Mukundraj (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

: Mukundarāja) was one of the earliest

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

literary figures poet. Some earlier scholars dated him to the 12th century. Scholars do not have unanimity among them about the place where Mukundraj mostly lived. He was probably born at

Pauni Pauni is a town and a Municipal Council in Bhandara district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Now it has National Highway NH-247. Pauni is also known as Kashi of Vidarbha due to its wide swath of temples. Geography Pauni is located at . It h ...

in Bhandara district. There is a ''samadhi'' (monument) of Mukundraj at Ambajogai in the Beed district of Maharashtra Marathwada. Mukundraj belonged to the Nath sect, and was a follower of the Adi Shankaracharya's Advaita philosophy. He wrote the religious compositions ''Vivek Sindhu'' (IAST: ''Vivekasindhu'') and ''Paramamrut'' (IAST: ''Paramamṛta''). Some earlier scholars dated ''Vivekasindhu'' to 1188, and believed it to be the first work of literature in Marathi language. However, Mukundraj is now generally dated to 12th century or later: the ''Vivekasindhu'' was likely written after other Marathi works such as '' Lilacaritra'' and '' Dnyaneshwari''.

References

Bibliography

* Marathi-language poets Marathi-language writers 14th-century Indian poets People from Bhandara district Year of birth uncertain Year of death uncertain Indian male poets Poets from Maharashtra {{India-poet-stub