The five poets

Who he is

Name

Jayadeva, Dhoyi (Dhoyika), Umapatidhara, Govardhana, Sarana

Title

Court poets of Lakshmanasena

Since

in the king's reign

Born

not known

Family

The five are named together in a verse of the Gitagovinda tradition ("Govardhana, Sarana, Jayadeva, Umapatidhara and Dhoyi, jewels of the king's council"); our memory of the verse, not checked here. Jayadeva's birthplace is claimed by Kenduli in Birbhum and by Kenduli near Puri.

Confidence

medium

Wikipedia (Lakshmanasena) names Jayadeva (Gitagovinda), Dhoyi (Pavanaduta), probably Govardhana (Aryasaptashati), Umapatidhara and Sarana as court poets, and Sridharadasa as compiler of the Saduktikarnamrita. Umapatidhara also wrote the Deopara prashasti for Vijayasena, so he is either very long-lived or two men of one name.

Overlord

Lakshmanasena.

What it holds

• Royal patronage and grants of land to Brahmans

How it was acquired

By the king's favour.

Allies and rivals

Halayudha and the court; the Vaishnava and Shaiva Brahmans.

How things stand that morning

All five are in the king's reign; whether all are alive on 1 January 1200 is not known. Sridharadasa's anthology of 1205 contains verses of this circle.

Wealth

Grants.

Threats

• The dispersal of the court

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 1205Sridharadasa compiles the Saduktikarnamrita, an anthology of verses of the Sena poets, in the 27th year of the king (Saka 1127).Depends on: The court survives to 1205. Stopped by: The fall of Nadia before then.

Where the sources disagree

• The brief asks for the court poets; Jayadeva's Gitagovinda is the Odia tradition's Puri-ritual text and the Bengali tradition's Radha-Krishna poem: both claim him; the campaign board does not mention him.

Evidence: Verses and one anthology; their dates are fixed only by the king's reign.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: None.

Primary sources for Senas of Bengal

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Nasirean Generations (a general history of the Muslim dynasties), Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (completed 1260 at Delhi). The fullest narrative of the Ghurid conquest of northern India. Read online
• The Nasirid Generations: a General History of the Muslim Dynasties, Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (1259 to 1260, at Delhi). The Ghurid court's own history, by a man born in 1193 whose family served the sultans of Ghur and Ghazna. Read online
• Inscriptions of Bengal, vol. 3, Various (the Sena kings' chanceries), edited by N. G. Majumdar (copper plates of the 10th to early 13th centuries; edited 1929). The one-volume edition of the Sena copper plates, the main documentary evidence for Bengal around 1200. Read online
• Epigraphia Indica: inscriptions of the Chandelas, Paramaras, Gahadavalas, Chaulukyas, Senas and Eastern Gangas, Various (edited for the Archaeological Survey of India by J. Burgess, E. Hultzsch, F. Kielhorn, Sten Konow, F. W. Thomas and successors) (inscriptions of the 1180s to 1210s; the series ran from 1892). The main record series for the Hindu kingdoms of northern India around 1200. Read online
• The Song of Govinda, Jayadeva (late 12th century, by tradition at the court of Lakshmanasena of Bengal). A literary witness, not a chronicle. Read online
• The History of India as Told by its Own Historians: the Muhammadan Period, vol. 2, Various (Ibn al-Athir, Hasan Nizami, Awfi, Juzjani and others), edited by H. M. Elliot and John Dowson (the sources date from the 1190s to the 14th century; the collection was published in 1869). A one-volume anthology of the Arabic and Persian accounts of the Ghurid conquest. Read online