Girdhar or Giradhara (1787–1852) was an ancient

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

poet.

Works

Girdhar is known for his poetic epic ''Ramayana'' (1837) which is popular in

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

. He derived the story from ''

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

'' of

Tulsidas Tulsidas (; born Rambola Dubey; also known as Goswami Tulsidas; c.1511pp. 23–34.–1623) was a Ramanandi Vaishnava Hindu saint and poet, renowned for his devotion to the deity Rama. He wrote several popular works in Sanskrit and Awadhi, but ...

and several other Puranic texts. His version is lucid and musical as it is in simple language and uses traditional

metre The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...

s and melodies. His poetry ''Radha Virahna Barmas'' is influenced by the poetry of

Vaishnavism Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...

. His ''Tulsi Vivah'' narrates the wedding of

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...

and Tulsi in 26 lyrics. It resemble the ''Kadva'' (cantos) style of medieval Gujarati poetry. He also wrote lyrics on Gopi and Krishna relations and wrote ''Ashwamedha'' and ''Rajsuyayajna''. He based a large number of his poems on ''Dasamskandha'' of '' Bhagavata''.

References

19th-century Indian poets 1787 births 1852 deaths Gujarati-language poets {{poet-stub

Works

See also

References