[1][2] Girdhar or Giridharadāsa was born in the village of Māsar, Baroda State in a Lāḍ Vaṇik family in 1785.
His father, Garavaḍadās, worked as a patwari or village accountant and for some years Girdhar followed him in the profession and was educated in the requisite fields.
At the age of twenty he moved to Baroda where he worked for his sister's husband's banking firm.
In Baroda he was exposed to learned ascetics and holy men, and studied Sanskrit language and its epic texts.
On the return journey, when Girdhar wished to visit Śrīnāthajī Ragīlāl refused.