Jayadev

Jayadeva
Jaydeva worships Vishnu.
Philosophy	Vaishnava
Personal
Born	est. 1170 East India
Died	est. 1245 Odisha, India
Religious career
Literary works	Gita Govinda

Jayadeva (pronounced [dʒəjəˈd̪eːʋə], b. ~1170 CE), also known as Jaidev, was a Sanskrit poet, during the reign of Lakshman Sen – the 12th century king of Bengal. Born in a Brahmin family, he is most known for his epic poem Gita Govinda. This text depicts the divine love of Krishna and his consort, Radha. This poem, which presents the view that Radha is greater than Hari, is considered an important text in the Bhakti movement of Hinduism.

Little details are known of his life, except that he was a loner poet and a Hindu mendicant celebrated for his poetic genius in eastern India, particularly in the court of Bengal kingdom. Jayadeva is the earliest dated author of hymns that are included the Guru Granth Sahib, the primary scripture of Sikhism – a religion founded in the Indian subcontinent centuries after his death.

A Brahmin by birth, the date and place of Jayadeva's birth are uncertain (see Jayadeva birth controversy). Based on a reading of the text of his work, either the village of the village of Kenduli Sasan in Odisha or the village of Jayadeva Kenduli in Bengal are likely candidates though another Kenduli in Mithila is also a possibility. Recent studies show scholars still disagree on the issue. Jayadeva, a wanderer, probably visited Puri at some point and there, according to tradition, he married a dancer named Padmavati though that is not supported by early commentators and modern scholars.