wish of Jahnava Mata that fortunate brahman gave his
two daughters to be wed to Birchandra Prabhu.”
SRI BIRCHANDRA
PRABHU
Srimad Birchandra or Birabhadra Prabhu took birth
within this world on the ninth day of the dark moon in
the month of Kartik, which corresponds to the divine
appearance day of Sri Srimad Bhakti Raksaka Sridhar
Maharaja. Sri Krsna das Kaviraja Goswami writes (CC
Adi 11.8-12):
“Sri Nityananda Prabhu is the topmost branch of the
indestructible tree of eternal love of Godhead, Sri
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu...From that branch grow many
branches and sub-branches...After Nityananda Prabhu,
the greatest branch is Birbhadra Goswami (Birchandra
Prabhu)...although Birabhadra Prabhu was the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, He presented Himself as a great
devotee. And although the Supmre Godhead is
transcendental to all Vedic injunctions, He strictly
followed the Vedic rituals. He is the main pillar in the
hall of devotional service erected by Sri Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu. He knew within Himself that He acted as
the Supreme Lord Vishnu, but externally He was
prideless. It is by the glorious mercy of Sri Birchandra
Prabhu that people all over the world now have the
chance to chant the names of Chaitanya and
Nityananda. I therefore take shelter of the lotus feet of
Sri Birchandra Prabhu so that by His mercy my great
desire to write Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita will be
properly guided.”
In his anubhashya commentary on Chaitanya
Charitamrita, Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura
describes the life of Birchandra Prabhu. He writes that
Birchanrda Prabhu, also known as Virabhadra Goswami
was the son of Nityananda Prabhu and the disciple of
Jahnava Mata. He was born from the womb of Sri
Vasudha, Nityananda Prabhu’s other wife. In the Gaura-
Ganodesha-Dipika, he is mentioned as an incarnation of
Kshirodakshayi Vishnu as follows: sankarshanashya yo
vyuha, payobdhishayi-namakah, sa eva
virachandro’bhu-chaitanya-abhinna vigraha: “ Sri
Sankarshan Dev expands Himself as Kshirodakshayi
Vishnu. His avatara is Birchandra Prabhu. He is
nondifferent from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, in that he
is Vishnu-tattva, God Himself.” In a village of the name
Jhamatapura in the district of Hugali, Birchandra
Prabhu had a disciple named Yadundanacharya, who
had two daughters-his own daughter by birth, Srimati,
and a foster daughter named Narayani. Both these
daughters married Birchandra. The marriage of
Birchandra Prabhu has been mentioned in the Bhakti
Ratnakara of Sri Narahari Chakravarti Thakura as
follows:
“Near Rajabol Hatta is Jhamatpura. Sri Jahnava Mata
went there to the temple of one of her disciples. There,
lived the brahmana Yadunandan Acharya. By the mercy
of Sri Jahanva Mata he was endowed with great
devotion. Yadunandana had a wife named Lakshmi. It
was said that she was a pure and highly religous wife.
They had two daughters-Srimati and Narayani. Their
bodily beauty was wonderful beyond compare. Upon the
Sri Yadunandana Acharya was a disciple of Birchandra
Prabhu. Srimati and Narayani were given mantra
initiation by Jahnava Mata. Sri Vasudha’s daughter was
Gangadevi. She was an avatar of Gangadevi herself.
She was wed to Sri Madhava Acharya, who was an
avatara of Shantanu Maharaja. The Mahabharat
celebrates Shantanu Maharaja, the father of
Bhishmadev in Dwapara-yuga, as the husband of
Gangadevi herself. Madhava Acharya was a great
devotee who was deep in Krsna -prema.
On the order of his mother, Sri Birchandra Prabhu made
a pilgrimage to Sri Vrindavana Dhama. First he visited
the home of Uddharana Datta Thakura in Saptagrama.
Uddharana Datta Thakura’s son, Srinivasa Datta
Thakura greeted Birchandra Prabhu with a respectful
reception, and Birchandra Prabhu stayed there for two
days. From there, he went to Shantipura where he
visited the house of Sri Advaita Acharya. Advaita
Acharya’s son Sri Krsna Mishra cordially welcomed
Birchandra Prabhu with a full reception, and there was
sankirtan, in which everyone was drowned by the sweet
waves of the holy name. From there, Birchandra
Prabhu went to Ambika Kalna, where he visited the
home of Sri Gauridasa Pandit. Sri Hridaya Chaitanya
Prabhu met him there with great warmth and affection.
From Ambika Kalna Birchandra Prabhu went to
Nabadwipa dhama to the house of Sri Jagannatha
Mishra. Seeing the son of Nityananda Prabhu, all the
followers of Sri Chaitanya who were present there were
overjoyed, and welcomed him with great happiness.
There he stayed for two days, after which he traveled on
to Sri Khanda. There he was met by Sri Raghuanndana
and Sri Kanai Thakura who received him affectionately
and embraced him. After staying there for some time,
he continued on to Yajigrama to visit the house of
Srinivasa Acharya. With great devotion, Srinivasa
Acharya offered puja to Sri Birchandra Prabhu,
knowing him to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
There he stayed for some days, and there was a great
sankirtan festival there. After this, Birchandra Prabhu
went on to Kanthak Nagara, near Katwa, where
Mahaprabhu took sannyasa. After staying there for a
day, he continued on to Badhuri Gram, where he arrived
at the house of Govinda Kaviraja. With great devotion,
the advanced Vaishnava, Govinda Kaviraja gave him a
respectful reception and worshiped him with puja.
Being very please with his great devotion, Birchandra
Prabhu stayed at his house for two days. After this, he
visited Kheturi Gram, the hometown of Narottama
Thakura. This is all recorded in the Bhaktiratnakara:
“To increase Sri Narottama Thakura’s bliss beyond
measure, That important branch of the Sri Chaitanya
tree, Sri Birchandra Prabhu came to Kheturi Gram.
danced in sankirtan. At that time, countless people came
to see Sri Birchandra Prabhu, who is Vishnu Himself.”
After staying in Kheturi Gram for some days in a great
festival of sankirtan, Birchandra Prabhu continued on
his way to Vrindavana. By his influence, many sinners
and atheists were delivered on the path. When he
reached Vrindavana, being informed of his auspicious
arrival, and wishing to welcome him as soon as he
1
arrived, the important devotees in Vrindavan waited for
him on the road. These devotees were all great souls,
and included Sri Jiva Goswami, Srimad Krsna dasa
Kaviraja Goswami, as well as Sri Ananta Acharya and
Sri Hari dasa Pandita, who were Sri Gadadhara Pandit’s
disciples and the pujaris of the deity of Sri Madana-
Mohan. Sri Krsna Dasa Brahmachari, Sri Gopinatha
Adhikari, and Sri Madhu Pandita were also there, as
was the pujari of Sri Gopinatha, Bhavananda.
Kashishvara and his disciples Sri Govinda Goswami
(the pujari of Sri Govinda in Vridnavan) and Sri
Yadava Acharya were also there as well as many others.
Bhakti Ratnakara says, “Everyone came out to see
Birchandra Prabhu, and all the residents of Vrindavana
were delighted to take His darshan. There was no one
who was not overwhelmed by the seeing the manner of
ecstatic bhakti exhibited by Birchandra Prabhu. He
sang of the superlative qualities of Vrindavana and all
the Vaishanvas there. After this he visited the deities of
Sri Govinda, Sri Gopinatha, and Sri Madana Mohana
and took darshan of their holy forms.
After this, on the order of Sri Jiva Goswami and Sri
Bhugarbha Goswami, Birchandra Prabhu wandered
throughout the forests of Vrindavan on an extensive
pilgrimage. He saw the twelve forests of Vrindavan,
Radha Kunda, Shyama Kunda, and Govardhana Hill.
And as he saw these things, he exhibited amazing and
wonderful manifestations of divine love. All the
residents of Vrindavana were enchanted by seeing these
demonstrations of ecstasy in Krsna -bhakti. In this way,
after gradually visiting all the important holy places in
Vrindavanaf, Sri Birchandra Prabhu returned to
Gaudadesha. After these wonderful expressions of
divine love by Birchandra Prabhu, his fame was
preached far and wide. His divine opulences were
nondifferent from those of Nityananda Prabhu.
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saratswati Thakura, in his
anubhasya commentary, writes that Birchandra Prabhu
had three disciples who are regarded as his sons-
Gopijana-vallabha, RamaKrsna , and Ramachandra.
The youngest, Ramachandra, belonged to the Sandilya
dynasty and had the surname Varavyala. He established
his family at Khoradoha, and its members are known as
the goswamis of Khoradoha. His eldest disciple,
Gopijana-vallabha, was a resident of a village known as
Lata near the Manakara railway station in the district of
Burdwan. The second, RamaKrsna , lived near Malda in
a village named Gayeshpura. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta
Saraswati Thakura notes that since these three disciples
belonged to different dynasties and also had different
surnames and lived in different places, it is not possible
to accept them as real sons of Virachandra Prabhu.
Birchandra Prabhu’s youngest disciple, Ramchandra
had four sons, of whom the eldest was Radha-madhava,
whose third son was named Yadavendra. Yadavendra’s
son was Nandakirshora, his son was NidhiKrsna , his
son was Chaitanyachand, his son was Krsna Mohan,
his son was Jaganmohana, his son was Vrajanatha, and
his son was Shyamalal Goswami.