Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Visits Nandagrama

When Lord Chaitanya arrived at Nandagrama during His pilgrimage of Vraja Mandala in the year 1515, it was more or less a deserted area with a few scattered hamlets and some old ruins of Nanda’s house including the old boundary wall. The Lord took His bath in some of the holy kundas scattered around Nandagrama including Pavana-sarovara. After taking bath, Lord Chaitanya went on to the hill known as Nandishwara Parvata and enquired from local herdsmen if they knew of any deities somewhere on the hill. The herdsman informed Him that there were some very large deities of a mother and a father along with a child, inside a cave near to the summit. Lord Chaitanya became very happy to hear this and with the help of His assistant Balabhadra and few other locals, Lord Chaitanya excavated the cave and found the three deities of Mother Yashoda, Nanda Maharaja, and Krishna. The deity of Krishna was very beautiful and standing in a three-fold bending form known as the tri-bhanga-rupa playing on a flute. After paying His obeisances, Lord Chaitanya caressed the deity of Krishna and then began to chant the holy names and dance in ecstasy. The local inhabitants of the area came to see Lord Chaitanya and were surprised to see someone in such an ecstatic mood of love for Krishna. They concluded that Lord Narayana Himself must have appeared in the guise of a human being, wandering around Vraja in ecstasy. The locals also joined Lord Chaitanya in chanting and dancing in ecstasy. Lord Chaitanya remained at Nandagrama for a few days before continuing His parikrama around Vraja.