Mahanitai Das

Mahanitai Das, written Maha Nitai Das in most video titles, is a Hare Krishna kirtan leader and brahmachari who sings with ISKCON in West Bengal and across India. His kirtans are recorded at Sri Mayapur Dham, at ISKCON Ekachakra, the holy place of Lord Nityananda's appearance, and at kirtan melas in Vrindavan, Shantipur, Patna and Mumbai.

He has been part of ISKCON Mayapur for many years. In 2011-12 he was named among the top book distributors of the Mayapur marathon. He led the Narahari Nama Kirtan in 2015 and the Mayapur Kirtan Mela in 2017, and a live recording of that mela is on Spotify under his name.

Through the 2020s he kept leading. In October 2021 Mayapur TV streamed his kirtan live from Sri Mayapur Dham. In October 2022 he sang in the 24-hour kirtan at ISKCON Vrindavan, and in 2023 he was at the Shantipur Kirtan Mela. In April 2025 he led at the ISKCON Patna kirtan mela. In February 2026 ISKCON Ekachakra's own channel posted his adhivas kirtan, the opening kirtan of the Nityananda Troyodashi festival.

What marks him out is his range of Bengali styles. Recordings show him leading harinam sankirtan in Raag Bageshri and in the Bhatiyali folk style of Bengal, as well as the plain maha-mantra at kirtan melas.

He leads seated at a harmonium, with a mridanga player and a second musician beside him, and the hall answers each line. Videos title him a brahmachari, a celibate monk, so ask us early whether a family programme suits his schedule and way of life.

A kirtan with Mahanitai Das follows the Bengal temple tradition. He sits at the harmonium and sings a line of the maha-mantra, a mridanga and kartals keep time behind him, and the room answers. He can slow the kirtan into a raga such as Bageshri or lift it into the lilting Bhatiyali folk style of Bengal, so the same mantra feels different at the start and the end. Videos show him leading long kirtans at ISKCON temples and melas, so expect a devotional evening in which guests are invited to clap, sing and dance.