Disappearance Day of Sri Gadadhara Dasa Gosvami

What is the Disappearance Day of Sri Gadadhara Dasa Gosvami?

The Disappearance Day of Sri Gadadhara Dasa Gosvami is the day devotees remember Srila Gadadhara Dasa, an associate of both Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Sri Nityananda Prabhu, who left this world on the bright eighth day of Kartika. In 2026 that is Tuesday, 17 November.

Significance

Srila Prabhupada explains that Gadadhara Dasa lived at Endiyadaha, a village on the Ganges eight or ten miles from Calcutta. He is described as the luster of the body of Srimati Radharani, and he counts among the associates of both Lord Gaurahari and Lord Nityananda. Though he served Lord Nityananda, he was not one of the cowherd boys but was absorbed in the mood of conjugal love.

Lord Caitanya sent him with Lord Nityananda to preach the holy name in Bengal. In the Caitanya-caritamrta's account of the branches of the Caitanya tree, Srila Prabhupada translates:

Śrī Gadādhara dāsa, the twenty-third branch, was understood to be the topmost, for he induced all the Muslim Kazis to chant the holy name of Lord Hari.

Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 10.53

How to observe it

Devotees chant the holy names and hear the glories of Gaura and Nityananda. Gopastami falls on this day as well, with the disappearance days of Sri Dhananjaya Pandita and Sri Srinivasa Acarya.