Vidyapati

Vidyapati (; –1448), also known by the sobriquet Maithil Kavi Kokil , was a Maithili and Sanskrit polymath-poet-saint, playwright, composer, biographer, writer, courtier and royal priest. He was a devotee of Shiva, but also wrote love songs and devotional Vaishnava songs.

Vidyapati's influence was not just restricted to Maithili and Sanskrit literature but also extended to other Eastern Indian literary traditions.

View of Vidyapati statue at the Vidyapati Chowk name after him in the city of Janakpur in Nepal.

Early life Vidyapati was born to a Maithil Brahmin family in the village of Bisapī (now Bisfi) in the present-day Madhubani district of the Mithila region of northern Bihar, India.

The Vijipursha (earliest known ancestor) also called as Adi purusha (first known ancestors) of Vidyapati was Vishnu Thakur. Vidyapati was the son of Gaṇapati Ṭhakkura, a Maithil Brahmin said to be a great devotee of Shiva. He was a priest in the court of Rāya Gaṇeśvara, the reigning chief of Tirhut. After that, Padmasimha became the ruler of Mithila. Vidyapati returned to serve Padmasimha and continue writing, primarily treatises on law and devotional manuals.

Shiva and Parvati Hymns:Vidyapati's deep devotion to Lord Shiva is evident in his compositions that explore the divine relationship between Shiva and Parvati. These works are characterised by their poetic elegance and spiritual depth, reflecting the poet's reverence for the divine couple. Gosaunik Geet: "Jai Jai Bhairavi" :Among Vidyapati's notable devotional songs is "Jai Jai Bhairavi," a Gosaunik Geet dedicated to Goddess Bhairavi. This composition is traditionally sung during auspicious ceremonies in the Mithila region, highlighting the poet's influence on regional devotional practices.

Influence Odia literature Vidyapati's influence reached Odisha through Bengal. The earliest composition in Brajabuli, an artificial literary language popularised by Vidyapati, is ascribed to Ramananda Raya, the governor of Godavari province of the King of Odisha, Gajapati Prataprudra Dev. He was an associate of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He recited his Brajabuli poems to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, when he first met him on the bank of river Godavari at Rajahmundry, southern provincial capital of Kingdom of Odisha.

Bengali literature Bengali Vaishnavas like Chitanya and Chandidas adopted Vidyapati's love songs about Radha and Krishna as Vaishnava hymns. The medieval Bengali poets, Gobindadas Kabiraj, Jnandas, Balaramdas and Narottamdas composed their padas (poems) in this language. Rabindranath Tagore composed his Bhanusingha Thakurer Padabali (1884) in a mix of Western Hindi (Braj Bhasha) and archaic Bengali and named the language Brajabuli as an imitation of Vidyapati (he initially promoted these lyrics as those of a newly discovered poet, Bhanusingha). Other 19th-century figures in the Bengal Renaissance like Bankim Chandra Chatterjee have also written in Brajabuli.

Tagore was much influenced by Vidyapati. He set the poet's Bhara Badara to his own tune.

Legacy

Vidyapati has been kept alive in popular memory over the past six centuries; he is a household name in Mithila. While several groups performed in multiple villages in that area in the 20th century, there was just one group left in one village by 2012. Another film, also titled Vidyapati, was made in 1964 by Prahlad Sharma, starring Bharat Bhushan and Simi Garewal in the lead roles.

In December 2018, Darbhanga Airport was renamed Kavi Kokil Vidyapati Airport.

Banauli Vidyapati Dih In the Himalayan nation of Nepal, there is a historical dih named after him at Banauli village of the Mithila region. It is known as Banauli Vidyapati Dih. The location of the historical dih has been declared as a tourist destination by the Madhech Pradesh provincial government of Nepal. It is also considered as the location of the court of King Puraditya in the Dronwara dynasty of the Raj Banauli in Mithila.

Works

Texts Maṇimañjarīnāṭikā (Sanskrit, Tirahuta script) – a conventional romantic play (nāṭikā)