Vidyapati Biography In English Life Story 1380-1460

Vidyapati Biography In English

• Vidyapati , also known as Kavi Konkil, was a Maithili and Sanskrit polymath-poet-saint, dramatist, musician, biographer, theologian. He was a devotee of Shiva, but also wrote love songs and devotional Vaishnava songs.
• Vidyapati’s influence was not limited to Maithili and Sanskrit literature but also extended to other ancient Indian scriptures.
• The language of Vidyapati’s time, the Prakrit-derived late Abahatha, was just beginning to transition into early versions of an eastern language such as Maithili.
• Thus, Vidyapati’s influence on the making of these languages ​​has been described as “comparable to that of Dante in Italy and Chaucer in England”. He has been called the “father of Bengali literature”.

Birth Details –

Place- Bisapi Village, Madhubani District

Date of Birth – 1380

Marital Status: Married

Nationality -Indian

Family –

Father- Ganpati Thakur

Early life –

• Vidyapati was born in a Maithil Brahmin family in Bisapi village of present-day Madhubani district in the Mithila region of northern Bihar, India.
• He was the son of Ganapati Thakur, a Maithil Brahmin who is said to be a great devotee of Shiva.
• He was a priest in the court of Rai Ganeshwar, the ruler of Tirhut. Several of his immediate ancestors were notable in their own right, including his great-grandfather, Devaditya Thakur, who was the minister of war and peace in the court of Harisimhadeva.

Career-

• Vidyapati himself served in the courts of various kings of the Oinvar dynasty of Mithila.
• The first commission of Vidyapati was done by Kirtisimha, who ruled Mithila from about 1370 to 1380.
• Vidyapati developed a close friendship with Devasimha’s successor Sivasimha and began to concentrate on love songs.
• As soon as Sivasimha ascended his throne, he granted his home village Bisapi to Vidyapati, which was recorded on a copper plate.
• In 1418, Padmasimha succeeded Sivasimha as the ruler of Mithila, after Sivasimha’s chief queen Lakhima Devi ruled for 12 years.
• Vidyapati returned to serve Padmasimha and continued writing.
• Around 1430 or earlier, he had returned to his village Bisapi. He often visited its Shiva temple.

Political Career

• The rajas whose independence Vidyapati worked for were often at risk of incursions by Muslim sultans.
• Kirtilata refers to an incident in which the Oinwar king, Raja Ganeshwar, was killed by the Turkish general, Malik Arslan, in 1371.
• By 1401, Vidyapati had requested the Jaunpur Sultan’s help in overthrowing Arslan and installing Ganeshwar’s sons Virasingh and Kirtisingh. With the help of the Sultan, Arslan was deposed and Kirtisinha, the eldest son, became the ruler of Mithila.

Other information –

Date of death – 1460

Place – Bisfi

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