Gopaldev (1540–1611) was an Indian poet, dramatist and chief preacher of the Vaishnava sect in eastern Assam. He was belonged from Bhabanipur, Assam so people called him as Bhabanipuria Gopal Ata. He is also a disciple of Mahapurush Shrimanta Sankardev.

Brief life

Gopaldev was born in 1540 at Nazira in

Sivasagar district Sivasagar district (Pron: or ), formerly known as ''Sibsagar'', is one of the 34 districts of Assam state in Northeast India. Sivasagar city is the administrative headquarters of this district. This historic place is also known for its rich bio ...

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

to father Kameswar and mother Bajrangi. Their family later shifted to Bhabanipur in Kamrup. He did his early education there under a Brahmin scholar. Gopaldev had a son ''Kamaleswardev'' and daughter ''Padmapriya''. Padmapriya was said to be the first female Assamese poet belonging to the 16th century.

Works

As a Vaishnavite guru of

Ekasarana Dharma Ekasarana Dharma (literally: ''Shelter-in-One religion'') is a neo-Vaishnavite monolithic religion propagated by Srimanta Sankardeva in the 15th-16th century in the Indian state of Assam. It reduced focus on vedic ritualism and focuses on de ...

, Gopaldev founded the Kaljhar sattra, about 7 km from

Pathsala Pathsala (Assamese: পাঠশালা) is a town that has district headquarter of Bajali district in the Indian state of Assam with a population of nearly 11.5 thousand (as per 2011 census) and an area of 2.74 square kilometre size. Wel ...

in Barpeta district and used it as his working place.

Literary works

Gopaldev composed some plays like ''Janmajatra'', ''Nandutsav'' and ''Uddhabjan'' or ''Gopi-Uddhab Sambad'' and ''Sitar Patal Proves'' written in Early Assamese language.

Tithi

The birth anniversary of Gopaldev is celebrated in

Namghar Namghars ( as, নামঘৰ) literally ''Prayer House'' are places for congregational worship associated with the entire Assamese community and the Ekasarana sect of Hinduism, in particular, that is native to Assam. Besides forming the primar ...

s and

Sattra Satras are institutional centers associated with the Ekasarana tradition of Vaishnavism, largely found in the Indian state of Assam and neighboring regions. Numbering in the hundreds, these centers are generally independent of each other and ...

s of Assam as Tithi of Gopaldev (গোপালদেৱৰ তিথি). The

Government of Assam The Government of Assam is the subnational government of Assam, a state of India. It consists of the Governor appointed by the President of India as the head of the state, currently Jagdish Mukhi. The head of government is the Chief Minis ...

declares this day as holiday in every year on this occasion.

References

External links