Ṭagarā

Śrīpāṭa of Choṭa Haridāsa, the Kīrtanīyā associate of Mahāprabhu

Ṭagarā is situated in the district of Murshidābād. One can get down at Khāgrā station in Kāṭwā-Āzimgañj railway route. Then one can go by bus through Baharampur-Sāṅithiyā route and get down at Kuli caurāstā (intersection of two roads). Then from there one can travel five kilometers towards south by auto-rickshaw or by rickshaw-van to come to this Ṭagarā Śrīpāṭa which is adjacent to Ḍākabāṅglo village. Or else, one can travel by CSTC bus from Dharmatalā and go to Pāṅcathupi. Or, one can come to Baharampur-court station from Seāldaha and from there one can come to Ṭagarā stoppage by bus toward Pāṅcthupi. Besides this, one can directly come to Ṭagarā by bus from Kāṅdi to Ḍākabāṅglo.

Ṭagarā is the Śrīpāṭa of Choṭa Haridāsa. He was Hārakaṇthī Sakhī in Vrajalīlā and in Gauralīlā she appeared as Choṭa Haridāsa who used to sing for Śrīman Mahāprabhu at Nīlācala. Earlier name of this Ṭagarā was Śaṅkarapura. One landlord named Kāśīśvara cut all the trees of Ṭagara flowers in a garden here and established a large village. Since then this village was named as Ṭagarā.

This place of Choṭa Haridāsa was hidden for long time. Few years ago, the local devotees, with great effort, installed one memorial here and constructed one small temple. This is known to all as ‘Ṭhākurabāḍi’. Mahāprabhu exhibiting the pastime of rejecting Choṭa Haridāsa has been narrated in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Antya-līlā, second chapter).