Gangavatarana is a Sanskrit poem in eight cantos with 597 verses. The author of the poem is Nilakantha Dikshita. He was the son of Narayana and Bhumidevi and grandson of Accha Dikshita, younger brother of the famous Vedantist, Appayya Dishita. Nilakantha lived under Tirumala Nayaka of Madurai in the 17 th century (1576 – 1655 CE). Gangavatarana deals with the well known story in Hinduism of the descent of Ganga through the austerities of Bhagiratha, as narrated in Vamana Purana. At the outset, Nilakantha introduces himself and his family and expresses his ideas on genuine and spurious poetry. He disliked labored compositions displaying skill in verbal tricks of repeated syllables, known as yamaka or alliteration, and follows the illustrious example of poetry of Kalidasa. There was an ideal king of the Ikshvaku dynasty by name Bhagiratha. He learnt that his ancestors, i.e. sons of Sagara, who had been reduced to the ashes by Sage Kapila in the patala region, had been denied water-l