jagannatha tirtha, vipra sri-janakinatha
gopala acarya, ara vipra vaninatha
(C.C. Adi 10.114)
The seventy-eighth branch of the original tree was Jagannatha Tirtha, the seventy-ninth was the brahmana Sri Janakinatha, the eightieth was Gopala Acarya, and the eighty-first was the brahmana Vaninatha.
Vaninatha Vipra or Dvija Vaninath was a resident of Canpahati, a village in the district of Burdwan near the town of Navadvipa, the police station of Purvasthali and the post office of Samudragada. The temple there was very much neglected, but it was renovated in the Bengali year 1328 [A.D. 1921] by Sri ParamanandaBrahmacari [one of Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s disciples], who reorganized the seva-puja (worship in the temple) and placed the temple under the management of the Sri Caitanya Matha of Sri Mayapur. In the temple as it now exists, the Deity of Sri Gaura-Gadadhara is worshiped strictly according to the principles of the revealed scriptures. Canpahati is two miles away from both Samudragarh and the Navadvipa station of the eastern railway.
The Deities in this temple, Gaura-Gadadhara, were worshipped by Vaninath Pandita, Gadadhara Pandita’s brother, 500 years ago, while Lord Caitanya and Gadadhara were still on the planet. The Deities are very large and both of them stand with palms outstretched.
Champahatti is located in the south-west section of Shri Koladwip. The previous name of this place was Champakahatta. This place is named after the campaka trees that grow profusely in this area. There was once a campaka forest at this place. Champahatti means “place of the Champa.” Hatti means “place.”
Campakalata Sakhi comes here daily to pick flowers and then strings garlands from campaka flowers and offers them to Radha and Krishna. The Manasi Ganga River used to flow here, but it cannot be seen now. It used to separate Koladvipa from Ritudvipa. In Braja, Manasi Ganga is a large lake in the middle of Govardhana and here it is seen as a river.
In Satya yuga, one very old brahmana used to live here surrounded by a big garden of champaka flowers. This old brahmana used to worship the Deities of Shri Shri Radha Govinda with those champaka flowers. Being pleased with the sincere worship of this brahmana, Lord Krishna gave him His darshan in His form as Lord Gauranga, who has the bodily hue of a fresh champaka flower. The old brahmana wa astonished when he saw Lord Gauranga’s effulgent form. At that time Lord Gauranga informed him that He would manifest Himself in Kali-yuga and distribute Krishna nama and Krishna prema. He further said that the brahmana would also take birth at the same time and would witness His munificent pastimes.
In Krishna lila, this brahmana was Kamalaka sakhi. Being blessed by the Lord, he appeared in Gaura lila as the younger brother of Shri Gadadhara Pandit and was called Dvija Vaninath. The Deities of Gaura Gadadhara in the temple here were worshiped by him 500 years ago. Shrila Saraswati Thakur established Shri Gaura Gadadhara Gaudiya Math in this place.Champahatti is also famous as the place where Jayadeva Goswami composed the poem Gita Govinda, part of which has been made famous around the world whenever Narasinghadeva is glorified.
Nityananda Prabhu along with his sankirtan party while on parikrama took rest at Vaninatha’s house in Champahatti. He stayed at night at Vaninatha’s house. Vaninatha and his family attended nicely to Nityananda Prabhu. When night lifted, the devotees raised their bodies and called out “Nitai Gaura!” Then, leaving Campahatta behind them, they blissfully went on. From this point, Vaninatha accompanied Nityananda, saying, “When will that day come when I shall have the pleasure to accompany Nityananda on parikrama to Gauranga’s house in Mayapur ?”
The Lord and His associates performed a great festival of nama-sankirtana at Vaninatha’s house. Gauranga showed the glories of His prema in that house.
This place is nondifferent from Khadiravana of Vraja, where Krishna and Balarama take rest.
Jayadeva Gosvami wrote Gita-govinda nearby in Champahatti in 12th century AD.