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The Vaishnava Padavi (Bengali: বৈষ্ণব পদাবলী) movement refers to a period in medieval Bengali literature from the 15th to 17th centuries, marked by an efflorescence of Vaishnava poetry often focusing on the Radha-Krishna legend. The term padavali (also written padaabali) has the literal meaning "gathering of songs" (pada=short verse, lyric; +vali = plural; collection).
The padavali poetry reflects an earthy view of divine love which had its roots in the Agam poetry of Tamil Sangam literature (600 BC–300 AD) and spread into early medieval Telugu (Nannaya, Annamayya) and Kannada literatures (Dasa sahitya). The poetic themes spread rapidly as part of the religious Bhakti movement that proposed an intensely personal form of devotion, following the philosophy of Ramanuja and opposing caste distinctions and other brahministic measures implicit in the theism of Adi Shankaracharya. The movement spread out and attained a pan-India status during the 13th–17th centuries.
The accompanying literary movements were marked by a shift from the classical language of Sanskrit, to the local languages (apabhramsha) or derivatives, e.g. the literary language of brajabuli adopted by Vidyapati (14th century) and Govindadas Kaviraj
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