A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
1896 CE–1977 CE · Modern · Calcutta (Kolkata)
1896–1977 CE (born 1 September 1896, Calcutta; died 14 November 1977, Vrindavan)
Abhay Charan De, born in Calcutta, was a householder and businessman who became a disciple of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava teacher Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, from whom he received the charge to spread Kṛṣṇa-consciousness in the English-speaking world. After taking sannyāsa as Bhaktivedanta Swami and years of translation and writing (notably his commentary on the Bhāgavata Purāṇa), he sailed to the United States in 1965 at the age of sixty-nine and, in New York the following year, founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Through the public chanting of the Hare Krishna mahāmantra, his many translations and commentaries, and tireless travel, he built ISKCON into a worldwide network of temples in the decade before his death — bringing the bhakti tradition of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to a global following. He died at Vrindavan in 1977. His life is thoroughly documented.
Did you know?
He sailed to New York at 69 — and a Beatle produced his movement's hit single
In 1965, at the age of 69, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada crossed from Calcutta to New York aboard the cargo steamer Jaladuta, going on to found the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (the Hare Krishna movement) in 1966. Four years later, in August 1969, George Harrison of the Beatles produced and played on the "Hare Krishna Mantra" single, released on the Beatles' Apple label — it reached No. 12 on the UK chart — and in 1973 Harrison bought and donated a Hertfordshire manor house to the movement.
How we know
Prabhupada (1896–1977) departed Calcutta on the Jaladuta 13 Aug 1965, reached New York ~17–19 Sep 1965 at 69; founded ISKCON July 1966; George Harrison (1943–2001) produced "Hare Krishna Mantra," released on Apple Records Aug 1969 (peaked No. 12 UK); Harrison donated Bhaktivedanta Manor, Letchmore Heath, Hertfordshire, Feb 1973.
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Calcutta (Kolkata)
What they did here
Birthplace; born Abhay Charan De on 1 September 1896; became a disciple of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī here in 1922.
About Calcutta (Kolkata)
Calcutta (Kolkata) is the capital of West Bengal, on the Hooghly River in eastern India, and was the capital of British India until 1911. It was a focus of the 19th–20th-century Hindu renaissance: Swami Vivekananda was born there, and Sri Aurobindo and A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda were active in the city.
In Calcutta (Kolkata) at the same time
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
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The world in their lifetime
Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
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Works
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