Achyutananda Dasa

Achyutananda Dasa was a sixteenth-century Odia poet, seer and Vaishnava saint, later called the Mahapurusa, or Great Person. Born into a Karana family, the son of an official of the Gajapati king Prataparudra Deva (r. 1497–1538), he formed the Panchasakha, five comrades who rendered Sanskrit scriptures into Odia for common readers.

The most prolific of the five, he composed the Harivamsa, Kaibarta Gita and Gurubhakti Gita, along with prophetic writings, and was believed to see past, present and future. His writings described contemporary society.