Vidyapati

Vidyapati (c 1374-1460) famous Vaisnava poet, was born in a scholarly Shaivite Brahmin family in the village of Bisfi in the Sitamari subdivision of Mithila. His father's name was Ganapati. The family, whose title was 'Thakkar' or 'Thakur, were employed in high positions at the court of the rulers of Mithila and had made many important contributions in military matters as well as artistic and cultural areas. Vidyapati himself was a member of the court of the kings Dev Singh and Shivsing. Vidyapati studied under Sri Hari Mishra.

Vidyapati wrote in Maithili, abahattha, and sanskrit. Since he was born in a Shaivite family, he also wrote many Shaivite songs. However, the verses on Radha-Krishna that are written in brajabuli are considered his masterpieces. It is because of these Vaisnava verses, that he has gained immortality. These songs, in metrical feet and written in Maithili, gradually became popular all over Bengal. However, they were later transformed by the influences of local dialects and the singers of kirtan. From this grew a type of Vaisnava verse language known as Brajabuli.

Although Brajabuli is mainly a mixture of Bangla and Maithili, it also includes some Hindi words. Vaisnava verses continued to be written in Brajabuli till the nineteenth century. rabindranath tagore wrote the Bhanusingha Thakurer Padavali in this language. Sri chaitanya himself was fond of listening to the songs of Vidyapati. Kirtan and Padasangit were the main pillars of the vaisnavism. Vidyapati's fame spread all over Bengal. Later, many Bengali and non-Bengali poets wrote verses in imitation of Vidyapati. Research on Vidyapati started in the late nineteenth century. Nagendranath Gupta was the first to publish an authentic version of the songs written by Vidyapati.

Apart from writing songs, Vidyapati also wrote books on ethics, history, geography and law. Among his books are Puruspariksa (moral teaching), Likhanabali (on writing), Kirttilata (history), Bhu-Parikrama (geography), Danbakyabali (on charity), Gangabakyabali (on holy sites). Durgabhaktitarangini and Bibhagsar are autobiographical in nature. [Basanti Choudhury]

Chandidas

Chandidas (c 14th century) poet. There were at least four poets with the name of Chandidas: Baru Chandidas, Dwija Chandidas, Dina Chandidas, and Chandidas. It is not clear whether these different names found in the bhanita (autobiographical lines in poetry mentioning the name of the poet) refer to different individuals or to the same person. Only Baru Chandidas has been more or less identified. But many questions still remain unresolved, creating the Chandidas mystery.

It is believed that Baru Chandidas was born in the village of Nanur in Birbhum district, son of Durgadas Bagchi, a Varendra Brahmin. Chandidas, who was a priest in the temple of the goddess Bashuli (Bishalaksi), fell in love with a washerwoman named Rami and was excommunicated.

Baru Chandidas is known mainly as the writer of the lyrical srikrishnakirtan, the manuscript of which was discovered by Basantaranjan Vidvadvallabh at Bankura. Basantaranjan, who published the manuscript in 1916, believed that Chandidas was born in 1339 and died in 1399. However, other scholars, suggest a somewhat earlier date.

The poems ascribed to Chandidas have been popular in Bengal through the centuries. The first humanist poet in Bangla, he believed that 'sabar upare manus satya tahar upare nai' (The supreme truth is man, there is nothing more important than he is). The verses that bear his name approximate 1,100.

A school and a hospital have been established at Nanur village in Birbhum as memorials to Chandidas. Countless people visit the village to pay homage to the poet. [Samaresh Devnath]

Jayadeva / Gita Govinda

Jaydev (12th century) Sanskrit poet and one of the five 'gems' of the court of laksmanasena, the others being govardhan, sharan, umapatidhara and dhoyi. Jaydev's monumental work is the Gitagovindam.

According to the Gitagovindam, Jaydev's parents were Bhojdev and Vamadevi and his wife was Padmavati. He was born in the village of Kenduvilva, on the bank of the river Ajaya. However, few facts are known about Jaydev's life and he has been variously described as an inhabitant of Mithila or Orissa. It also said that he was, for a period, the court poet of the king of Utkal. Sridharadasa's poem Saduktikarnamrta quotes 31 verses from Jaydev, with five being from the Gitagovindam. Two verses ascribed to Jaydev are preserved in the Sikh Adi Granth or granth sahib. In some later works such as Bhaktamala, sekhashubhodaya etc. there are many stories relating to Jaydev and Padmavati. [Kanailal Ray]

Gitgovindam Jaydev's Sanskrit poem about the love affair of radha and krishna was a source of inspiration for vaisnavism, which interpreted it as an allegory of the human soul's love for the divine. The poem has greatly influenced Bangla padavali. Learned and popular audiences in India and elsewhere have continued to appreciate the emotional lyricism of the poem on the theme of separated lovers.

The poem, really a kind of drama of the ragakavya type since it is usually acted, consists of twelve cantos containing twenty-four songs. The songs are sung by Krishna, Radha or Radha's maid and are connected by brief narrative or descriptive passages. The appropriate raga for each song is noted in the text.

Although the poem originated in eastern India in the twelfth century and remains most popular there, it spread throughout the subcontinent in the centuries following its composition. As early as the thirteenth century, it was quoted in a temple inscription in Gujarat, in western India. Apart from Bengal and Orissa, its songs form an important part of the devotional music and literature of South India. The songs were introduced into Kerala in the sixteenth century and are still sung in temples there. Furthermore, the poem provided subjects for medieval Rajput painting.

The first English translation of the Gitagovindam was by william jones in 1792. It has subsequently been translated into most modern Indian languages and many other modern European languages as well. Notable English versions include Edwin Arnold's The Indian Songs of Songs, George Keyt's Sri Jayadeva's Gita Govinda: The Loves of Krishna and Radha, S Lakshminarasimha Sastri's The Gita Govinda of Jayadeva, Duncan Greenlees' The Song of Divine Love, Monica Varma's The Gita Govinda of Jayadeva, Barbara Stoler Miller's The Gitagovinda of Jayadeva. [Paresh Chandra Mandal]