Gaudavaho

Gaudavaho
AuthorVākpatirāja
Original titleगउडवहो
TranslatorNarhari Govind Suru
LanguagePrakrit
SubjectLife of king Yashovarman
GenreMahakavya
Publication date
8th century
Publication placeAncient India

Gaudavaho ("Slaying of the Gauda king"), also known as Gauḍavaha, is an 8th-century Prakrit-language epic poem by Vākpatirāja. It narrates the exploits of the poet's patron, king Yashovarman, who ruled in northern India. The poem deifies the king as an incarnation of the god Vishnu, and credits him with several military achievements, including slaying of the Gauda king.

A little over 1200 verses of the text are known from several manuscripts. According to some scholars such as Georg Bühler, the surviving text is only a prelude to the larger poem that Vakpati intended to write, but possibly never finished.