Text 42]
The Advent of Lord Caitanya
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TEXT 42
বিষ্ণাপতি, জয়দেব, চণ্ডীদাসের গীত ।
আস্বাদেন রামানন্দ-স্বরূপ-সহিত ॥ ৪২ ॥
vidyāpati, jayadeva, caṇḍīdāsera gīta āsvādena rāmānanda-svarūpa-sahita
SYNONYMS
vidyāpati —the author of the name Vidyāpati;  jayadeva —of the name Jayadeva;  caṇḍīdāsera —of the name Caṇḍīdāsa;  gīta —their songs;  āsvādena —tastes;  rāmānanda —of the name Rāmānanda;  svarūpa —of the name Svarūpa;  sahita —along with.
TRANSLATION
The Lord used to read the books of Vidyāpati, Jayadeva and Caṇḍīdāsa, relishing their songs with His confidential associates like Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya and Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī.
PURPORT
Vidyāpati was a famous composer of songs about the pastimes of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. He was an inhabitant of Mithilā, born in a  brāhmaṇa  family. It is calculated that he composed his songs during the reign of King Śivasiṁha and Queen Lachimādevī in the beginning of the Fourteenth Century of the Śaka Era, almost one hundred years before the appearance of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The twelfth generation of Vidyāpati's descendants is still living. Vidyāpati's songs about the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa express intense feelings of separation from Kṛṣṇa, and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu relished all those songs in His ecstasy of separation from Kṛṣṇa.
Jayadeva was born during the reign of Mahārāja Lakṣmaṇa Sena of Bengal in the Eleventh or Twelfth Century of the Śaka Era. His father was Bhojadeva, and his mother was Vāmādevī. For many years he lived in Navadvīpa, then the capital of Bengal. His birthplace was in the Birbhum district in the village Kendubilva. In the opinion of some authorities, however, he was born in Orissa, and still others say that he was born in Southern India. He passed the last days of his life in Jagannātha Purī. One of his famous books is  Gīta-govinda , which is full of transcendental mellow feelings of separation from Kṛṣṇa. The  gopīs  felt separation from Kṛṣṇa before the  rāsa  dance, as mentioned in the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam , and the  Gīta-govinda  expresses such feelings. There are many commentaries on the  Gīta-govinda  by many Vaiṣṇavas.
Caṇḍīdāsa was born in the village of Nānnura, which is said to be in the Birbhum district of Bengal. He was born of a  brāhmaṇa  family, and it is said that he also took birth in the beginning of the Fourteenth Century, Śakābda Era. It has been suggested that Caṇḍīdāsa and Vidyāpati were great friends because the writings of both express the transcendental feelings of separation profusely. The feelings of ecstasy described by Caṇḍīdāsa and Vidyāpati were actually exhibited by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He relished all those feelings in the role of Śrī Rādhārāṇī, and His appropriate as-