Keshavdas (Keśavdās) (Hindi:केशवदास) (1555–1617) was a Sanskrit scholar and Hindi poet, best known for his Rasik Priya, a pioneering work of the riti kaal (procedure period) of Hindi literature.
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He was born in Orchha in a Sanadhya Brahmin family. His father Kashinath and the elder brother Balabhadra Mishra were both Sanskrit scholars. Initially he was in the court of Indrajit Singh, the brother of the Bundela ruler Ram Singh. In 1608, when Vir Singh Dev Bundela came to power, Keshav Das joined his court[1]. He was granted a jaageer of 21 villages.
His first work is Ratan Bavani (ca. 1581). Three anthology of poems are attributed to him, Rasikpriya (1591), Ramchandrika (1600), and Kavipriya (1601). The Ramchandrika is an abridged translation of the Ramayana in 30 sections. His other works include Rakhshikh (1600), Chhandamala (1602), Virsinghdev Charit (1607), Vijnangita (1610) and Jahangirjas Chandrika (1612). He wrote in Brij Bhasha, though with a heavy mixture of Bundelkhandi dialect.
He praised the Betwa and Orchha as the most beautiful things on earth. More so because it was he, Keshav Das, who had made them famous. Greyed by years he rued the day when pretty girls he eyed on the Betwa addressed him as Baba—old man.
Khushwant Singh describes one of his verses thus[2]:
He used the Bundelkhandi dialect in his poetry[3]. He excelled in Shringara Rasa[4]:
Some of the manuscripts of Rasika Priya are famous for their illustrations[5][6].
Virsinghdev Charit was a biography of the Bundela king, Vir Singh Dev Bundela.