He belonged to the descending line from Lord Chaitanya. He was the youngest brother of Rupa and Sanatana Goswami. Kumardeva was the name of their father. Jiva Goswami of Vrindavana was the son of Anupama. Anupama was the Chief of the Mint, under the rule of Hussain Shah, the King of Gauda (Bhaktiratnakara 1.665 669 and CC 3.4.43) He was a worshipper of Rama, this may be why his name has not been mentioned separately in Gauraganoddesadipika and Vaishnava Vandana.
anupama-vallabha, sri-rupa, sanatana
ei tina sakha vrksera pascime sarvottama
“On the western side were the forty-third, forty-fourth and forty-fifth branches – Sri Sanatana, Sri Rupa and Sri Anupama. They were the best of all.” [Cc. Adi 10.84]
Sri Anupama was the father of Srila Jiva Gosvami and youngest brother of Sri Sanatana and Sri Rupa Gosvami. His former name was Vallabha, but after Lord Chaitanya met him He gave him the name Anupama. Because of working in the Mohammedan government, these three brothers were given the title Mullik. Mullik means “lord.”
The genealogical table of Vallabha Gosvami can be traced back to the Twelfth Century sakabda, when a gentleman of the name Sarvajna appeared in a very rich and opulent brahmana family in the province of Karnataka. He had two sons named Aniruddhera Rupesvara and Harihara, who were both bereft of their kingdom and were thus obliged to reside in the highlands.
The son of Rupesvara, who was named Padmanabha, moved to a place in Bengal known as Naihati on the bank of the Ganges. There he had five sons, of whom the youngest, Mukunda, had a well behaved son named Kumaradeva, who was the father of Rupa, Sanatana and Vallabha.
Kumaradeva lived in Baklacandradvipa, which is in the district of Yasohara and is now known as Phateyabad. Of his many sons, three took to the path of Vaishnavism. Later Sri Vallabha and his elder brothers Sri Rupa and Sanatana came from Chandradvipa to the village in the Maldah district of Bengal known as Ramakeli. It is in this village that Srila Jiva Gosvami took birth, accepting Vallabha as his father.
When Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu visited the village of Ramakeli, He met Vallabha there. Later, Sri Rupa Gosvami, after meeting Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, resigned from government service, and went to Vrindavana to meet Lord Chaitanya, Vallabha accompanied him. The meeting of Rupa Goswami and Vallabha with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at Allahabad is described in the Madhya-lila, Chapter Nineteen.
Actually, it is to be understood from the statement of Sanatana Gosvami that Sri Rupa Goswami and Vallabha went to Vrindavana under the instruction of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. First they went to Mathura, where they met a gentleman named Subuddhi Raya who maintained himself by selling dry fuel wood. He was very pleased to meet Sri Rupa Gosvami and Anupama, and he showed them the twelve forests of Vrindavana. Thus they lived in Vrindavana for one month and then again went to search for Sanatana Goswami.
Following the course of the Ganges, they reached Allahabad, or Prayaga-tirtha, but because Sanatana Goswami had come there by a different road, they did not meet him there, and when Sanatana Goswami came to Mathura he was informed of the visit of Rupa Goswami and Anupama by Subuddhi Raya. When Rupa Goswami and Anupama met Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at Benares, they heard about Sanatana Goswami’s travels from Him, and thus they returned to Bengal, adjusted their affairs with the state and, on the order of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, went to see the Lord at Jagannatha Puri.
In the year 1436 Sakabda, the youngest brother, Anupama, died and went back home, back to Godhead. He went to the abode in the spiritual sky where Sri Ramachandra is situated. At Jagannatha Puri, Sri Rupa Goswami informed Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of this incident. Vallabha was a great Devotee of Lord Ramacandra; therefore he could not seriously consider the worship of Radha-Govinda according to the instructions of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Yet he directly accepted Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Ramacandra.
In the Bhakti-ratnakara there is the following statement: “Vallabha was given the name Anupama by Sri Gaurasundara, but he was always absorbed in the devotional service of Lord Ramacandra. He did not know anyone but Sri Ramacandra, but he knew that Chaitanya Gosai was the same Lord Ramacandra.”