Kashiram Das

Kashiram
Born	Singi, Bengal (now in Burdwan district)
Occupation	Poet
Language	Bengali
Genre	Poetry

Kashiram das (কাশীরাম দাস, born 16th century) is an important poet in medieval Bengali literature. His Bengali re-telling of the Mahabharata, known as Kashidasi Mahabharat, is a popular and influential version of the Mahabharata legend in Bengal. Although the entire work is intra-textually ascribed to him, most scholars agree that he composed only the first four of the eighteen books (parvas). As with the Ramayana of Krittibas Ojha, Kashiram freely removed elements and added other legends to the story. Das is not a last name, but a title meaning "servant" in the Vaishnava tradition; the name is also written as Kashiramdas.

Kashiram Das was born to a Vaishnava Kayastha family in the village of Singi, adjacent to Katwa in Bardhaman district; his death anniversary is still observed in the region. Kashiram was the second son of Kamalakanta Das; two of his brothers were noted poets on their own, in the Vaishnava Padavali tradition. His elder brother Ghanashyam Das, is the author of Srikrishnavilas, and his younger brother, Gadadhar, composed Jagannathamangal. Although Kashiram's topic was outside the mainstream Krishna legend, his work is stylistically in the same tradition, and uses the payar chhanda (payar metre).

There is some doubt regarding his birthplace. It appears that Kamalakanta left the Bardhaman area (at the time known as Indrani Pargana) and had settled in Orissa, so it might be that Kashiram was born in Orissa and then returned to Bengal (Midnapore) at a later stage.

As a Sanskrit and Vaishnava scholar, Kashiram was patronised by a zamindar family in Midnapore, and ran a pathshala (small school) there. In addition to the Kashidasi Mahabharat, he is cited to have composed several works, including Satyanarayaner Punthi (the book of Satyanaryan), Svapna-Parba (dream reverie), and Nalopakhyan (tale of Nala), which are now lost.

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