ANANTA ACARYA

pandita-gosanira sisya--ananta acarya

krsna-premamaya-tanu, udara, sarva-arya

"Ananta Acarya was a disciple of Gadadhara Pandita. His body was always absorbed in love of Godhead. He was magnaminous and advanced in all respects."

tanhara ananta guna ke karu prakasa

tanra priya sisya inha--pandita haridasa

"Ananta Acarya was a reservoir of all good qualities. No one can estimate how great he was. Pandita Haridasa was his disciple."

Sri Ananta Acarya is one of the eternal associates of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Previously, during the advent of Lord Sri Krsna, Ananta Acarya was Sudevi, one of the eight gopis. This is stated in the Gaura-gannodesa-dipika, verse 165, as follows:

anantacarya-gosvami ya sudevi pura vraje

"Ananta Acarya Gosvami was formerly Sudevi-gopi in Vraja [Vrndavana]."

In Jagannatha Puri, or Purusottama-ksetra, there is a monastery known as Ganga-mata Matha, he is known as Vinoda-manjari. One of his disciples was Haridasa Pandita Gosvami, who is also known as Sri Raghu Gopala and as Sri Rasa-manjari.