Bamakhepa, the tantric saint of Tarapith in the 19th century

Bamakhepa (1837–1911) ^[1] popularly known as the "mad saint" was a Hindu saint, held in great reverence in Tarapith and whose shrine is also located in the vicinity of the Tara temple. Bama-khepa, literally means the mad ("khepa") follower of "left handed" ("Bama" or "Vama" in Sanskrit) path – the Tantric way of worship. Bamakhepa, goddess Tara's ardent devotee lived near the temple and mediated in the cremation grounds.^[1] He was a contemporary of another famous Bengali saint Ramakrishna. At a young age, he left his house and came under the tutelage of a saint named Kailsahpathi Baba, who lived in Tarapith. He perfected yoga and Tantric sadhana (worship), which resulted in his becoming the spiritual head of Tarapith. People came to him seeking blessings or cures for their illness, in distress or just to meet him. He did not follow the set rules of the temple and as result was even once roughed up by the temple priests for taking food meant as offering for the deity. It is said: Tara appeared in the dream of Maharani ("Queen") of Natore and told her to feed the saint first as he was her son. After this incident, Bamakhepa was fed first in the temple before the deity and nobody obstructed him.^[2] It is believed that Tara gave a vision to Bamakhepa in the cremation grounds in her ferocious form and then took him to her breast.^[1]

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Bibliography[link]

• Dalrymple, William (2009). Nine Lives. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. pp. 203–233. ISBN 1-4088-0153-1. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=yA1YPgAACAAJ&dq=Nine+Lives+William+Dalrymple&hl=en&ei=Sp0UTKzPGsHBrAe2q5SFCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAA. Retrieved 2010-06-19. 
• Kinsley, David R. (1997). Tantric visions of the divine feminine: the ten mahāvidyās. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-20499-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=6nETj-4OaYEC&printsec=frontcover.