Nityanandabinod Goswami (1907-72)

Nityanandabinod Goswami was born in Santipur, Nadia in one of the renowned Vaishnava families of Bengal. He studied under his father, an erudite Vaishnava scholar in Vrindavan. Later he joined the Sanskrit College in Calcutta, where besides Sanskrit he also learned Pali and Prakrit. 

He came to Santiniketan in 1920 as a Research Scholar. With encouragement from Rabindranath, Gosainji went to Ceylon to make a special study of the Abhidhammapitaka.

On his return to Santiniketan, Gosainji was expected to devote himself to research in Buddhist studies but Rabindranath decided otherwise. He asked Gosainji to teach Bengali and Sanskrit to the children of his school and this is what he did till the end of his service. 

He was a guru in the true manner but with a modern outlook, just as Rabindranath wanted his teachers to be. He read books in Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, Bengali, Hindi and English and on various subjects. He participated in all asrama activities, play-acting, music, arts.