Aghore Nath Gupta

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Aghore Nath Gupta (1841-1881) was a great scholar of Buddhism and a preacher of the Brahmo Samaj. He was designated Sadhu (saint) after his premature death in recognition of his pious life. Sivanath Sastri wrote about him, “His unfeigned humility, deep spirituality and earnest devotion were a new revelation to the members of the Samaj.”

1 Early life
2 Later life
3 Erudition
4 References

Early life

Son of Jadab Chandra Roy Kabibhusan, he was born at Santipur in Nadia. He lost his father at the age of twelve and had his early education in tols and pathasalas. When he went to Kolkata to study in college, he came under the influence of Bijay Krishna Goswami, Maharshi Debendranath Tagore and Brahmananda Keshub Chunder Sen and joined the Brahmo movement. He was one of the persons selected by Keshub Chandra Sen for the intensive study of other religions. His field of specialisation was Buddhism. The other persons selected for such specialised study were Gour Govinda Ray for Hinduism, Protap Chunder Mozoomdar for Christianity, and Giris Chandra Sen for Islam. All of them did adequate justice to the task allotted to them. While at college, amongst his class friends were Sivanath Sastri.

Later life

A strict vegetarian in his personal life, he devoted much of his time to prayers. He was sent as preacher to Dhaka in 1863. He built up a congregation there. On return from Dhaka married a child widow of a different caste. He accompanied Keshub Chunder Sen and Bijay Krishna Goswami in their religious campaigns to East Bengal in 1865 and to North Bengal and Assam in 1866. It was during this period that he was close to the great reformer in East Bengal - Braja Sundar Mitra. Thereafter he travelled to Munger, North India and Punjab. He frequently travelled to different places propagating the message and spirit of the Brahmo Samaj. Travelling on a jerky camel’s back in the deserts of Northern India, going through terrible hardships of different kinds in his mission work, he laid down his life, away from home and family at a comparatively young age.

Erudition

In order to go to the depths of Buddhism he learnt Pali, Sanskrit and European languages. He studied the Buddhist scriptures in the original. His greatest contribution was Sakyamunicharit O Nirbantattya, a book on Buddhism produced after strenuous research into the original text and commentaries in Pali, Sanskrit and European languages. It was the first book on Buddhism in Bengali. He assisted Keshub Chunder Sen in editing Slokasangraha. He wrote extensively in the Dharmatattwa and Sulava Samachar. Amongst the books he wrote were Dhruva O Prahlad, Debarshi Narader Nabajibon Labh, Dharmasopan, and Upadeshabali.