very little is known about the early years of madhavendra puri, as from the majority of sources he had already become a renunciant - a "sannyasi". after making an extensive pilgrimage of india as a "sannyasi" he passed the remaining period of his life in vrndavana and orissa. the main source of knowledge about this personality is caitanya caritamrita. what is known is that he was a "sannyasi" of the madhva line being a disciple of lakshmipati tirtha and it appears that madhavendra was the founder of the vaishnava centre at mathura, vrindavana. he is considered as a fountainhead of devotional worship of krishna and he started the worship of the gopala deity, better known as shrinathji. he is attributed to the mysterious discovery of the famous deity of gopala near govardhana that was later worshipped by vallabhacharya, a follower of vishnuswami in rudra sampradaya, who in turn was influenced by the devotional mood of vrindavana.