Mahāprabhu showed through His pastimes just how dear He considered Jagadīśa Paṇḍita to be. Mahāprabhu is the father of saṅkīrtana and even as a child He tricked everyone into chanting the Holy Names. Śacī and all the other neighbors would clap their hands and sing the Names of the Lord in order to make Him stop crying. On ekādaśī day, however, Nimāi kept on crying despite Śacī Mātā and Jagannātha Miśra’s chanting the Names in the usual way. Confused and anxious, His parents finally asked Him out of desperation, “What do you want, child? What must we give you to make you stop crying?”

Nimāi answered, “A rice offering to Lord Viṣṇu has been made at Jagadīśa Paṇḍita’s house. I want to eat some of that prasāda. Give me some of that prasāda and I will stop crying.”

Jagannātha Miśra was amazed to hear Nimāi say such things. How could He know that Jagadīśa Paṇḍita was making a rice offering on ekādaśī? Jagannātha Miśra immediately went to his neighbour’s house and was surprised to see that a large offering of rice and other dishes had indeed been made to their Viṣṇu deity. Jagannātha Miśra told Jagadīśa Paṇḍita of Nimāi’s request, adding that he was worried that it would not be correct for Him to eat rice on ekādaśī. But Gaurāṅga’s eternal associate Jagadīśa Paṇḍita knew that this was little Gopāla in the form of Nimāi who was hungry. Without any hesitation, he gave the entire offering to Jagannātha Miśra. As soon as Nimāi received the plate, He immediately stopped crying and joyfully started to eat.

The merciful Lord gave Jagadīśa Paṇḍit and Hiraṇya Paṇḍita His grace when He was a little boy. He ate the offerings to Viṣṇu at their house on the ekādaśī day. (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 1.10.70-71)

Jagadīśa Paṇḍita purifies the entire universe because the nectar of love for Kṛṣṇa pours from him like torrents of rain. (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 1.11.30)

This pastime is described in the Caitanya Bhāgavata, Ādi-khaṇḍa, Chapter 4.

The Lord grabs the things of the devotee even if he doesn’t offer them, but He shows no interest whatsoever in the gifts of the non-devotee.

Just as Mahāprabhu was conquered by the devotion of Jagadīśa Paṇḍita, so too was His dearest companion Nityānanda Prabhu who considered him to be one of His own intimate associates. Nityānanda Prabhu was Jagadīśa Paṇḍita’s life and soul. Jagadīśa Paṇḍita was present in Panihati for the Ciḍa-dadhi Mahotsava (the great-chipped rice and yoghurt festival).

Before taking sannyāsa, Mahāprabhu ordered Jagadīśa Paṇḍita to go to Nīlācala to preach kṛṣṇa-bhakti and the religious practice of the age, harināma-saṅkīrtana. The son of Nanda, Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the son of Jagannātha Miśra, Śrī Gaurasundara, are the same supreme divinity as Lord Jagannātha. When Jagadīśa Paṇḍita arrived in Purī, he went for Lord Jagannātha’s darśana and melted with love when he saw Him. On his way back to Bengal, however, he felt extreme separation from Lord Jagannātha. Thousands and thousands of people go on pilgrimage to Purī every single day. All of them take darśana of Lord Jagannātha, but how many of them are overcome by feelings of separation when returning home? Perhaps some fortunate individual may feel such emotions. If one truly feels such pangs of separation, then this is a sign of Lord Jagannātha’s actual mercy; if not, then one has not truly received the grace of the Lord.

Lord Jagannātha saw Jagadīśa Paṇḍita crying and so mercifully appeared to him in a dream and told him to take His vigraha and serve. Simultaneously, He appeared to the king of Odisha and ordered him that at the time of the nava-kalevara, when the wooden deity of Lord Jagannātha is renewed, the outgoing form should be given to Jagadīśa Paṇḍita. As a result of this dream, the king felt greatly honoured to meet Jagadīśa Paṇḍita and gave him Lord Jagannātha’s outgoing form, which was to be given samādhi.

Jagadīśa Paṇḍita prayed to Lord Jagannātha, asking Him just how he could possibly carry the heavy figure of the deity all the way back to Bengal. Lord Jagannātha answered him that for his sake He would become as light as a cork. Then Jagadīśa was to cover Him with a new cloth and then carry Him suspended at the end of a staff. Lord Jagannātha further told him that he would have to make permanent arrangements to stay wherever He was set down on the ground. Jagadīśa Paṇḍita took the aid of two brāhmaṇas to carry Lord Jagannātha as far as the village of Jashora on the banks of the Ganges, near the town of Chakdah. Jagadīśa Paṇḍita left Lord Jagannātha with one of the brāhmaṇas and went to take his bath in the Ganges and to perform oblations of Gaṅgā water. While he was gone, the brāhmaṇa found that Lord Jagannātha was suddenly becoming very heavy and that he was no longer able to hold Him up. When Jagadīśa Paṇḍita came back from his bath, he saw Lord Jagannātha sitting on the ground and realized that the Lord wanted to stay in that very spot.

Chakdah is a historical site and an ancient holy place. During the Purāṇic age, it was known as Rathavarma. Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s son, Pradyumna, killed the demon Sambara there at the end of the Dvāparā age and since then it was known as Pradyumna-nagar. Later when Bhagiratha was bringing down the Gaṅgā in order to save the Sagara dynasty, the wheel of his chariot got stuck here. Thus the town has come to be known as Chakradaha, which in time has been changed into Chakdah. When the local people heard that the Lord Jagannātha deity from Purī had come to stay in Jashora, they flocked there in thousands to seek His darśana. This is how Jagadīśa Paṇḍita decided to remain in Jashora rather than return to his home in Māyāpura.

Being attracted by Jagadīśa Paṇḍita and his wife’s parental devotion, Nityānanda Prabhu and Caitanya Mahāprabhu visited the Jagannātha temple in Jashora on two different occasions. The two Prabhus held saṅkīrtana and a feast both times. As the Lord was about to leave Jashora to go to Purī, Duḥkhinī began to cry from the imminent separation so intensely that the Lord agreed to remain behind in the form of Śrī Gaura-Gopāla deity. In the course of the couple’s householder life, they had a son named Rāmabhadra.

At first, the Jagannātha deity was kept under a banyon tree near the Ganges, and later the king of Krishnanagar, Kṛṣṇa Candra, had a temple built there for Him. When the temple became old and dilapidated, Umeśa Candra Majumdar’s wife Mokṣadā Devī arranged for repairs to be made. The temple building has no spire but has been constructed in the manner of an ordinary house. Along with Lord Jagannātha, it houses Śrī Śrī Rādhā Vallabha and Gaura-Gopāla deities. The staff that Jagadīśa Paṇḍita used to carry the deity from Purī is still there. Devotees donated a large amount of land for the service of the Lord Jagannātha deity, but over the course of time, Jagadīśa Paṇḍita’s descendants sold it off in order to keep the service of the deity alive. No Ratha-yātrā festival is held here, though His Snāna-yātrā is celebrated with great pomp. On that occasion, the deity is carried from the temple to an altar built in a large field not far from the temple for the purpose of the bathing ritual. A fair is also held in the field, attracting countless people. This Jashora Lord Jagannātha Snāna-yātrā fair is still famous. There is also a 500-year-old dais (wooden platform) for Dola-yātrā at the site that is used to swing Rādhā Vallabha on Phalgunī Pūrṇimā.

Siddha Bhagavān Dāsa Bābājī of Kalna stayed in Jashora for some time to do his bhajana. There is an annual festival celebrating Jagadīśa Paṇḍita’s disappearance day on the third day of the waxing moon (śukla tṛtīyā) in the month of Pauṣa (December-January). His appearance day is the twelfth day of the waxing moon (śukla dvādaśī) in the same month.

Jagadīśa Paṇḍita’s temple is currently under the management of the Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math. How this came to pass was described in Caitanya Vāṇī magazine (2.9) in the following way:

“The Supreme Lord is most affectionate to His devotees and is conquered by their love. How many different stratagems He engages in just to accept the service of His devotee! Though served in Goloka by hundreds of thousands of goddesses of fortune, Govinda still seems not to have enough people to serve Him; it is as though He feels the service is not being conducted uninterruptedly. How many tricks He plays in order to engage the devotee He wants in His service!

Just look at the ploy that Govardhana-dhārī Gopāla used to engage Mādhavendra Purī. The Lord’s previous pūjārī had hidden Him in the jungle on top of Govardhana out of his fear of Muslim marauders. Gopāla waited there patiently until Purīpāda happened by. He said to him, “I have been waiting impatiently for you for many days, just wondering when Mādhavendra Purī will come to render Me service.” The Lord is playing His cosmic game, and these are all different aspects of His pastimes.

So now, the very same Jagannātha and Gaura Gopāla deities who were worshipped by Nityānanda Prabhu’s dear associate, Jagadīśa Paṇḍita, have similarly displayed the wonderful pastime of voluntarily offering Themselves to the great devotee, Tridaṇḍi Svāmī Śrīmad Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, in order to accept his service.”

Due to increasing monetary difficulties, three of Jagadīśa Paṇḍita’s descendants, Viśvanātha Gosvāmī, Sambhunātha Mukhopādhyaya, Mṛtyunjaya Mukhopādhaya, had come to realize that they were no longer able to maintain the day-to-day service nor undertake the annual festivals of their ancestral deities. The condition of the temple buildings had also deteriorated, and they were unable to make the necessary repairs. As a result, they decided to take the counsel of Śrī Pañcu Ṭhākura of Jashora and Santośa Kūmāra Mallika of Ranaghat, and eventually handed over the temple services, without conditions, to our most revered spiritual master, the founder ācārya of Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math, Oṁ 108 Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāja. He immediately spent a large sum of money on making the needed repairs and improvements to the temple, adding electric lighting and a new guest house.

In the first year after taking over Lord Jagannātha’s service, Guru Mahārāja came to the annual festival and personally sat several thousand men and women in the neighbouring field and fed them mahā-prasāda. Whoever witnessed that event still feel horripilation as they remember the ecstasy that flooded over Jashora that day.