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Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, one of the greatest saints of the sixteenth century, had many disciples, of whom the six Gosvamis of Vrindavana are prominent. Sri Rupa Gosvami is one among the six Gosvamis, and he has written many books about Srimati Radharani and Lord Krsna. One of the most beautiful compilations made by him is Sri Radhakrsna Ganoddesha Deepika, which details every resident of Vrindavana, complete with their characteristics, appearance and clothing, as well as their daily activities, and in Radharani's case (and some of Krsna's sakhas' and sakhis' cases), her favourite pastimes, ragas, flowers, pet animals and so on.

At the onset, Sri Rupa Gosvami says

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The celebrated personal associates of the King and Queen of Vrndavana are briefly but truthfully described with great delight in both Vedic literatures and oral tradition. This book will also describe them.

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These associates of the Lord are described by the residents of Mathura-mandala, by the various books written by devotees , various Vedic literatures such as the Puranas and Agamas and by the great devotees and saintly persons. For the satisfaction of my dear friends, these associates of the Lord will now be briefly describing in writing, following the previous authorities in the path of ecstatic love of God.

So, which are the Puranas and other Vedic literature he is referring to in the above quoted stanzas?

Furthermore, in the 30th Stanza, he says this:

TEXT 30

The friendship of Yasoda is described in the following statement of the Adi Purana : " The wife of Maharaja Nanda was known by two names, Yasoda and Devaki. Partly because they share the same name (Devaki) the wife of Maharaja Nanda and the wife of Maharaja Vasudeva were great friends."

So what is the "Adi Purana" that Sri Rupa Gosvami is referring to? A Google search tells me that it is a substantially well-quoted Purana in Gaudiya literature, but I am not familiar with any Purana with that name.

So, which Purana(s) and other scriptures were used as references for this monumental literature?

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  • This book and many other books say that "Adi Purana" is a term for the Brahma Purana. And the Brahma Purana does have Krishna's life story, so that may be a good place to look. By the way, I don't think Rupa Goswami is describing every single resident of Vrindavan, just the prominent ones. Commented Apr 30, 2016 at 17:47
  • @Keshav I don't think it is Brahma Purana as it doesn't have any information about Radhakrsna. Also this link has the index of one Adi Purana which does contain topics like Radhakrsna Varnanam, Radha Tattva, Krsna's Sakhas and so on. The problem is I don't know where is the full version. And I have not heard of this Purana till now. There is also the minor thing that it is fully in Sanskrit with no translation.
    – Surya
    Commented Apr 30, 2016 at 17:56

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In Vishnu Purana translated by HH Wilson and published in 1840, he mentions about Adi Purana.

There is also a minor Purána called Ádi, or 'first,'. It is confined to a detail of the sports of the juvenile Krishna.

Since he already mentioned Brahma purana in the list of major puranas, this seems to be Adi Purana that which you refer to in your question.

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