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Vasantavilas

Fagu poem by unknown author

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 8, 2024
Entity authorityQ58240340
Source-derived summary

Vasantavilas (lit. The Joys of Spring) is a fagu poem by unknown author written in old Gujarati language, believed to be written in first half of the 14th-century. Its theme is the depiction of Shringara, an erotic sentiments. The poem has a significant historical value as it provides linguistic evidence of Old Gujarati.

Overview

Gujarati scholar Keshav Harshad Dhruv first discovered an illustrated manuscript of the Vasantavilas copied in 1455, and published it in Shalapatra. The published version seemed unsatisfied to him as the version needed many editing, he published it again with notes in Haji Muhammad Smarak Granth (1923). In the meanwhile, he found another manuscript from the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, and with its help, he re-edited the text. In 1943, another scholar Kantilal B. Vyas published another carefully edited edition of the poem, which aroused interest among scholars in India and abroad. Vyas published its English translation in 1946.

Authorship and dates

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.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Vasantavilas” as fagu poem by unknown author. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1455, 1923, 1943, 1946—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Vasantavilas, Fagu and poem can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as fagu poem by unknown author. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q58240340. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1455, 1923, 1943 and 1946.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Vasantavilas”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Vasantavilas primary sources, Vasantavilas archive and Vasantavilas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Vasantavilas”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Vasantavilas” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.