Maladhar Basu ( bn, মালাধর বসু; c. 15th century) was a
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
poet. He wrote ''Sri Krishna Vijaya'' (শ্রীকৃষ্ণবিজয়, ''Triumph of Lord Krishna''), the earliest Bengali narrative poem that can be assigned to a definite date.
It is also the oldest Bengali narrative poem 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 ...
legend.
[ It was composed between 1473 and 1480.] The long poem is a translation of the 10th and 11th cantos of the ''Bhagavata Purana
The ''Bhagavata Purana'' ( sa, भागवतपुराण; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' or simply ''Bhagavata'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas (''Mahapuranas''). Composed in S ...
''; a part of ''Vishnu Purana
The Vishnu Purana ( IAST:, sa, विष्णुपुराण) is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism. It is an important Pancharatra text in the Vaishnavism literature corpus.
The manusc ...
'' and the story of ''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 ...
'' is also incorporated here.[
In the poem written in an early Bangla, Maladhar focuses on Krishna's divine life, with the 10th canto relating the legends of Krishna as a child, and his divine play with the gopis in ]Vrindavana
Vrindavan (; ), also spelt Vrindaban and Brindaban, is a historical city in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located in the Braj Bhoomi region and holds religious importance in Hinduism as Krishna spent most of his childho ...
. He was honoured by Rukunuddin Barbak Shah
Ruknuddīn Bārbak Shāh ( bn, রোকনউদ্দীন বারবক শাহ, fa, ; r. 1459–1474) was the son and successor of Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah. Initially appointed as the governor of Satgaon during the reign of his fa ...
with the title 'Gunaraj Khan'.
Maladhar Basu was born at Kulingram village of modern-day Purba Bardhaman district
Purba Bardhaman district is in West Bengal. Its headquarters is in Bardhaman. It was formed on 7 April 2017 after the division of the previous Bardhaman district. Great revolutionary Rash Behari Bose was born in village Subaldaha in the district ...
, Paschimbanga (West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
) to Bhagirath Basu and Indumati Devi. Maladhar Basu was a scholar of Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
literature and Vaishnava
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 ...
theology. He translated the famous Sanskrit work Bhagavata into Bengali language, under the patronage of Nusrat Shah, then ruler of Bengal.
References
Bengali male poets
Year of death unknown
15th-century Bengali poets
People from Purba Bardhaman district
Year of birth unknown
Poets from West Bengal
Bengal Sultanate officers
Bengali Hindus
Bengali-language poets
Bengali-language writers
Bengali writers
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