Poetry Codex

Indian

Vidyapati

c. 1352-1448

Vidyapati Thakur was a Maithili poet at the court of Mithila, in what is now northern Bihar. He enjoyed the patronage of Raja Shivasimha, who granted him the village of Bisapi in 1400, and he also wrote in Sanskrit. He is best known for his songs (padas) on the love of Radha and Krishna, composed in his mother tongue.

His songs became household poetry in Bengal and Bihar and are the source of the Bengali Vaishnava padavali tradition, taken up by Chaitanya and the poets who followed. The 138 songs given here are from the Bangiya Padabali as translated by Ananda Coomaraswamy and Arun Sen (Old Bourne Press, London, 1915); each is titled by its first line, with its section and number from that edition in the note.

Poems (138)

  1. Some damsel I saw, supremely fair
  2. Your hair dismays the yak, the mountain sinks into the vale
  3. Which of the gods this fair face fashioned?
  4. Why did that moon-face cross my path?
  5. Fair-face, red brow-spot, there-behind the heavy
  6. She left the shrine at cowdust-time, passing gliding
  7. Laughing, talking, milk-white girl.
  8. I could not see her clearly
  9. Beholding that my love was at her bath
  10. A joyous day this day for me!
  11. Rāi of the lily face had not yet climbed the bank
  12. She smiled a little when she saw me lurking there
  13. The flower is open all amidst the thorns
  14. Wheresoever her twin feet fall
  15. Childhood and youth are mingled both
  16. Day by day her breasts grew great.
  17. Now and again her eyes to their corners fly
  18. Childhood and youth are face to face,
  19. The little buds are peeping shyly
  20. Now youth advanced, childhood withdrew
  21. How shall I tell of Kānu's beauty, my dear?
  22. I had desired to look on Kānu
  23. A peerless beauty I beheld, my dear
  24. How can I tell the limits of my grief, my dear?
  25. Happy is your birth, and blest your beauty!
  26. Hearken, hearken, O virtuous Rādhā
  27. Make your decision, Beauty
  28. Hearken fair damsel, to good advice
  29. Now hear me, daughter of a king
  30. Attend my teaching, artless maid
  31. I know not the taste of love, nor the colour of desire
  32. Leave me, dear maid, I pray you,
  33. Hearken, hearken, beautiful Kānāi
  34. When first the damsel to her leman came
  35. The sakhī soothed her fears, and led her lovingly,
  36. Ah damsel fair! in dalliance is no delight
  37. How can I tell of what was done that night?
  38. What can I say, my sakhī? It is shame to tell
  39. Do not urge me, dearest maiden, do not urge.
  40. Shyāma sitting in his pride
  41. O maiden, dearest maiden, do not lead me to him
  42. Her gentle words she can but stammer
  43. Oh Hari, Why do you seek to loose my girdle?
  44. You that are skilled in passion's lore have pity
  45. You are that Banamāli that did slay Chānur
  46. Amorous the swain, and little is his darling
  47. Enough! and cast the trouble from your heart.
  48. O Hari, if you will insist on touching me
  49. How to direct the flying arrows of her restless eyes
  50. With soft persuasion all the maidens
  51. Gainlier than a royal olifant, more graceful than the swan
  52. Rādhā's love is young
  53. The night is late, the fair one timorous and fearful
  54. She veils her face, that lady shene,
  55. The citizens are waking on the king's highway
  56. Came the lord of seasons,--Royal Spring
  57. In Brindāban renewed the groves are green
  58. Drunken are the honey-bees in honey-season
  59. The blissful night of Spring holds sway
  60. Refrain your wrath, disdainful lady
  61. He who was wont to wanton with a flute, has cast away
  62. One little moment of a day you keep your youth,
  63. You shall not tell me otherwise, my dear
  64. O lovely wrathful lady, stony-heart
  65. With hanging head, she writes upon the ground
  66. 'Why veil your face, dear beautiful?
  67. Hearken, hearken, worthy Rādhā
  68. Your high round breasts--like golden cups
  69. Hearken, O Mādhava: Rādhā is waxen wilful,
  70. At last, my dear, I see how Kāna is uncouth
  71. There bloomed a flower of golden shene
  72. The sun is in the East, the tide of night has ebbed
  73. Beauty, of lineage and courtesy, without your eyes
  74. Hearken, prithee, heartless Hari
  75. Thirsting for fragrance I flew to the flower
  76. The wrath of the wrathful fled afar
  77. Peerless Rādhā beside Murāri,
  78. 'Tell me, O Beauty, what were the night's delights.
  79. Measureless virtue! whereso yearning bodies meet
  80. Very cunning is my Kāna
  81. What can I tell of to-day's affair my dear?
  82. What shall I tell you, dear gay friend?
  83. I was still very wrathful.
  84. My frolicsome friend, what shall I say?
  85. O mother mine, what can I say to-day!
  86. My mother-in-law was asleep, and I lay in her lap
  87. I was alone, and weaving garlands
  88. To-day my awkward shame was far away
  89. What can I say, my dear? 'Tis measureless!
  90. Her wandering hair was mingled with the circle of her face
  91. Shyāma is drunk with Madan's drowsy wine
  92. If you would have my love, O Mādhava
  93. Like to the tool that trims the jewels of her toes
  94. The mournful beauty, gazing on Kānu's face
  95. Mādhava, O moon-face
  96. A sorry end to all my love, my dear
  97. Why would you burn my body, O thou Bodiless?
  98. Often, in meditation on the name of Mādhava
  99. Where wanton Murāri is wont to sit
  100. Hari has gone to Mathurā town.
  101. Now Mādhav has gone to Mathurā town
  102. Watching with streaming eyes the way her darling went
  103. I am a girl on fire, in the temple bird-alone
  104. Even the moon's cool rays are scorching-hot
  105. Fresh flowers are springing by every cabin, brake and copse.
  106. Unhappy I, all birdalone.
  107. There is no limit to my woe, my dear!
  108. Who says that Mādhava will come, my friend?
  109. O Kān, I saw the tender she beside herself!
  110. Making a promise to return 'To-morrow,' her lover went away,
  111. Everyone praises the gifts of love
  112. How many reproaches and scornful words of my elders
  113. I never thought that love would break
  114. Explain this all to Kānu, dearest friend
  115. I am dying, am dying, I die indeed, my dear
  116. After how long shall this sadness depart?
  117. Speak to me, speak to me, dear, and tell me, O tell me
  118. The day that Mādhava went his way
  119. A river of tears is flowing from her eyes
  120. Ah Mādhava, I come just now from seeing Rāi
  121. Mādhava, lo, I have seen your lovely Rāi,
  122. Mādhava, prithee, visit yonder babe
  123. She turns her face away from looking on the moon.
  124. There was a time my lover leaned above my face in bliss
  125. Mādhava and the babe new-led in love,
  126. Can I forget, my dear and gentle lady
  127. When Hari comes to Gokula town
  128. When my dear and blissful lover comes to my garth
  129. When Kāna shall come to my house
  130. I spent last night in bliss
  131. How shall I tell of my boundless joy, my dear,
  132. The hurt that the Lord of the Seasons erstwhile did me
  133. Fate is now friendly for ever more!
  134. Rare was that meeting of one with the other
  135. A mirror in hand, a flower in my hair
  136. What would you ask of my feelings, my dear,
  137. Hearken, O Mādhava, what more can I say?
  138. Frenzied tresses encircling her radiant face

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