Vasantavilas

Gujarati scholar Keshav Harshad Dhruv first discovered an illustrated manuscript of the Vasantavilas copied in 1455, and published it in Shalapatra.

In the meanwhile, he found another manuscript from the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, and with its help, he re-edited the text.

[1] The colophon of all manuscripts have no details about the author, but according to some scholars the poem was composed by Muni Deva, uncle of Someshvardeva, the royal priest of last Chaulukya king Vastupal.

This assumption is based on the discussion in Girvan Vasantiki (Descripation of Spring in Sanskrit Literature).

After analyzing the opinions of other scholars and considering the evidence provided by the text itself K. B. Vyas concluded that this is not the work of a Jain, but probably of someone belonging to one of the Brahmanical sects.

1400-1425 (1343- 1368 A.D.), basing his decision upon the orthography of the manuscripts and his comparison of the phonology and the morphology of the text with linguistic specimens from the different periods of Old Gujarati.

Then the poet describes the arrival of spring season and its impact on the united or separated couples.

In an age when all worthwhile literature was invariably linked up with religion, this poem broke new ground by portraying the exotic sentiment of the common man, eschewing all mythological references.

The interspersing of Sanskrit shlokas from well-known classics, the internal alliteration in every verse replete with wonderful imagery, and restrained portrayal of the erotic, render it unique in Gujarati literature.

Example of the interweaving of languages and pictorial images, Vasanta Vilasa, 1451 CE manuscript
Section of the Vasanta Vilasa, 1451 CE