17.86
prabhu lana gela visvesvara-darasane
tabe asi’ dekhe bindu-madhava-carane
SYNONYMS
prabhu lana—taking the Lord; gela—he went; visvesvara-darasane—to visit the temple of Visvesvara; tabe—thereafter; asi’-coming; dekhe—see; bindu-madhava-carane—the lotus feet of Bindu Madhava.
Tapana Misra then took Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to visit the temple of Visvesvara.
Coming from there, they saw the lotus feet of Lord Bindu Madhava.
PURPORT
This Bindu Madhava is the oldest Visnu temple in Varanasi.
Presently this temple is known as Veni Madhava, and it is situated on the banks of the Ganges.
Formerly five rivers converged there, and they were named Dhutapapa, Kirana, Sarasvati, Ganga and Yamuna.
Now only the River Ganges is visible.
The old temple of Bindu Madhava, which was visited by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, was later dismantled by Aurangzeb, the great Hindu-hating emperor of the Mogul dynasty.
In the place of this temple, he constructed a big majida, or mosque.
Later, another temple was constructed by the side of the mosque, and this temple is still existing.
In the temple of Bindu Madhava there are Deities of four-handed Narayana and the goddess Laksmi.
In front of these Deities is a column of Sri Garuda, and along the side are deities of Lord Rama, Sita, Laksmana and Sri Hanumanji.
In the province of Maharastra is a state known as Satara.
During the time of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, the native prince belonged to the Vaisnava cult.
Being a brahmana, he took charge of worshiping the Deity.
He was known as Srimanta Balasaheba Pantha Maharaja.
The state still bears the expenditure for temple maintenance.
The first king in this dynasty to take charge of worship in the temple, two hundred years ago, was Maharaja Jagatjivana Rao Saheba.