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Shishu Shankara Dasa is a well-known medieval Oriya poet of the later half of the sixteenth century. No evidence is available regarding his parentage. But from the epithet ‘Shishu’ (literally, child), which is part of his name, he is believed to have been a Vaishnava, a fact amply corroborated by the introductory invocation in Ushabhilasha in which Jagannatha has been described as Srikrishna Gopinath.

Ushabhilasha in 12 cantos is the only kavya ascribed to Shishu Shankara Dasa. He writes on a love theme based on the story of the marriage of Krishna’s grandson, Aniruddha, with Usha, daughter of the demon king Bana of Shonitapura, occurring in the Harivamsha, the Bhagavata and the Sarala Mahabharata. He faithfully follows the original plot and depicts no new event or character.

Nevertheless, he shows great skill in delineating the features of the handsome human form and the beauty of nature as well as the mysteries of a lover’s heart. Particularly interesting is his depiction in the fifth and the subsequent cantos of Usha pining for the stranger who had visited her in a dream. Other interesting details are Chitralekha’s device of showing in ictures all the important cities of the. three worlds so that Usha might identify her dream hero, and the secret kidnapping of Aniruddha to her palace through superhuman powers. All these details make the whole composition a well-knit love-romance.

Further, the pleasant account of the lovers’ dalliances clearly suggest the poet’s deep insight into a lover’s heart, while the lucid style reminds one of the enchanting beauty of the Gita-Govinda of Jayadeva. The poet was greatly influenced by the Sanskrit kavya style and fused it with the age-old Puranic tradition of Oriya literature. His influence over a number of later poets is evident from the references made by the latter to the popular lines in Ushabhilasha . Shishu Shankara may be’ called the harbinger of the ornate style of the courtly Oriya kavyas that became the literary order a century later. BIBLIOGRAPHY Artaballabha Mahanti (ed.). Ushabhilasha (1929).

Krishna’s Grandson
Aniruddha,With Usha
Bana Of Shonitapura
Harivamsha
Bhagavata
Sarala Mahabharata