Ramdas Adak

Ramdas Adak (; c. 1635–1708) was a famous 17th-century Bengali and Sanskrit court poet and song composer. He composed a Dharmamangal kavya named Anadimangal. He was one of the earliest known composers of the Dharmamangal Kavya. He was the "Swavakobi" of Raja Pratapnarayan of Bhurishrestha. at village Hayatpur under Arambagh subdivision of the Bhursut Kingdom in present-day Hooghly district. After his father's death he settled in a village called Paschimpara in modern-day Bardhaman district. For extreme poverty after his father's untimely death, he was unable to pay taxes and imprisoned by Chaitanya Samanta, an official of Raja Pratapnarayan, the Maharaja of Bhursut, and the son of Raja Rudranarayan and Bhavashankari, after few days an old man in disguise secretly freed Ramdas from the prison.

To escape from the king's soldiers, he constantly changed his place of residence. It is said that one day he being chased by a supernatural guard, he became frightened, exhausted, and thirsty. When he went to a pond to drink water, the water miraculously dried up, and he fell unconscious, at that moment, God Dharmathakur appeared before him in the guise of a young Brahmin and offered him Ganges water to drink, and restored his consciousness.

Ramdas' only son was Balai Chand. His descendants still reside in Paschimpara village.

Career Alongside composing Anadimangal, Ramdas began singing various devotional songs on Dharmaraj. Within a short time he got the attention of Raja Jadavchandra Roy, the nephew of Raja Pratapnarayan who was deeply impressed by Ramdas's poetic and musical talent. Because of his talent he was appointed as the Swavakavi in Raja Pratapnarayan's royal court, where he completed the composition of Anadimangal Kavya. Raja Naranarayan, after his succession to the throne, also appointed him as the Dewan of Bhurishrestha.