The single-storey structure with two rooms on the roof that gave Gauribari Lane near Ultadanga its name, will be opened to the public as a temple cum museum on Monday.
A stone’s throw away from the Sitalnath Jain temple, the building at 60/14 Gauribari Lane, carries immense significance in the spread of the Vaishnava movement in Bengal, having housed the first Gaudiya Math, established in 1918, and hosted the first meeting of Iskcon founder Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada with his guru Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati in 1922. Thus Abhaycharan De, then a student of Scottish Church College, was initiated into the spiritual path.
“This is where the seed of the Iskcon movement was planted as he received the instruction to take the message of The Gita to the world,” said Radharaman Das, vice-president, Iskcon, Calcutta.
The building was a rented property that the Gaudiya Math vacated when it shifted to its current premises in Baghbazar in 1930.
A 1924 picture of Gaudiya Math founder Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati with disciples at the building
“It was a debuttar property held in trust and was in dire need of maintenance. When we learnt that it might be demolished we purchased the property in 2008 after taking a clearance from the court,” Das added. It took the Iskcon authorities another 10 years to clear the property of three tenants and start renovation.
The house has received eminent visitors like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Madan Mohan Malviya, who came to meet Saraswati.
“We have newspaper clippings that reported these visits. All these will be part of a museum that we are creating on the spiritual and historical significance of the building,” said Das.