Khana (poet)

Khana (Bengali: খনা, pron. khawnaa) was an Indian poet and legendary astrologer, who composed in the medieval Bengali language between the ninth and 12th centuries AD. She is associated with the village Deulia (Chandraketugarh, near Berachampa), in Barasat, North 24 parganas district, West Bengal.

Her poetry, known as khanar bachan (or vachan) (খনার বচন) (meaning "khana's words"), among the earliest compositions in Bengali literature, is known for its agricultural themes. The short couplets or quatrains reflect a robust common sense, as in this paean to industry:

The legend of Khana (also named Lilavati elsewhere) centers around her association with Pragjyotishpur (the Bengal/Assam border), or possibly Chandraketugarh in southern Bengal (where a mound has been discovered amongst ruins with the names of Khana and Mihir associated with it) and that she was the daughter-in-law of the famous astronomer and mathematician, Varahamihira, a jewel among Chandragupta II Vikramaditya's famed Navaratna sabha.

Daivajna Varāhamihir (505 – 587), also called Varaha or Mihira, was an Indian astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer born in Ujjain (or Bengal, according to some legends). The Indian Parliament building contains pictures of Varahamihira and Aryabhata, among other astronomers. Though little is known about his life, he supposedly hailed from South Bengal, where in the ruins of Chandraketugarh there is a mound called the mound of Khana and Mihir. Khana was the daughter-in-law of Varaha and a famous astrologer herself.

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