YOU ASKED: “Also Gaudiyas claim Rādhā Sudha Nidhi is Prabodananda Saraswatis Rādhā Rasa

Sudha Nidhi. How do you answer that aspect?”

MY REPLY: First of all, I love what Sri Ananda Gopala Goswami [descendant of Sri Advaita
Acharya] used to say:

Regarding the disputed authorship of Radha (Rasa) Sudha Nidhi, Ananda Gopala Goswami told the
audience in Radha Damodara Mandira: “Some person may come to a mango grove and inquire:
‘How many fruits are in these trees? Who constructed this grove? How are the fruits sold and who
is the owner?’ Yet another person will just come, purchase the mangoes, offer them, sit under a tree
and say: ‘Aha, how sweet are these mangoes!’

“So similarly, Radharasa Sudhanidhi is a wonderful book, born by the grace of Sri Radharani,
whoever may have composed it. What matters is the relish of its contents. We need to become
qualified to extract the rasa from this book. Radha dasya is the goal of our lives. And Madan Gopala
becomes subdued by us if we can meditate on the foot soles of Radharani. Radha dasya is our only
shelter.”
----------

There's a lot I could write on this topic and indeed when I get around to translating Radha Sudha
Nidhi with our RV commentaries, I intend to include a detailed 100+ page discussion as part of that
work. Just to give you a taster of the research I'm doing and the evidence for Sri Harivansh as the
author, please consider the below:

(1) CONSIDERING THE MANGALACHARAN, INVOCATION SLOKA

____________________________________________________________________

All ancient handwritten manuscripts begin with the sloka “yasyāḥ kadāpi vasanāñcala-
khelanottha” in praise of Sri Radha and Sri Vrindavan. The sloka purporting to be the
mangalacharan and found in Gaudiya editions of the work in praise of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
has been shown to be fraudulent in all ancient manuscripts. Examples of manuscript manipulation
will be discussed later.

Sushil Kumar De who conducted research on the Gaudiya sampradaya's history and literature, in his
book 'Early History of the Vaisnava Faith and Movement in Bengal' upon viewing the catalogues of
three other major manuscript library collections writes on page 132, “The stotra-kavya, named
Radha-sudhanidhi is wrongly ascribed to Prabodhananda. The first and the last verses of the
printed text pay homage to Caitanya, but these verses are missing from MSS [manuscripts] noticed
by Eggeling (India Office Catalogue, vii, pp. 1464-65), Aufrecht (Bodleian Catalogue p. 131.
no.239), Haraprasad Sastri (Descriptive Catalogue of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vii, p. 230 and
Notices, 2nd series i. p.384), while the work is uniformly ascribed to Hitaharivansh, son of Vyasa. It
is obviously a case of appropriation by the Caitanya sect of a work composed by Hitaharivansh of
the Radhavallabhi sect!”

In some extremely rare manuscripts, we find the added mangalacharan sloka dedicated to Sri
Chaitanya beginning with “nindantaṁ pulakotkareṇa vikasan-nīpa-prasūna-cchaviṁ” which
poses itself to be Sloka 1 of Radha Sudha Nidhi. We also find a closing dedication sloka to Sri
Chaitanya in some of these that starts with “sa jayati gaura-payodhir” and sits at Sloka 272. The
fact that these slokas have been added to original manuscripts for the purpose of claiming the work
to be written by Srila Prabodhananda Saraswati will now be shown. The fact that no legitimate
ancient manuscript has been found with these two extra slokas speaks for itself.
Manuscripts found at Vrindavan Research Institute

Of the nine manuscripts with just the slokas of Sri Radha-Sudha-Nidhi found in the Vrindavan
Research Institute's collection, seven have the name of Sri Harivansh and the other two are ascribed
to Srila Prabodhananda. Let us take a look at the two manuscripts that bear the name of Srila
Prabodhananda:

(1) Manuscript/MSS 6626 -

This is a complete manuscript in 50 folios. The original invocation/mangalacarana written in red ink
is still readable as sri-radhavallabho-jayati [the name of Sri Hit Harivansh's istadeva/Thakurji
worshipped in the Radhavallabh mandir, Vrindavan] but “Ramano” has been written over
“Vallabho” in black ink by a later hand, yielding the Gaudiya invocation sri-radharamano-jayati.
The extra mangalacharan sloka has been squeezed into a tight space before the original 'yasyāḥ
kadāpi' sloka and is clearly of a different handwriting style and pen. The last page is also a
complete replacement written by a different hand.
(2) Manuscript/MSS 3263 -

This is an incomplete manuscript. Only folios containing slokas 1-5, 19-83, 91-187 out of the 270
slokas of Radha sudha nidhi are found in this manuscript. The first sloka of the text is the same
sloka that praised Sri Caitanya in MSS 6626, but this time it is added as part of the text of Radha
sudha nidhi itself and assigned the number 1. Subsequent sloka numbering in the remainder of the
folio is subsequently one in advance of the usual order, but this discrepancy has disappeared by the
beginning of folio 3 [beginning Sloka 19], which shows that one sloka has been taken out of the
missing second folio [to accommodate for the sloka to Sri Caitanya] which would have contained
slokas 6 to 18. All of this points to tampering of the manuscripts.

The manuscript of a commentary to Sri-Radha-Sudha-Nidhi at the Vrindavan Research

Institute:

Manuscript/MSS 6164 -

This is a copy of a Radhavallabhi commentary to Radha-sudha-nidhi written by Hit-Rasikji.

Someone has later added the Gaudiya mangalacharan sloka to Sri Chaitanya [along with
commentary for that sloka] at the beginning of this manuscript. A second sloka has also been added
at the end of the work. When compared to the rest of the work, these are evidently written with a
different pen and handwriting. What makes this fraudulent addition all the more obvious is:

(a) The original slokas from 1 to 270 beginning 'yasyāḥ kadāpi' are numbered accordingly and
could not be changed by the Gaudiya editor.

(b) Two other copies of this tika [commentary] by Hit-Rasikji are safely secured at Ras-Bharti-
Sansthan 636 and 1054. None of these copies of the commentary contain the added slokas to Sri
Chaitanya.

(c) And by far the most obvious is that Sri Harivansh is mentioned within the content of this
commentary by Hit-Rasikji.

Impartial researchers such as Dr Rupert Snell (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of
London), Charles S.J. White (Asian Studies Program, University of Hawaii), Sushil Kumar De
(Professor of Sanskrit and Bengali at Dhaka University) and Jan Brzezinksi AKA Jagadananda das
'Gaudiya' have also all declared in their writings that the manuscript evidence overwhelmingly
supports the authorship of Radha Sudha Nidhi in favour of Sri Hit Harivansh Mahaprabhu.

WHAT EARLY GAUDIYAS SAID REGARDING THE AUTHOR OF RSN

_________________________________________________________________

The 17th century Gaudiya, Sri Rasikottamsa also accepts in his Prema-pattanam that Sri-Radha-
Sudha-Nidhi was written by Sri Harivansh. Prema Pattanam is an interesting work that comes from
the parampara of Raghunath Bhatta Gosvami and was authored by Yadupati Bhatta, popularly
known as Sri Rasikottamsa. It is quoted and referred to by Gaudiya Vaisnavas and scholars alike.
Ananta dasa Babaji also makes reference to a commentary on Prema Pattanam in his book, Rasa
Darsana. In Prema Pattanam, Rasikottamsa has analysed the stages from prema to mahabhava by
illustrating and comparing them to a city [pattanam]. Rasikottamsa establishes that in Vraja, the city
of love [prema pattanam] everything is just the opposite way around.

He then goes on to mention 35 contradictions such as:

yathānācāra evācāraḥ | Improper behaviour is the norm.

yatra puruṣā eva striyaḥ | Men are women.
yatra satītvam evāsatītvam | Where the faithful woman is considered unchaste.
yatra vyaya eva lābhaḥ | Where spending is gain.

To establish all of these wonderful contradictions, he quotes various sastras and acaryas. In the
section where he wishes to establish yatrādharma eva dharmaḥ sthāpitaḥ | Abandonment of duty
has become a duty, Rasikottamsa cites verses from both Sri Harivansh and Prabodhananda Sarasvati
together.

When citing slokas 80 and 81 [81 and 82 in Gaudiya editions due to added Sri Caitanya Slokas] of
Radha-Sudha-Nidhi, Sri Rasikottamsaji confirms that Sri Harivansh is the author.

Sri Rasikottamsaji writes:

tathoktam sri-gosvami sri-harivansh mahanubhave:

kaishoradbhut madhuri bhar dhurinangacchavim radhikam

tathoktam tairev likhanti bhuj mulato na khalu shankh chakradikam....

The extracts from Radha-Sudha-Nidhi have been highlighted in bold and readers may verify this in
their own editions to confirm that these are indeed slokas from the work.

The following handwritten copy of Prema-pattanam was written by Rambakas Brahmin, a resident
of Bharatpur in 1809 CE and shows the relevant pages wherein Sri Rasikottamsa has accepted Sri
Harivansh as the author of Sri Radha Sudha Nidhi.

This manuscript is under No. 1385 at Rasa-bharati-sansthan, Vrindavan and was given to them by
Professor Sri Krsna Chaitanya Bhatta, Atkhambha, Vrindavan.

__________________________________

OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER:

(a) Due to Bengali association, Srila Prabodhananda normally adds at least a few words in his
works such as śrīla, cūḍā, khelā, the tatsama form of kat-kat which is kati kati etc. These words are
in themselves Sanskrit words but they are used very often only amongst Bengalis and not other
communities. There are instances of the presence of these words in many of his works such as
Vrindavan Mahimamrta, Ascarya rasa prabandha, Caitanya Candramrta etc. A whole list of
instances shall be given later.

(b) Descriptions of Sri Radha wearing a sari in 'Bengali style' mentioned in Srila Prabodhananda's
works but not once in Sri Radha Sudha Nidhi where we would expect such a description if it were
his work owing to it focusing on descriptions of her rupa-madhuri, seva-sukh etc.
It is said that the women of Bengal [and not elsewhere in other states/provinces, or much less
elsewhere] “bunch up” [make into a 'guccha' गच ग चच्छा ] the end part of their saris. The
corner/end/border is called a 'cchor' चछोर or 'aanchal' आआँचल.

Here are some examples of this 'gucchañcala' just from the 8th, 9th and 10th satakas of Srila
Prabodhananda's Vrindavan Mahimamrta:

divya-kuñcita-kauśeyenāgulphaparimaṇḍitām ||8.27||
nicolenātisūkṣmeṇa sva-gucchañcala-śobhinā

aneka-divyālaṅkāra-divya-mālyānulepanā |
divya-kauśeya-kūrpāsa-gucchāñcala-nicolinī ||8.71||

ālolāñcala-guccha-nīla-sutanūnmīlan-nicolāvṛtāṁ
vrīḍā-bhaṅgima-manda-hāsa-kuṭilekṣādi-svabhāvādbhuṭām ||9.59||

koṭi-prāṇātma-nirmañchita-pada-nakha-maṇy-eka-śobhāṁ svabandhor
bibhrāṇāṁ cāru-gucchāñcala-dala-vilasac-citra-sūkṣmaṁ nicolam ||10.3||

nicolenācchannām atirucira-gucchāñcalavatā ||10.94||

(c) The author of Sri-Radha-Sudha-Nidhi does not describe themself as a follower of any particular
sakhi [sakhi-anugamini].

In the lilas described within 'Hit Chaurasi', Sri Harivansh has described himself as Swamini Sri
Radha's intimate sakhi [antaranga-sakhi], primary sakhi [mukhya-sakhi] and well-wishing
maidservant. She gives encouragement and good counsel to Sri Radha. Sri Harivansh never
considers himself as a follower of any particular sakhi within 'Hit Chaurasi, Sphut Vani or
Yamunastakam'.

On the contrary, he even gives motivation to the other sakhis in the form of the primary sakhi:

sunahu na sakhi sahit lalitadik, nirakhi nirakhi nainan kin phulahu – Hit Chaurasi pada 62

“Hey Lalita and other sahachari/sakhis, hear my words. Why don't your eyes rejoice upon seeing
this rasa that Shyama Shyam are playing?” [In other words, these forms of Shyama Shyam are such
that our eyes should rejoice]. (Sri Lalitacharan Goswami)

Srila Prabodhananda Saraswatipada instead feels proud to describe himself as a follower of a

particular sakhi [sakhi-anugamini]. In Sri Vrindavan Mahimamrta he has written:

kadā vā svacchandaṁ dina-rajani vṛndāvana-vane

carann ekaḥ svasty-adbhuta-nava-nikuñjāliṣu viśan |
akasmād evālaukika-madhura-kaiśora-suvayāḥ
ito na tvaṁ yāyā iti mṛdu-girā vārayati mām ||17.107||

“Alas, when will that day come when I will wander day and night in ecstasy throughout the groves
of Vrindavana? Suddenly I will hear some auspicious news. A young beautiful gopi will check me
with the following words: “O stranger, do not come this way, go away from here.” On hearing her
nectarean words, I will realise her intention and float in the ocean of transcendental mellows.”
In the above sloka we can see that Sri Saraswatipada has accepted the anugatya [allegiance] of one
of the young and beautiful leading sakhis [mukhya sakhis]. Having expressed his sweet desire, he
receives the indication through the authoritative words of the sakhi that he is not allowed to enter
the kunja.

And earlier he says,

vṛndāraṇye kim api janatā-duṣpraveśaṁ pradeśaṁ

gatvā proccair nija-dayitayor nāma jalpann udaśruḥ |
atyantāttyāṁ vikala-vikalo divya-mūrtyā kayāpi
śrīśvaryājñā-kara-mṛga-dṛśā vākya-sudhāśvāsitaḥ syāma ||17.102||

“When will I enter into a solitary place of Vrindavana and loudly chant the names of Sri Radha and
Krsna? When will I remember the divine couple, who are my life and soul, and float in tears of love
by chanting their nectarean holy names? As a result of not seeing them, I will be overwhelmed with
distress and give up eating and sleeping. On seeing my pathetic condition, the kind-hearted Srimati
Radhika will give me assurance through one of her maidservants. Thereafter that doe-eyed
enchanting sakhi will come before me and solace me by saying, “Your desire will be fulfilled.”

In this sloka, Sri Saraswatipada has yet again desired to get the assurance of one of Sri Radha's
obedient maidservants/dasis. He has shown his allegiance to her as he indicates that he will feel
satisfied by hearing the reassuring nectar-stream words of that primary Sakhi.

(d) The Radhavallabhis have a vast and ancient commentary tradition for Sri Radha Sudha Nidhi.
Whereas it was Srila Ananda Gopala Goswami and more recently Srila Ananta dasa Babaji who
really brought the text onto the scene for Gaudiyas. Jagadananda das 'Gaudiya' even says that the
text was practically unknown/dead and buried for Gaudiyas until Ananta das Baba began giving his
legendary lectures on it.

Here is a list I'm putting together of the 40+ tikas written by followers of Sri Harivansh:
https://www.facebook.com/radhacharan.das/posts/10161834689965541

(4) Many more points of evidence and refutations of weak and false statements made by Gaudiyas
and even some weak Radhavallabhi statements. I shall write on those in the future when I translate
the text.

Sri Harivansh Gaura Haribol