maheśa-paṇḍitaḥ śrīman-mahābāhur vraje sakhā

In Vraja, Maheśa Paṇḍita is Kṛṣṇa’s cowherd friend Mahābāhu. (Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā 129)

Maheśa Paṇḍita is Mahābāhu Sakhā, one of the dvādaśa-gopāla, or twelve cowherd boys. His home (Sripat) was first situated in Masipur across the river from Jirat on the eastern bank of the Ganges. When Masipur fell into the river, the Sripat was moved to Beledanga near Sukhasagar. Here too, when the Sripat fell into the river it was moved, this time to its present location in Palpara. This last move took place in the Bengali year 1334, or 1927 AD. Palpara is situated within the Pachanagar administrative block. Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura mentions in his commentary to Caitanya Caritāmṛta (1.11.32) that this final resting place for Maheśa Paṇḍita’s Sripat is in Kathal Puli near Chakdah.

Maheśa Paṇḍita is considered to be a branch of both Nityānanda Prabhu and Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Some people say that he was the youngest brother of Jagadīśa Paṇḍita, whose Sripat is in Jashra. According to this opinion, there were three brothers in the family, Jagadīśa, Hiraṇya and Maheśa.

Maheśa Paṇḍita’s Sripat is a small construction in the style of an ordinary residential building. It houses Gaura-Nityānanda deities, as well as Śrī Gopīnātha, Madanamohana, Rādhā Govinda and a śālagrāma-śilā. In front of the temple building is Maheśa Paṇḍita’s puṣpa-samādhi.

Śrī Maheśa Paṇḍita participated in the Ciḍā-dadhi Mahotsava (the festival of chipped rice and yoghurt) in Panihati, after which he followed Nityānanda Prabhu to Saptagram. He was present in Khardaha when Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura came there to pay a visit. With great affection, Maheśa Paṇḍita bade farewell to Narottama Ṭhākura and became perturbed in his separation (Bhakti-ratnākara 8.220). Maheśa Paṇḍita, an associate of Nityānanda Prabhu, resembled Him in being extremely magnanimous and devoted to the salvation of all the fallen living beings. In his ecstasies of devotional love, he would dance madly.

Maheśa Paṇḍita was a magnanimous cowherd boy of Vraja. In his love for Kṛṣṇa, he would dance to the sound of kettledrums like a madman. (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 1.11.32)

His name is also mentioned in Caitanya Bhāgavata; Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura calls him a great soul, parama-mahanta. (Caitanya Bhāgavata 3.6).

His disappearance day is celebrated on the thirteenth day of the dark moon (kṛṣṇā trayodaśi) in the month of Pauṣa.