The first volume (1902) was preceded by a small booklet in English called A Leaf from the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (1897). The pre-history of the Kathamrita has been discussed in R.K.Dasputa's essay (Dasgupta 1986). The title Kathamrita, literally "nectarine words" was inspired by verse 10.31.9 from the Vaishnava text, the Bhagavata Purana. Sometimes I had to keep awake the whole night.Sometimes I would keep on writing the events of one sitting for seven days, recollect the songs that were sung, and the order in which they were sung, and the samadhi and so on." In each of his Kathamrita entries, M records the data, time and place of the conversation. Regarding his methodology M wrote, "I wrote everything from memory after I returned home. Initially when M began writing the diaries, he had no plans of publication. M met Ramakrishna in 1882 and attracted by Ramakrishna's teachings, M would maintain a stenographic record Ramakrishna's conversations and actions in his diary, which finally took the form of a book Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita. M had the habit of maintaining a personal diary since the age of thirteen. He had an academic career at Hare School and Presidency College in Kolkata. Mahendranath Gupta (famously known simply as "M.") was a professor at Ripon College and taught at a number of schools in Kolkata. Its expurgated translation into English is entitled The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (1942). The Kathamrita is a regarded as a Bengali classic and revered among the followers as a sacred scripture. Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita (Bengali: শ্রীশ্রীরামকৃষ্ণ-কথামৃত, Śrī-Śrī-Rāmakṛṣṇa-Kathāmṛta, The Nectar of Sri Ramakrishna's Words) is a Bengali five-volume work by Mahendranath Gupta (1854–1932) which recounts conversations and activities of the 19th century Indian mystic Ramakrishna, and published consecutively in years 1902, 1904, 1908, 19.
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