Question

Name the Bengali poet who was conferred with the title of Gunraj Khan in the Sultanate Period?
a. Maladhar Basu
b. Rahim
c. Chaitanya
d. Jaydeva

Answer 1

Hint:
- The poet was conferred the title of Gunraj Khan by Rukunuddin Barbak Shah
- Barbak Shah is known to have hired about eight thousand Abyssinian slaves and employed them in the army and in various main positions of the administration.

Complete step by step solution:

- Maladhar Basu is one of West Bengal 's early narrative poets.
- He was born in Kulingram, Burdaman district.
- He represented Hussain Shah, the King of Gauda, as his advisor.
- Sri Krishna Vijay is his famous work, published between 1473 and 1480:
1. It is a lengthy poem, a translation of the 10th and 11th cantos of the Sanskrit Srimad Bhagavad.
2. It was designed to defend Hinduism from the growing influence of Islam.
3. This poem reflects on the spiritual life of Krishna.
4. The 10th canto talks of the storeys of Lord Krishna as a boy and of the Gopis in Vrindavan.

- He is credited to have popularised Bhagavata in Bengal before Sri Chaitanya.
- He was given the title Gunaraj Khan by Rukunuddin Barbak Shah.

Hence, the correct answer is option A.

Note:
Sri Chaitanya

- He was born in 1486 in Bengal.
- He was a brilliant scholar, but in his early twenties he became absorbed in devotion to Lord Krishna.
- He left his earthly profession and spent his days as an ascetic, a wandering monk.

Jayadeva
Jayadeva, also known as Jaidev, was a Sanskrit poet in the 12th century.
He is best known for his epic poetry Gita Govinda, which centres on Krishna 's passion for the cowherd, Radha in the Spring Rite.
This poem, which expresses the view that Radha is greater than Krishna, is considered to be an important text in the Bhakti movement of Hinduism.