Mahesh Pandit
Krsnadasa Kaviraja Goswami has written: "Mahesa Pandita, the seventh of the twelve gopalas, was very liberal. In great love of Krsna he danced to the beating of a kettledrum like a madman."
Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami writes, "The village of Mahesa Pandita, which is known as Palapada, is situated in the district of Nadia within a forest about one mile south of the Cakadaha railway station. The Ganges flows nearby. It is said that formerly Mahesa Pandita lived on the eastern side of Jirata in the village known as Masipura or Yasipura, and when Masipura merged in the riverbed of the Ganges, the Deities there were brought fto Palapada, which is situated in the midst of various villages such as Beledanga, Berigrama, Sukhasagara, Candude and Manasapota. (There are about fourteen villages, and the entire neghborhood is known as Pancanagara Paragana.) It is mentioned that Mahesa Pandita joined the festival performed by Sri Nityananda Prabhu at Panihati. Narottama dasa Thakura also joined in the festival, and Mahesa Pandita saw him on that occasion. In the temple of Mahesa Pandita there areDeities of Gaura-Nityananda, Sri Gopinatha, Sri Madana-Mohana and Radha-Govinda as well as a salagrama-sila."
Mahesa Pandita used to dance in the ecstasy of krsna-prema just like a madman. In the Gaura-ganodesa-dipika it is written that in vraja-lila he was the cowherd boy named Sriman Mahabahu. He was an especially close friend of Nityananda Prabhu, and was present at the festival of yogurt and chipped rice in Panihati that was held by Nityananda Prabhu. His birthplaced was in what is now called Cakadaha. According to Bhaktivinoda Thakura, some people say that he was the younger brother of Sri Jagadisa Pandita from the Yasodara district of West Bengal. Bhaktivinoda Thakura, on the other hand says that some doubt remains as to his birthplace, as there is a lack of conclusive evidence on this subject.
The eight wave of the Bhakti-ratnakara observes that when Sri Narottama dasa Thakura visited Khadadaha he visited Sri Mahesa Pandita and took darsana of his lotus feet. There the Bhakti-ratnakara points out that Mahesa Pandita was an extremely exalted soul, a great mahanta. In Caitanya-Bhagavata, Vrndavana dasa Thakura also refers to him as a great mahanta, and says that Mahesa Pandita was especially dear to Nityananda Prabhu. Mahesa Pandita passed away on the 13th day of the dark moon in the month Pausa, which corresponds to December-January.
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