Sri Krsnadasa Kaviraja Goswami has written: “Ramadasa, Kavidatta, Sri Gopala dasa, Bhagavat acarya, and Thakura Saranga dasa were all important branches of the Sri Caitanya tree.” (C.C. adi 10.113)
Sri Saranga Murari Thakura is also sometimes known as Sarnga Murari, Sarnga Pani, or Saranga Dhara. He lived on the banks of the Ganges in Modradrumadvipa in Nabadwipa dhama in what is now known as Mamagacchi. At present in that place there is a temple of Radha-Gopinatha. The old temple was built next to an ancient Bakula tree that is supposed to have been standing since the time of Saranga Thakura. Recently a new temple building has been constructed there which is at present under the management of the Gaudiya Matha.
It is said that Saranga Murari Thakura had vowed never to accept any disciples. But again and again he received some messages from Caitanya Mahaprabhu encouraging him to make disciples. At length, he decided to accept a disciple and said, “I shall make a disciple of the first person I see tomorrow and shall initiate him into the mantra. The next morning he went to the Ganges to bathe, and as he was bathing he touched a dead body with his foot. Grabbing hold of the dead body, he brought it to life again and asked it, “Who are you? What is your gotra?” The man gradually regained consciousness, and, finding himself in the presence of a great soul, he bowed down before Saranga Thakura. At last the man who had risen from the dead by the power of Saranga Thakura identified his caste and family background, saying, “My name is Murari. Have mercy on me!” At that time, Saranga Thakura accepted him as his disciple and gave him mantra-diksa. It is for this reason that he became famous as Saranga Murari Thakura. After a few days Saranga Thakura trained his new disciple in the worship of his deities, Radha-Gopinatha. That disciple became famous as Murari Thakura.
According to Kavikarnapura’s Gaura-ganodesa-dipika, “That person who was formerly the gopi called Nandimukhi in Vraja-lila appeared in the pastimes of Sri Caitanya as Saranga Thakura.”
Saranga Thakura’s appearance day is on the fourteenth day of the dark moon in the month of asadha and his disappearance day is on the thirteenth day of the dark moon in the month of Agrahayana.