The Candidas-Problem

Summary

This article addresses the scholarly debate over the identity and chronology of the Bengali poet Caṇḍidāsa, to whom numerous Vaishnava lyrics are attributed. Several medieval poets used the name, leading to confusion about which works belong to which author. The paper reviews manuscript colophons, linguistic features and historical references to distinguish between ‘Chandidasa of Kāntikā’ and ‘Chandidasa of the Early Vaishnava renaissance’. It examines dialectal markers that place some poems in 14th‑century Rāḍhā region and others in 16th‑century Nadia. By comparing themes and metres, the author argues that at least three poets shared the name and that later hagiographers conflated them. The article critiques earlier scholars who assumed a single Caṇḍidāsa and thus misdated major texts. It also discusses how the Caṇḍidāsa legend reflects the devotional culture of Bengal, where anonymous authorship was common and singers were revered as embodiments of divine love. The paper concludes by proposing a tentative chronology and emphasising the need for critical editions of Bengali devotional literature.