Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu was Abhirāma Thakur’s life and soul. He was Śrīdama, one among the twelve cowherd boys in Vraja.

purā śrīdāma-nāmāsīd abhirāmo’dhunā mahān
dvātriṁśatā janair eva vāhyaṁ kāṣṭham uvāha saḥ

He who was previously known as Śrīdāma is today Abhirāma Ṭhākura. He picked up a piece of wood that took 32 men to lift. (Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā 126)

Abhirāma Ṭhākura lived with his wife Mālinī Devī in the village of Khanakul Krishnanagar in the Hooghly district. Khana refers to the Dwarakeshwar River, kūla means banks; thus, the village of Krishnanagar on the banks of the Dwarakeshwar River is also known as Khanakul Krishnanagar. At the doors of his temple stands a large bakula tree, and the place is popularly called Siddha-bakula Kuñja. This is the place where Abhirāma Ṭhākura first sat down when he arrived in the village. The Gopīnātha deity was found when digging for a pond first began. This pond goes by the name of Śrī Abhirāma-kuṇḍa. The temple also houses the deities of Vrajavallabha, Gopāla and a śālagrāma-śilā.

Śrī Abhirāma Ṭhākura was a very vigorous and powerful ācārya. He engaged in preaching on the orders of Lord Nityānanda and saved many atheists and people opposed to the Vaiṣṇava religion.

Abhirāma Gosvāmī possessed tremendous spiritual power. The atheists trembled whenever they saw him. He was intoxicated as though he had been possessed by Nityānanda Prabhu, and his enchanting mercies are famed throughout the world. (Bhakti-ratnākara 4.103-4)

Abhirāma Dāsa was fully absorbed in the mood of friendship. He lifted a stick that contained sixteen knots and fashioned flute from it. (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 1.10.116)

This Caitanya Caritāmṛta verse is making reference to the same piece of wood that according to the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā would have taken hundreds of people to pick it up. After Abhirāma Dāsa lifted it, he held it like a flute.

He held in his hands a piece of wood that a hundred men could not move, in the way one holds a flute. (Bhakti-ratnākara 4.123)

The devotees were greatly astonished when they saw him perform such superhuman feats. According to one legend, whenever Abhirāma Ṭhākura paid his obeisances to a stone or statue, if it was not a viṣṇu-śīlā or a consecrated deity, it would crack or be reduced to powder. Non-devotees were also unable to tolerate his obeisances. Nityānanda Prabhu’s son Vīracandra Gosvāmī and Gaṅgāmātā Gosvāmīnī survived his obeisances, which confirmed their divinity. These things are written in aṣṭakas (eight verse Sanskrit hymns) composed by Abhirāma Ṭhākura in their name.

Śrīla Abhirāma Ṭhākura possessed an amazing whip that he named Jaya-maṅgala. Anyone touched by this whip would immediately experience the transcendental ecstasies of prema. One day Śrīnivāsa Ācārya visited Abhirāma Ṭhākura, who touched the whip to the body of Śrīnivāsa Ācārya. Abhirāma’s wife Mālinī stopped her husband from doing so again, saying that Śrīnivāsa was just a young lad who wouldn’t be able to tolerate the effects of divine love. Nevertheless, Śrīnivāsa Ācārya was very dear to Abhirāma and received many blessings from him. Though not his initiated disciple, he was like a disciple to him. The Jaya-maṅgala whip is still preserved in a chest in the Krishnanagar temple.

In the Bhakti-ratnākara, the following statement is also found:

O Śrīnivāsa! How much more can I say? Abhirāma descended into this world in order to deliver it. Appearing in a brāhmaṇa family, he became a scholar in all the scriptures and an unequalled musician, not only in singing and playing musical instruments, but in dance also. He married at Nityānanda Prabhu’s request. His wife Mālinī is also indescribably powerful. (Bhakti-ratnākara 4.105-8)

Many people say that the Bali Math in Purī was established by Abhirāma Ṭhākura. An annual festival is held in Khanakula Krishnanagar on his disappearance day, i.e., the Caitra kṛṣṇā saptamī.

Our parama-guru, Jagad-guru Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda, visited this site along with his associates when performing Śrī Gauḍa-maṇḍala parikramā. At that time, the devotees in charge of the temple greeted him with great hospitality and honoured him and his followers with grand treatment.