CC Madhya 9.14
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 14
- ei śloka pathe paḍi’ karilā prayāṇa
- gautamī-gaṅgāya yāi’ kaila gaṅgā-snāna
SYNONYMS
ei śloka — this Sanskrit verse; pathe — on the way; paḍi’ — reciting; karilā — did; prayāṇa — going; gautamī-gaṅgāya — to the bank of the Gautamī-gaṅgā; yāi’ — going; kaila — did; gaṅgā-snāna — bathing in the Ganges.
TRANSLATION
While walking on the road, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to chant this Rāma Rāghava mantra. Chanting in this way, He arrived at the banks of the Gautamī-gaṅgā and took His bath there.
PURPORT
The Gautamī-gaṅgā is a branch of the river Godāvarī. Formerly a great sage named Gautama Ṛṣi used to live on the bank of this river opposite the city of Rājamahendrī, and consequently this branch was called the Gautamī-gaṅgā.
Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says that Śrīla Kavirāja Gosvāmī has recorded the names of the holy places visited by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu but that there is no chronological order of the places visited. However, there is a notebook of Govinda dāsa’s containing a chronological order and references to geographical positions. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura requests the readers to refer to that book. According to Govinda dāsa, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to Trimanda from the Gautamī-gaṅgā. From there He went to Ḍhuṇḍirāma-tīrtha, another place of pilgrimage. According to Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, after visiting the Gautamī-gaṅgā, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to Mallikārjuna-tīrtha.