Why the kingdom was named Chandradwip? There are several theories regarding this like the island increased and decreased like a moon or Chandra, or the island looked like Shiva's Chandra etc. In the past, the "chars" that made Chandradwip was under water and it appeared and disappeared several times due to changing sea-shores and course of rivers. As the proverb goes- Dhan, nadi, khal, ei tine Barishal- Barishal was made of three things paddy or rice, rivers and canals. The rivers and canals played an important part in the history of Barishal from ancient times and the coastal region of Barishal also kept changing with the passage of time. During 12th Century A.D., the sea-shore was near Bikrampur and the Chandradwip region was yet to emerge out of water. The man who made it possible was a Brahman from Bikrampur named Chandrasehkar Bhattacharya. We have seen the emerging and disappearing of krishna's Dwarka into sea. Similar was the history of Chandradwip with the exception that it is yet to disappear.
From time immemorial, the Brahmanas were guiding the kshatriya kings and many examples of our country shows that during the times of troubles, these Brahmanas acted as king's Advisor. We have Sage Vishwamitra who ordered Sri Rama to destroy the Rakshasas, then Kautilya who prepared Chandragupta Maurya to build an empire after the Greek invasion. During the Middle Ages, Sayana, the Vedic scholar, guided two brothers Harihara and Bukka to build the Vijaynagara Empire, Ramdas guided king Shivaji, and so on. In Bengal, this was done by Chandrasekhar Bhattacharya who ordered his disciple Danujmardana to built a new kingdom in Chandradwip. king Danuj named this kingdom after his Guru and started to rule.
Who was this Chandrasekhar? The real identity of Chandrasekhar Bhattacharya or Chandracharya is yet to find out. His story is covered by myths and folktales. Chandrasekhar lived in Bikrampur during the 12th Century A.D. He was a worshipper of Devi katyayani. One day his mother arranged his marriage with a girl named Bhubaneshwari and Chandra didn't know the name of his wife before marriage. His guru mantra was Bhubaneshwari. When he came to know that he was going to marry a girl whose name was similar to his deity's name, he ran away and with a ship, came to the middle of sea to commit suicide.. In sea, his patron deity katyayani appeared before him in the disguise of an young girl and convinced him to return. That deity also told him to take a bath in the Sugandha River on the 7th day, where he would find two idols that of Katyayani and Madangopal. Devi told him to go southwards with these two idols and he would find an island shaped like a moon, where he would be settled and become known as the founder of a kingdom. Accordingly, Chandrasekhar returned and married that girl and on the 7th day, found two idols from Sugandha River. He went southwards with these idols and his loyal disciple Danujmardan and founded Chandradwip with Kachua as its capital. From Bikrampur he brought more Brahmans and Kayasthas to settle in this newly found land and the traditional date of this foundation is 606 Bangabda or 1199 A.D. Chandrasekhar didn't stay here for long. He made his disciple Danuj king of that land and gave instructions to follow the rules of Dharma. Then he started his journey towards Himalayas.
His disciple became the first king of Chandradwip and also the head of the kayasthas.The foundation of Chandradwip during the time of Muslim invasions helped many Hindus to settle in this territory and soon it became populated and famous.
THE END OF BAIDYA RULE AND THE RISE OF THE KAYASTHAS
The foundation of Chandradwip changed the social status of the kayasthas in Bengal. The Chandradwip king was the head of the kayasthas in Bengal and this also means the declining powers of Baidya Sena kings of Bikrampur. The Baidyas lost the political power as a result of Kayastha emergence. The Sena kings rule continued in Bikrampur more than 200 years after the fall of the Senas in Nadia. Some historians was of the opinion that Chandradwip kings were the descendants of the Senas which proved false. Henceforth the Kayasthas dominated the politics of East Bengal till 18th Century. From Pratapaditya of Jessore to Keday Ray of Bikrampur, all the kings and Baro Bhuyans were Kayasthas. The Baidyas were not able to capture political power after the fall of the Senas. Aggressive Kayastha social historians like Nagendra Nath Basu even tried to prove that Sena kings had kayastha blood. Two theories were put forward by historians to prove Sena link:-
1. According to Banglar Samajik Itihas by Durga Charan Sanyal, Ballal Sen had a son named Kalu Ray by his kayastha wife, whom he made a king of Chandradwip. His descendant was Danujdaman.
2. Danujmadhav was Lakhsman Sen's grandson. He was known as Danuj, Danauja ( Stewart ), Noja,or Raja Nodia ( Tieffenthaler ), Nauja ( Abul Fazl ), Danuj Rai ( Barni and Elliot ) etc.
Satish Ch Mitra showed that these two theories were false ( Mitra ,page 401 ). In support of his statement, Mitra quotes from several sources--
danujmardan raja chandradwip-pati, sei hoilo bangaja kayastha gosthipati // dev paddhati te hom mahima apar, samaj korite raja hoila chintapar// gaur hoite anila kayastha kulapati, kulacharya anaiya korailo sthiti // -Source Bangaja Kulaji Sar Sangraha ( Mitra , page 403 )
