Gita Govinda (Song of the Cowherd) is a Sanskrit poem written by the 12th century Bengali poet Jayadeva who adorned the court of Lakshman Sena of Sena Dynasty. Divided into 12 sections, Gita Govinda is a series of dramatic lyrics intended for singing, and describes the love of Krishna for Radha and milkmaids. The poem is still sung at the festivals of the Bengali Vaisnavite sects. Its singing is especially prominent at an annual spring fair in the village of Kenduli in West Bengal's Birbhum dıstrict. According to one school of thought, Kenduli in West Bengal is identified as the birthplace of Jayadeva.
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Gita Govinda begins with an invocation to the ten incarnations of Vishnu. As a matter of fact, the poem contains one of the earliest lists of incarnations of Vishnu. According to Gita Govinda, Vishnu became Buddha out of compassion for animals in order to put an end to bloody sacrifice.
By the fifteenth century, the Gitagovinda was sufficiently popular in Puri to be incorporated into the ritual of the Jagannatha temple. An inscription located on the left side of the Jayavijaya doorway, written in Oriya language and script and dated A.D. 1499, prescribes the performance of the Gitagovinda in the temple.
Gita Govinda was translated into English by Orientalist Sir William Jones in 1792 and was published in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society in Calcutta. The poem has also been translated into many Indian languages and many other modern European languages.
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