Kusumbar Bhuyan was the chief of the Bhuyans. His family had held this place for generations, tracing their line back through Suryavar, Rajadhar, and Chandibar. Kusumbar lived with his wife, Satyasandha, in the village of Alipukhuri. They were devout people who lived quietly and kept their duties. Yet, as the years passed, their home remained quiet.
They had no child to run through the courtyard or carry on the family name. They waited and hoped for a son. Some regional oral traditions say that Kusumbar and Satyasandha prayed to Shiv ji for a child. In the month of Ashvin, the waiting came to an end. Satyasandha gave birth to a son.
At the very moment the child was born, the air filled with sound. Across the land, conches blew, bells rang, and drums beat, though no human hands were playing them. In the houses of the family, the diyas burning before the deities went out on their own. The sky outside turned dark. Thunder rolled across the village, and lightning flashed through the heavy clouds.
The people watched the sky and listened to the drums, knowing something unusual had happened in Alipukhuri. On the fifth day after the birth, the family astrologer arrived at Kusumbar's house. He sat down to cast the child's horoscope. He studied the alignment of the stars and looked closely at the infant. He saw the physical marks on the child's body and read the signs in the charts.
The astrologer looked up at Kusumbar and Satyasandha and told them their son possessed all the marks of greatness. He said the boy would not live an ordinary life, but would grow to be a great being. The family named the child Gangadhar, though they called him Kundali in the house. The boy did not get to know his mother. Satyasandha passed away shortly after he was born, leaving Kusumbar to care for him.
Then, when the boy was only seven years old, smallpox came to the village. Kusumbar caught the sickness and died. The boy was left without his parents. His grandmother, Khersuti, took him in. She raised him in her own home, giving him all the care and attention he had lost.
As the boy grew, he spent his days outside. He was full of energy and liked to play games with the other children. He ran through the fields and spent little time on studies. Khersuti watched him play and began to worry about his future. She knew he needed to learn the texts and understand his duties.
When he turned twelve years old, she decided it was time for him to sit still. She sent him to the tol of a scholar named Mahendra Kandali. Mahendra Kandali took the boy in and began to teach him the alphabet. The boy sat with his slate, learning the shapes of the letters. Before Mahendra Kandali had even taught him the vowels, the boy showed what he could do.
He took the consonants he had learned and put them together to write a poem. He wrote the words, Karatala kamala kamaladala nayana. It was an aarti praising the eyes and feet of Vishnu ji, written entirely without vowels. Mahendra Kandali read the verse and saw the mind the boy possessed. One afternoon, the boy was resting at the tol.
He lay down and fell asleep. As the day went on, the sun moved across the sky, and its rays fell straight onto the boy's sleeping face. Mahendra Kandali was walking through the grounds and saw the boy lying there. He stopped. A cobra had slithered out and positioned itself near the boy's head.
The snake had raised its body and expanded its hood wide. It held its hood between the sun and the boy, casting a shadow over his face to protect him from the heat. Mahendra Kandali stood still and watched the snake guard the sleeping child. He remembered the stories of Shri Krishna staying at the ashram of Guru Sandipani, and the things that happened there. He realized then that the astrologer on the fifth day had spoken the truth.
The boy was not like the others. When the boy woke, the snake was gone. Mahendra Kandali called the other students together. He told them what he had seen. He said the boy was no ordinary human and was not to be treated as one.
From that day, Mahendra Kandali told the boy he no longer had to do the chores expected of the students at the tol. He added the name Dev to the boy, officially calling him Sankardev. Sankardev stayed at the tol until he was a young man. He read all the texts and learned all the scriptures. When his time there was done, he left to take up his worldly duties as the chief of the Bhuyans.
Later in his life, he left his wealth behind entirely. He went out to teach the people that japa of the Name was the only path they needed. Those who sit together and listen to the life of the Guru find their minds cleansed of worldly illusions. They are granted pure devotion to Shri Krishna. The reading ends with the singing of the verse, Shri Krishna, the sun, has risen; the religion of the Name has been made known.
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