Dutt, Romesh Chunder: The literature of Bengal: being an attempt to trace the progress of the national mind in its various aspects, as reflected in the nation’s literature from the earliest times to the present day ; with copious extracts from the best writers (Calcutta, 1877)

.JAYADEVA GOSWAMI. 15

(1) . A stone belonging to^the Court of Lakshmana
Sena< has been found in which, the following lines are ins-
cribed—

Govardhana, Sarana, Jayadeva, Umapati and Kaviraja, are the
Jewels in the Court of Lakshmana.*

These five authors therefore evidently lived in the
time of Lakshmana Sena, i. e., 12th century of the Chris-
tian era.

(2) . JayaMeva too at the commencement of hi3 great
work, the Gita Govinda, describes the qualifications of
these five poets, including himself. The fourth verse of
the first Prabandha of the first Sarga of the Gita Govin-
da runs thus :—

Umapatidhara excels in word painting; Jayadeva alone knows
purity of style; Sarana is praised f05 speedily rendering difficult
passages and works ; Govardhana excels in description of love ; no
one is so famed as the Kavikshmapati (i. e. I^iviraja) named Dhoyi
for retaining in memory what is once repeated.^

• It is evident from the above that Jiayadeva was con*
temporaneous with the four other poets named • and if
they, as we have seen before, lived in the 12th century,
Jayadeva too must have lived at the same time.

(3) . Perhaps the most satisfactory evidence to estab-
lish this point will be found in the fact that Sanatana
Goswami, a follower and pupil of the great Chaitanya,

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