust, a Birla organisation. 15 It is no exaggeration to say that most of the later opulent Brahmin zamindars on either side of the Bhagirathi river in south Bengal owed to these gifts the nucleus of their fortune. 16 This is how the integrated family of Lakshmikantas descendants are known today. It is purely a coinage by the writers of history and various social chronicles. Vedagarbhas original ancestor was Savarna (Surya Tanaya), a great Rishi of dazzling splendour and fiery energy. His descendants describe themselves as belonging to the Savarna-gotra stock. 17 It is widely believed in the Savarna family that Rani Rashmoni visited the temple while on her way back from Gangasagar pilgrimage. The plan of the Dakshineswar Bhavatarini Temple has been evidently influenced by the architectural layout of this ancient Dakshina Kalika temple. 18 The Barisha Rathayatra Utsav is still celebrated with much pomp and clat with thousands of people attending the festival.

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said that Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, then inspector of schools in south Bengal, himself came to inaugurate the school.19 Apart from these, there are many more temples in and around Midnapore, Howrah, Burdwan and the 24 Parganas, which were constructed by other luminaries of the family. The Savarna Ray Choudhurys were no mere talukdars of small income but zamindars with an income of thousand upon thousands of rupees. Whether they be or be not well-versed in the science of arms, they were by intuition or heredity, leaders and commanders of military forces and adepts in protecting, and supplying commissariat to the army in the field of battle. After making due allowance for inaccuracies in documentation and the natural tendency to exaggeration on the part of poets, bards, heralds and chroniclers, the fact remains that the Savarna Choudhurys became big zamindars, social leaders, military commanders and commissariat heads in the seventeenth century during the reigns of Emperors Jehangir and Shah Jehan. They were renowned for their piety and munificence as proprietors of Goddess Kali at Kalighat, whose influence rose by leaps and bounds owing to their moral and pecuniary support. There can be no doubt whatsoever that the influence of the Savarna Ray Choudhurys was paramount when the British traders came to establish their factory at Calcutta towards the end of the seventeenth century. Whatever land they had to acquire for their factory, shops and godowns had to be obtained from them. In 1693, Job Charnock obtained from them the right to use one of their buildings under rent for safekeeping of Company records. In 1695, Captain Charles Eyre, an agent of the East India Company and sonin-law of Job Charnock, endeavoured without success to acquire a legal right for the English settlement by obtaining from the jagirdar the lease of two or three villages. In 1698, Prince Azim-us-Shan, the then Governor of Bengal, granted the British necessary permission to acquire land. On 10th November
family never accepted any British honours or titles and took great part and pride in the development of national interests.
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of the same year the East India Company took on lease the three villages of Kalkatah, Sutaloota and Govindopoor, which later amalgamated together to give form and shape to the present metropolis of Kolkata, from the heirs of Lakshmikanta. Many have even gone to the extent of dubbing this singular act as the real cornerstone in the foundation of the British Empire in India. It is worthy to note here that only the descendants of the first two sons of Lakshmikanta took part in this transaction. Be that as it might, the British did not and could not purchase the proprietary rights to those said villages but became intermediate holders between the proprietors and their tenants, entitled to collect rent from the latter. They had to pay to their superior landlord, the Savarna zamindars, an annual rent, and they this paid almost down to the time of the Battle of Plassey in 1757 when Nawab Siraj-uddowlas defeat by Lord Clive placed the British at the head of the administration of Bengal and all idea of treating them as tenants or subordinates disappeared once for all from the minds of one and all. With the introduction of the British system of land

administration and the quinquennial and permanent settlements of Bengal under Lord Cornwallis in 1788 and 1792 respectively, the wealth and influence of the Savarna Ray Choudhurys decreased and they gradually withdrew themselves more and more from social and political functions with the disastrous result that in a few years their leadership came to be confined within the gradually diminishing circle of their immediate tenants, retainers, friends and relatives. The big social gatherings of thousands of Brahmins, Vaidyas and Kayasthas, including learned Pandits and Ghatakas, that used to take place on the occasion of Durga Puja and the Holi festivals, Rathayatra, and other social ceremonies in the house of the Savarna zamindars slowly became a thing of the past. European education and economic causes helped considerably to destroy respect for traditional authority and religious way of life. Now in order to connect this narration with the history of Swami Yogananda, we shall shift our attention to Lakshmikantas second son

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Gaurikanta (Gaurhari, 1610-69).20 Gauri probably had five sons and one among them was Kasiswar. Kasiswar had two sons, Kartick and Ganesh. The property was further bifurcated to give both the sons administrative holds and rights. While Kartick managed the estates at Erachi, the younger son Ganesh shifted to Dakshineswar where he laid the foundation of the Savarna Ray Choudhury family of Dakshineswar from which Swami Yogananda has descended. In the absence of proper documentary sources, we have not been able to link Swami Yoganandas father Navin Chandra with Ganeshs progeny. But Ganesh had two sons Raghuram and Jagatram, who again had three sons each. We have been able to trace two great-grandsons of Ganesh in the progeny of both his sons. Taking the dates of Swami Yogananda into consideration, we can infer that he belonged to the thirty-second or thirtythird generation of the Savarna family from Vedagarbha; while we are able to trace down till the twenty-eighth descendant of Vedagarbha in the Dakshineswar line of the Savarna Ray Choudhury family, we are unable to link Navin Chandra with that line of descendants. There remains a missing link of two or three generations between Yoganandas father and either of the great-grandsons of Ganesh.21 Jogindranath was the eldest son of his father, and the familys only hope lay in this most promising son. However, Jogin developed a religious tendency very early in life. When he was a child of five, he would often be overwhelmed with spiritual feelings. After his sacred thread
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It may be noted here that there was no partition or division of zamindari between Lakshmikantas sons, grandsons and even great-grandsons and they all belonged to the one and same joint family. Lakshmikantas eldest son Ramkanta (Ramhari, 1590-1650) was at Halisahar with his son Jagadish, Rambhadra, Narayan, Subuddhi and Rajendra. His second son Gauri was at Nimta with his sons of whom Srimanta as the most intelligent was in charge of the properties at Calcutta and its neighbourhood. His third son Gopal and fourth son Mahadeva were both in charge of his Uttarpara cutcheri house where they managed the zamindaris in the district of Hooghly and Midnapore (Contai, which extended down to Orissa) and from where Gopal eventually moved to Gangur, then a flourishing town on the banks of the river Jamuna but now an insignificant settlement. He managed zamindaris, covering the present sub-divisions of Ranaghat, Bongong and Basirhat, and a large part of Barasat. Lakshmikantas youngest son Gopikanta was in charge of his zamindari at Teghoria and Bonghoria, and administered the estates lying within the present sub-divisions of Sealdah, a part of Barrackpore and a part of Barasat. 21 Genealogical tables appended.

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ceremony, Jogin began to spend more time in meditation and worship. He would enjoy reading Ramayana, Mahabharata, and other scriptures. Jogin was sent to a Christian missionary school and it was during his final year of school that he met Sri Ramakrishna. After his entrance examination, Jogin began to live with the Master for longer periods of time and to spend more time in meditation. However, he was aware of his familys hardships and so with his fathers permission he went to Kanpur to his uncle to try for getting a job. But as destiny would have it, Jogin was called back from Kanpur and his family got him married by trick. Jogin had to bow his head before the decree of fate and married a beautiful daughter of Madhusudan Ray, who lived close to Dakshineswar. There was yet another side to Jogins character his strong independence. Forced to marry, he rebelled like a caged lion that desperately wants to be free. Jogin and his wife never slept in the same bed. Sri Ramakrishna declared that Jogin has been Arjuna, the hero of Mahabharata, in his previous birth. One day, Jogin took his wife to the Master, who accompanied them to the Kali temple. Jogin and his wife bowed down before the Divine Mother. The Master blessed Jogins wife, touching her head, and then said to Jogin that he need not worry about her anymore. Jogin used to serve the Master with heart and soul. Since he was very austere and neglected his body, he used to fall sick frequently. When he was not serving Sri Ramakrishna, Jogin used to devote his time to japa and meditation. Another aspect of his nature was his deep feeling for suffering people. After Sri Ramakrishnas mahasamadhi on 16 August 1886, Swami Yogananda took upon himself the task of serving the Holy Mother and he did this with utmost care and unflinching devotion till the end of his life. Yogananda did not care much for studying. He loved to be in solitude. Due to his immense fasting and austere practices, his body was lean, but his eyes were bright and luminous. Though he was lean, he was not weak.

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Swami Shivananda, another brother-disciple, remarks: He [Yogananda] was a highly evolved soul. He was extremely handsome and had a manly body. He used to beg for food, as it is customary for mendicants. But at the same time, he had a good sense of humour coupled with his monastic seriousness and burning renunciation. Swami Yogananda commanded love and respect for his sterling, saintly qualities. But what distinguished him among the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna was his devoted service to Holy Mother. He was the first disciple to be initiated by Sarada Devi. Yogananda led an ideal life, and he taught by his example. He did not lecture or do any spectacular work except organizing the birth anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna on a large scale at Dakshineswar from 1895 to 1897. In 1898 he organized a similar celebration at Dahns temple complex of Belur. The name of Sri Ramakrishna was not widely known then, but Yogananda had a magnetic personality. He attracted many young people and celebrated the Ramakrishna festival with clat. In 1897, when Swami Vivekananda, returned from the West, Yogananda took an active part in organizing the reception for Swamiji that created a sensation throughout Calcutta. Although married and born into a rich family, Yogananda demonstrated how to practise renunciation and purity. He was an uncompromising monk. He shunned everything that took his mind away from the Master. He presided several times over the weekly meetings of the Ramakrishna Mission. Vivekananda greatly valued his judgement and foresight. It was 1898. Although Yogananda was quite ill, Swamiji took him by boat to show him the new site for the monastery at Belur on the banks of the Ganga, which had been recently purchased. During his last illness Yogananda suffered from fever and blood dysentery. His whole body was emaciated and his voice was feeble. Under explicit instructions of Holy Mother, Yoganandas wife came and served him

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during his last days, though he himself was averse to the idea, he had to yield to Holy Mothers direction. Swami Yogananda passed away in samadhi at 3:10 pm on 28 March 1899. Holy Mother burst into tears at the death of her favourite and foremost disciple. Before the body was taken for cremation, Swamiji waved vesper and offered flowers and sweets as a part of the ritual. He was so stunned that he did not accompany the procession to the cremation ground. Grief stricken, Swamiji did not go to Sri Ramakrishnas shrine for three days. He remarked, A beam is down and now the rafters will fall one after another. The perusal of these facts puts before the reader the tradition to which Swami Yogananda belonged. The Savarna family was basically a spiritual family. In the thousand years of their history in Bengal, we can find two distinct phases: while the first half was devoted solely to academics and spread of Vedic religion, the second half saw the family engaged in zamindari. But spiritual and socio-religious activities always occupied the forefront of activities for this family. Yogindranath, who came in contact with Sri Ramakrishna at a very young age, who was recognised by Him as isvarakoti, who was the first to be initiated by the Holy Mother, who went on to become the first Vice-President of the Ramakrishna Order, was yet another shining scion of the Savarna family. The Indian spiritual tradition is hoary and ancient. The Savarna family is a part of this tradition and Swami Yogananda comes in this parampara. Swami Vivekananda has said, The ideal man of our ancestors was the Brahmin. In all our books stands out prominently this ideal of the Brahmin the greatest princes seek to trace their descent to some ancient sage who dressed in a bit of loin-cloth, lived in a forest, eating roots and studying the Vedas. It is there that the Indian prince goes to trace his ancestry. You are of the high caste when you can trace your ancestry to a Rishi, and not otherwise. Our ideal of high birth, therefore, is different from that of others.

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Our ideal is the Brahmin of spiritual culture and renunciation.22 The Savarna family, which claims descent from Sage Savarna (lit. m. Surya-tanaya) represents this ideal through its many sons, one of the foremost among them being Swami Yogananda.

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The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol. III, p-197.

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GENEALOGICAL TABLE: 1 MAHARSHI SAVARNA23 Saubhari Upadhyaya24 1. VEDAGARBHA25

2. Raghava [Vira, Hala, Professor of Sanskrit and Commander of Adisuras Brahmin Infantry] 3. Gunai 4. Hari 5. Suvikrama 6. Bishai 7. Balai 8. Heramba 9. Shauri (1082(AD) 10. Pitambara 11. Kulapati (Scholar at Amati, 1182AD) 12. Sishu28 13. Gadadhara 14. Haladhara (1282(AD) 15. Ayurama 16. Vinayaka [See Table 2]

2. Vasistha Siddhala26

3. Bhavadeva 4. Buddha 5. Sphurita 6. Adideva 7. Govardhana 8. Bhavadeva Bala Vallabha Bhujanga27

Great Vedic sage; son of the Sun God: Surya-Tanaya. Renowned Vedic Brahmin and Sanskrit scholar at Kanauj, of countrywide fame. 25 Vedagarbha migrated into Bengal in the 10th Century and was given as jagir, areas in the present Katwa sub-division in Burdwan district. It is alleged that his family stayed in a village named Gangagram. It was on this account that they came to be known as Gangopadhyaya. It may also be that as they settled on the banks of River Ganga, they came to be known as Ganga+Upadhyaya=Gangopadhyaya. 26 Vasistha Siddhalas descendants migrated to Orissa and founded a family there which was renowned for its knowledge of the Shastra and architecture. 27 Built and consecrated the Ananta Vasudeva Temple in Bhuvaneswar, Orissa. 28 Sishu Gangopadhyaya, it is alleged, was awarded as royal gift, the legendary land Kalikshetra extending from Dakshineswar in the north to Behala in the south, in the time of King Vallala Sena of Gauda. See Indian Antiquary, Vol. II, (1873) as also A. K. Rays A Short History of Calcutta, Ch. III, (1902). Sishu was a made a Kulin by Vallala Sena.
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GENEALOGICAL TABLE: 2 17. SHIVA29

18. Parameswar (Purari) 19. Panchanan Gangopadhyaya30 20. Shambhupati (1500 AD) 21. JIYA31 (1535/48-1620) 22. LAKSHMIKANTA [See Table 3]

18. Murari 19. Bhairav 20. Sridhar 21. Nilakantha

22. Sripati 23. Ramnath 24. Raghava32 25. Ramachandra 26. Harihar33

Alias Jiva, scholar like Vyasa, still at Amati, 1382AD. Alias Panchu Shakti Khan, scholar and a highly decorated commander of the imperial army. It was for his valour that he received the title of Shakti Khan together with an imperial grant and the pargana of Havelisahar as jagir. He migrated to Goghat-Gopalpur (Hooghly district) and later founded the Halisahar Samaj. 31 Jiya, at a very young age, received the rare title of Vidya Vacaspati and was the most famous Nyaya scholars of his time. He was married at an early age to Padmavati and it was on his account of marrying into an inferior Srotriya family that he was de-Kulinised by Devivara. Later he became famous as Kamadeva Brahmachari. He is credited with the discovery and installation of Satis mortal remains in the shrine at Kalighat. 32 Married and settled at Bega-Vikrampur, beginning of the Beger-Ganguly. 33 Founder of the well-known Ganguli families of Janai and Barabazar, Calcutta.
30

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GENEALOGICAL TABLE: 3 22. RAY LAKSHMIKANTA MAJUMDAR CHOUDHURY ( 1570-1649)

23. Ramkanta [1590-1650]

Gaurikanta [1600-69]

Gopal [Ray]

Bireswar [Chakravarty]

Krishna [Sinha]

Gopikanta Mahadeva [Ray] [1639?-1730]

24. Gandharva Janardana [1618] [1620] Ramavallabha Subuddhi 24. Jagadish [1620-90]

Srimanta [1625-81]

Kuleshwar 25.Pran

25. Krishnaram [1668-1737] Radhakrishna 25. Keshavram [1650-1726]

25. Vidyadhar Raghudeva Ratneswar Rameswar [1640-1720] [1642-1722] [1670-1720] [1674-1739]

26. Ram 27. Krishnachand

26. Vasudeva [1660-1710] 27. Manohar Deva 28. Balai [1699-1760]

24. KASISWAR [See Table 4]

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GENEALOGICAL TABLE: 4

24. Kasiswar
Kartick (Earchi) 25. Ganesh (Dakshineswar)

26. Krishnaram 27 Balaram

Rudradulal 26. Raghuram Jagatram

27. Durgaprasad

Bhawaniprasad

Krishnakishore

28. Kalishankar

27. Ramkanta

Krishnaprasad

Gauriprasad

28. Ramchandra

[Note: Swami Yoganandas father Navin Chandra is descended either from any of the three sons of Raghuram, viz. Durgaprasad, Bhawaniprasad and Krishnakishore, or from any of the three sons of Jagatram, viz. Ramkanta, Krishnaprasad and Gauriprasad. The Saborno Sangrahalay has already installed a field research project to fill-up the gaps in the genealogy of the Savarna family. Swami Yoganandas ancestral house is no more in existence. Though the Ramakrishna Mission authorities tried their best to acquire the Dakshineswar lodging of the Savarna Ray Choudhury family, where Yogin Maharaj was born and he grew up, they remained highly unsuccessful as the incumbent owners were more interested in handing over the property to real estate developers and Dakshineswar Adyapith Temple.]

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Sources cited: 1. Ray, Atul Krishna. Lakshmikanta: A Chapter in the Social History of Bengal. Ed. Gorachand Ray Choudhury. Kolkata: The Saborno Sangrahalay, 2001. 2. Chetanananda, Swami. God Lived With Them. Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1998. 3. Saradananda, Swami. Sri Ramakrishna, The Great Master. Madras: Ramakrishna Math, 1978. 4. Gambhirananda, Swami. Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi. Madras: Ramakrishna Math, 1955. 5. Saradananda, Swami. Sri-Sri-Ramakrishna-Lilaprasanga. Calcutta:

Udbodhan Office, 1386BS. 6. Gambhirananda, Swami. Sri-Ramakrishna-Bhaktamalika. Calcutta: Udbodhan Office, 1384BS. 7. The Saborno Sangrahalay Archives, Kolkata.

The author, Probal Ray Choudhury, is currently a faculty with the Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Deemed University) at its Amritapuri Campus (Kollam, Kerala). An ex-student of Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, Belur Math, and Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College, Chennai, he holds a post-graduate degree in English from the Department of English, University of Madras. He is also the FounderSecretary & Chief Executive of The Saborno Sangrahalay (A Sanatana Samskriti Samsthan dedicated to the understanding of the quintessence of Indianness), Kolkata.

An abridged version of this was published in the VEDANTA KESARI, April 2007.

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