Chandidas

(15th c. C.E.) Bengali poet and devotee
(bhakta) of the god Krishna. In his
poems Chandidas uses the conventions
of Sanskrit love poetry to express devotion to Krishna, most often through the
figure of Radha as Krishna’s favored
devotee and lover. His poems are still
recited in Bengal and according to tradition were admired by Chaitanya, the
Bengali devotee who was the founder of
the Gaudiya Vaishnava religious community. Despite his poetry’s continuing
acclaim, little is known about the life of
Chandidas himself. This same name was
used by a Bengali poet of the Sahajiya
sect, who wrote several centuries later
than the original Chandidas and whose
poetry is clearly distinguished by doctrinal differences. For selections from the
poetry of Chandidas, see Edward C.
Dimock Jr. and Denise Levertov (trans.),
In Praise of Krishna, 1981.