rādhā-vibhūti-rūpā yā chandrakāntiḥ purā sthitā
sādya gaurāṅga-nikaṭe dāsa-vaṁśyo gadādharaḥ
pūrṇānandā vraje yāsīd baladeva-priyāgraṇīḥ
sāpi kārya-vaśād eva prāviśat taṁ gadādharaṁ

She who in Kṛṣṇa-līlā was Candrakānti, the manifestation of Rādhārāṇī’s ornaments, has become Gadādhara Dāsa by Gaurāṅga’s side. Balarāma’s beloved Pūrṇānandā has also entered into him for some special purpose. (Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā 154-155)

Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda has commented on Gadādhara Dāsa’s identity in Kṛṣṇa-līlā: “He is Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s effulgence. Just as Gadādhara Paṇḍita is Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī Herself, so Gadādhara Dāsa is an incarnation of Her bodily lustre. He is the bodily lustre of Gaurāṅga, Who Himself is Kṛṣṇa with the mood and bodily lustre of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. In the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā, he is said to be the manifestation of Rādhā’s opulence. He is counted amongst the followers of both Gaura and Nityānanda Prabhu. The followers of Gaura relish the mood of conjugal love while the followers of Nityānanda Prabhu are in the mood of pure devotional service in friendship. Although Gadādhara Dāsa was an associate of Nityānanda Prabhu, his mood of friendship is not that of a cowherd boy but is in the conjugal mood. He established the temple of Gaurāṅga in Katwa.” (Anubhāṣya to Caitanya Caritāmṛta 1.10.53)

Gadādhara Dāsa’s home was in Eriyadaha, a village situated 8 miles north of Kolkata on the banks of the Bhagirathi River. After Mahāprabhu’s disappearance, he moved from Navadvīpa to Katwa, and then later to Eriyadaha. In the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Abhidhāna, it is said that Gadādhara Dāsa supervised Śacī Mātā and Viṣṇupriyā Devī’s affairs. When they disappeared, he moved to Katwa where he established the worship of the Gaurāṅga deity. The temple is currently known in Katwa as Mahaprabhu Bāri.

Gadādhara Dāsa met with Mahāprabhu when the Lord was making His initial attempt to travel to Vṛndāvana by taking the route through Bengal, first stopping in Śāntipura, then Kumarahatta and then Rāghava Paṇḍita’s house in Panihati. Mahāprabhu affectionately placed His lotus feet on Gadādhara Dāsa’s head:

When Gadādhara Dāsa heard that Mahāprabhu had arrived at Rāghava Paṇḍita’s house, he ran to see Him. Gadādhara Dāsa is extremely dear to Mahāprabhu, his body is charged with the joy of devotion. When the Lord saw the pious Gadādhara, He lifted His feet and placed them on his head. (Caitanya Bhāgavata 3.5.92-4)

When Mahāprabhu sent Nityānanda Prabhu from Purī to Bengal to distribute divine love, Gadādhara Dāsa, Rāma Dāsa, Kṛṣṇadāsa Paṇḍita, Parameśvarī Dāsa, Purandara Paṇḍita, Raghunātha Vaidya and others accompanied Him. On the road from Nīlācala, Nityānanda Prabhu and His associates made various extraordinary displays of divine love. Gadādhara Dāsa, the eternal resident of Vraja, took on the transcendental mood of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, and in the ecstasy of a cowherd girl began to laugh and shout, “Yoghurt for sale! Yoghurt for sale! Does anyone want to buy some yoghurt?” In the mood of a cowherd boy, Abhirāma Dāsa Ṭhākura stood for nine hours in the three-fold bending form. Kṛṣṇadāsa and Parameśvarī Dāsa also took the mood of cowherd boys, shouting “Hoi! Hoi!” as though they were herding the cattle. Purandara Paṇḍita climbed up a tree and shouted, “I am Angada!” and then jumped down to the ground.

The mood of Rādhikā descended on Gadādhara Dāsa. He began to call, “Who will buy yoghurt?” and burst out laughing. Kṛṣṇadāsa and Parameśvarī Dāsa both shouted “Hoi! Hoi!” in the spirit of the cowherd boys. (Caitanya Bhāgavata 3.5.238, 240)

When Nityānanda Prabhu arrived in Bengal, He visited villages on both banks of the Ganges. One day He happened by Gadādhara Dāsa’s house and saw that he was experiencing gopī-bhāva when he took a jug full of Ganges water and called out to everyone, “Milk! Who wants to buy milk?” When Nityānanda Prabhu saw Gadādhara Dāsa’s bhāva, He took the Gopāla deity from his house and danced, holding the deity to His chest.

In the mood of a gopī, Gadādhara Dāsa had no consciousness of external reality. He constantly referred to himself as a gopī. (Caitanya Bhāgavata 3.5.381)

Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura writes in his commentary to this verse that though Gadādhara Dāsa considered himself to be a gopī, he did not dress like a woman. His mood was expressed internally and he did not make any artificial, external display.

One day, Nityānanda Prabhu was in the audience at Mādhavānanda Ghosh’s performance of Kṛṣṇa’s dāna-khaṇḍa-līlā at the house of Gadādhar Dāsa, and He went into a deep trance. For this reason, Gadādhara’s house is also known as the place of the dāna-līlā. The dāna-khaṇḍa-līlā is described elaborately in Rūpa Gosvāmī’s Dāna-keli-kaumudī.

In Gadādhara Dāsa’s village of Eriyadaha, there was a very powerful Kāzī antagonistic to religion who hated the very sound of the congregational chanting of Kṛṣṇa’s Names. One day, Gadādhara Dāsa was in an ecstatic mood and walked right into the house of this Kāzī, singing the Holy Names at the top of his voice. The Kāzī was sitting there in the company of his inner circle. Gadādhara Dāsa ordered him to chant the Holy Names. The Kāzī became very angry at the affront, but when he saw that Gadādhara Dāsa was in a trance-like state, he calmed down and asked him why he had come. Gadādhara Dāsa answered, “Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu have descended to this earth to make everyone chant the Holy Names. Only you have not yet done so, so I have come here to make you chant the Name of Kṛṣṇa. If you chant the Holy Names, all your sins will be eradicated.”

Although the Kāzī was by nature cruel, he laughed and said, “Alright, I will chant Kṛṣṇa’s Name tomorrow. Now go home.” Gadādhara Dāsa danced jubilantly and said, “Why tomorrow? You have just uttered the Name of Kṛṣṇa now! Now that you have taken the Name of Hari, you will never again know any inauspiciousness!” (Caitanya Bhāgavata 3.5.409-10)

Gadādhara Dāsa thus converted the irascible Kāzī through his divine power. This impossible task became possible because his body had become possessed by Kṛṣṇa.

This is the glory of Gadādhara Dāsa, who has been counted as one of Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s intimate associates. Just seeing him, who is constantly in an ecstatic devotional mood, erases all of one’s sinful reactions. (Caitanya Bhāgavata 3.5.413, 727)

Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī has also written the following about Gadādhara Dāsa in the Caitanya Caritāmṛta:

Śrī Rāma Dāsa and Śrī Gadādhara Dāsa were both devotees of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and stayed with Him. When the Lord ordered Nityānanda Prabhu to return to Bengal, he told both of them to accompany Him. Gadādhara Dāsa was always in an ecstatic state in the devotional mood of a gopī. Nityānanda Prabhu put on the dāna-līlā performance in his house. (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 1.11.13, 14, 17)

Gadādhara Dāsa was also present when Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī organized the yoghurt and chipped-rice festival in Panihati on Nityānanda Prabhu’s order. Yadunandana Dāsa was Gadādhara Dāsa’s disciple. This is stated in the Bhakti-ratnākara:

Yadunandana Cakravartī was a very learned scholar whose guru and worshipable lord was Gadādhara Dāsa. (Bhakti-ratnākara 9.352)

Gadādhara Dāsa’s disappearance day is on the eighth day of the waning moon (kṛṣṇā aṣṭamī) of the month of Kārtika. Śrīnivāsa Ācārya put on a huge festival on the occasion of Gadādhara Dāsa’s disappearance day, in which many exalted Vaiṣṇavas participated. Like the one at Khetari, this festival was greatly renowned throughout the Vaiṣṇava community.

What can I say about Kārtika kṛṣṇā aṣṭamī? My prabhu disappeared here on that day. (Bhakti-ratnākara 9.362)

Gadādhara Dāsa’s samādhi tomb is situated on the grounds of the Mahāprabhu Bāri temple in Katwa close to Keśava Bhāratī’s samādhi tomb.