Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c7.s5.73

c7.s5.73

of Rūpa's other works, however, are expressly dated. His *Dāna-keli-kaumudī*, which professes to have been written at Nandīśvara for the pleasure of some dear friend living on the banks of the Kuṇḍa, appears to bear the earliest date Śaka 1417=1495 A. D.¹ If this date is correct, then the drama must have been written long before the author met Caitanya, who himself could not have been more than ten years old at that time. As such, it might have been one of his earliest works. This appears to be corroborated by the fact that while his other dramas pay opening homage to Caitanya, the *Dāna-keli-kaumudī* makes no direct reference to him.¹ Next comes the *Vidagdha-mādhava* which gives us the date *Saṃvat* 1589=1533 A. D.² and the completion of the *Lalita-mādhava* is dated in the month of Jyaiṣṭha, Śaka 1459=1537 A. D.³ The *Nāṭaka-candrikā* which draws upon all these dramatic works for its illustrations, as well as upon the *Padyāvalī*, but which has no reference to the two semi-rhetorical works on Rasa-śāstra, must have been composed after the dramas were completed. His *Bhakti-rasāmṛta* appears to have been completed in Śaka 1463=1541 A. D.⁴; and his *Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi*,