Ramprasad Sen

Ramprasad Sen was born in 1718, he was a Hindu Shakta poet and saint of eighteenth-century Bengal. His bhakti poems, known as Ramprasadi, are still popular in Bengal—they are usually addressed to the Hindu goddess Kali and written in Bengali.

It is said that Ramprasad was born into a Bengali Baidya Brahmin family and showed an inclination towards poetry from an early age. He was highly influenced by Krishnananda Agamavagisha, a Tantric scholar and yogi. Ramprasad became well-known for his devotional songs.

He is credited with creating a new compositional form that combined the Bengali folk style of Baul music with classical melodies and kirtan. The new style took root in Bengali culture with many poet-composers combining folk and raga-based melodies, mixing every common style of music from classical to semi-classical and folk.