Ramprasad

(early 19th c.) Bengali poet-saint and
devotee (bhakta) of the goddess Kali,
who is justly renowned for the power
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and expressive quality of his poems. As
with many of the devotional (bhakti)
figures, little is definitely known about
his life. According to tradition, he
worked for a short time as a clerk before
his indulgent employer, finding him
spending his days composing poetry to
Kali, became his literary patron to allow
him to write full time. Ramprasad’s
poetry invokes the Goddess in many of
her different personae—as the goddesses
Uma, Durga, and Bhairavi—but the
majority of his poems are addressed to
Kali. Despite Kali’s fearsome qualities,
Ramprasad persistently addresses her as
“mother,” and, like a child, clings to her
despite all her attempts to discourage
him. The end result is that his unflinching and unquestioning devotion to Kali
removes all fear and brings him liberation. For further reading, see David R.
Kinsley, The Sword and the Flute, 1975;
and Clinton Seely and Leonard Nathan
(trans.), Grace and Mercy in Her Wild
Hair, 1999.