Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s Visit to Pandharpur

Chaitanya Mahaprabhus Visit to Pandharpur
Chaitanya Mahaprabhus Visit to Pandharpur

Lord Caitanya visited Pandharpur while on a journey through South India, apparently to search for His sannyasi brother, Sankararanya, formerly known as Visvarupa.
After travelling down the east coast of India through the province of Tamil Nadu and up the west coast through Kerala and Karnataka, Caitanya Mahaprabhu entered Maharashtra. As stated in the Caitanya-caritamrta (Madhya 9.282–283), the Lord went to Pandharpur, where He happily saw the Deity of Lord Vitthala and chanted and danced.
In Pandharpur, Lord Caitanya met Sri Ranga Puri, a Godbrother of His spiritual master, Isvara Puri. They talked about Lord Krishna continuously for five to seven days.
Sri Ranga Puri recalled that he had once been to Navadvipa, Lord Caitanya’s birthplace, where he had visited the house of a brahmana named Jagannatha Misra. Sri Ranga Puri remembered the taste of a curry cooked from banana flowers by Jagannatha Misra’s wife. Jagannatha Misra’s eldest son had accepted the renounced order. Sri Ranga Puri had later learned, he said, that this son had passed away in Pandharpur.
Jagannatha Misra, Lord Caitanya then revealed, had been His father, and the son who had passed away had been His brother.
Lord Caitanya stayed four more days in Pandharpur, before moving on. During His tour of South India, Lord Caitanya was constantly on the move, but He stayed in Pandharpur for about eleven days. His pastimes there, and those of His brother, establish yet another link between Pandharpur and the Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition followed by the present-day Hare Krishna devotees.
Lord Chaitanya stayed in Pandharpur for eleven days.
In Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Madhya Lila, Chapter 9, we read about Lord Caitanya’s visit to a famous Krishna temple in Maharashtra state:
Madhya 9.282
 tatha haite pandarapure aila gauracandra
 viththala-thakura dekhi’ paila ananda
“From there Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu went to Pandarapura, where He happily saw the temple of Viththala Thakura.”
PURPORT
 The city of Pandarapura is situated on the river Bhima. It is said that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu initiated Tukarama when He visited Pandarapura, and thus Tukarama became His disciple. Tukarama Acarya became very famous in the Maharashtra province, and he spread the sankirtana movement all over the province. The sankirtana party belonging to Tukarama is still very popular in Bombay and throughout the province of Maharashtra. Tukarama’s book is known as Abhanga. His sankirtana party exactly resembles the Gaudiya-Vaishnava sankirtana parties, for they chant the holy name of the Lord with mridanga and karatalas.
Later in Madhya Lila 9, we find further information about Lord Caitanya’s association with Pandarapura, this time in relationship with His brother Vishvarupa : 
Madhya 9.300 
 ei tirthe sankararanyera siddhi-prapti haila
 prastave sri-ranga-puri eteka kahila
“Sri Ranga Puri informed Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu that the sannyasi named Sankararanya had attained perfection in that holy place, Pandarapura.
PURPORT
 Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s elder brother was named Visvarupa. He left home before Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and accepted the sannyasa order under the name of Sankararanya Svami. He travelled all over the country and finally went to Pandarapura, where he passed away after attaining perfection. In other words, he entered the spiritual world after giving up his mortal body at Pandarapura. Sri Ranga Puri, a disciple of Sri Madhavendra Puri and godbrother of Isvara Puri, disclosed this important news to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Madhya 9.301 
 prabhu kahe,—-purvasrame tenha mora bhrata
 jagannatha misra—-purvasrame mora pita
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, “In My previous asrama, Sankararanya was My brother and Jagannatha Misra was My father.”
Madhya 9.302 
 ei-mata dui-jane ista-gosthi kari’
 dvaraka dekhite calila sri-ranga-puri
After finishing his talks with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Ranga Puri started for Dvaraka-dhama.
Madhya 9.303 
 dina cari tatha prabhuke rakhila brahmana
 bhima-nadi snana kari’ karena viththala darsana
After Sri Ranga Puri departed for Dvaraka, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu remained with the brahmana at Pandarapura for four more days. He took His bath in the Bhima River and visited the temple of Viththala.”

ISKCON Dwarka

ISKCON opened a temple in Dvaraka in 1996. The ten-room building sits in a market area that’s a three-minute walk from the Dvarakadhisa temple. The Deities of Sri Sri Radha-Syamasundara are in one room; guests, staff, and supplies fill the rest. Disciple of His Holiness Mahavisnu Goswami oversee the project.

Lord Chaitanya Visits Nashik

Lord Chaitanya footprints at Balaji temple, at Ram Kund, Nashik

Caitanya Mahaprabhu at Nashik
Caitanya Mahaprabhu at Nashik

Lord Chaitanya Footprints at Balaji Temple at Nashik
Lord Chaitanya Footprints at Balaji Temple at Nashik

Ram Ghat
Ram Ghat

 

Lord Chaitanya visits Pancavati, Sri Caitanya Caritamrta

As we near the end of our series on the places Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu visited during His South India preaching tour, the yatra turns northward. Working His way back towards Jagannatha Puri from the southern states, Sri Caitanya visited Pancavati-tirtha in Maharashtra. Pancavati is mentioned in the Summary of Caitanya-caritamrta Madhya Lila 9:

Madhya 9 Summary

“The Lord then visited Tapi, Mahismati-pura, the Narmada River and Rsyamuka-parvata. He entered Dandakaranya and liberated seven palm trees. From there He visited a place known as Pampa-sarovara and visited Pancavati, Nasika, Brahmagiri and also the source of the Godavari River, Kusavarta. Thus the Lord visited almost all the holy places in South India.”

This part of Lord Caitanya’s journey is further described in Madhya Lila 9.316:

Madhya 9.316

 prabhu asi’ kaila pampa-sarovare snana
pancavati asi, tahan karila visrama

“Eventually Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu arrived at a lake known as Pampa, where He took His bath. He then went to a place called Pancavati, where He rested.

Purport

According to some, the old name of the Tungabhadra River was Pamba. According to others, Vijaya-nagara, the capital of the state, was known as Pampatirtha. According to still others, the lake near Anagundi, in the direction of Hyderabad, is Pampa-sarovara. The river Tungabhadra also flows through there. There are many different opinions about the lake called Pampa-sarovara.”

Not only do we find little information about Pancavati in this verse from Madhya Lila, Srila Prabhupada provides no specific details in his purport. In an earlier segment on Pampa-sarovar, we discussed Srila Prabhupada’s comments on the varying opinions as to Pampa’s location, concluding that the most likely spot was the Pampa-sarovar at Hampi, Karnataka.

A week prior to the Pampa-sarovar segment, we visited Dandakaranya Forest, and as we noted in that article, there seems to be no question as to the location of Dandak, near Nasik, Maharashtra:

“The residents of Dandakaranya who witnessed the miraculous pastime of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s liberation of the seven palm trees exclaimed that this personality must be Lord Rama, who was famous in the area since ancient times. Sri Rama appeared in Treta-yuga, more than two million years ago, and while on exile, lived in the Dandakaranya forest for several years along with Sita Devi and Laksman. Although Lord Caitanya traveled here relatively recently, still the local residents recognized Him as Lord Rama when He liberated the seven palm trees at Saptatala.

Lord Chaitanya visits Dandakaranya Forest

In the summary of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Madhya lila 9, we read about Lord Caitanya’s travels to the famous tirtha of Dandakaranya:

“The Lord then visited Tapti, Mahismati-pura, Narmada-tira and Rsyamuka-parvata. He entered Dandakaranya and liberated the seven palm trees. From there He visited a place known as Pampa-sarovara and visited Pancavati, Nasika, Brahmagiri and also the source of the Godavari River, Kusavarta. Thus the Lord visited almost all the holy places in South India.”

In Madhya lila 9.3.11-16, we read about the Lord’s visit to Dandakaranya, and the details of His glorious pastimes there:

Caitanya-caritamrta Madhya lila 9:

Dandakaranya Forest

Text 311

 dhanus-tirtha dekhi’ karila nirvindhyate snane
rsyamuka-giri aila dandakaranye

 

TRANSLATION

 The Lord next arrived at Dhanus-tirtha, where He took His bath in the river Nirvindhya. He then arrived at Rsyamuka Mountain and then went to the forest called Dandakaranya.

PURPORT

 According to some opinions, Rsyamuka is a chain of mountains beginning at the village of Hampi-grama in the district of Bellary. The mountain chain begins along the bank of the river Tungabhadra, which gradually reaches the state of Hyderabad. According to other opinions, this hill is situated in Madhya Pradesh and bears the present name of Rampa. Dandakaranya is a spacious tract of land which begins north of Khandesa and extends south to Ahmadnagar, west to Nasika, and east to Aurangabad. The Godavari River flows through this tract of land, and there is a great forest there where Lord Ramacandra lived.