Lord Nityananda said, “One time Sri Vishnu Svami went traveling as a Digvijayi, conquering all directions. When he reached Rudradvipa, he stayed there for the night along with his disciples, who were dancing, chanting the holy name, ‘Hari Hari!’ Sri Vishnu Svami was reading the sruti and smriti scriptures. Sri Nila-lohita (Lord Siva) was pleased to see this display of bhakti and decided to grant him his darsana. When Sri Rudradeva arrived in the assembly of Vaishnavas, Vishnu Svami was surprised to see him and he respectfully offered prayers with folded hands. Lord Rudra mercifully said, ‘All you Vaisnavas are dear to me, I am very pleased to see all of you discussing bhakti. You may ask from me any boon, out of my mercy I will fulfil your desire. I can give anything to Vaisnavas.’ 

Vishnu Svami offered prostrated obeisances and in great ecstasy he asked, ‘Oh my Lord! Please give us the boon that all of us may achieve perfection in the bhakti-sampradaya.’ With great pleasure Lord Rudra granted the wish of Vishnu Svami and accepted his sampradaya as his own. Since then the Vishnu Svami-sampradaya has been famous as the Sri Rudra-sampradaya. By the mercy of Rudradeva, Sri Vishnu Svami resides at this place, worshiping Sri Gauracandra in order to achieve pure love or prema. Once Sri Gauranga appeared in his dream and said, ‘You have received the blessings of My devotee, Rudradeva. You are blessed to receive the wealth of bhakti in Navadvipa. Now you should go and preach the philosophy of suddhadvaita. During My manifested pastime you will appear as Sri Vallabha Bhatta and after having My darsana in Sri-kshetra you will attain perfection in your sampradaya by going to Mahavana.’” Lord Nityananda continued, saying, “O, Jiva! Sri Vallabha is now in Gokula. If you go there you can receive his darsana.” 

Thus Sankaracarya, being a great devotee at heart and understanding the navadvipa-tattva through his dream, left for other countries. This Rudradvipa is a place for all the Rudras (various forms of Lord Siva), who gather to sing the glories of Lord Gauranga. Sri Nila-lohita, the chief of the Rudras, dances here with great jubilation every day and the demigods happily shower flowers from the sky in appreciation. 

Directions: Proceed down the road beside the Sridhama Mayapur Post Office. Take the first road on the right. Proceed four to five kilometers walking or by cycle (vehicles cannot go) until you come to a T-junction where you need to walk up a steep embankment. Turn left here and then cross the bridge on your right. Continue walking on the main path for approximately another two kilometers. It is the second village. There is nothing to mark this place but this is the general area. 

In Rudradvipa there is a village called Sankarapura, the glories of which Lord Nityananda describes as follows, “From here you can see Sri Sankarapura on the bank of the Ganga. When Sankaracarya was busy conquering people in all directions, he came here in order to conquer Navadvipa. Internally he was a great Vaishnava but externally he was an advaita-vadi (follower of monism), the servant of maya. Sankaracarya was the partial expansion of Lord Rudra, who is very powerful, and was expert in spreading Bauddha philosophy in a hidden way. Lord Rudra was performing these activities by the order of the Lord and when he came to Nadia, Sri Gauracandra appeared to him in a dream. Being merciful upon Sankaracarya, the Lord spoke to him sweetly, ‘My dear servant, by My order alone, you are preaching mayavada philosophy very diligently, but this Navadvipa-dhama is very dear to Me and mayavada has no place here. Here Vriddha Siva, along with Praudha Maya, preaches about the speculated Agama Puranas. They cheat those people who are inimical to My devotees. Everyone becomes My devotee here. There is no opportunity to preach this wicked philosophy in My dhama. You had better go somewhere else and not trouble the inhabitants of Navadvipa.’ 

The village Radupura is situated on the eastern side of the Ganga. Some people also call this place Rudrapura. Rudradvipa is said to be divided into two portions. One portion is on the eastern bank of the Ganga and the other portion is on the western bank. Due to the movement of the Ganga sometimes a portion on the western side of the Ganga moves to the eastern side and vice-versa. Thus the exact location of various places is difficult to ascertain. Sri Isana Thakura, during his parikrama with Srila Srinivasa Acarya, came to this place and gave the following explanation: “This place is now known as Radupura but previously it was called Rudradvipa. The village of Radupura has since disappeared and now only some uninhabited land remains. I will now tell you why this place was known as Rudradvipa. Sri Rudradeva was very happy within his heart knowing that Sri Gauracandra would appear in Nadia. Rudradeva, along with his followers, became mad while describing the glorious qualities of Lord Gauranga. All around him was the sound vibration of drums and various other instruments. Mahesvara was dancing ecstatically with wonderful bodily movements. By the weight of Rudra’s every step the earth was shaking. 

Who would not become impatient to have darsana of that dance? Who would not dance when Lord Rudra is dancing? From heaven the demigods started to sprinkle flowers. Happiness increased within the hearts of all the demigods, who said, ‘Now all living entities will be free from all kinds of suffering. Before the appearance of the Lord, Rudradeva is chanting the glories of His birth. This means the Lord will appear in Nadia very soon. Our hearts will be filled with happiness to witness the birth pastimes of the Lord.’ Speaking in this way, all the demigods in heaven started dancing. Rudradeva forgot himself while chanting the glories of Lord Gauranga, who therefore became concerned about Rudra’s condition. He appeared in front of Rudradeva, invisible to anyone else. The Lord then pacified Mahadeva by saying, 

‘I will fulfil your desire. I will appear very soon along with My associates.’ By hearing the words of the Lord, Rudradeva became peaceful and filled with great happiness. 

He offered various prayers, glorifying Lord Gauracandra. Sri Gaurasundara embraced Rudradeva and then disappeared, leaving him very perturbed due to losing the Lord’s darsana. After some time, by the mercy of the Lord, Rudradeva again became pacified. Lord Rudra sits here along with his associates and distributes the nectar of gaura-katha. This place is very pious because Rudradeva had some pastimes here and therefore it is known as Rudradvipa.