kholÄ-vecÄ Å›rÄ«dhara prabhura priya-dÄsa
yÄá¹…hÄ-sane prabhu kare nitya parihÄsa
kholÄ-vecÄ - a person who sells the bark of banana trees; Å›rÄ«dhara - ÅšrÄ«dhara Prabhu; prabhura - of the Lord; priya-dÄsa - very dear servant; yÄá¹…ha-sane - with whom; prabhu - the Lord; kare - does; nitya - daily; parihÄsa - joking.
The twenty-ninth branch was Śrīdhara, a trader in banana-tree bark. He was a very dear servant of the Lord. On many occasions, the Lord played jokes on him.
ÅšrÄ«dhara was a poor brÄhmaṇa who made a living by selling banana-tree bark to be made into cups. Most probably he had a banana-tree garden and collected the leaves, skin and pulp of the banana trees to sell daily in the market. He spent fifty percent of his income to worship the Ganges, and the balance he used for his subsistence. When ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu started His civil disobedience movement in defiance of the Kazi, ÅšrÄ«dhara danced in jubilation. The Lord used to drink water from his water jug. ÅšrÄ«dhara presented a squash to ÅšacÄ«devÄ« to cook before Lord Caitanya took sannyÄsa. Every year he went to see Lord Caitanya MahÄprabhu at JagannÄtha PurÄ«. According to Kavi-karṇapÅ«ra, ÅšrÄ«dhara was a cowherd boy of Vá¹›ndÄvana whose name was KusumÄsava. In his Gaura-gaṇoddeÅ›a-dÄ«pikÄ (133) it is stated:
kholÄ-vecÄtayÄ khyÄtaḥ paṇá¸itaḥ Å›rÄ«dharo dvijaḥ
ÄsÄ«d vraje hÄsya-karo yo nÄmnÄ kusumÄsavaḥ
“The cowherd boy known as KusumÄsava in kṛṣṇa-lÄ«lÄ later became KholÄvecÄ ÅšrÄ«dhara during Caitanya MahÄprabhu’s lÄ«lÄ at NavadvÄ«pa.â€
