The curious case of Rama in West Bengal

Mahakavi Krritibas Ojha (1381–1461), a well known poet from Bengal, was the author of “Sri Rampanchali,” the Bengali version of the Sanskrit Ramayan. While he had largely changed the narrative of Valmiki’s Ramayan and made many additions..

of his own (making Ram quite different from the original one), nevertheless the book became the lifeline of all Ramayat Vaishnavites (pre Chaityna era) in Bengal. This love for Ram is so evident in innumerable Temple terracotta plaques, personal names, place names, daily idioms,

Ram naam jap to dispel fear by children to adults, folk theatres/dances and folk songs, puppet shows, and even politics, where Raghupati keeps appearing frequently. 100 years back Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee had started celebrating the birth anniversary of this Ramayan Mahakavi,

Prior to Gaurio Vaishnavism of Sri Chaityna (1486 – 1533) it was the Ramayat form of Vaishnavism that prevailed in Bengal. Infact the biographer of Sri Chaityna, Jayanand’s family worshipped Ram as their kul devta. In 1112 CE Shovanath Chandra in Sribati established a Raghunath

Jeur temple (they built three terracotta temples). This is a family of Gujarati traders, and their puja still continues. Two more names crop up from western India (Ramanand Tewari and a certain Madhav Rao) who settled in Bengal and also started the puja of Ramchandra.