| Kavi Karnapura | |
| Language: | Bengali |
| Notableworks: | Chaitanya Charanamrita, Chaitanya Chandrodaya, Alamkara-Kaustubha, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Candrasya Sahasranama Stotram, Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika. |
| Birth Name: | Paramananda Sen |
| Birth Date: | 1524 |
| Birth Place: | Nadia, West Bengal |
| Death Date: | Unknown |
| Death Place: | Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh |
| Occupation: | Poet, saint |
| Genre: | Gaudiya vaishnavism philosophy |
| Native Name: | কবি কর্ণপুরা |
| Native Name Lang: | bn |
Kavi Karnapura or Kavikarnapura (Bengali: কবি কর্ণপুরা, born as Parmananda Sen) was a 16th-century Indian Bengali poet in Sanskrit; best known for verse works, Chaitanya Charanamrita (Mahakavya) and Chaitanya Chandrodaya (Nataka).[1] [2] He was a junior contemporary of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.[3]
Kavi Karnapura was born as (Paramananda Sen) the son of Shivananda Sen, a Vaidya[4] and a prominent disciple of Chaitanya. He was born on 1524 in Nadia district of Bengal, about a decade before Chaitanya's passing in 1533 and met Chaitanya several times in Puri and was received the honorific title of 'Kavi Karnapura' (he who adorns the poets' ears with nectar of poetry[5]) by Svarup Damodar. He was spent his last days at Vrindavan.[6]
He has written extensively on the life and teaching of Chaitanya and on the faith of bhakti movement. These include the 'Mahakavya' and 'Nataka' referred to earlier, Alamkara-Kaustubha (on devotional sentiments), Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika (Hagiology), Ananda -Vrindavana-Champa (Interpretation of Krishnalila) and a commentary on the Srimad Bhagavat. Karnapura sought to systematize the faith within a theoretical framework.[3]