Rāghava Paṇḍit’s home was in the town of Panihati. Panihati is on the bank of the Ganges, one mile towards eastern direction from the Sodpur station, which is on the Eastern Railway line in the northern direction of Sealdah. Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī has written that Mahāprabhu was a permanent resident in the house of Rāghava Paṇḍit.

The Lord’s manifestations took place in the home of Śacī, during Nityānanda Prabhu’s dancing, in Śrīvāsa’s kīrtana, and in the house of Rāghava Paṇḍit always. It is the Lord’s nature to be attracted by His devotee’s love. (Chaitanya Charitāmṛta 3.2.34-5)

Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura’s biography of the Lord indicates clearly how dear Rāghava Paṇḍit was to Mahāprabhu. When Rāghava saw the Lord of his life coming from Śrīvāsa’s house in Kumarahatta toward his own home, he fell down at His feet, overcome by love.

When the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha saw Rāghava Paṇḍit’s devotion, He blessed him with a look of favor. The Lord said, “I have come to Rāghava’s house and forgotten all distress simply by seeing him. I feel the same pleasure coming here as I do by taking a refreshing bath in the Ganges.” (Chaitanya Bhāgavata 3.5.81-3)

The Lord often told Rāghava Paṇḍit to cook for Him because He enjoyed accepting his preparations, imbued as they were with deep devotion. Rāghava Paṇḍit cooked several items and fed the Lord with great enthusiasm. Balarāma’s other form, Nityānanda Prabhu, would also come to eat at Rāghava Paṇḍit’s house with His companions and all would praise his cooking. Mahāprabhu especially enjoyed his śāka (spinach preparations).

While the Lord was there, Gadādhara Dāsa, Purundara Paṇḍit, Paramesvarī Dāsa, Raghunātha Vaidya and other great Vaiṣṇavas came to Rāghava Paṇḍit’s house in Panihati in accordance with His desire. The Lord took Rāghava Paṇḍit aside in order to explain to him His oneness with Nityānanda Prabhu. Mahāprabhu once told Makaradhvaja Kara that service to Rāghava Paṇḍit was the same as service to Himself.

Rāghavera jhāli or “Rāghava’s bags” were filled with various preparations for the entire year that his sister Damayantī made for Mahāprabhu. They have been mentioned in Abhirāma Dāsa Ṭhākura’s Pāṭa-paryaṭana and in the Chaitanya Charitāmṛta.

Rāghava and Damayantī lived in Panihati. They were famous for the bags of food known as rāghavera-jhāli. (Pāṭa-paryaṭana)

Rāghava Paṇḍit, Mahāprabhu’s primary follower, is the Lord’s seventh branch. An important sub-branch, Makaradhvaja Kara, proceeded from him. His sister Damayantī was the Lord’s dear servant, who throughout the year gathered various ingredients for the Lord’s offering. Rāghava filled bags with the foods Damayantī prepared and secretly carried them to Purī for the Lord. The Lord then ate these gifts of food for an entire year. Those bags are still celebrated as rāghavera-jhāli. (Chaitanya Charitāmṛta 1.10.24-27)

The generous Rāghava Paṇḍit, in whose house Mahāprabhu secretly stayed, also went with them. (Chaitanya Bhāgavata 3.8.32)

Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī writes a complete description of these bags in his Chaitanya Charitāmṛta (Antya-līlā, Chapter 10). Kṛṣṇa’s devotees in Vraja have no sense of awe and wonder in their transcendental pure love to the Lord. Damayantī would prepare suktā (bitter preparation) for the Lord because she worried that He might have problems with His digestion. Mahāprabhu was overjoyed to receive these preparations because they were offered with such natural affection.

Rāghava Paṇḍit came with bags full of condiments prepared very nicely by his sister, Damayantī. She made variety of unparalleled culinary concoctions suitable for the Lord. The Lord would then enjoy them for the entire year that followed. Since Chaitanya Mahāprabhu is the Supreme Lord, He takes the spirit in which things are done, accepting the love in which a gift is given. He therefore derived great pleasure even from the dried bitter leaves and from kāśandi (mustard sauce). Because of her natural love for Mahāprabhu, Damayantī considered Him to be an ordinary human being and therefore worried that He might become sick from overeating and get dysentery. She prepared suktā for Him, since it diminishes the mucus that accumulates in the digestive system and causes dysentery. Damayantī’s affectionate attitude brought great pleasure to the Lord. (Chaitanya Charitāmṛta 3.10.13, 14, 18-20)

Makaradhvaja Kara, a kāyastha who also lived in Panihati, was Rāghava Paṇḍit’s initiated disciple. It was he who annually carried the bags of food that his spiritual master prepared for the Lord to Purī. He was named the munsib or superintendent of these bags. (Chaitanya Charitāmṛta 3.10.40)

Mahāprabhu joyfully praised the extent of Rāghava Paṇḍit’s devotion to His entourage in Purī, especially talking about his coconut offerings. Though Rāghava Paṇḍit owned an orchard with hundreds of coconut trees, he would have more expensive coconuts brought from afar in order to offer its water and pulp to the Lord. Mahāprabhu happily accepted them.

Rāghava Paṇḍit never offered anything to the Lord that was not pure and not of the highest quality. Paying high prices for the best possible produce, he had mangoes, jackfruit, bananas and other fruit brought from distant villages to be offered to Mahāprabhu. One day a servant touched the coconut offering after his hand had brushed against the doorframe. Rāghava worried that dust from people’s feet had contaminated the foodstuffs. Thus, he rejected them as unsuitable for the offering and threw them away.

Should anyone criticize Rāghava Paṇḍit for throwing fruit away, Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura has warned, “Rāghava Paṇḍit was an eternally perfected servant of Kṛṣṇa and not some person with an obsessive-compulsive neurosis about cleanliness. Nor was he a low-level devotee who artificially projected transcendental qualities on matter. He served the object of his worship without the slightest hint of any materialistic attitude, completely absorbed in a transcendental mood of service.” (Anubhāṣya, Chaitanya Charitāmṛta 2.14.83)

Following the order of Mahāprabhu, Nityānanda Prabhu along with His associates left Purī to preach pure devotion in Bengal. While wandering through the Ganges valley, Nitāi came to Rāghava Paṇḍit’s house in Panihati, being attracted by his pure devotional attitude. Along with Him came the three Ghosh brothers, Govinda, Mādhava and Vāsudeva, who were known for their abilities as singers. When they started singing, Nityānanda Prabhu fell into a trance-like state and started to dance. When He had finished dancing, He sat on the deities’ altar; Nityānanda Prabhu’s entourage and Rāghava Paṇḍit performed an elaborate abhiṣeka ceremony to honour Him. After the bathing ceremony, they dressed and garlanded Him, whereupon Nityānanda Prabhu sat down again on the deities’ throne while Rāghava Paṇḍit held the parasol.

At this moment, a miraculous event occurred. Nityānanda Prabhu, still in a trance-like state, ordered Rāghava Paṇḍit to quickly bring him a garland of kadamba flowers. Rāghava answered that kadamba trees were not yet in flower. Nityānanda Prabhu told him to look around the grounds of his house and he would find the flowers. As Rāghava searched, he was amazed to find kadamba flowers blossoming on a lime tree. He quickly picked the flowers and made a garland, which he placed around Nityānanda Prabhu’s neck.

A few moments later, the house was filled with the fragrance of damanaka flowers. Nityānanda Prabhu said that Mahāprabhu Himself had come from Purī wearing a damanaka garland to hear the kīrtana. Śrī Narahari Cakravartī Ṭhākura mentions this dance and kīrtana in his Bhakti-ratnākara:

First Nityānanda Prabhu came to Panihati with His associates. Rāghava Paṇḍit, Makaradhvaja Kara and the other devotees of the village were overjoyed to see them. Who can describe the wonderful dancing and kīrtana that took place in Rāghava Paṇḍit’s house? (Bhakti-ratnākara 12.3645-7)

Nityānanda Prabhu came to Panihati along with Rāma Dāsa and Gadādhara Dāsa, where He first visited Rāghava Paṇḍit’s house. The kīrtana that they began there filled the entire universe with transcendental joy. Panihati is the birthplace of the great devotee, Rāghava Paṇḍit. There is no limit to the glories of a great devotee’s birthplace. (Bhakti-ratnākara 8.156-8)

While Nityānanda Prabhu was in Panihati, He ordered Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī to put on a feast of chipped rice and yoghurt for His entourage. Rāghava Paṇḍit also participated by contributing various foods that had not been contaminated by the touch of cooked rice. He thus witnessed Nityānanda Prabhu’s līlā of picnicking by the riverbank in a mood of great amazement. After resting in the afternoon by the Ganges, Nityānanda Prabhu went to Rāghava Paṇḍit’s house, where He spent the evening in kīrtana and dance. Mahāprabhu Himself manifested there, being attracted by Nityānanda Prabhu’s dancing. In order to reveal the extent of Rāghava Paṇḍit’s good fortune, Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu sat down together and with great satisfaction accepted his offerings of fine rice and various vegetable preparations, as well as cakes and sweet rice, all of which was like the nectar of the Gods. Overcome with affection for Raghunātha Dāsa, Rāghava Paṇḍit gave him Mahāprabhu’s remnants.

Rāghava Paṇḍit visited Purī on occasion where he participated with Mahāprabhu in the cleaning of the Guṇḍicā Temple, the Ratha-yātrā festival, water sports in the Indradyumna Sarovara, and many other activities. Among the seven groups that performed in front of Lord Jagannātha’s cart, Rāghava Paṇḍit sang in the chorus with the first group of singers who were led by Svarūpa Dāmodara and in which Advaita Ācārya was the principal dancer.

Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura has written a few words about Rāghava Paṇḍit’s samādhi: “A high platform was built over Rāghava Paṇḍit’s samādhi and it is now overgrown with vines. To the north of the samādhi is a broken down building in which his Madana Mohana deities are present, but much neglected. The service is managed by the principal landlord of Panihati, named Śivacandra Rāya Caudhurī.” (Anubhāṣya, Chaitanya Charitāmṛta 1.10.24) Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote these lines in 1932. Sixty years later, it appears that the situation has changed. A new temple and residential building have now been constructed on the site of Rāghava Paṇḍit’s home.