Vrindavana Dasa Thakura

Vrindavana Dasa Thakura or Brindaban Das (1507–1589) was the author of the Chaitanya Bhagavata, the first full-length biography of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu written in the Bengali language.

Early life

Vrindavana Dasa was born in Mamgachi in the Navadvipa area of West Bengal. His mother was Narayani, the niece of Srinivasa Acarya, a direct follower of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Vrindavana Dasa’s father, Vaikunthanatha Vipra, was from Sylhet in East Bengal. However, it is said that his father died before he was born and so his mother moved to the house of Srivasa in Mayapura. In his youth Vrindavana Dasa took initiation from Nityananda, one of the main associates of Chaitanya and he was apparently the last disciple that Nityananda accepted.

Chaitanya Bhagavata

In 1535, Vrindvana Dasa wrote the Chaitanya Bhagavata, a biography of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Initially, the Chaitanya Bhagavata was named Chaitanya Mangala. However the poet Lochana Dasa also wrote a work with this title. Therefore, the leading Vaishnavas in Vrindavana met and decided that henceforth Vrindavana Dasa's book would be known as the Chaitanya Bhagavata, and Lochana Dasa’s book would remain as the Chaitanya Mangala.

Praise of Vrindavana Dasa

Vrindavana Dasa is considered by Gaudiya Vaishnavas as the Vyasa of Chaitanya’s pastimes, since he was the first to reveal that Chaitanya was God himself and not just an incarnation of Godhead.

It would seem that the Chaitanya Bhagavata was the only major work written by Vrindavana Dasa. There are a number of other works attributed to him but their authorship has not been validated.

See also

Bibliography
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