Brajacharya Shri Narayan Bhatt JiUnchagaon, Barsanaहिंदी

Sources

Sources and picture credits

The pages of this site carry no source notes; they are all here, in one place. If you spot a mistake, write to [email protected].

Each page’s sources

Tap a name for its full entry in the list below.

Who said what

The site’s main points, and the sources they rest on.

PointSource
The story of Shri Ladli Ji, the name Ladili-Lal, the seva given to Narayandas, the title Brajacharya, Vaman DwadashiCharitamrit
Birthplace Pushkali on the Godavari; Krishna’s call at twelve; five years at Radha Kund; Baldev’s first abhishek, 1555; the Radhashtami rite before dawnVrajotsava Chandrika, Laghu Charitamrit
137 forests and 16 banyans; two pilgrimages; finished at Radha Kund in Samvat 1609Vraja Bhakti Vilasa
He revealed the hidden places of the Mathura mandal named in the Varaha PuranaShri Bhaktamal
His guru Krishnadas Brahmachari; the ras in place after place; the Triveni springsPriyadas, 1712
Every lake and grove of Braj named by him; he first established the ban yatra; his father’s name in the old manuscriptGrowse, 1883
The forest yatra the oldest itinerary of Braj; Vraja Bhakti Vilasa the fullest work; the length of the Govardhan parikramaEntwistle, 1987
The great sixteenth century organiser of the ras; the form itself is olderHein, 1972, Mital, 1966, Ras Lila: Ek Parichay, 1959
The year Samvat 1626 (1569); Narayandas first served in a hut; ‘Shri Ladililal ki jai’ at the ras; the Budhi Lila on the Premankura NatakaSnatak, 1957, Mital, 1966
The oldest temple by Raja Bir Singh Deo, founded January 1619; Brajoddharak; Damodar born Samvat 1614; Narayandas’s padaMital, 1966, Mital, 1968, Mital, 1962
The temple is the fifth; earlier ones by Lakha Banjara and Raja Todar Mal; the festival on Ashadh Shukla 2Temple website
The place of tapas and bhajan on the hill is Narayandas’sBraj ki Jhanki, Amar Ujala, 2021
Father at heart; the family’s daughter bond; daughters’ names in BarsanaAmar Ujala, 2023, Dainik Jagran, 2018, Vrindavan Today, Dainik Bhaskar, 2024
The Radhashtami 2026 rites before dawn, and their orderVrindavan Today, 2026, Dainik Jagran, 2026, Amar Ujala, 2025
In 2023 a temple pujari called the Bhatts the guru familyPrabhat Khabar, 2023
Ladle Thakur in the Dauji templeHistory Pandit
Maharaj Ji’s festivals: the jayanti, Lalita’s birth festival, Nag Panchami, the Ashta Sakhi parikrama, HoliBraj Breaking, 2025, Braj Breaking, 2024, Braj Breaking, Lalita 2025, Braj Breaking, Dauji 2025, Braj Breaking, parikrama 2025, Braj Breaking, Holi 2024

Where the sources differ

We do not hide these. We will keep settling them with the family and with scholars.

Shri Ladli Ji

The year
Samvat 1626, Ashadh Shukla 2, that is 1569 (Baba Krishnadas from 1949; Mital; the temple’s festival). The year is not in the Charitamrit’s verses, as Mital noted in 1966; Hein (1972) also gives 1569. Samvat 1602, 1604 and 1606 are also printed, as are round figures like ‘450 to 600 years ago’. A rite in his Vrajotsava Chandrika dated Samvat 1612 (1555) already speaks of the pair in the hill temple.
Other tellings
Charitamrit: a vision, then the finding on the hill after midnight. Laghu Charitamrit: the guru gave the murti to his Barsana disciple. Amar Ujala (2021): a sign in a dream, and he brought Her out with his disciple. Gita Press’s Braj ki Jhanki: Ladli Ji told Narayandas in a dream that She lay beneath his bhajan seat, and he dug Her out.
The pair, or Radha alone
The Charitamrit, the Vrajotsava Chandrika and the temple: Ladili-Lal, the pair. The Laghu Charitamrit and most news reports: Radha alone.
The name
The Charitamrit credits the Bhatt with naming the pair, but explains ‘Ladili’ by Her parents’ love, and Krishna had already used the name at the Godavari. The Vrajotsava Chandrika calls it Brahma’s boon. Growse (1883) calls Ladli a local title of Radha meaning ‘the beloved’.
The oldest temple
Raja Bir Singh Deo, Samvat 1675 (Mital; Entwistle says ‘attributed’). English Wikipedia’s ‘1675 AD’ looks like the same Samvat year read as CE.
Narayandas’s dates
Charitamrit: a disciple at eighty. Mital (1962): roughly Samvat 1600 to 1700. The Bhaktakosh (1989) reads the years differently.
Tapasya on the hill
The Charitamrit describes his sadhana on the hill as wandering it in gopi-bhava, and names no seat, cave or vow; no old text gives a separate account of a tapasya on Brahmanchal. The place of tapas and bhajan shown on the hill today is that of his disciple Narayandas, Swami ji (Braj ki Jhanki; Amar Ujala 2021).
Father at heart, and the daughter bond
Amar Ujala (2023) calls him Radha Rani’s father at heart and says he named Her Ladli out of that love; Vrindavan Today writes that he worshipped Her as his daughter. No old text writes this bond down; it is the family’s living memory.
The name Lado
A newspaper article by the Mathura journalist Vivek Dutt says he also gave Radha the name Lado. The paper and date are not yet known; no old text says so.
The Radhashtami 2026 rites
Vrindavan Today: Goswami Shri Krishnanand Bhatt Ji Maharaj performed them. Dainik Jagran: the abhishek began in the presence of Acharya Susat Maharaj. Amar Ujala names Susath Maharaj and Shri Krishnanand Bhatt Ji as the same man.

His life

His birth day
Vaishakh Shukla 14, Narasimha Chaturdashi (the Charitamrit; the jayanti today), or the Vaishakh full moon (Vrajotsava Chandrika). The two may be only hours apart.
Birthplace
Pushkali, or Mathura-pattana, on the Godavari (Vrajotsava Chandrika; Laghu Charitamrit); Madura or Madurai (Baba Krishnadas from 1947, Mital, Hein, the temple website); Unchagaon (Pratap Singh, 1866 to 1872, probably meaning the family seat). This site, like many books, used to say Madurai; that reading came from twentieth century editors.
Years at Radha Kund
Five (Vrajotsava Chandrika; Entwistle); seven (Amar Ujala 2023; Vrindavan Today); about twelve (Mital 1968; Hindi Wikipedia); sixteen (Dainik Jagran 2018).
His guru
Krishnadas Brahmachari (Priyadas 1712; the Charitamrit). Gaudiya texts make him a disciple of Gadadhar Pandit; some writers, of Sanatan Goswami.
Credit for the ras
The ras is older than him (Hein, Mital, Agrawal). The Nimbarka tradition credits Ghamand Dev. Baba Krishnadas (1949) and Growse make him its founder; scholars, its great sixteenth century organiser.
The year he left his body
About Samvat 1700 (1643), which comes from a prophecy in his Vrajotsava Chandrika and would make him 112 (Baba Krishnadas; Mital). The Charitamrit, the Laghu Charitamrit, Hein and Entwistle give no year.
Same name, other people
Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri of Kerala (Narayaneeyam) and Narayan Bhatt of Kashi are different people. Entwistle notes that Todar Mal helped the Kashi Narayan Bhatt in 1585.
Lalita’s birthplace
The Charitamrit: Sakhi Giri at Unchagaon. Gaudiya writers: Karhala.
Ladle Thakur today
By History Pandit, the Dauji temple at Unchagaon. Baba Krishnadas (1961): the Ladileya came back to Uchchagram from Neemrana.

Braj and his line

Places: recovered, or newly placed
The family texts hold every site to be recovered. Entwistle (1987) holds that many were newly placed at the time, that most of the Puranas Vraja Bhakti Vilasa credits its verses to look like later attributions, and that many of its forests cannot be found today.
Sanket
The seventeenth century poet Dhruvdas wrote that he revealed Sanket (Mital 1966).
Radharaman ji
The Charitamrit: at Sanket, at Radharaman ji’s request, the Rasa Panchadhyayi and the Rasikahladini. Tying Radharaman ji’s prakatya to him as well is found only in Braj Breaking.
The kanthi diksha
That Barsana’s sevayat Goswamis take kanthi diksha from the Bhatt line is found only in Vrindavan Today (2026). The family speaks of the diksha bond too, and Ladilidas’s old mangal praises him for giving kanthi.

All sources

His own works, and the family’s texts

Old witnesses

Scholarship

News and websites

Further reading: Leena Taneja, The Forgotten Story of Narayan Bhatt, Journal of Vaishnava Studies 15(2)

Corrections

After the research of October 2026, these changed on this site:

  • Birthplace: this site said Madurai. His own books say Pushkali, on the Godavari.
  • Years at Radha Kund: this site said twelve. His Vrajotsava Chandrika says five.
  • ‘More than 300 places’: no old source has this figure. Vraja Bhakti Vilasa itself counts 137 forests and 16 banyans.
  • The ras lila: this site called him its founder. Scholars hold the form is older, and call him its great organiser.
  • The peeth’s name: until the family settles the names and titles of the seats, the site goes by his name.

About the translations

The Sanskrit texts are centuries old and open to all. We do not reprint Baba Krishnadas’s Hindi translations and prefaces; we sum them up in our own words and credit him here. The meanings of the verses on this site are our own.

Picture credits

Narayan Bhatt Ji’s traditional portrait, the murals, the charan paduka and Maharaj Ji’s photo belong to the family, and the samadhi photo to History Pandit; all rights in them stay with their owners. The other photographs come from Wikimedia Commons under the licence shown; we resized them, and the resized versions of CC BY-SA pictures carry the same licence. The old paintings are in the public domain, or their museums have opened them to all (CC0).

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