Srila Locana Dasa Thakura was born in a brahmana family near Katwa, West Bengal, in 1520. Locana Dasa's father's name was Sri Kamalakara Dasa, and his mother's name was Sri Sadanandi. He was their only son and spent much of his youth living at the home of his grandparents, where he began his education.
As a young boy Locana Dasa met devotees of Lord Caitanya. He had great attachment for the Lord and detachment from worldly enjoyment. As a young man Locana Dasa accepted Sri Narahari Sarakara, an intimate associate of Lord Caitanya, as his spiritual master. Locana Dasa writes, "My hope of hopes is to be near the lotus feet of Sri Narahari Thakura, to serve and worship with my very life. My lord is Sri Narahari Thakura, and I am his servant. Bowing and praying before him, I beg him to allow me his service. This is my only aspiration."
Sri Narahari Thakura was an expert composer of devotional songs, and he instructed Locana Dasa in that art. Locana Dasa wrote many songs (some of which are found in ISKCON songbooks) and a book about Lord Caitanya, called Caitanya Mangala. To write Caitanya Mangala, Locana Dasa took inspiration from a Sanskrit book by Sri Murari Gupta, entitled Sri Krsna-Caitanya-Carita. Locana Dasa writes, "That very Murari Gupta who lived in Nadiya composed many Sanskrit verses about the life of Sri Gauranga, which he later arranged in the form of a book. Having heard these verses from Murari Gupta, Damodara Pandita taught them to me, and I memorized them with great delight. As these Sanskrit verses and the conception of Caitanya Mahaprabhu developed in my mind, they flowed forth from me in the form of these Pancali verses in Bengali, which I write in glorification of the life and pastimes of Sri Caitanya." (Pancali is the classic form of rhymes and meters used by Bengali poets to composed sacred songs and verses. It employs five kinds of song styles [panca means "five"]).
In Caitanya Mangala, Srila Locana Dasa elaborates some of the pastimes of Lord Caitanya mentioned only briefly by the Lord's two main biographers, Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami and Srila Vrndavana Dasa Thakura.
Srila Locana Dasa Thakura left this world in 1618 to enter the Lord's eternal pastimes.