kalavati rasollasa gunatunga vraje sthitah
\nshri-vishakha-kritam gitam gayanti smadya ta matah
\ngovinda-madhavananda-vasudeva yatha-kramam
\nGovinda, Madhava and Vasudeva were three gopis in Vraja, namely Kalavati, Rasollasa and Gunatunga, who used to sing the songs composed by Vishakha.
\n(Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika 188)
\nThese three brothers were born in an upper class kayastha family from northern Rarha. All three were singers famed for the sweetness of their voices.
\nThe meritorious Madhava Ghosh devoted himself to kirtan. There was no singer on earth who was his equal. It was said of him that he was a singer from Vrindavan. He was most dear to Nityananda Prabhu. The three brothers, Govinda, Madhava and Vasudeva began to sing while Lord Nityananda danced.
\n(Chaitanya Bhagavat 3.5.257-9)
\nChaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu danced to the kirtan of the three brothers, Govinda, Madhava and Vasudeva.
\n(Chaitanya Bhagavat 1.15.115)
\nWhen Nityananda returned to Gaudadesha to preach, he was accompanied by Vasudeva and Madhava Ghosh. Meanwhile Govinda remained in Nilachala with Mahaprabhu.
\nGovinda Ghosh
\nGovinda is counted amongst the branches of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (Chaitanya Charitamrita 1.10.118). Eventually, he made his home in Agradvipa, Vasudeva in Tamluk, and Madhava Ghosh in Dain Hat. Govinda Ghosh Thakur\u2019s house is not far from Agradvipa in Kashipura Vishnutala. Some are of the opinion that Vaishnavatala was his birthplace. Govinda Ghosh participated in Mahaprabhu\u2019s lilas in Srivasa Angan, in the nagara-sankirtan to the Kazi\u2019s house, and in the house of Raghava Pandit. During the Rathayatra festival, he was the lead singer in the fourth kirtan group, accompanied by his two brothers, Junior Hari Das, Vishnu Das and Raghava Pandit. Vakresvara Pandit joined this group as the principal dancer.
\nOn Mahaprabhu\u2019s direction, Govinda revealed the Gopinath deity from a black stone in Agradvipa. Mahaprabhu also instructed him to get married. The story goes that Govinda Ghosh\u2019s wife and son both died untimely. As he grew older, Govinda began to wonder who would perform the last rites for him, as it is considered important for one to have a son who can do the shraddha ceremony on his behalf. He had a dream in which Gopinath appeared to him and said, \u201cDon\u2019t worry about this. I will perform the shraddha ceremony for you myself.\u201d
\nWhen Govinda Ghosh finally died, Gopinath offered the pinda on his behalf. Gopinath continues to perform this ceremony every year on the anniversary of Govinda Ghosh\u2019s departure from this world. This takes place on the krishna trayodashi of the month of Chaitra. Vasudeva Ghosh\u2019s disappearance day is on the second day of the waxing moon in the month of Karttik.
\nTwo songs written by Govinda Ghosh
\npranera mukunda he
\nki aji shunilu acambite?
\nkahite parana jaya mukhe nahi bahiraya
\nshri gauranga chariibe navadvipa
\nihato na jani mo rasakale milinun gora
\navanata mathe ache basi
\nnijhare nayana jhare buka bahi dhara parie
\nmalina haiyache mukha shashi
\ndekhite takhana prana sada kare ana cana
\nsudhaite nahi avasara
\nkshaneka sambita haila tabe mui nivedila
\nshuniya dilena e uttara
\nami ta vivasha haiya tare kichu na kahiya
\ndhaiya ailun tuwa pasha
\nei ta kahilun amije karite para tumi
\nmora nahi jivanera asha
\nshuniya mukunda kande hiya thira nahi bandhe
\ngadadharera vadana heriya
\ne govinda ghosha kaya iha jena nahi haya
\ntabe mu\u00efi jainu mariya
\nO Mukunda! My life! What did I suddenly hear today? If I say it I will die… the words do not want to come out of my mouth. Gauranga is really going to leave Nabadwip.
\nWe didn\u2019t know this, but we saw Gora this morning; he was sitting with his head bowed in thought. Streams of tears flowed from his eyes and washed over his chest, and his moon-like face had lost its luster.
\nWhen we saw him like that, our own hearts fluttered and we could not ask him anything. For a moment I regained consciousness and humbly asked him the question and that is what he told me.
\nBecoming disturbed, I ran here to you right away without saying anything further to him. I have told you this and now do what you can. As far as we are concerned, I don\u2019t think that we have any hope of continuing to live.
\nWhen he heard this, Mukunda started to cry. He could no longer keep his calm as he looked at Gadadhara. Govinda Ghosh says, Let it not be, for if he leaves, I will die.<\/p>\n
hede re nadiya vasi kara mukha cao
\nbahu pasariya goracande phirao
\nto sabare ke ara karibe nija kore
\nke jaciya dibe prema dekhiya katare
\nki shela hiyaya haya ki shel hiyaya
\nparana putali nabadvipa charii jaya
\nara na jaiba mora gaurangera pasha
\nara na kariba mora kirtana vilasa
\nkandaye bhakata-gana buka vidariya
\npashana govinda ghosha na jaya miliya
\nO people of Nabadwip, at whom are you staring?
\nSpread your arms to stop Gora, make him come back!
\nWho is there now who will clasp you to his chest?
\nWho will come and beg you to take love of Krishna?
\nA shaft has pierced my heart! A shaft has pierced my heart!
\nThe image of my life has abandoned Nabadwip and gone.
\nNo longer will we be able to go and sit with Gauranga;
\nno longer will we be able to enjoy kirtan the way we did.
\nAll the devotees are crying; their hearts are bursting
\nand, like a stone, Govinda Ghosh does not go to join them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
kalavati rasollasa gunatunga vraje sthitah shri-vishakha-kritam gitam gayanti smadya ta matah govinda-madhavananda-vasudeva yatha-kramam Govinda, Madhava and Vasudeva were three gopis in Vraja, namely Kalavati, Rasollasa and Gunatunga, who used to sing the songs composed by Vishakha. … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[140,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-area2","category-english"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-03 11:07:17","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}