11.40
tanra putra--mahasaya sri-kanu thakura
yanra dehe rahe krsna-premamrta-pura
SYNONYMS
tanra putra—his son; mahasaya—a respectable gentleman; sri-kanu thakura—of the name Sri Kanu Thakura; yanra—whose; dehe—in the body; rahe—remained; krsna-prema-amrta-pura—the nectar of devotional service to Krsna.
Sri Kanu Thakura, a very respectable gentleman, was the son of Purusottama dasa Thakura.
He was such a great devotee that Lord Krsna always lived in his body.
PURPORT
To go to the headquarters of Kanu Thakura, one has to proceed by boat from the Jhikaragacha-ghata station to the river known as Kapotaksa.
Otherwise, if one goes about two or two and a half miles from the Jhikaragacha-ghata station, he can see Bodhakhana, the headquarters of Kanu Thakura.
The son of Sadasiva was Purusottama Thakura, and his son was Kanu Thakura.
The descendants of Kanu Thakura know him as Nagara Purusottama.
He was the cowherd boy named Dama during krsna-lila.
It is said that just after the birth of Kanu Thakura, his mother, Jahnava, died.
When he was about twelve days old, Sri Nityananda Prabhu took him to His home at Khadadaha.
It is ascertained that Kanu Thakura was born some time in the Bengali year 942 (A.D 1535).
It is said that he took birth on the Ratha-yatra day.
Because he was a great devotee of Lord Krsna from the very beginning of his life, Sri Nityananda Prabhu gave him the name Sisu Krsnadasa.
When he was five years old he went to Vrndavana with Jahnava-mata, and upon seeing the ecstatic symptoms of Kanu Thakura, the Gosvamis gave him the name Kanai Thakura.
In the family of Kanu Thakura there is a Radha-Krsna Deity known as Pranavallabha.
It is said that his family worshiped this Deity long before the appearance of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
When there was a Maharashtrian invasion of Bengal, the family of Kanu Thakura was scattered, and after the invasion one Harikrsna Gosvami of that family came back to their original home, Bodhakhana, and re-established the Pranavallabha Deity.
The descendants of the family still engage in the service of Pranavallabha.
Kanu Thakura was present during the Khetari utsava, when Jahnava-devi and Virabhadra Gosvami were also present.
One of Kanu Thakura’s family members, Madhavacarya, married the daughter of Sri Nityananda Prabhu, who was named Gangadevi.
Both Purusottama Thakura and Kanu Thakura had many disciples from brahmana families.
Most of the disciplic descendants of Kanu Thakura now reside in the village named Gadabeta, by the river Silavati, in the Midnapore district.