Kavitarkik

Kavitarkik (16th-17th centuries) court-poet of King Laksanamanikya, was born towards the close to the 16th century in the village of Srirampur in the district of noakhali, son of Baninath, a sanskrit poet. Some scholars believe that Kavitarkik was either a priest or a minister in the king's court. His original name was Raghunath; Kavitarkik was his appellation.

The manuscript of Kavitarkik's one-act farce, Kautukaratnakar, is still extant. The preface of the play describes the dynasties of bhulua and Manikya and reveals that bhulua was once an important centre of education, literature and culture. The preface also includes stories about the valour of King Laksmanamanikya and his father, Gandharvamanikya.

The play, which describes the decadence of the beau-monde and the aberrations of the priests, has considerable literary value. michael madhusudan dutt's play Budo Shaliker Ghade Ron greatly resembles Kautukaratnaka, which the university of dhaka published in 1997. [Dulal Bhowmik]