Girdhar

Girdhar or Giradhara or Giridharadāsa (1787–1852) was an Gujarati poet.

Works
Girdhar is known for his poetic epic Ramayana (1837) which is popular in Gujarat. He derived the story from Ramayana of Tulsidas and several other Puranic texts. His version is lucid and musical as it is in simple language and uses traditional metres and melodies. His poetry Radha Virahna Barmas is influenced by the poetry of Vaishnavism. His Tulsi Vivah narrates the wedding of Krishna and Tulsi in 26 lyrics. It resemble the Kadva (cantos) style of medieval Gujarati poetry. He also wrote lyrics on Gopi and Krishna relations and wrote Ashwamedha and Rajsuyayajna. He based a large number of his poems on Dasamskandha of Bhagavata.

Biography
Girdhar or Giridharadāsa was born in the village of Māsar, Baroda State in a Lāḍ Vaṇik family in 1785. His father, Garavaḍadās, worked as a patwari or village accountant and for some years Girdhar followed him in the profession and was educated in the requisite fields. At the age of twenty he moved to Baroda where he worked for his sister's husband's banking firm. In Baroda he was exposed to learned ascetics and holy men, and studied Sanskrit language and its epic texts. Some years later he was initiated into the Vallabhite sect by Gosvāmī Puruṣottamadās. Girdhar worked as a manager in the local Vallabhite temple. He was also a friend of an ācārya of the Rādhāvallabhī sect named Ragīlāl Mahārāj. Girdhar's wife and son both died early in life. Girdhar traveled to several Vaishnav religious sites with Ragīlāl. On the return journey, when Girdhar wished to visit Śrīnāthajī Ragīlāl refused. Girdhar was anxious to get Śrīnāthajī's darśana, and soon died while meditating upon him in 1850.