Bipradas Pipilai was a 15th-century poet. He was the son of Mukunda Pipilai, the family hailed from Baduria-Batagram in 24 Parganas, now in the state of West Bengal.[ Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali (editors), 1976/1998, Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan (Biographical dictionary) Vol I, , p. 349, ]
The Manasa Vijay
He was one of the poets who contributed to the
Manasamangal genre of poems in praise of the serpent-goddess,
Manasa.
So far, three of his manuscripts have been discovered. Initially, an incomplete version of his work was edited and published by Haraprasad Shastri in 1897 based on two manuscripts discovered till then. In 1953, a complete version of the text was edited and published by Sukumar Sen under the title
Vipradāsa's Manasā-Vijaya[Sen, Sukumar (1953). Vipradāsa's Manasā-Vijaya. Asiatic Society, Calcutta.] as a part of the
Bibliotheca Indica series of the
Asiatic Society, Calcutta. It was based on all three manuscripts.
[Sen, Sukumar (1991, reprint 2007). Bangala Sahityer Itihas, Vol.I , Kolkata: Ananda Publishers, , p.199] In these manuscripts, the date of his work is found as 1417
Saka era (1495-96).
[Sen, Sukumar (1991, reprint 2007). Bangala Sahityer Itihas, Vol.I, , Kolkata: Ananda Publishers, , pp.161-78] Bijay Gupta of Barisal wrote his
Manasamangal at around the same time.
Bipradas is particularly well known for his vivid description of the journeys of the merchant Chand Sadagar, giving details of Saptagram and the lower reaches of the Hooghly River-Saraswati rivers.
