Haṃsadūta

Rūpa Gosvāmin's Haṃsadūta (Hansa-duta, हंसदूत) or Swan Messenger was composed in the early part of the sixteenth century CE.

It was composed in Bengal by Rūpa Gosvāmin, who was one of the most famous poets of the Gaudiya sampradāya established by his contemporary, Chaitanya.

Lalitā's message takes up over half the poem, and dwells upon the state of the grief-stricken lover, Rādhā in this case, while praising her sweetheart – though Krishna is chided for forsaking the cowherd girls.

In the Haṃsadūta, Rūpa Gosvāmin uses a number of puns which are ingeniously employed in order to weave the mythology of Krishna into the work.

The Clay Sanskrit Library has published a translation of Haṃsadūta by Sir James Mallinson as a part of the volume Messenger Poems.