Madhavi Pattanayak (or Madhavi Dasi, 16th-century CE) was one of the earliest female poets to write in the

Odia language Odia (;"Odia"
''Lexico''. , ISO 15919, ISO: , ; formerly rendere ...

. She was a disciple of Sri Chaitanya and a contemporary of the famous Pancha Sakha poets in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.

Early life and family

Madhavi Pattayanak was born in a well known Karan family in Bentapura, a village of the

Puri district Puri district is a coastal district of the Odisha state of India. It has one Administrative subdivision, sub-division, 11 Tehsils, tahasils and 11 Block (country subdivision), blocks and comprises 1722 revenue villages. Puri is the only Nagar ...

. After becoming a widow at a young age, Pattayanak began to live with her cousin Ramananda Ray, who was the governor of

Rajahmundry Rajahmundry ( ), officially Rajamahendravaram, is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and district headquarters of East Godavari district. It is the fifth most populated city in the state. During British rule, the district of Rajahmu ...

. During this period, Pattayanak, Ramananda, and Pattayanak's brother Sikhi Mohanty all became followers of Sri

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 ...

Literary works

Pattayanak was devoted to the god

Jagannath Jagannath (; formerly ) is a Hindu deity worshipped in regional Hindu traditions in India as part of a triad along with (Krishna's) brother Balabhadra, and sister, Subhadra. Jagannath, within Odia Hinduism, is the supreme god, '' Purushot ...

. She wrote religious poetry in the mid-16th century.

References

Hindu poets Poets from Odisha 16th-century Indian poets Odia-language poets Indian women poets {{india-poet-stub Odissi music composers