was a close friendship between Sivasimha, king of Mithila from 1402 to 1406, and Vidyapati. As soon as Sivasimha ascended to his throne, he granted Vidyapati his home village of Bisapi, an act recorded on a copper plate. On the plate, Sivasimha calls him "the new Jayadeva". The poet also accompanied his king to Delhi, at the sultan's demand. A story about that encounter relates how the king was held by the sultan and Vidyapati negotiated for his release by displaying his clairvoyant powers. Sivasimha's favorable patronage and the courtly environment encouraged Vidyapati's experiments in love songs written in Maithili, a language everyone at court could enjoy. In 1406, Sivasimha went missing in a battle with a Muslim army. After this defeat, Vidyapati and the court took refuge at a king's court in Rajabanauli(also known as Banauli), in modern-day Nepal. In 1418, Padmasimha succeeded Sivasimha as ruler of Mithila after an interregnum when Sivasimha's chief queen Lakhima Devi reigned for 12 years. Vidyapati returned to serve Padmasimha and continue writing, primarily treatises on law and devotional manuals. At about 1430 or earlier, he is known to have returned to his village, Bisapi. He often visited its temple of Shiva. He is recorded as having two wives, three sons and four daughters. Political career The independence of the kings Vidyapati worked for was often threatened by incursions by Muslim sultans. The Kīrttilatā makes reference to an incident where the Oiniwar King, Raja Gaṇeśvara, was killed by the Turkish commander, Malik Arsalan in 1371. By 1401, Vidyapati requested the help of the Jaunpur Sultan in overthrowing Arsalan and installing Gaṇeśvara's sons, Vīrasiṃha and Kīrttisiṃha, on the throne. With the Sultan's assistance, Arsalan was deposed and Kīrttisiṃha, the oldest son, became the ruler of Mithila. The conflicts of his time are evident in his works. In his early praise-poem Kīrttilatā, he slyly criticizes his patron for his perceived deference to Muslims. Love songs While working under his second patron, Devasimha, and especially under his successor Sivasimha, Vidyapati started composing Maithili songs of the love of Radha and Krishna. He seems to have only composed love songs between 1380 and 1406, though he kept writing until near his death in 1448. He seems to have ceased writing love songs after his patron and friend Sivasimha went missing in a battle and his court had to go into exile. These songs, which would eventually number