Research Map

Gaudiya Vaishnava Lineage Map

Guru-disciple relationships among the personalities documented in this project

This research map shows guru-disciple relationships among the personalities whose lives are told in the Nandgram Dham biography collection. It is built from the same profiles and citations as the rest of this section. It also shows branches and relationships that go beyond the formal Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Guru-Parampara. For the recognized disciplic succession presented by Srila Prabhupada, see the Guru-Parampara page.

Solid lines are relationships this project could confirm from named sources. Dashed lines and the ? marker show a link that sources dispute, or that this project could not confirm. Click + to open a branch, and click any name to read that person's full biography.

This map does not show every disciple an acharya had in real life. It only shows the ones this site has written about with real sources. So if a name shows just one or two disciples here, that does not mean they only had one or two disciples. It just means that is what we have researched so far. For example, Srila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji Maharaj shows only one disciple on this map, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. But he surely had many more disciples in his life. This map is based only on what this site has covered, not the full history.

76 profiles in this map

Confirmed guru-disciple relationship Disputed or unconfirmed link — see the note ?Top of an independent branch — hover/tap the marker for why Where a named sampradaya begins Line color cycles by nesting depth only — it doesn't mark category or lineage. Hover/tap any line to see whose branch it is.

Lord Sri KrishnaSvayam Bhagavan: the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Source of All Avataras1 disciple

Sri Nityananda PrabhuPatita-pavana, the Deliverer of the Fallenc. 1474, Magha Sukla Trayodashi – c. 15409 disciples
? As a member of the Panca-tattva, identified in Gaudiya theology with Balarama, Krishna's own eternal expansion, Nityananda Prabhu is not depicted as having taken initiation from a guru in the ordinary sense.

Srila Gauridasa PanditHouseholder Devotee Who Installed the Gaura-Nitai Deities of Ambika KalnaNot recorded (late 15th century); first lived at Saligrama, Bengal – Shukla Ekadashi, Shravana (year not recorded)1 disciple
? No source consulted for this project names his own initiating guru.
- Srila Hridaya ChaitanyaThe Guru Who Discovered Shyamananda PanditNot recorded (flourished in the generation after Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, mid-16th century) – Not recorded (before 1630 AD, during Shyamananda Pandit's later years preaching in Utkal)1 disciple
  - Srila Shyamananda PanditThe Milkman's Son Who Carried the Goswamis HomeChaitra Purnima; traditionally dated 1535 AD by one detailed account from his family line, though most sources give no year – Krishna-pratipada (first lunar day of the dark fortnight), month of Ashadha; year given as 1623 AD by one detailed source, and as Shaka 1552 / 1630 AD by other sources; the sources disagree2 disciples

Srila Jahnava MataConsort of Nityananda Prabhu Who Led Gaudiya Vaishnavism After 1534Early 16th century (the exact year is not recorded in the original sources; one later source gives 1509) – Shukla Navami, month of Vaishakha (the sources we checked do not give the year)1 disciple
? Nityananda Prabhu's consort. After 1534 she was acknowledged as the Gaudiya Vaishnava movement's own diksha-guru and head (Srila Prabhupada said plainly that she "was acharya"), rather than being recorded as anyone's formal disciple herself.
- Srila Viracandra PrabhuSon of Nityananda Prabhu and Founding Figure of the Nityananda-vamsaNinth day of the dark fortnight of Kartika, according to one tradition; Agrahayana shukla chaturdashi (the fourteenth day of the bright fortnight of Agrahayana), according to the Gaudiya Vaishnava Abhidhana. Sources disagree, and no year is known for certain – Not recorded in any source checked

Srila Vishvanatha Chakravarti ThakuraAuthor of the Sarartha-darsini and Architect of Raganuga-Bhaktic. 1626 (sources vary widely, 1610s-1660s) – c. 1708, Vasanta-panchami (Magha)1 disciple
? Sources disagree on whether Krishnacarana Chakravarti or his own disciple Radharamana Chakravarti actually gave him diksha; this site's own research reports both rather than guessing. Neither has a profile here yet.
- Srila Baladeva VidyabhusanaAuthor of the Govinda-bhashyac. early 18th century (exact year unknown) – traditionally 1768; some scholars place it as late as 1793 (disputed)

Srila Jagannatha Dasa BabajiVaishnava Sarvabhauma — Emperor Among the Vaishnavasc. 1800 – date not precisely recorded; Vaishnava tradition holds he lived to an extraordinary age1 disciple
? His own biography traces his guru-lineage back through Madhusudana Dasa Babaji and an earlier Uddhava Dasa to the Vedanta commentator Baladeva Vidyabhushana. But those two intermediate figures do not yet have their own profiles on this site, so the link can't be drawn here yet.
- Srila Bhaktivinoda ThakuraThe Seventh Goswami2 September 1838 – 23 June 1914, at the age of 75

Srila Gaura Kishora Dasa BabajiThe Renounced Mendicant of Vrindavana and Nabadwip17 November 1838 – 17 November 1915, on his 77th birthday1 disciple
? He took vows as a babaji "in the line of" Jagannatha Dasa Babaji, but this site's own research found that even Vaishnava sources themselves do not agree on the specific individual who gave him initiation.
- Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati ThakuraFounder of the Gaudiya Math6 February 1874, 3:30 pm – 1 January 1937, at the age of 621 disciple
  - Srila PrabhupadaFounder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness1 September 1896 – 14 November 1977, at the age of 81