Jyotirishwar Thakur or**** **** (1260–1340****)**** was a Maithili**** poet****,**** playwright****,**** musician**** and an**** early **** Maithili**** and Sanskrit**** writer****,**** known for the Varṇa Ratnākara,**** his encyclopedic**** work**** in**** Maithili****.****

Life

Jyotirishwar was son of Rāmeśvara and grandson of Dhīreśvara. He was the court poet of King Harisimhadeva of the Karnat dynasty of Mithila (r. 1300–1324).

Major works

His most significant work in Maithili, the Varṇa Ratnākara (1324) is an encyclopedic work in prose. This work contains descriptions of various subjects and situations. This work provides valuable information about the life and culture of medieval India. The text is divided into seven Kallolas (waves):, , , , , and. An incomplete list of 84 Siddhas is found in the text, which consists only 76 names. A manuscript of this text is preserved in the Asiatic Society, Kolkata (ms. no 4834 of Asiatic Society of Bengal). His major Sanskrit play, the (The Meeting of the Knaves) (1320) is a two act Prahasana (comedy). The play relates the contest between a religious mendicant and his disciple over a lovely courtesan whom the Brahmin arbitrator keeps for himself. Superior characters in this drama speak in Sanskrit, inferior characters speak in Prakrit and the songs are in Maithili. His another Sanskrit work, the (Five Arrows) in five parts deals with the same topics which are dealt in the other standard works on the Kama Sutra.