16.207
’vacaspati-grhe’ prabhu yemate rahila
loka-bhida bhaye yaiche ’kuliya’ aila
SYNONYMS
vacaspati-grhe—at the house of Vidya-vacaspati; prabhu—the Lord; yemate—as; rahila—stayed there for some time; loka-bhida bhaye—due to fear of crowds of people; yaiche—just as; kuliya aila—He came to Kuliya, the present city of Navadvipa.
The Lord remained some time at the house of Vidya-vacaspati, but then, because it was too crowded, He went to Kuliya.
PURPORT
The house of Vidya-vacaspati was located at Vidyanagara, which was near Koladvipa, or Kuliya.
It was here that Devananda Pandita was residing.
This information is found in Caitanya-bhagavata (Madhya-lila, Chapter Twenty-one).
In Caitanya-candrodaya-nataka, the following statement is given about Kuliya.
Tatah kumarahatte srivasa-pandita-vatyam abhyayayau: “From there the Lord went to the house of Srivasa Pandita in Kumarahatta.” Tato ’dvaita-vatim abhyetya haridasenabhivanditas tathaiva tarani-vartmana navadvipasya pare kuliya-nama-grame madhava-dasa-vatyam uttirnavan evam sapta-dinani tatra sthitva punas tata-vartmana eva calitavan: “From the house of Srivasa Acarya, the Lord went to the house of Advaita Acarya, where He was offered obeisances by Haridasa Thakura.
The Lord then took a boat to the other side of Navadvipa to a place called Kuliya, where He stayed seven days at the house of Madhava dasa.
He then proceeded along the banks of the Ganges.” In the Sri Caitanya-carita-maha-kavya, it is stated, anyedyuh sa sri-navadvipa-bhumeh pare gangam pascime kvapi dese, sriman sarva-praninam tat-tad-angair netranandam samyag agatya tene: “The Lord went to the eastern side of the Ganges at Navadvipa, and everyone was pleased to see the Lord coming.” In the Caitanya-bhagavata (Antya-khanda, Chapter Three), it is stated, sarva-parisada-sange sri-gaurasundara acambite asi’ uttarila tanra ghara: “The Lord suddenly came to Vidyanagara with a full party and stayed there in the house of Vidya-vacaspati,” Navadvipadi sarva-dike haila dhvani: “Thus throughout Navadvipa, the Lord’s arrival was made known.” Vacaspati-ghare aila nyasi-cudamani: “Thus the chief of all the sannyasis, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, arrived at the house of Vidya-vacaspati.” As further stated:
ananta arbuda loka bali’ ’hari’ ’hari’
calilena dekhibare gauranga sri-hari
patha nahi paya keho lokera gahale
vanadala bhangi’ loka dasa-dike cale
lokera gahale yata aranya achila
ksaneke sakala divya pathamaya haila
ksaneke aila saba loka kheya-ghate
kheyari karite para padila sankate
satvare asila vacaspati mahasaya
karilena aneka naukara samuccaya
naukara apeksa ara keho nahi kare
nana mate para haya ye yemate pare
hena-mate ganga para ha-i’ sarva-jana
sabhei dharena vacaspatira carana
lukana gela prabhu kuliya-nagara
kuliyaya ailena vaikuntha-isvara
sarva-loka’hari’ bali’ vacaspati-sange
sei-ksane sabhe calilena maha-range
kuliya-nagare ailena nyasi-mani
sei-ksane sarva-dike haila maha-dhvani
sabe ganga madhye nadiyaya-kuliyaya
suni’ matra sarva-loke mahanande dhaya
vacaspatira grame (vidyanagare) chila yateka gahala
tara koti koti-gune purila sakala
laksa laksa nauka va aila kotha haite
na jani kateka para haya kata-mate
laksa laksa loka bhase jahnavira jale
sabhe para hayena parama kutuhale
gangaya hana para apana-apani
kolakoli kari’ sabhe kare hari-dhvani
ksaneke kuliya-grama--nagara prantara
paripurna haila sthala, nahi avasara
ksaneke aila mahasaya vacaspati
tenho nahi payena prabhura kotha sthiti
kuliyaya prakase yateka papi chila
uttama, madhyama, nica,--sabe para haila
kuliya-gramete asi’ sri-krsna-caitanya
hena nahi, yare prabhu na karila dhanya “When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu stayed at Vidya-vacaspati’s house, many hundreds and thousands of people went to see Him and chant the holy name of Hari.
It was so crowded that people could not even find a place to walk; therefore they made room by clearing out the jungles near the village.
Many roads were automatically excavated, and many people also came by boat to see the Lord.
So many came that it was difficult for the boatmen to get them across the river.
When Vidya-vacaspati suddenly arrived, he made arrangements for many boats to receive these people, but the people would not wait for the boats.
Somehow or other they crossed the river and hurried toward the house of Vidya-vacaspati.
Due to this great crowd, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu secretly went to Kuliya-nagara.
After the Lord left Vidyanagara, however, all the people heard news of His leaving.
They then accompanied Vacaspati to Kuliya-nagara.
Since the news of the Lord’s arrival was immediately broadcast, large crowds arrived and greeted Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu with great jubilation.
Indeed, when the crowd went to see Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, it increased ten thousand times in number.
No one could say how many people crossed the river to see Him, but many hundreds of thousands made a great tumult when crossing the River Ganges.
After crossing the river, everyone began to embrace one another because they heard the good news of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s arrival.
Thus all the inhabitants of Kuliya, the sinful, intermediate, and spiritually advanced, were delivered and glorified by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.” As stated in Caitanya-bhagavata (Antya-khanda, Chapter Six):
khanayoda, badagachi, ara dogachiya
gangara opara kabhu yayena ’kuliya’ As stated in Caitanya-mangala:
ganga-snana kari prabhu radha-desa diya
krame krame uttarila nagara ’kuliya’
mayera vacane punah gela navadvipa
varakona-ghata, nija vadira samipa In the commentary of Premadasa it is said:
nadiyara majhakhane, sakala lokete
jane, ’kuliya-pahadapura’ name sthana.
Sri Narahari Cakravarti, or Ghanasyama dasa, has written in his Bhakti-ratnakara:
kuliya pahadapura dekha srinivasa
purve ’koladvipa’-parvatakhya--e pracara In a book named Navadvipa-parikrama, also written by Ghanasyama dasa, it is stated:
kuliya-pahadapura grama purve koladvipa-parvatakhyananda nama.
Therefore one can conclude that the present-day city of Navadvipa and the places known as Bahirdvipa, Kolera Ganja, Kola-amada, Kolera Daha, Gadakhali, etc were known as Kuliya, but the so-called Kuliyara Pata is not the original Kuliya.