Krishna das Kaviraja
Krishna Dasa was born in 1496 CE in a family of physicians in the villageof Jhamatpur, within the district of Barddhaman, near Naihati in Bengal. His father was called Bhagiratha, and his mother was named Sunanda. He also had a younger brother named Shyamananda Dasa. Both his parents died when he was young, thus he and his brother were raised by relatives.
At an advanced age and in poor health Krishna Dasa commenced work on his magnum-opus the Chaitanya Charitamrita after being repeatedly requested by the devotees in Vrindavana who had never met Chaitanya and who were eager for details. He vividly describes in the text itself: “I have now become too old and disturbed by invalidity. While writing, my hands tremble. I cannot remember anything, nor can I see or hear properly. Still I write, and this is a great wonder.”
In composing his Charitamrita, Krishna Dasa used the diaries of Murari Gupta and Swarupa Damodara, both of whom were intimate associates of Chaitanya. Krishna Dasa was given a great deal of information by his guru, Raghunatha Dasa also, who had served Swarupa Damodara when the latter was Chaitanya's personal secretary.
Due to its amount of detail on the life of Chaitanya and his precepts, the Chaitanya-charitamrita became the definitive biography of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. According to the Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika of Kavi Karnapura, Krishna Dasa Kaviraja has been identified as being an incarnation of the handmaiden of Krishna called Kasturi Manjari.
