Madhavadeva—Introduction

Madhavadeva^{The name is also found transliterated in various writings as “Madhabdeva,” “Madhavdev,” etc.} (IAST: Mādhavadeva; AS: মাধৱদেৱ) (1489-1596 CE) is the foremost exponent of the sole-refuge (eka sarana) school in the post-Sankaradeva period. According to the description of Gopala Ata of Bhavanipur:^{Sonaram Chutiya, A Tribute to Madhavadeva.}

tiniyuga bhaila śeṣa, kali balī paraveśa
lokaka pīḍilā ghora pāpe .
śuṣi nile ātma tattba, bhaila loka unamatta
puri māre saṃsārara tāpe ..
lokara kuśala hetu, bhailanta bāriṣā ṛtu
mililā śaṅkara rūpe hari .
mādhava gambhīra megha, baraṣilā abicheda
harināma jala jagabhari ..

The three yugas had passed; the mighty Kali (Iron Age) arrived and tortured the people with extreme sin. Atma tattva (knowledge of the self) was sucked away and, (as a result) all people became like mad, scorched by the heat of material existence. For the world’s succor, Hari came in Sankara’s form—the rainy season, as it were—, and Madhava, the deep cloud, showered down without a break, inundating the world with the flood of Hari Nama.

In the propagation of Eka Sarana Hari Nama (The Path of Sole-Refuge in Hari), Sankaradeva is the “rainy season” while it is only Madhavadeva, the “deep cloud” who, by the continual showering of the rain of the Lord’s name, has flooded the earth with Hari Nama.

Nama Ghosa and Ratnavali of Madhavadeva alongwith Kirttana and Dasama of Sankaradeva are the four great works that are still worshipped all over Assam upto Kochbehar. As the Gita is said to be the very heart of Krsna, so the Nama Ghosa is considered as the heart of Madhavadeva, and it occupies the same position in Assamese social life and literature as the Gita does in the Indian.^{Dimbeswar Neog, New Light on History of Assamese Literature.}