Kavikarṇapura, the youngest son of Śrī Śivānanda Sena, writes in his Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā 172–

vraje nāndīmukhī yāsīt sādya sāraṅga-thākkuraḥ
prahlādo manyate kaiścin matpitrā sa na manyate

Vraja’s Nāndīmukhī became Sāraṅga Ṭhākura in Gaura-līlā. Some people say that he is Prahlāda, but that is not the opinion held by my father.

Śrī Sāraṅga Ṭhākura is mentioned in the list of branches of the Caitanya trunk of the tree of devotional service along with Rāma Dāsa, Kavidatta, Gopāla Dāsa and Bhāgavata Ācārya (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 1.10.113). He is also known as Śārṅga Ṭhākura, Śārṅgadhara and Śārṅgapāṇi. He used to live in Modadrumadvīpa, which is the island in Navadvīpa that represents, of the nine types of devotional service, the service attitude. The name of the town is Mamgachi. He would sit in a secluded place by the banks of the Ganges to perform intense bhajana. Through these practices, he obtained many miraculous powers.

At first, Sāraṅga Ṭhākura did not want to make any disciples for fear of disturbances to his bhajana, but Mahāprabhu repeatedly encouraged him to do so. The following account is given in the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Abhidhāna, “When the Lord was returning after criticizing Devānanda Paṇḍita for having offended Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita, Sāraṅga Ṭhākura met Him on the streets of Navadvīpa. Mahāprabhu ordered him to give up his determination to never take disciples.”

Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda writes in his Anubhāṣya in Caitanya Charitamṛta: “Having been ordered by Mahāprabhu to take disciples, Śāraṅga Ṭhākura decided that he would make a disciple of the first person that he met the following morning. As fate would have it, the next morning, a dead body washed up against him while he was taking bath in the Ganges. He revived the corpse and made him his disciple. This disciple was known as Ṭhākura Murāri, or sometimes as Sāraṅga Murāri.

In the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Abhidhāna, it is further said that Murāri was a boy who had been killed by a snake bite and his parents had set his uncremated body afloat on a raft in the Ganges, as was the custom in that time. Sāraṅga Ṭhākura revived him by giving him initiation. Thus, his name became Sāraṅga Murāri. He became an empowered preacher of Mahāprabhu’s doctrines by guru’s grace. Descendents of Sāraṅga Murāri’s disciples still live in a village named Shav.

Sāraṅga Ṭhākura’s deities were served in the town of Mamgachi. The original temple was built in front of a bakula tree. The Rādhā-Gopīnātha deities that he worshipped can be seen in this temple, as well as the deity of Mahāprabhu’s other associate, Vāsudeva Datta Ṭhākura, Śrī Madana Gopāla. The devotees who do parikramā of Navadvīpa-dhāma visit this temple for darśana. Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura established a temple not far from the above-mentioned home of Sāraṅga Murāri at the birthplace of Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura.

Sāraṅga Ṭhākura disappeared on the thirteenth day of the waning moon (kṛṣṇā trayodaśī) in the month of Agrahāyaṇa. An alternative opinion is that he disappeared on the Āṣāḍha kṛṣṇā caturdaśī.