Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c5.s1.3

c5.s1.3

² Vidyāpati of Mithilā, who wrote considerably and learnedly in Sanskrit, was not professedly a Vaiṣṇava, but a Smārta Pañcopāsaka, who composed verses in Maithili on Śiva and Gaurī, as well as on Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. But Bengal Vaiṣṇavism, since the time of Caitanya, to whom his Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa songs were a never-failing source of devotional inspiration, has claimed Vidyāpati as its own. Perhaps his Maithili songs in their half-Bengali dress had been more popular in Bengal than in their place of origin, and had undoubtedly influenced the trend of popular Vaiṣṇava sentiments in Bengal.