Bipradas Pipilai was a 15th century poet. He was the son of Mukunda Pipilai, the family hailed from Badurya-Batagram in 24 Parganas

24 Parganas

24 Parganas district is a former district of the Indian state of West Bengal. The district was split into two districts — North 24 Parganas district and South 24 Parganas district, with effect from 1 March 1986....

, now in the India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n state

States and territories of India

India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...

 of West Bengal

West Bengal

West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...

.

The Manasa Vijay

He was one of the poets who contributed to the Manasamangal genre of poems in praise of the serpent-goddess, Manasa

Manasa

Manasa is a Hindu folk goddess of snakes, worshipped mainly in Bengal and other parts of northeastern India, chiefly for the prevention and cure of snakebite and also for fertility and prosperity. Manasa is the sister of Vasuki, king of Nāgas and wife of sage Jagatkāru...

. So far, three of his manuscripts have been discovered. Initially, an incomplete version of his work was edited and published by Haraprasad Shastri

Haraprasad Shastri

Haraprasad Shastri , also known as Haraprasad Bhattacharya, was an Indian academic, Sanskrit scholar, archivist and historian of Bengali literature...

 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 of Manasa Vijay of Bipradas Piplai as a part of the Bibliotheca Indica series of the Asiatic Society

Asiatic Society

The Asiatic Society was founded by Sir William Jones on January 15, 1784 in a meeting presided over by Sir Robert Chambers, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at the Fort William in Calcutta, then capital of the British Raj, to enhance and further the cause of Oriental research. At the time of...

, Calcutta. It was based on all three manuscripts. In these manuscripts, the date of his work is found as 1417 Saka era (1495-96). 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

Chand Sadagar

Chand Sadagar, , , was a rich and powerful merchant of Champak Nagar in ancient India. Bipradas Pipilai gave an account in his Manasamangal about the merchant ship of the trader Chand Saudagar proceeding to the sea, passing through Saptagram and Tribeni, the tri junction of the Ganges, Saraswati...

, giving details of Saptagram

Saptagram

Saptagram was a major port, the chief city and sometimes capital of southern Bengal, in ancient and medieval times, the location presently being in the Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is about 4 km from Bandel, a major rail junction. By the early twentieth century, the...

 and the lower reaches of the Hooghly-Saraswati

Saraswati River (Bengal)

Saraswati River refers to a river, that was a distributary of the Bhagirathi and is now no more there but was active till around the 16th century AD. The course and condition of the Saraswati has played an important role in the development and decline of river port towns in Bengal...

rivers.