anskrit: The poem in which the cowherd is sung), lyrical poem celebrating the romance of Krishna and his beloved, Radha, renowned both for its high literary value and for its expression of religious longing. Particularly popular among Vaishnavas (followers of Lord Vishnu, of whom Krishna was an incarnation) of India, the poem was written in Sanskrit by Jayadeva, who was attached to the Bengali court of King Lakshmana Sena (late twelfth century).Interspersing the recitative stanzas with 24 eight line songs, the original form of the poem inspired many later imitations. The religious drama of the worshipper's yearning for god is expressed through the idiom of human courtship and love. Dealing with the theme of the divine lovers, Radha and Krishna, its verses were popular with Chaitanya, the fourteenth-fifteenth century Bengali saint, and continue to be sung even today at bhajans and kirtans (gatherings for devotion through song) throughout India. The Gitagovinda was also the inspiration for many beautiful miniature paintings of the Rajasthani and Pahari schools in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.