Verse 1.2.36-37

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.2.36-37:

পুণ্ডরীক-বিদ্যানিধি—বৈষ্ণব-প্রধান চৈতন্য-বল্লভ দত্ত-বাসুদেব নাম ‘চাটিগ্রামে’ হৈল ইঙ্হা-সবার পরকাশ ‘বুঢনে’ হৈলা অবতীর্ণ হরিদাস ॥ ৩৬-৩৭ ॥

पुण्डरीक-विद्यानिधि—वैष्णव-प्रधान चैतन्य-वल्लभ दत्त-वासुदेव नाम ‘चाटिग्रामे’ हैल इङ्हा-सबार परकाश ‘बुढने’ हैला अवतीर्ण हरिदास ॥ ३६-३७ ॥

puṇḍarīka-vidyānidhi—vaiṣṇava-pradhāna caitanya-vallabha datta-vāsudeva nāma ‘cāṭigrāme’ haila iṅhā-sabāra parakāśa ‘buḍhane’ hailā avatīrṇa haridāsa || 36-37 ||

pundarika-vidyanidhi—vaisnava-pradhana caitanya-vallabha datta-vasudeva nama ‘catigrame’ haila inha-sabara parakasa ‘budhane’ haila avatirna haridasa (36-37)

English translation:

(36-37) Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi, the topmost Vaiṣṇava, Caitanya Vallabha, and Vasudeva Datta all appeared in Caṭṭagrāma. Haridāsa Ṭhākura appeared in the village of Buḍhana.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi is also known as Premanidhi and Ācāryanidhi. He is described in Śrī Kavi-karṇapūra’s Śrī Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā (54) as follows: “King Vṛṣabhānu of Vraja-maṇḍala has now appeared as Śrī Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi.”

Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi was the disciple of Śrī Mādhavendra Purīpāda and the spiritual master of Śrī Gadādhara Paṇḍita Gosvāmī. His wife’s name was Ratnāvatī, his father’s name was Bāṇeśvara (or, in other’s opinion, Śuklāmbara) Brahmacārī, and his mother’s name was Gaṅgādevī. His ancestral house is situated in the village of Mekhalā, which is two miles east of the Hāta-hājāri police station, which is twelve miles north of

Caṭṭagrāma. One can approach Mekhalā-grāma from Caṭṭagrāma either on horseback, by bullock cart, or by steamer. The steamer station is known as Annapūrṇāra-ghāṭa. The birthplace of Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi is about two miles southwest of Annapūrṇāra-ghāṭa. Although the father of Vidyānidhi belonged to the Vārendra class of brāhmaṇas, when he shifted to the village of Bāghiyā, in the district of Dacca, the brāhmaṇa community of Rāḍha-deśa did not accept him. For this reason his descendants who followed Śākta-dharma [worship of Durgā] were isolated from the community and became the priests for the members of the isolated community. One of the members of this family is living in Vṛndāvana and is named Sarojānanda Gosvāmī. One special characteristic of this family is that each of its members had only one son or no son at all, and therefore the family was not very expansive.

Śrīmān Mahāprabhu used to address Puṇḍarīka as bāpa, or “father,” and He gave him the title Premanidhi to indicate that he was the servant of the Supreme Lord. In Madhya-līlā, Chapter Seven, it is described that Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi was the spiritual master of Śrī Gadādhara Paṇḍita Gosvāmī. The description of Śrī Jagannāthadeva slapping the cheeks of Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi and his disclosing this fact to his dear friend Śrī Dāmodara Svarūpa are found in the Antya-līlā, Chapter Ten.

The bhajana-kuṭira of Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi is now very old and dilapidated. Without repair, it may soon crumble. There are two verses inscribed on the wall of that temple, but they are so old that one cannot read or understand them. There is another temple, however, about two hundred yards southeast of this one, and the inscriptions on the wall of that temple are also illegible. One can infer from the pile of broken bricks ten yards from this temple that there used to be another temple there.

Descendants there say that Mukunda Datta often came there to perform his bhajana. There are two living descendants of the family of Śrīla Vidyānidhi named Śrī Harakumāra Smṛtitīrtha and Śrī Kṛṣṇakiṅkara Vidyālaṅkāra. For further information one should refer to the dictionary known as Vaiṣṇava-mañjuṣā.

There was a devotee named Caitanya-vallabha in the line of Gadādhara Paṇḍita (see Cc. Ādi 12.87). There is a difference in opinion whether or not this is the Caitanya-vallabha mentioned in this verse, otherwise the word caitanya-vallabha may be accepted as meaning “one who is very dear to Śrī Caitanya” (an adjective for Śrī Vasudeva Datta Ṭhākura).

Śrī Vasudeva Datta Ṭhākura was born in the village Chanharā, near the Paṭiyā police station in the district of Caṭṭagrāma. This village is situated twenty miles from Mekhalā, the birthplace of Śrī Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi. It is stated in the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā (140): “In Vraja there were two very nice singers named Madhukaṇṭha and Madhuvrata. They appeared in caitanya-līlā as Mukunda and Vāsudeva Datta, who were singers in the society of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.” He was the dear well-wisher of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita and Śrī Śivānanda Sena. There is a railway station named Pūrvasthalī on the E.I.R. Howra-Katwa line, and about one mile away, in a village known as Māmagāchi, which is the birthplace of Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura, there is an old temple of Madana-gopāla that was established by Vāsudeva Datta. He later on shifted to Kumārahaṭṭa, or Kāñcanapallī, and lived with Śrīvāsa and Śivānanda. Seeing his liberal nature, Śrīmān Mahāprabhu ordered Śivānanda to act as his manager and reduce his excessive expenditure (see Cc. Madhya 15.93-96). His heart- rending prayers to Śrīmān Mahāprabhu on behalf of the miserable, misguided living entities who are averse to Lord Hari are found in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 15.159-180). It is also explained in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi 10.41-42): “Vāsudeva Datta, the nineteenth branch of the Śrī Caitanya tree, was a great personality and a most confidential devotee of the Lord. One could not describe his qualities even with thousands of mouths. Śrīla Vāsudeva Datta Ṭhākura wanted to suffer for the sinful activities of all the people of the world so that Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu might deliver them.” His disciple was Śrī Yadunandana Ācārya, who was the initiating spiritual master of Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī (see Cc. Antya 6.161). Śrī Mukunda Datta was his brother.

It is not definitely certain whether Śrī Haridāsa Ṭhākura appeared in the village named Buḍhana that is in the district of Khulnā. Formerly this village was within a district of twenty-four pargaṇās within the Sātakṣīrā division.