Līlāśuka, whose original name was ''Bilavamangalam'', is the author of the romantic poem ''Kṛśṇa-karaṇāmṛta'' (The Ear-nectar about Krishna) which deals with the early life of Krishna among the cow-herds, with his companions. Līlāśuka probably at King Kulaśekhara’s court (c.900 A.D.) wrote this popular lyric on

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

as the sexually precocious infant loved by all women but interpreted as symbolising God attracting all souls, thus an early example of

Vaishnava Vaishnavism () ), also called Vishnuism, is one of the major Hindu traditions, that considers Vishnu as the sole supreme being leading all other Hindu deities, that is, '' Mahavishnu''. It is one of the major Hindu denominations along wit ...

devotional

kāvya Kāvya (Devanagari: :wikt:काव्य#Devanagari, काव्य, IAST: ''kāvyá'') refers to the Sanskrit literary style used by Kingdoms of Ancient India, Indian court poets flourishing between c. 200 BCE and 1200 CE. This literary styl ...

. This work exists in two recensions, the southern and the western and is the canonical text of the Gaudiya Vaishnavas. ''Kṛśṇa-karaṇāmṛta'' is a devotional anthology of mediaeval lyric and passionate stanzas in ''śārdūlavikrīdita'' metre in honour of Krishna. It is a favourite and authoritative eulogistic work, familiar among gesture-dancers. The earliest firm date of this work is about 1367 in Gangādevi’s ''Madhurā-vijaya'', but the date of the author is uncertain. The

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

poetry of Lilasuka and Jayadeva (author of '' Gita Govinda)'', created a new aesthetics of '' bhakti'', based on a revaluation of the literary category of '' rasa'' by elaborating the vocabulary of '' kama'' and '' prema'' creatively mingling erotic love and devotion. There is deep mysticism in the poem. Lilasuka probably hailed from a southern part of India as is indicated by the metre used by him, but it is not established whether this poem was written by Bilavamangala, the noted grammarian of the 12th or 13th century, or by Bilavamangala who lived in the 9th century.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (; ), born Vishvambhara Mishra () (18 February 1486 – 14 June 1534), was an Indian Hindus, Hindu saint from Bengal and the founder of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mode of worshipping Krishna with bha ...

obtained only the authentic first canto out of the three that existed. The very surname Lilasuka of the poet, is an evidence of the Bhagavata cult introduced by

Madhvacharya Madhvacharya (; ; 1199–1278 CE or 1238–1317 CE), also known as Purna Prajna () and Ānanda Tīrtha, was an Indian philosopher, theologian and the chief proponent of the ''Dvaita'' (dualism) school of Vedanta. Madhva called his philosophy ...

in the West Coast, which identifies the poet with the second Bilavamangala. It is said that Lilasuka was born in

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

near Parur in the late 13th or14th century, and lived for eighty years; that his mellifluous Sanskrit mingled with the ecstatic love for Krishna invests his songs with a quality so rare that when sung they are nectar to the ears, and that he left a life of sensuous infatuation with a courtesan named Chintāmani for intense devotion to God.

References

{{authority control Sanskrit poets Indian male poets Hindu poets 10th-century Indian poets Sanskrit poetry Vaishnavism Bhakti movement