Jagadguru Shankaracharya Svami Sri Nischalananda Sarasvatiji Mahaharaja, Shankaracharya of Puri, Govardhan Math, was born on June 30, 1943 (ashadha krishna trayodashi, Samvat 2000). He was born in a village called Haripur Baxi Tola, Madhubani, Bihar and was named Nilambar by his elder brother.
Haripur Baxi Tola falls in the celebrated Mithila region, the birthplace of several renowned historical personalities, yogis, sants, philosophers, matri shakti’s, like Sri Janaka, Yajnavalkya, Sri Maṇḍana Misraji, Vachaspati, Shankara Misra, Udayana, Gangesha Upadhyaya, Kavi Kokil Vidyapati, Sita Ma, Gargi, Maitreyi, Sulabha, Ubhaya Bharati, etc.
Brief family lineage
Pandit Digambar Jha, was a resident of a village Barha, near Benipatt (Madhubani district). He was a brahman of the Kashyap gotra. He settled with his family in Haripur Baxi Tola. His only son, Sri Balmukundan Jha was a popular bhakti poet in Mithila.
Sri Balmukundan Jha had two sons. The older son Pandit Yaduvanshi Jha passed away in his youth. The younger son, Sri Lalvanshi Jha, was the head scholar (rajpandit) at the court of the then king of Darbhanga. Wife of Sri Lalvanshi Jha, Gita Devi, gave birth to three sons – Sri Sridev Jha, Sri Shukdev Jha, and the youngest, Sri Nilambar Jha. They had a daughter too, Shashikala Devi, who was the second oldest amongst the four children.
The appearance of Pujyapad Shankaracharya of Puri was on the sacred soil of Mithila as the son of an illustrious brahman family.
Watch this beautiful composition on the birth of Maharajaji in glorious Mithila-