LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 Class 7 S^ 
 
 
 
 
 
THE 
 
 LITERATURE OF BENGAL 
 
 A BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL HISTORY FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES 
 
 CLOSING WITH A REVIEW OF INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS 
 
 UNDER BRITISH RULE IN INDIA 
 
 BY 
 
 ROMESH CHUNDER DUTT, CLE. 
 
 OF THE INDIAN CIVIL SKRVICK, AND OF THK MIDDLE TEMPLE, BARRISl ER-AT-LAW 
 
 OFFG. COMMISSIONER AND SUPERINTENDENT OF TRIBUTARY MEHALS, ORISSA 
 
 AUTHOR OF "CIVILIZATION IN ANCIENT INDIA," &C. 
 
 REHSED EDITION: fV/tH PORTRAITS. 
 
 TRACKER SPINK & Co.: CALCUTTA. 
 ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & Co. : LONDON. 
 
Printed by S. K. Sha 
 
 ELM PRESS 
 
 29, Beadon Street, Calcutta. 
 
 GENERAL 
 

 TO 
 
 RAI SHASHI CFIANDRA DUTT BAHADUR 
 
 THE FOLLOWING PAGES 
 
 ARE DEDICATED AS 
 
 A TOKEN OF 
 
 GRATITUDE, ESTEEM AND AFFECTION 
 
 Dakhin Shahbazpur, ^ BY HIS NEPHEW 
 
 1877. J The author. 
 
 104379 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter ■ Page 
 
 I. Bengali Language and Alphabet ... ... I 
 
 II. Early Sanskrit Poetry. — J ayadeva. (i 2th century) ... il 
 
 III. Early Bengali Poetry. — Chandidas. (14th century) ... 26 
 
 IV. Kasi Ram and his Mahabharata. (15th century) ... 38 
 V. Krittibas and his Ramayana. (l5lh century) ... 48 
 
 VI. Chaitanya and his Religious Reform. (i6th century) 61 
 
 VII. The followers of Chaitanya. (i6lh century) ... 77 
 
 VIII. Raghunath and his school of Logic. (i6th century) ... 83 
 
 IX. Raghunandan and his Institutes. (i6th century) .,. 89 
 
 X. Mukundaram and his Chandi. (17th century) ... 95 
 
 XI. Ram Prasad and his Songs. (i8th century) ... 118 
 
 XII. Bharat Chandra and his Poetry. (18th century)... 124 
 
 XIII. Ram Mohan Rai and his Religious Reform. (1774-1833) 136 
 
 XIV. Iswar Chandra Gupta and his Satires. (1809-1858) ... 151 
 XV. Akhay Kumar Datta. Bengali Prose. (1820- 1 886) ... 160 
 
 XVI. Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar. Bengali Prose. (1820-1891) 172 
 
 XVII. Dramatic Writers. Dina Bandhu Mitra. (1829-1873) 183 
 
 XVIII. Madhu Sudan Datta and his Epic. {1824-1873) ... 194 
 
 XIX. Bankim Chandra Chatterjea. Fiction. (1838- 1 894) ... 224 
 
 XX. General intellectual Progre?s. (19th century) ... 237 
 
PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION. 
 
 About twenty years ago, I published in a local 
 magazine a series of biographical and critical 
 essays on Bengali writers, and they were publish- 
 ed in a collected form under the disguise of a no?n 
 de plume in 1877. The publication did not re- 
 ceive much attention at the time, but it attracted 
 the notice of that prince of Indian statisticians, 
 Sir WiHiam Hunter. He embodied much of the 
 information conveyed in my book in his valuable 
 work on the Indian Efnpire^ and he suggested 
 that a more complete treatment of the subject 
 should be attempted,* 
 
 The work of bringing out a more complete 
 work on the subject has been deferred from year 
 to year amidst other works which have claimed 
 my more immediate attention. I do not regret 
 this delay, as the information available on this 
 subject is now far more satisfactory than it was 
 twenty years ago. More attention is now given to 
 
 * "A complete treatment of the subject is still a desideratum, 
 which it is hoped that Bengali research will before long supply. 
 
 Mr whose volume has been freely used in the following pages 
 
 would confer a benefit both on his countrymen and on European 
 students of the Indian vernaculars by undertaking the task.." 
 W. W. Hunter'' s Indian Empire ( 1 886) p. 347. noU. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 the stud}^ of Bengali literature by the people of 
 Bengal ; a Bangiya Sahitya Parishad or Academy 
 of Bengali Literature has been formed, and has 
 turned its attention to the restoration of the texts 
 of our old authors ; and some excellent biographical 
 works like the lives of Akhay Kumar Datta, 
 Isvvar Chandra Vidyasagar and Madhu Sudan Datta 
 have lately been published in Bengah. These 
 encouraging circumstances have reminded me of 
 my duty, — long deferred, — of bringing out a fairly 
 Complete account of Bengali literature. And 
 the honour which the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad 
 has done me, by electing me its first -President, 
 impels me to choose this occasion to place before 
 my countrymen generally, and before European 
 students of Indian vernaculars, a connected story 
 of literary and intellectual progress in Bengal during 
 the last eight centuries. 
 
 It is necessary to say one or two words about 
 my predecessors in this field. Iswar Chandra 
 Gupta, the first great poet of this century, an 
 account of whose life and work will be found in 
 Chapter XIV. of the present book, was the first 
 writer who attempted to publish biographical ac- 
 counts of previous writers ; but his attempt neces- 
 sarily met with imperfect success. Iswar Chandra 
 was followed by other Bengali writers of lesser 
 note, whose treatises used to be -read in trie la^t 
 
PREFACE. Ill 
 
 generation. Pandit Ramgati Nyayaratna then 
 took up the task, and made enquiries into facts 
 connected with the Hves and writings of past 
 authors, and produced a meritorious work a quarter 
 of a century ago. The work has appeared in a 
 second edition, but Bengal laments the recent 
 death of the industrious and venerable Pandit. A 
 number of separate biographical works, some of 
 them very full and complete, have also been 
 lately issued ; and I have in the present edition 
 of this work derived much information from these 
 separate works. 
 
 The additional information now available on 
 the subject of Bengali literature, while it is most 
 welcome to the compiler, has made the work of 
 compilation more arduous. I had no idea, when I 
 undertook to produce the present edition, that 
 nearly all the work done twenty vecirs ago would 
 have to be redone. But as the work proceeded, 
 this became more and more manifest. I have 
 accordingly virtually rewritten most portions of the 
 book, including the first five chapters as well as the 
 last eight chapters, and I have added two new 
 chapters on the schools of logic and law at Naba- 
 dwip. The w^ork therefore may be regarded as 
 almost a new one. The very hmited time I had at 
 my disposal did not permit me to perform this 
 work as leisurely and carefully as I would 
 
IT PREFACE. 
 
 wish to do it ; but I hope nevertheless that the 
 book will be found to be a readable hand-book, 
 correct up to date, on the subject which it treats. 
 
 And the subject is one which is worth study. 
 Literary movement in Bengal commenced at least 
 eight centuries ago with compositions in Sanscrit, 
 and Jayadeva, a native of Bengal, has left his 
 mark on Sanscrit literature by his mortal song, 
 now rendered into English by Sir Edwin Arnold. 
 Bengali literature, properly so called, began 
 with imitations of the song of Jayadeva in the 
 fourteenth century, and with translations of the 
 great Sanscrit epics into Bengali in the fifteenth 
 century. Then followed the brilliant sixteenth 
 century with its religious reform inaugurated by 
 Chaitanya, and its study of philosophy and sacred 
 law fostered by Raghunath and Raghunandan. 
 The seventeenth century commenced with a 
 great original composition by Mukunda Ram, whom 
 Professor E. B. Cowell of Cambridge delights to 
 call the Chaucer of Bengal. And the eighteenth 
 century produced Bharat Chandra a master of verse, 
 and Ram Prasad a master of song. A brighter 
 epoch opened with the nineteenth century ; Raja 
 Ram Mohan Rai was the first brilliant product 
 of English education in India, and devoted his 
 life to religious reform and to the formation of 
 a healthy Bengali Prose. Iswar Chandra Gupta 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 was a versatile poet and satirist, and Akhay 
 Kumar and Vidyasagar continued the noble work 
 which Raja Ram Mohan had commenced. The 
 great Madhu Sudan Datta wrote a noble epic in 
 blank verse, Dina Bandhu Mitra and others wrote 
 dramatic works, and Bankim Chandra Chatterjea 
 has created a new school of fiction, and has 
 brought Bengali prose to the state of its present 
 perfection and grace. 
 
 These are the greatest authors that Bengal has 
 produced, and whose memory the people of Bengal 
 love to cherish. Of living writers I have not 
 given any detailed account ; the time for a proper 
 criticism of their work has not yet come. Let us 
 hope that they will be the pioneers in literature 
 in the next century, and that Bengal will shew 
 as briihant a record of progress in the next century 
 as in this, which is about to close. 
 
 CUTTACK, I ^ ^ DUTT. 
 
 October, iSpS' J 
 
LITERATURE OF BENGAL 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Bengali Language and Alphabet. 
 
 It is not difficult to trace the gradual changes in the 
 spoken tongue of Northern India by the help of the 
 ancient works which have been preserved in Sanscrit. 
 In India, as elsewhere, political and religious changes 
 have been attended, — not with sudden changes in the 
 spoken tongue, as is sometimes imagined, — but with a 
 sudden recognition of such changes which introduce 
 themselves slowly enough. 
 
 When the vigorous colonists of the Epic Age left 
 their mother country in the Punjab behind, and founded 
 powerful kingdoms along the Ganges and the Jumna, 
 the Sanscrit of the Rig Veda was replaced by the 
 Sanscrit of the Brahmanas and Upanishads in the 
 cultured courts of the Kurus and the Panchalas, the 
 Videhasand the Kosalas. This was the first change of 
 which we have any recorded evidence, and we may 
 roughly fix the date of this change at 1500 B. C. 
 
 With the rise ofMagadha and the advent of Gautama 
 Buddha, who preferred to preach to nations in the spoken 
 tongue, the Pali language was recognized as the spoken 
 tongue of Northern India ; it had replaced the Sanscrit of 
 the Brahmanas and Upanishads. Scholars generally agree 
 
2 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 with Burnouf and Lassen that the Pali stands "on the first 
 step of the ladder of departure from Sanscrit, and is the 
 first of the series of dialects which break us that rich 
 and fertile language." The date of the literary and 
 general recognition of the Pali language may be roughly 
 fixed at 500 B. C. 
 
 In the centuries following the Christian Era, the Pali 
 became gradually replaced by the Prakrits, the spoken 
 dialects of the people. The heroines of Kalidasa speak 
 Prakrit ; and while Dushyanta makes love in Sanscrit, the 
 beauteous Sakunlala responds to his love in the softer 
 Prakrit. Vararuchi, one of the "nine gems" of Vikrama- 
 ditya's court, is the earliest grammarian who recognizes 
 the Prakrits in his grammar ; and he distinguishes four 
 distinct dialects of the Prakrit, viz., Maharashtri, Saura- 
 seni, Ptiisachi and Magadhi. We may fix the date of this 
 literary recognition of the Prakrit dialects at 500 A. D. 
 
 The different Prakrits have been modified into the 
 different spoken dialects of modern India. It is proba- 
 ble that the Maharashtri and Sauraseni Prakrits have 
 been modified into the modern Hindi, and that the 
 Magadhi Prakrit has been modified into the modern 
 Bengali. Hindi received literary recognition in the 
 twelfth century after Christ, the Bengali in the fourteen th 
 century. 
 
 If we take up any large number of colloquial 
 Bengali words derived from the Sanscrit, we shall in- 
 variably find in them traces of the Prakrit. If we take 
 up any sentence at random from our every-day conversa- 
 tion, we shall find that most of the words have been 
 
BENGALI LANGUAGE AND ALPHABET. 
 
 derived from the Sanscrit, through the Prakrit. We 
 subjoin in a foot-note a list of words, furnished by Pandit 
 Ramgati Nyayaratna, which will shew at a glance that 
 the Bengali language is immediately derived from the 
 Prakrit.* 
 
 The Bengali language is thus a descendant of 
 Sanscrit, the mother of languages. It should be re- 
 membered however that a large number of local words, 
 which were probably used in Bengal before the Aryans 
 asserted their possession and spread their language in 
 
 *5T'x^^ 
 
 «fTf^ 
 
 ^tsft^l 
 
 ^x^-s 
 
 «ftf^ 
 
 ^t5rmi 
 
 ^^ ' 
 
 v^^Sf 
 
 ^r^ 
 
 1^ 
 
 W 
 
 I}51 
 
 ^^\ 
 
 ^^f^ 
 
 ^tf^ 
 
 CWI^ 
 
 c^^i 
 
 CSf^t 
 
 cT"^^ 
 
 C^H 
 
 \^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^v3 
 
 ^<^ 
 
 «2T^^ 
 
 •^'T^ 
 
 nt^^ 
 
 ^R 
 
 ^R 
 
 ^1^1 
 
 '^*rt^ 
 
 ^^H 
 
 ^*tt5( 
 
 ^m 
 
 ^^^t 
 
 M 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^? 
 
 ^?r 
 
 ^mm 
 
 ^^^^■^f^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 m 
 
 ^tTl 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^^fr 
 
 ^t^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 5^ 
 
 Ft^l 
 
 ^^f% 
 
 c^rt 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^t% 
 
 ¥^ 
 
 ^t^ 
 
 ^C^t1% 
 
 ^^t 
 
 ^c? 
 
 ^WJ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^tSf 
 
 ^jf^ 
 
 c^t^^ 
 
 ^ccT 
 
 f^'^H 
 
 UM 
 
 f'TH 
 
 #r*tif3 
 
 f^^t 
 
 C^C^T 
 
 ^«^7f 
 
 <lb^ 
 
 Ttfl 
 
 ^tc^ 
 
 ^¥l?t 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 ^rfrni 
 
 ^t^t^5( 
 
 >f^^ 
 
 'Sf^C^ 
 
 ^^sf? 
 
 ^'IC^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^•^ 
 
 ^t^ 
 
 ^^]r^ 
 
 ^^f 
 
 ^K5 
 
 f^^T<^ 
 
 f^^^^'t 
 
 f^^^ 
 
 "^^^fs 
 
 ^^t 
 
 ^c^ 
 
 rx|l 
 
 ^t?l^ 
 
 ?t\5l 
 
 ^n? 
 
 ^T% 
 
 ^tci 
 
 ^f^'o 
 
 ^tr^?( 
 
 ^tf^^ 
 
 T>nf5 
 
 C^^tf^ 
 
 C^C5f 
 
 n 
 
 ^ 
 
 C^^ 
 
 ^m 
 
 ^?t 
 
 n^? 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^'^f 
 
 f\^ 
 
 n^f% 
 
 mt 
 
 ntv5 
 
 ^'il 
 
 ^m 
 
 ^H 
 
 ^tf^ 
 
 ^^tf^ 
 
 ^C5l 
 
4 LITERATURE OF BENGAt. 
 
 this country, have found their way into the Bengali tongue.. 
 Many familiar Bengali words connected with fishings 
 and cultivation, witli manufacture and arts, with domestic 
 life and occupations, cannot be traced to Sanscrit roots, 
 and must be of indigenous origin. With the growth of 
 literature however these words have a tendency to dis- 
 appear, and the Bengali language is gradually approxi- 
 mating to the Sanscrit in various ways. 
 
 This process is specially ol>servable in the present 
 century. Whoever has taken pains to compare the 
 best works of the present age with the works of the last 
 century, must hav^e observed that the Sanscrit elen^ent 
 has greatly increased in the Bengali of the present day ; 
 and this change,- — and we consider it a change in the 
 right direction, — is attributable to a variety of causes. 
 The spread of European culture created the necessity 
 of a prose literature. Our writers began to be familia- 
 rized with ideas which could not find expression in 
 verse. Philosophy and the sciences came within the cate- 
 gory of public tuition^ afxi were learnt by an ever- 
 increasing circle o-f students ; and when they wanted 
 to give expressio-n to their ideas in their native tongue 
 tiiey found out its inadequiacy. Philosaphy and the 
 sciences were in past centuries cultivated in the aca- 
 demies of Nuddea, but they Were cultivated in Sanscrit, 
 only by a few, and those few never conceived the idea 
 of po-pularizityg and spreading such knowledge. A more 
 liberal spirit however was imbibed in this century from 
 the West, and those who imbibed such notions were 
 led to spread and popularize the knowledge they had 
 
BENGAI^I LANGUAGE AND ALPHABET. 5 
 
 obtained. One of the first and foremost too who re- 
 ceived such notions was the great Raja Ram Mohan 
 Rai, whose hfe was devoted to religious reform as well 
 as to the spread of knowledge ; and Rarn Mohan Rai is 
 the father of Prose Literature in Bengal. 
 
 It was then that two great authors, Akkhay Kumar 
 Datta and Isvvar Chandra Vidyasagar, took up the 
 subject ; and it may be asserted truly that as Ram 
 Mohan Rai formed the prose literature of Bengal, 
 Akkhay Kumar and Iswar Chandra gave it its classi- 
 cal dress. They had few or no instruments to work 
 with, they had no style before them on which to 
 base their own, none to follow or imitate. Under such 
 circumstances they turned .their eyes to the Sanskrit lan- 
 guage. That wonderful language is the richest in the 
 world in its capacity for the formation of new terms from 
 known roots ; and the twin workers borrowed vastly 
 from this store and developed Bengali prose. 
 
 Since that time the same causes have continued 
 to operate. New ideas are daily imported from the West, 
 and are entering into the spirit of our literature. We 
 seek in vain for expressions suited to such ideas in our 
 older works, and we naturally turn more and more to 
 the Sanscrit, and borrow from that language. Michael 
 Madhu Sudan, the greatest poet of the century, bor- 
 rowed largely from Sanscrit. And Bankim Chandra, 
 the greatest master of the Bengali prose, simplified 
 the classical style of Akkhay Kumar and Vidyasagar 
 and made it more pliable and graceful, but his indebted- 
 ness to Sanscrit was not less than that of his predeces- 
 
6 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 sors. A comparison of a poem of the present century 
 with one of the past century will at once indicate the 
 difference. 
 
 We open a book before us at random, and find a 
 poem entitled ^^\ in the Sraban number of the Banga- 
 Darsan^ 1280 B. E."^ It begins thus: 
 
 With the exception of two words only, ^t\ and ^f^, 
 all the rest are Sanscrit words. 
 
 We turn over a few pages and come to another poem 
 entitled c?^fel in the Bhadra number. It begins thus : 
 
 c^tH ^f t^fs Ti^^ '^'^\^^, 
 ^f^^ f^f«j^ *rtn^ f^«^K 
 
 «2lC^r*r Clff^ C?^^1 1^5^?/ 
 
 In these eight lines there are only four words which 
 are not Sanscrit, c^H, if^Cs, iX^ and c?R^. All the other 
 words are Sanscrit, though some of them have Bengali 
 terminations. The four words above mentioned are 
 of course derived from Sanskrit roots. 
 
 * This portion was written in July 1874, and the quotations 
 therefore are from the Banga-Danan of 1280 B. E. 
 
BENGALI LANGUAGE AND ALPHABET. 7 
 
 The Aswin number has no poetry, and we therefore 
 turn to the Kartik number. The poem on ^t^ begins 
 thus : 
 
 W^ 'T^ '1^\ C^CSf, 
 
 In these lines only two words ^tc^ and 1%^f% are not 
 Sanscrit. The terminations are Bengali of course. 
 
 In the seventeen lines which we have quoted above, 
 there are only eight words which are not Sanscrit. 
 We now turn to the poetry of the last century, and 
 select a passage at random from Bharat Chandra's 
 Annada Mangal : 
 
 ^c^ ^?r ^^1 ^^ c^i ^^^1 
 
 ^ f^ ^^ ^tf ^tr^ I 
 
 f^^1 c:g^t< 'pf^ ^tnf^ ^t^f^ 
 
 ^T'sTft^ -^X'H C^^1 II 
 
 cwf<?ri ■^\^\\^ ^T,-^ f^c^ ^ff^ 
 
 ^%'^ ^1 f^C^ ^t^^ II 
 
 ^R cvfc^ ^'^i^mi II 
 
S LITERATURE OF BEl^GAL. 
 
 Our readers will see at a glance that most of the 
 Words in this passage are non-Sanscrit, although mostly 
 derived from Sanscrit roots. 
 
 We have dwelt at some length on this change be- 
 cause it is a change of which we should take note. The 
 Bengali language, though undoubtedly derived through 
 the Prakrit, seems to be fast divesting itself of the 
 Prakrit forms, and approximating to the Sanscrit. The 
 modern tendency is to use Sanscrit words rather than their 
 Prakrit forms in all works of literature, except dramas 
 and light fiction. To select some words from Pandit 
 Nyayaratna's list, we prefer ^^^ to 'tt'^^, ^^ to ^i, ^^ to 
 
 ^iTi, ^w to Ft^, ^ttr to ^tsr, ^ffi to ^tw, f^^n to pi^i, 
 ^^7T to ^f^i, ^^ to i^t^, f^^i^ to f^5i^, ^^ to ^^1, ^r^ to m^\ 
 
 in our literary works. The literary language is thus 
 undergoing a transformation under our own eyes. 
 
 It would be a mistake however to suppose that we are 
 imitating Sanscrit ideas. The reverse is rather the case, 
 our notions, our ideas, our ways of thinking, our style 
 of writing are day by day diverging from the classical 
 Sanscrit model, and tending towards the European. It 
 is words only that we are borrowing from the Sanscrit. 
 Thus, at the same time, we are borrowing from two 
 widely different sources. 
 
 We have now briefly indicated the origin of the 
 Bengali language and its development in modern 
 times. It remains now to make a few remarks with 
 regard to the Bengali alphabet. 
 
BENGALI LANGUAGE AND ALPHABET. 9 
 
 A cursory examination of the Bengali alphabet 
 will convince our readers that it is derived and simplified 
 from the Devanagari alphabet. This modification was 
 made many centuries ago, and all that exists of Bengali 
 literature from the time of Chandi Das and Kasirani 
 Das vvas recorded in this modern Bengali alphabet. 
 
 But this does not take us to the origin of the Indian 
 alphabet. The Devanagari character itself is of com- 
 paratively recent origin. The oldest Indian character 
 known is not the Devanagari, but the older one in 
 which Asoka's inscriptions are recorded. All the inscrip- 
 tions of Asoka, except those in the Punjab, are re- 
 corded in what is called t\\Q Indo-Fali ox South Asoka 
 character. This is the earliest character used in India of 
 which we have any knowledge now, and its date is the 
 date of x\soka, viz., the third century before Christ. 
 
 The late General Sir Alexander Cunningham, who 
 was the greatest authority on the subject of the Indian 
 alphabets, subjected the old Indo-Pali character to a 
 careful examination, and came to the conclusion that 
 this Indian character was of purely Indian origin.* And 
 the majority of scholars who have studied and discussed 
 the subject are of the same opinion. Professor Max 
 Muller holds that India had no written alphabet be- 
 fore the fifth century B.C., and that the Indian alphabet 
 was then borrowed from the West. But Dr. Roth ex- 
 presses his conviction, based on prolonged Vedic 
 studies, that the vast collection of Vedic hymns could 
 
 * See Cunningham's remarks on this subject quoted in my 
 Civilization in Ancient India (London, 1893) ^^1- U-j P- 25 et seq. 
 
lO LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 not possibly have depended for existence on oral trans- 
 mission, and he considers it as a sine qua nan that 
 writing was known in Vedic times. Dr. Biihler holds 
 that the Indian alphabet with its five nasals and three 
 sibilants must have been developed in the grammati- 
 cal schools of the Brahraans. Dr. Goldstiicker holds 
 that writing was known when the Vedic hymns were 
 composed. And the profound scholar Lassen maintains 
 that the Indo-Pali alphabet is of purely indigenous 
 Indian origin. 
 
 It would appear therefore that some alphabet was 
 formed and developed in India in the Vedic times ; that 
 probably a later modification of this alphabet is the 
 Indo-Pali character in which Asoka recorded his in- 
 scriptions in the third century B. C. ; that the ornate 
 Devanagari character was a later development of the 
 simpler and older Indo Pali character ; and that the 
 Bengali character is a simplification and later modifica- 
 tion of the Devanagari character. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Early Sanscrit Poetry. — Jayadeva. 
 
 A GREAT development in Sanscrit literature and learn- 
 ing took place between the sixth and eighth centuries of 
 the Christian Era, and all the writers who are known as 
 Classical Sanscrit poets, and whose works are still popular 
 in all parts of India, appear to have flourished in this age. 
 Kalidasa took the lead, probably in the sixth century, in 
 poetry and in drama, and was immediately succeeded by 
 Bharavi. Harshadeva, Dandin, Banabhatta, Subandhuand 
 Bhartrihari wrote dramas, fiction and poetry in the seventh, 
 and the immortal Bhavabhuti closed the bright list irp 
 the eighth.'"* Classical poetry ends with him, imitators 
 and feeble writers rose later on. Such were Magha 
 who wrote Sisupalabadha in the eleventh century, and 
 Visakha Datta who composed Mudra Rakshasa when- 
 the Musalmans were already in India. 
 
 Bengal does not come to notice by her literary work 
 till this late period. It is said that Bhatta Narayana 
 who composed Vent Sanhara was one of the Brahmans^ 
 who came to Bengal from Kanouj in the time of king 
 Adisura, but we know little of the king and less of the 
 poet. And it is also said that Sri Harsha who composed 
 Naishadha in the twelfth century lived in Bengal, al- 
 
 ^ For an account of Classical Sanscrit Poetry, Drama and Fic- 
 gan see my Civilization in Ancient India, (London, 1895) Vol. 11.^ 
 OiOiies 258 to 302. 
 
12 IJTERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 though according to Rajnsekhara he was born in 
 Benares. 
 
 The earliest poet whom we can claim to be a true son 
 of Bengal is Jayadeva, the composer of the immortal 
 song Gita Govinda ; and we will devote the present 
 chapter to an account of the life and works of this 
 earliest poet of Bengal. He was a poet of the court of 
 Lakshmana Sena, and flourished in the twelfth century, 
 as has. been proved by a colophon of an ancient copy of 
 his poem discovered by Dr. Biihler in Kashmir. There 
 is other evidence corroborating this fact. Jayadeva him- 
 self speaks of his contemporaries in his poetry ; Bidyapati 
 and Cliandidas, poets of the fourteenth century, acknow- 
 ledge Jayadeva to be their great predecessor ; and Sana- 
 tana, a learned Vaishnava writer of the sixteenth century, 
 speaks of Jayadeva as a poet of lakshmana Sena's time. 
 
 Very little is known of the life of this, the earliest 
 poet of Bengal. He was born in Kendubilwa, better 
 known as Kenduli, in the district of Birbhum. His 
 father's name was Bhojadeva, and his mother's Bama- 
 devi. In early life Jayadeva left home, and it is said, 
 began preaching the faith and love of Krishna. He 
 had a few pupils and followers, and it is asserted that 
 he attempted to establish a reformed religion like 
 what Chaitayna did four centuries later. All this, 
 however, we must accept with caution. Much of 
 what little we know of Jayadeva is from Vaishnava 
 writers, and they were naturally anxious to discover and 
 establish a resemblance between so great a poet and 
 their great Master. That Jayadeva's faith in Krishna 
 
EARLY SANSCRIT POETRY. — JAYADEVA. 13 
 
 was ardent and deep, is amply shewn in his great work ; 
 that the same fervour was shared, not only by a ^e^v 
 friends of his, but by a large portion of the people 
 at large, is also highly probable ; but that he began 
 preaching the faith of Krishna like Chaitanya is per- 
 haps the unfounded supposition of later Vaishnava 
 writers. 
 
 After passing a few years in devotion and study^ 
 Jayadeva married and settled down in his native village. 
 The daily routine of home life was however ill adapted 
 to the feelings of the ardent poet, and he left home once 
 more and travelled through northern India as far as 
 Vrindavan and Jaypur, to which latter place he seems to 
 have been invited by the king. Nothing more is known, 
 of the poet than that he survived his wife Padmavati, 
 and that he passed his last days in devotions in his native 
 village, where his tomb is yet to be seen surrounded by 
 beautiful groves and trees. 
 
 The little that is known of the life of the poet is so 
 mixed up with fables, that it is impossible at this dis- 
 tance of time to glean the truth from the falsehood. Such 
 fables, however, are often based on true facts or cir- 
 cumstances ; anyhow they represent the impressions of 
 later ages regarding the life and times of their subject. 
 As such, some of them may with propriety find a place 
 in this brief sketch. 
 
 A curious story is connected with the marriage of 
 Jayadeva with Padmavati. A certain childless Brahman, 
 after many prayers and devotions, was favored by the god 
 Jagatinatha with an only girl, whom the father named 
 
14 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 Padmavati and nursed with affection and care. When 
 she attained her youth, her father was taking her to 
 the god, intending to devote her to his services. In 
 the way however he dreamt a dream, and the god told 
 him to give his child in marriage to a certain devout 
 followers of his, named Jayadeva. The Brahman did as 
 this match-making god commanded. Jayadeva, then 
 leading a life of study and devotions, was unwilling to 
 encumber himself with a wife ; but the girl would not 
 leave him, and said she would follow him through life 
 though forsaken. *' One must love partridge very well 
 to accept it when thrown in one's face," the sort of 
 feeling one would naturally feel under such circumstances, 
 but our poet knew better ; he rewarded her persistent 
 affections with marriage, and they made a very affec- 
 tionate and happy couple ever after in life. 
 
 The death of Padmavati furnishes us with another 
 story. She is said to have been so affectionate a wife that 
 a false rumour of her husband's death caused her death. 
 Such virtue however dwelt in the name of Krishna, that 
 the poet no sooner muttered that name than his spouse 
 woke to life again. 
 
 The most celebrated story however, connected with 
 the poet's life, is that relating to the composition of a 
 certain passage in the loth Sarga of the Gita Govinda. 
 The passage occurs where Krishna is represented as pacify- 
 ing the wrath of Radhika, who had been offended with 
 him for his promiscuous love, and had assumed a contemp- 
 tuous silence towards him. ^-^ f*t^R ^^^X c^f^ ^wn^^^t^'N 
 means, "On my head, as an ornament, place your beaute- 
 
EARLY SANSCRIT POETRY.— J AYADEVA. 1 5 
 
 ous feet," — these words being a touching appeal which 
 an offended mistress seldom resists. When Jayadeva 
 composed this, he looked on Krishna as an ardent lover; 
 but after he had written the first portion, viz., " On my. 
 head, as an ornament," he remembered that Krishna 
 was a god as well ; and he hesitated to add any thing 
 about a human foot being placed on the head of a 
 deity. Filled with doubts the poet went to bathe in the 
 river. Soon after Padmavati saw her husband return and 
 ask for his meals. The breakfast was produced and finish- 
 ed, and then he went to the room where the Gita Govinda 
 was kept, and wrote something. After her husband had 
 finished his meals, the duteous wife finished hers, when 
 lo ! her husband came in again and called for breakfast. 
 The worthy dame certainly did not relish this unseason- 
 able joke, but her husband was obstinate, and asserted 
 that he had only then returned from his bath and had not 
 yet taken his meals. The confusion of poor Padmavati 
 would have been complete, but she stated that he had 
 just before added something to his book. The book 
 was examined, and what was the poet's surprise when' 
 he found that after the words, " On my head, as an orna- 
 ment," which he had written before, the words " place 
 thy beauteous feet" had been added. The mystery 
 was soon cleared up. The god Krishna had marked 
 the doubts which had arisen in the mind of his votary, 
 and had solved the difficulty by personally assuming the 
 shape of Jayadeva, coming into his house, and writing 
 the passage himself. 
 
 There is more in this story than at first sight meets 
 
1 6 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 the eye. The real hesitation felt at the passage was not 
 by Jayadeva, but by later Vaishnavas who regarded 
 Krishna as God, and the story was invented to explain 
 away the poet's audacity. 
 
 It is said, that the king of Nilachala was offended 
 at the widely spreading fame of Jayadeva, and wrote 
 a book on the same subject and challenged compari- 
 son. Learned Pandits, unable or unwilling to decide 
 the question, placed both the volumes at the temple 
 of Jagannatha, calling upon the deity to decide it. 
 It is said that the deity held the volume of Jaya- 
 deva on his breast, and threw away the work of king 
 Satwika. Posterity has sufficiently vindicated the critical 
 powers of the deity. Centuries have rolled away and 
 the fame of Jayadeva remains undiminished, and will 
 continue to remain so as long as the Sanscrit language 
 is not forgotten. 
 
 Centuries have rolled away since the death of Jaya- 
 deva, and yet to the present day an annual fair is held at 
 Kenduli by the Vaishnavas in memory of the departed 
 poet. At this fair, fifty or sixty thousand men assemble 
 round the tomb of Jayadeva for worship, and the Vaish- 
 navas still sing of the amours of Krishna and Radhika 
 immortalized in the Gita Govinda. 
 
 The Bengali was no doubt the spoken tongue of 
 Bengal at the time of Jayadeva, as it is now. But the 
 learned and the elite still considered the Sanascrit ton- 
 gue as their noble heritage, and authors vied with each 
 other in writing in this language. All learned works, 
 therefore, all speeches in court, all traditional and genea- 
 
EARLY SANSCRIT POETRY. -JAYADEVA. 1 7 
 
 logical fables, were composed and recited in Sans- 
 crit. Learned Brahmans carried on their investigations 
 in this learned language, and poets, desirous of in- 
 gratiating themselves with kings, composed and pro- 
 nounced stiff artificial poetry in a dead language. It was 
 thus that the Italians of the age of Dante and Boccacio 
 wrote in Latin ; it was thus that Anglo-Saxon writers 
 of the time of the great Alfred made feeble attempts in 
 the language of Rome. All attempts in a foreign tongue 
 or in a dead tongue must necessarily be feeble ; and thus, 
 with the single exception of Jayadcva's works, all com- 
 positions of the twelfth century have been forgotten, and 
 deservedly forgotten. 
 
 The Giia Govmda^ however, is an exception, and a 
 noble exception. It is a book of songs on the amours 
 of Krishna and Radhika, divided into twelve Saroas or 
 Cantos, each Sarga being divided into several Pralmn- 
 dhas, and each Prabandha consisting of several verses. 
 The first thing that strikes the reader in this poem is the 
 exquisite music of the songs. One would suppose the 
 sonorous and somewhat artificial Sanscrit language was 
 unsuited to so much softness and melody ; but it is a 
 master hand that wakes the lyre, and the ear is pleased 
 and ravished with a flood of the softest music before one 
 comprehends the sense. In the hand of a Bengali poet 
 the Sanscrit language loses its august stiffness and as- 
 sumes more than Italian softness ; and constant yet 
 melodious repetitions and alliterations make the Gita 
 Govinda a remarkable and singular work in the Sanscrit 
 language. 
 
 3 
 
iS I.ITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 And if the book is rich in its music, it is no less rich 
 in its descriptions. The blue waves of the Jumna, 
 the cool shade of the Tamal tree, the soft whisper- 
 ings of the Malaya breeze, the voluptuous music of 
 Krishna's flute, the timid glances of the love-striken 
 milk-maids, the fond workings of a lover's hcxirt, 
 the pangs of jealousy, the sorrows of separation, the 
 raptures of re-union, — all these are clearly and vividly 
 described in the song of the immortal bard of Bir- 
 bhum. 
 
 The poem begins with a description of love-lorn milk- 
 maids disporting themselves around Krishna in the cool 
 shades of Gokul. Radhika sees this ; she marks with 
 bitter pang the love of Krishna shared by less worthy 
 rivals ; and yet the very sight of Krishna half tempers 
 her sorrow. Nothing can be more beautiful than 
 tlie description of the joy and delight which the 
 forlorn and abandoned Radha feels, involuntarily and 
 almost in spite of herself, at the very sight of him who 
 is so dear to her heart. An English version conveys 
 no idea of the beauty and softness of the original, 
 yet such as it is, we quote from Sir William Jones's 
 translation : 
 
 That god whose cheek is beautified by the nectar of his smiles, 
 whose pipe drops in his ecstacy, I saw in the i^roves encircled by 
 the damsels of Vraja who gazed on him askance from the corners 
 of his eyes. I saw him in the grove with happier damsels, yet the 
 sight of him delighted me. Soft is the gale which breathes over 
 yon clear pool, and expands clustering blossoms of the voluble 
 Asoka — soft yet grievous to me in the absence of the foe of Madhu. 
 Delightful are the flowers of Amra trees on the mountain tops 
 while the murmuring bees pursue their voluptuous toil, — delightful 
 
EARLY SANSCRIT POETRY. — JAYADEVA. ig^ 
 
 yet affecting to me O ! friend, in the absence of the youthful 
 Kesava.* 
 
 In the sorrow of her heart Radhika retires into her 
 
 grove and weeps. There the Duti sees her and describes 
 
 to her afresh the amours of Krishna. Radha's heart 
 
 bleeds afresh, and the workings of a jealous mind ace 
 
 powerfully described by our author. We will quote one 
 
 passage in which she concludes a touching aad bitter 
 
 lamentation. 
 
 O, gale scented with sandal, who breathest love fronv. the re^ 
 gions of the south, be propitious but for a moment : when thou- 
 hast brought my beloved befo-re my eyes thou niayst freely waft 
 away my soul ! Love, with eyes like blue water-lilies, again assails 
 me and triumphs, and while the perfidy of my beloved rends my 
 heart, my female friend is my foe, the cool breeze vscorches me like 
 a flame, and the nectar-dropping moon is my poison. Bring disease 
 and death, O ! gale of Malaya ! seize nuy spirit, O ! god with five 
 arrows ! I ask not mercy from tl^ee : no more will I dwell in the 
 cottage of my father. Receive me into thy azure waves, O ! sister 
 Yamuna, that the ardour of my heart may be allayed !t 
 
 ^f^^l'^J f^^%^ f^^^Kl ^\^^'s ^RC5T 
 
 «2r^f«*5^^Hrv 3^R f*f'4f^itrs =^^?if5 h 
 
 Gt^a Govinda, 2nd Sarga. 
 
 Our quotations are made from Haridas Hirachand's edition of 
 the Gita Go7nnda. The above translation must have been, from some 
 other edition as slight differences are observable. 
 
 s^m CI ^T%^ -^ ^t^^t" I 
 
2a LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 But the hour of retribution comes at last. The Duti 
 
 goes back of Krishna, and describes to him the wretched 
 
 state to which he has brought his beloved. Krishna is 
 
 seized with compunction, seeks out Radhika, and tries 
 
 to pacify her wrath by a touching entreaty and appeal. 
 
 The appeal is too lengthy for quotation, we quote a 
 
 portion of it. 
 
 Speak hut one mild word, and tlie rays of thy sparklii^ teeth 
 will dispel the gloom of my fears. My tremblinig lips like thirsty 
 ehaiakas long to drink the moon-beams of thy cheek. O ! my 
 darlinj^, who art naturally so tender-hearted, abandon thy causeless 
 indignation. At this u>oment the flame of desire consumes my 
 heart, O ! grant me a draught of honey from the lotas of thy 
 mouth. Or if thou beest inexhorable, grant me death from the 
 arrows of thy keen eyes ; make thy arms my chains, and punish 
 me according to thy pleasure. Thou art my life, thou art my orna- 
 ment, thoo art a pearl in the ocean of my mortal birth ; O ! be 
 favourable now, and my heart shall eternally be grateful. Thine 
 eyes, which nature formed like blue water-lilies, are become through 
 thy resentment like petals of the crimson lotus \ O ! tiage with 
 their effulgence these my dark limbs that they may glow like the 
 shafts of love tipped with fiowers. Place oa my head that foot 
 like a fresh leaf, and shade me from the sun of thy passion whose 
 beams I am unable to bear. Spread a string of gems on those two 
 ^soft globes ; let the golden bells of thy zone tinkle and proclaim the 
 [mild edict of love I Say, (J i damsel, with delicate speech, shall \ 
 lye red with the juice of alaktaka those beautiful feet which will 
 nake the full-blown land-lotus blush with shame ? * 
 
 f^^lf^}^ "^AX^H ^3° 5C^lf« ^cs^t^tc^ I 
 
 ^•vfTisrtfC^ -^fjica^v ^i{^cTc^ A'^M 
 
 f?P? Cv5 f N^m "^HSj^ ^^^1 ^^ts? 
 
 Git({. Govinda, Jtk Sargct, 
 
EARLY SANSCRIT POETRY. — JAYADEVA. 21 
 
 Who can resist such a touching^ glowing appeal, 
 and from such a handsome appellant? Radhika could 
 
 f ^r^^c^s^^^^N II 
 
 6'/V<z Goinnday loth Saiga. 
 
2-2 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 not. If she bad proper cause of offence, the offender 
 has done proper penance, and all resentment is at an 
 end. Krishna retires to his grove, and Radhika follows 
 him, and is thus welcomed with an outburst of passionate 
 welcome. 
 
 Enter, sweet Radha, the bower of Hari ; seek delight, O ! thou 
 whose bosom laughs with the foretaste of happiness. 
 
 Enter, sweet Kadha, the bower graced with a bed of Asoka 
 leaves ; seek delight, O ! thou whose garland leaps with joy on thy 
 breast. 
 
 Enter, sweet Radha, the bower illuimined with sweet blossoms ; 
 seek delight, O! thou whose limbs far excel them in softness. 
 
 Enter, O ! Radha, the bower made cool and fragrant by gales 
 from the woods of Malaya ; seek delight, O ! thou whose amorous 
 lays are softer than breezes. 
 
 Enter, O ! Radha, the bower spread with leaves of twining 
 creepers ; seek delight, O ! thou whose arn^s have been so long 
 inflexible. 
 
 Enter, O ! Radha, the bower which resounds with the murmur 
 of honey-making bees ; seek delight, O ? th-ou whose embrace yields 
 more equisite sweetness. 
 
 Enter, O ! Radha, the bower attuned by the melodious band 
 of Kokilas ; seek delight, O ! thou whose lips, which outshine the 
 grains of the pomegranate, are embellished when thou speakest by 
 the brightness of thy teeth. * 
 
 f5^51>l^a^^TC^ II 
 
 ^^^f^Hufi^ II 
 
EARLY SANSCRIT POETRY, — JAYADEVA. 23 
 
 Here we must pause. The pleasures of a re-union' 
 between two such amiable and enthusiastic lovers may 
 be better conceived than described even by the inimi- 
 table Jayadeva. Enough has been said to indicate the 
 character and merits of Jayadeva's poetry. He is the 
 only poet in Bengal who has attained eminence by 
 writing in a dead language, who has wrung such soft 
 melody out of an artificial classical language, who has 
 embalmed and perpetuated the amours of Radha and 
 Krishna in songs which remain as the sole specimen of 
 lyrical composition in Sanskrit literature. 
 
 We may here mention some scholars have discovered 
 in the Gita Govinda a concealed allegory. The joys of 
 Krishna in company with the milkmaids of Brindaban 
 represent earthly pleasures which seduce our heart and 
 lull our senses for a time. The love of Radha is true 
 eternal felicity, to which the mind of the repentant 
 sinner at last turns from the sensual and fleeting 
 pleasures of this world. This may be the conception of 
 the poet; and the following passage which we quote 
 
 Gita Govinda^ iiih Sar§a. 
 
/ 
 
 24 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 from Sir Edvvin Arnold's exquisite translation of Gita 
 Govinda will shew that the five milkmaids, described by 
 Jayadeva, in reality personify the five senses, — smell, 
 sight, touch, taste, and hearing : 
 
 One, with star blossomed charrtpac wreathed, woos him to rest his head* 
 On the dark pillow of her breasLso tenderly outspread ; ^^ 
 
 And o'er his brow with roses blown she fans a fragrance rare. 
 That falls on the enchanted sense like rain in thirsty air ; 
 While the company of damsels wave many an odorous spray. 
 And Krishna laughing, toying, sighs the soft spring away. 
 
 Another gazing in his face, sits wistfully apart. 
 Searching it with those looks of love that leap from heart to heart ; 
 Her eyes — afire with shy desire, veiled by their lashes black- 
 Speak so that Rrishna cannot choose but send the message back ; 
 In the company of damsels whose bright eyes in the ring 
 Shine round him with soft meanings in the merry light of spring. 
 
 The third one of that dazzling band of dwellers in the wood — 
 Body and bosom panting with the pinlse of j'outhful blood — 
 Leans over him, as in his ear a lightsome thing to speak, 
 And then with leaf-soft lip imprints a kiss below his cheeky 
 A kiss that thrills, and Rrishna turns at the silken touch 
 To give it back, — Ah Radha ! forgetting the too much. 
 
 And one with arch smile beckons him away from Jumna's banks. 
 Where the tall bamboos bristle like spears in battle ranks. 
 And plucks his cloth to make him come into the mango shade. 
 Where the fruit is ripe and golden, and the milk and cakes are laid ; 
 Oh ! golden red the mangoes, and glad the feasts of Spring, 
 And fair the flowers to lie upon and sweet the dancers sing. 
 
 Sweetest of all that Temptress who dances for him now ; 
 
 With subtle feet which part and meet in the Ras measure slow, ; 
 To the chime of silver bangles, and the beat of rose-leaf hands, ' 
 And pipe and lute and cymbal played by the woodland bands; 
 So that wholly passion-laden— eye, ear, sense, soul o'ercome— 
 Krishna is theirs in the forest ; his heart forgets its home. 
 
 It is likely, the whole poem, like Spenser's Fairy 
 Queen, is meant to be an allegory ; but the allegory is so 
 overlaid with rich, vivid, and melodious descriptions, that 
 the reader misses the allegory, does not care for the 
 allegory, and pours on the descriptions. The fame of 
 Jayadeva rests not on the philosophic or moral signi- 
 fication of the Gita Govinda^ but on the splendid imagery, 
 the tender feehng, and the melodious descriptions with 
 which the work is replete. 
 
EARLY SANSCRIT POETRY. — JAYADEVA. 2$ 
 
 In his own words, " whatever is delightful in the 
 modes of music, whatever is exquisite in the sweet art 
 of love, let the happy and wise learn from the song of 
 Jayadeva.""*^ 
 
 Gz^a Govinda, 12th Sarga. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Early Bengali Lyric Poetry.— Chandidas. 
 . Fourteenth Century. 
 
 The student who peruses with pleasure the polished 
 works of Bankim Chandra or Madhusudan will scarcely 
 suppose that the stream of Bengali literature, which has 
 only in recent days attained such purity and expanse, 
 began to flow as early as the fourteenth century of the 
 Christian era. And he will scarcely think that Chaucer 
 of England and Chandidas of Bengal were well nigh 
 contemporaneous writers ; that five hundred years have 
 rolled away since Chandidas first wrote and sang ; or, 
 calculating twenty-five years to a generation, that twenty 
 generations have chanted the lays and ditties of this 
 Father of Bengali Lyric Poetry. 
 
 Chandidas is the earliest vernacular poet of Bengal, but 
 it is not possible to speak of him without saying something 
 of Bidyapati, the earliest poet of Behar. Tradition has 
 handed down the names of these two poets together ; 
 they lived and wrote about the same time ; and their 
 poetry has the same theme, the loves of Radha and 
 Krishna. Jayadeva popularized this theme in his inimit- 
 able Sanscrit work Gita Govinda, composed in the twelfth 
 century ; Bidyapati took up the subject and composed 
 his songs in the vernacular of Behar in the fourteenth 
 century ; and it is probable that Chandidas was only 
 
CHAN DID AS. 2 7" 
 
 animitator of Bidyapati, and drew his inspiritation from 
 his contemporary of Behar. Thus the earliest Bengali 
 poetry that is extant is indebted by the eadiest poetry of 
 Behar. 
 
 Bidyapati fiourrshed in Behar in the fourteenth 
 century. The descendants of the poet still possess the 
 village of Bapsi in Tirhut by virtue of a deed of gift from 
 Siva Sinha to the poet, dated 293 of the era of Laksh- 
 man Sen, /. e.^ 140a A. D. In this document Bidyapati 
 has been described as a Sukabi or a poet of merit, so that 
 he must have made his mark before 1400. A still 
 more important document is the Panji or annals of 
 Tirhut. It is an authentic history of that District, and 
 began to be written in 124& Saka, i.e , 1325 A. D. The 
 PanJ i gwQS an account of Bidyapati who is described as 
 the son of Ganapati, and a courtier of king Siva Sinha.. 
 Siva Sinha ascended the throne in 1369 Saka, /. e., 1446- 
 A. D., and must therefore have given away Bapsi ta 
 the poet during the life time of his father who 
 reigned no less than 61 years. We further learn from 
 the Panji that Siva Sinha had three wives, Padmabati, 
 I^khima Devi and Biswa Devi, who after the death of 
 their husband successively reigned for iS n>onths, 9 years- 
 and 12 years. Siva Sinha and Lakhima Devi find fre- 
 quent mention in the songs of Bidyapati, and there 
 can be no doubt that the poet lived about the close of 
 the fourteenth century, and adorned the court of Siva 
 Sinha and his father by whom his talents were recognized 
 and richly rewarded. 
 
 The fame of Bidyapati as a poet had spread through- 
 
28 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 out Bengal at the time of Chaitanya, and Chaitanya in 
 his early youth was edified with the poetry of Bidyapati 
 and Chandidas. 
 
 Glory to Jayadeva, the king and ornament of poets, and to 
 Bidyapati the source of s-vveetness ; glory to Chandidas, for sweet- 
 ness unequalled in the world, whose sweet and pure strains in prose 
 and verse my Master Gaur Chandra (Chaitanya) reliohed with 
 Sharup Rai.* 
 
 Again, 
 
 The Great Master (Chaitanya) with Ramananda Sen sings and 
 hears day and night the songs of Chandidas and Bidyapati, and the 
 sweet Gita Govinda.f 
 
 We have said before that Lakhima Devi the queen 
 of Siva Sinha is often spoken of in Bidyapati's poems. 
 Tradition has it that the intimacy between the princess 
 and the poet was closer than was altogether justifiable, 
 and that Bidyapati's death was caused by this illicit love. 
 We have no hesitation in rejecting these stories alto- 
 gether as the invention of later days. 
 
 We now return to Chandidas the subject of the pre- 
 sent chapter. Chandidas was a native of the village of 
 Nannur, in the District of Birbhum, about 24 miles to 
 
 ^^ ^Ti 5^?!^ n^ c"*i*i^ ^r^ct ^^c^T ^^n^ 
 
 J'ada KaJpatant. 
 
 'jfi'T -?sc5( n^^ ^R'^f i 
 
 Charifamrila. 
 
CHANDIDAS. 29 
 
 the east of Suri, and was a Brahrnan by caste. That he 
 
 was contemporaneous with Bidyapati is sufficiently 
 
 proved by several poems which have come to us, of 
 
 which the following is the most noted : 
 
 Chandidas heard of Bidyapati's merits, and became anxious 
 to see him. Bidyapati heard of Cliandidas's merits, and became 
 anxious to see him. Both became curious. Bidyapati went off with 
 Rup Narain alone for his companion. Chandidas too could not stay, 
 but went oft" to see Bidyapati. In the way both sang each other's 
 praise, and their hearts remained anxious for each other. Suddenly 
 they met each other, but neither recognized the other. They knew 
 each other when they heard their names. * 
 
 The traditions current about the life of Chandidas 
 give us soiTie clue to the nature of the rivalry which has 
 ever existed in Bengal between the Vaishnava and Sakta 
 creeds. Chandidas, as his name implies, was by birth 
 a Sakta, /. ^., a worshipper of Chandi, Durga or Sakti, 
 as the goddess is variously called. 
 
 It is said that in his early youth, Chandidas worship- 
 ped an image of Sakti which was called Bishalakshmi, and 
 the poet often addresses the goddess in his works. As 
 may well be imagined, the conversion of Chandidas to 
 Vaishnavism has given rise to many tales. It is said that, 
 
 ^^ f^ ^/ w^, ^C ^1 ^t^^, ^C f^c^ ^^ ^^' w\r^ n 
 l^^h W (-^f^l ^^"*'^ ^^«^' ^^t ^ ^inl c^tt I 
 
 Pada luilpa/aru. 
 
30 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 on a certain day, he saw a beautiful flower floating on 
 the river where he had gone to bathe. He took it up 
 and went to worship Bishalakshmi. The goddess 
 appeared in person, and asked for the flower that she 
 might place it on her head. The worshipper was awe- 
 struck, and enquired what strange virtue the flower 
 could possess, so as to induce the goddess to appear in 
 person, and to wish to keep it on her head, instead 
 of allowing the poet to place it at her feet. The 
 goddess replied, "Foolish child, my Master has been 
 worshipped with that flower, it is not fit for my feet, let 
 me hold it on my head," "And who may thy Master 
 be ?" enquired the poet. Krishna^ was the reply ; and 
 from that day the poet exchanged the worship of the 
 goddess for that of Krishna. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to add, that later Vaishnava 
 writers have taken advantage of Chandidas's conversion 
 to prove the superiority of their deity, and have invented 
 this fable. One thing however is plain, namely, that 
 the rivalry between the two creeds has prevailed in 
 Bengal, as elsewhere in India, from remote times. 
 
 Chandidas has immortalized the washerwoman Rami 
 in his poems, and numerous are the stories told about 
 their loves. The poet was informed that he could not 
 perform Sadhan till he had a fair companion, not by 
 marriage, not for money, but one to whom his heart 
 would be spontaneously drawn at the first sight. Our 
 poet went out in search of such a person, and it was not 
 long before he found one. A washerwoman was wash- 
 ing clothes on the river side, the poet saw her and w:ts 
 
CHANDIDAS. 3I 
 
 fascinated. Day after day he would go to the river 
 side with a fishing rod as a pertext, and sat there, 
 gazing on the woman, VVords followed and love 
 ensued, and the poet left his home and parents, and 
 ever afterwards lived with Rami, a washerwoman as she 
 was by caste. 
 
 Chandidas was a renowned singer. One day, it is 
 said, he went to a neighbouring village Matipur to sing 
 with his paramour ; and when they were returning, the 
 house in which they had taken shelter fell down, and they 
 were both crushed and died in each other's arms. The 
 story has perhaps little foundation in fact. We now 
 turn to the works of these poets. 
 
 The poetry of Chandidas presents a striking contrast 
 to that of Bidyapati. Both are poets of a high order, 
 both sang of the amours of Krishna and Radha, both 
 are noted for the beauty of their songs, but here 
 the parallel ends. Bidyapati excels in the richness 
 of his imagery, the wide range of his ideas, the skill and 
 art displayed in his varied similes. Chandidas has but 
 his native, simple, excessive sweetness in place of all 
 these qualities. Bidyapati ransacks the unbounded stores 
 of Nature and of Art to embellish his poetry ; Chandidas 
 looks within, and records the fond workings of a feeling, 
 loving heart in simple strains. In Chandidas's poetry 
 there is a wealth of feeling and pathos ; Bidyapati com- 
 bines this with a quick fancy, a varied imagery, a lean- 
 ing for grace and ornament. The faults of the two 
 poets are also characteristic. Chandidas is cloying, and 
 sometimes monotonous, Bidyapati is often artificial 
 
32 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 in his images and ideas. At the same time both 
 display a knowledge of the workings of a lover's 
 heart, and pourtray them feelingly and minutely, — 
 the first troubled impressions of love, the resistless force 
 of its influence, the bitter pangs of separation and 
 jealousy, the workings of hope, the effects of despair. 
 
 We will try to illustrate our remarks with a few 
 extracts. There is no English version of either Bidyapati 
 or Chandidas, and we have therefore for our English 
 readers ventured to render into English verse the extracts 
 made from the poets. We need scarcely remark that our 
 version will very often fail to convey the deep feeling 
 which characterizes the original. 
 
 We make an extract at random from Bidyapati.^ 
 
 It describes the first impressions of love in the heart of 
 
 Krishna on seeing Radha. 
 
 Soon did the lovely vision part ! 
 'Tis gone ! I wake with sudden start ! 
 A cloud-wrapped lightning sent its dart 
 Upon this troubled love-sick heart. 
 Scarce half removed was her veil, 
 Upon her lips played half a smile, 
 And half a glance her sweet eyes shed, 
 And half her bosom was displayed, 
 
 C^^^f^l ^C^ ^f^^ ^^1 5f^ ^?C?f C*[^ C^t C^^ H 
 
 ^ ^«f ^[^c\ «ii7i, ^\n ^^m ^\\7[, ^[^^ ^j^ ^n'sf I 
 
 ^v< m^ c^B, ^t< ^15^ ^f^, ^^ ^f^ w^c^f ^^^ I 
 
 vnc^ ss^ cnt^L ^^^ ^C5t<^1, ^^^ tt5^ ^^t^ I 
 
 *r^ ^ft ^^ ^sf, ^^ \f^ ^^^, #r^ ^m?^ ^fi M 
 
CHANDIBAS. 33 
 
 The rest her atichal iy\i\ conceal, — 
 I gazed .ind felt my senses reel ! 
 Her beamy, bright as burnished gold, 
 Love's amorous robe did sweet enfold. 
 And flung love's soft and silken chain. 
 Upon the hearts of prostrate men ! 
 Her pearly teeth were sweetly placed 
 On ruby lips with beauty graced, 
 And soft she spoke,— I gazed in vain, 
 Insatiate gazed on her again ! 
 
 Our readers must be struck with the art of the 
 
 poet, with the similes and figures with which the 
 
 small poem is so beautifully embellished, we had almost 
 
 said, so thickly crowded. In this Bidyapati is in his own 
 
 element Not so Chandidas. He has neither the power 
 
 nor the inclination to rove. He feels deeply, and sings 
 
 feelingly. We quote from his poems a converse passage, 
 
 a passage in which Radha is suddenly struck and 
 
 entranced at hearing the very name of Krishna.* We 
 
 translate it thus. 
 
 Friend ! who hath named that name ? i^ 
 
 Through me it steals, 
 
 My heart it thrills, 
 My soul it duth intlanie ! 
 
 Ah who shall tell 
 
 What sweet doth dwell 
 In that beloved strain ! 
 
 I name that name. 
 
 My soul's all flame 2 
 Oh \ will he come a^ain ? 
 
 
34 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 We extract a somewhat longer piece-^ froni Cbandi- 
 das. It is a loving appeal from Radha to Krishna, and 
 a more touching appeal it would be difficult to tind any- 
 where. 
 
 Love ! how shall I my feelings tell ? 
 
 Be mine, in death and life, 
 In after-lives, in future births, 
 
 To be thy duteous wife. 
 Yes ! to thy feel my heart be tied 
 
 By silken ties of love, 
 I offer all, my heart and soul, 
 
 I'll he your doating slave ! 
 I've thought if in this wide wide world 
 
 Another friend I own, 
 In loving voice to name my name. 
 
 Alas ! alas I there's none ! 
 In earth, in heaven, in after-world, 
 
 Alas ! who loveth me ? 
 O ! to Ihy feet I turn for help. 
 
 To thee alone l to thee ! 
 Then do not spurn me, I am weak, 
 
 ! do not turn away 
 
 I've thought and felt, without thy help, 
 
 1 have no other way. 
 
 If for a moment thee I miss, 
 
 A death-like trance I own ; 
 I'll keep and nurse thee on my heart 
 
 E'en as a precious stone ! 
 
 cxsmi^ 5?f?;«i, '^\^u ^^tt^, ^fi<^ cs\m^ w\f^ i 
 
 7\^ ^.-^f^^], il^ ^s^ ^f^l H*5?l ^t^ll"Sf WtfT II 
 
 ^\fm (.w<m'^, ^ f®5f ^^c^, ^\<\ c^^ oin ^(c^ I 
 
 1K1 ^f^ C^^, ^.«(tt^^ '^tt, f\^U ^t^t<l ^Kl II 
 
 *rt ©^ ^f«iiil, *i^«i ffi^^H ^ ^f[ ^1^1 ^'\^ II 
 ^f^^r^ ^Tf, ^^*\ ^^^, -^t^t^ <t('^^1 ^f^ II 
 
CHANDIDAS. 35 
 
 The same intense feeling, — the same absence of all 
 figures of speech, marks this poem. We shall pass on to 
 another extract,* describing the despair of Radha in the 
 absence of her beloved. 
 
 A cruel throb is in my heart !• 
 
 I'll leave my home, 
 
 And thilher roam, 
 Where never's known love's fatal art. 
 
 Friend ! who shaH say that love. is sweet ?' 
 
 I loved and smiled, 
 
 My heart's beguiled, 
 And life-long sorrow is my fate ! 
 
 For love should e'er a damsel sigh, 
 
 I spare her shame, 
 
 In fire and flame, 
 A kinder death, Oiet her die ! 
 
 For I have felt this bitter grief, 
 
 My eye-balls shine 
 
 With ceaseless brine,. 
 Says Chandidas, O for her life ! 
 
 Seldom doth B'idyapati manifest such deep feeling. 
 ai:vd pathos. His strong point lies, as we have already 
 said, in his imagery and embellishments. But never- 
 theless the poet of Behar too can equal the poet of 
 Bengal in his own element when he chooses to divest, 
 himself of his arts and sings as only a true poet can 
 
 i^ifjTc^ ^tfjie« Hlif% ^mi, ^iw^ ^^^ c^^ II ■ 
 
c 
 
 36 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 sing ; an j the celebrated lines quoted below* are an 
 instance to the point. 
 
 ,;',>- I 've gazed and gazred on beauty's gl ow, 
 \ -v't^/l^^ E'er since my life began, 
 "V\\ Insatiate still my eye-balls swim, 
 
 1 P'ain would I gaze again 1 
 
 I 've heard his honey-dropping words. 
 
 E'er since my life began, 
 Insatiate still my ear remains^ 
 
 F'ain would I hear again ! 
 What happy nights with bim I passed, 
 
 Unbap^jy yet I feel, 
 What year* my heart I cooled on bis. 
 Insatiate burns it still. 
 
 Over a hundred years elasped between the time of 
 Chandidas and that of Chaitanya. Within these hundred 
 years a host of poets of lesser note flourished. A 
 large number of poems composed within this period 
 are ascribed U) Govinda Das. It is easy to perceive 
 therefore that more than one poet of that name flourished. 
 Indeed Govinda Das means servant of Krishna, and 
 it is not unlikely that most of the poets who wrote 
 about the loves of that deity assumed that coveted name. 
 Balaram Das, Jnan Das, and many other poets of 
 lesser note, flourished during that period. 
 
 Their poetry or rather song has the same charac- 
 teristic qualities. They are always sweet, and often dis- 
 play a vivid fancy and considerable depth of feeling, and 
 they all relate to the amours of Radha and Krishna. 
 
 * ^51^ ^^f5f ^m, -^"K fsi^?^, 5f!J5f ^1 f5?jf^3 C®^ I 
 
 (y\\\ ^^^ CTf^, «l^nr5 «^% ^U^m n^*f^ C^^ M 
 ^3 ^•^'Tff'l^, ^^^^ C^jrff^. ^1 ^Rf^ X^\^ C^^l 
 ^t*r ^t^ ^> ^^'^ f^^^ ^t*r^. '^\\\\\ -^^ 5ft cm II 
 
CHANDIDAS. ^7 
 
 We have examined the merits of the best poets of the 
 class, and we think it unnecessary to go over the entire 
 field. There is a tolerably good collection of their 
 works in the Pada Kalpataru^ and it is by no means 
 a waste of time to go over these old authors, 
 even from a literary point of view. The admirer of 
 modern Bengali literature will be surprised at the 
 sweetness and beauty that pervade these old compositions. 
 That they have been preserved so long and so carefully is 
 owing to the Vaishnavas, and to them, therefore, Bengal 
 owes an immense debt of gratitude. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Kasiram Das and his Mahabharata. 
 
 Fifteenth century. 
 
 In the liist Chapter we" have spoken of the lyric 
 poetry of the fourteenth century. It was probably in- 
 the fifteenth century that Kasiram Das undertook afwi 
 performed the mighty task of translating the Sanscrit 
 epic Mahabharata into Bengali- verse. Kasiram's 
 work is the first great and national literary work in 
 the Bengali language, it is a foundation of rock on 
 which the national literature of Bengal has been 
 subsequently built up. Chandidas is the Father of Bengali 
 sang; Kasiram Das is the Father of Bengali literafure\, 
 properly so called. 
 
 Unfortunately we know little of the life of this great 
 poet. He was born in Singi, near Katwa in* the District 
 of Burdwan ; and the supposed site of his house is still 
 pointed out as Keser Bhita. He was a Kayastha by 
 caste, an<i bis bold endeavour to popularise the great 
 epic of ancient India among his countrymen in simple 
 Bengali verse was regarded with sus-picion and distrust. 
 A Brahman poet Krittibas followed his example, and 
 translated the other great epic Ramayana into Bengali 
 verse^ and his laudable work too- wa& viewed with 
 jealousy and displeasure. And a popular verse is often 
 repeated ; — 
 
KASIRAM DAS AND HIS MAHABHARATA. 39 
 
 ** Kasidas and Krittibas, and those who constantly seek to 
 associate with Brahmans ; — these are dangerous men." 
 
 Such narrow jealousy however does not turn the tide 
 of knowledge, and the great poet of the fifteen t!i century 
 first led his countrymen into that store-liouse of Sanscrit 
 poetry and learning which we have learnt to appreciate 
 more and more with the lapse of centu^ries and the 
 increase of knowledge. 
 
 The main story of the Mahabharata is well known. 
 It describes the contest between the Pandavas and the 
 Kuru princes for the throne of Kuruland. The Pandavas 
 were banished at first, but they made powerful friends 
 and demanded their share, and the western portion of 
 Kuruland, with Indraprastha for its capital, was ceded 
 to them. They staked and lost this kingdom however 
 at dice, and retired into the wilderness, according to 
 their plighted word. On the expiry of the prescribed 
 period they came forward again and demanded a share 
 of the kingdom. The Kuru princes refused this,— 
 and the consequence was a disastrous battle iri which 
 all the great princes of Northern India took part, and in 
 which the Kuru tribe was well nigh exterminated. The 
 Pandavas won, and established their rule in the Kuru 
 kingdom. 
 
 Connected with the main story, the manners and 
 customs of the times, the pomp and splendour of 
 courts, the rules of war and peace, the power and 
 jealousies of kings, and the heroism and chivalry of 
 the Kshatriya warriors of ancient India have been 
 described with graphic force, and unsurpassed power. 
 
40 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 On the other hand, the inner workings of the human 
 mind and all its varied feehngs, love, hatred, jealousy 
 between rival princes, revenge that knew no satiety, 
 the patience of a suffering saint, the greatness of a 
 true hero ; — all the various shades of human character, 
 from the sublime virtues of Bhishma who drew forth 
 tears of admiration from the enemies who killed him, 
 to the fiery jealousies of Duryodhana who engaged the 
 whole of northern India in a disastrous war rather 
 than cede five villages to his much-hated cousins ; — all 
 that a true poet and a great poet is capable of, has 
 been worked out with pencil of a Homer. Homer's 
 characters are not more life-like than the men of flesh 
 and blood, of determination and valour, who figure in 
 the great Sanscrit epic ; and Homer's incidents are 
 not more sublime in conception or graphic in description 
 than those of the Mahabharata. The world has seen no 
 nobler creation of the imagination than the great epic 
 of the Hindus. 
 
 But while the epic of Homer was collected and 
 preserved by Pisistratus the ruler of Athens, as early 
 as the sixth century before Christ, no Hindu ruler 
 of antiquity took the trouble of preserving the 
 great Hindu epic from subsequent additions and 
 interpolations. Generations of poets have accordingly 
 added to the old epic until it has almost changed its 
 character, and the crystal stream of true epic poetry is 
 lost in a wide morass of mythical episodes and mythological 
 stories, of cosmogony and theogony, of never ending 
 didactic and dogmatic instructions. All this episodical 
 
KASmAM DAS AND HIS MAHABHARATA. 4 1 
 
 matter fills three-fourths of the epic in its present shape; 
 the leading narrative barely takes up a fourth part, 
 
 When the evil had been done, an attempt was 
 made to prevent further expansion of the work. The 
 contents of the epic were described in a sort of preface, 
 and the number of slokas or couplets in each Book was 
 given, so as to prevent further addition. The curious 
 reader will find these numbers in the note given below,*"* 
 as well as the number of couplets actually found in the 
 published edition of the work. 
 
 The total number of couplets enumerated in the 
 preface comes to near eighty-five thousand. But 
 the limit so fixed has been exceeded in still later ages, 
 further additions have been made, and the Sanscrit Maha- 
 hharata now published contains over ninety thousand 
 
 Books. 
 
 Sections. 
 
 Number of couplets 
 
 Number of couplets in the 
 
 according to preface. 
 
 Jsiatic Society's Edition. 
 
 * Adi" 
 
 227 
 
 8884 
 
 8479 
 
 Sabha 
 
 78 
 
 251I 
 
 2709 
 
 Vana 
 
 269 
 
 1 1664 
 
 17478 
 
 Virata 
 
 67 
 
 2050 
 
 2376 
 
 Udyoga 
 
 186 
 
 6698 
 
 7656 
 
 Bhishma 
 
 117 
 
 5884 
 
 5656 
 
 Drona 
 
 170 
 
 8909 
 
 •9650 
 
 Kama 
 
 69 
 
 4964 
 
 5046 
 
 Salya 
 
 59 
 
 3220 
 
 3671 
 
 Sauptika 
 
 18 
 
 870 
 
 811 
 
 Stri 
 
 27 
 
 775 
 
 827 
 
 Santi 
 
 339 
 
 14732 
 
 13943 
 
 Anusasana 
 
 146 
 
 8000 
 
 7796 
 
 Asvamedha 
 
 103 
 
 3320 
 
 2900 
 
 A>rainavasa 
 
 42 
 
 1506 
 
 1 105 
 
 Mausala 
 
 8 
 
 320 
 
 292 
 
 Maha[j.ra.sthana 
 
 3 
 
 320 
 
 109 
 
 Sarga 
 
 5 
 
 209 
 
 312 
 
 1,933 84,836 90,816 
 
42 LITEFJATUKE OF BENGAL. 
 
 couplets, excluding the Harivansa. It is an encyclo- 
 paedic work ; all the tales and traditions and mythologi- 
 cal stories of India have been comprehended in this 
 one work. As a store-house of Hindu traditions, it 
 has thus been rendered unique -and invaluable; as an 
 epic poem it has been ruined. 
 
 Endeavours have been made from time to time to 
 disentangle the leading narrative from episodical matter, 
 and to publish it separately. But as yet, such endeavours 
 'hav^ not met with success.* 
 
 In undertaking to translate this vast work into BengaH 
 verse for Bengali readers, Kasiram E)as very wisely 
 decided to conderhse the matter in the translation. The 
 Bengali version is a little over one-third of the original 
 Sanscrit poem in extent, consisting of about thirty-six 
 thousand couplets. The work of condensing the original 
 epic has been performed with thoughtful care; and 
 while mere verbal descriptions have been greatly abridged, 
 the stories and incidents have been repeated in the 
 ^Bengali version with scarcely any important omission. 
 
 One instance, selected at random, will convey to our 
 readers the process adopted by the translator. The 
 'famous story of Sakuntala has been told -in ^the original 
 Mahabharata in six sections of the First Book, viz. 
 
 * The edition of the great epic published by the Asiatic Society 
 of Bengal is well known to all scholars. A meritorious translation 
 in Bengali prose by the late munificent Kali Prasanna Sinlia is the 
 'Version now in general use in Bengal. An English translation of the 
 work was undertaken and nearly completed by the late Pratap 
 Chandra Rai. His widow has piously undertaken to complete this 
 worK^. 
 
KASIRAM DAS AND HIS MAHABHARATA. 43 
 
 sections LXIX to LXXIV. Section LXIX, giving an 
 account of Dlishyanta's iiunt in thirty-one couplets, has 
 been reduced to eight couplets by Kasiram. Section LXX, 
 describing king Dfjshyanta's entry, into Kanva's forest in 
 fifty couplets, has been reduced to ten^ coupl-ets in Bengali. 
 Section LXXI, narrating Dushyanta's meeting and con- 
 versation' with Sakuntala, has been reduced from forty- 
 two couplets in the original; to twenty-five in the 
 translation. Section LXXII- concludes Sakuntala's story 
 of her birth in nineteen couplets in Sanscrit, and has 
 been rendered in nineteen couplets by Kasiram. Section 
 LXXIII speaks of Dlishyanta'S marrfage with Sakuntala 
 in thirty-three couplets, which have been rendered in 
 twenty-four in Bengali. And section LXXIV narrates 
 the subsequent story of Sakuntala and of the birth of 
 Bharata in one hundred thirty-eight couplets, which have 
 been translated in eighty-six in the Bengali version. We 
 reproduce below the whole of section LXXII with 
 Kasiram's version,, and the reader will find that Kasiram 
 can be a faithful translator when he is not called 
 upon to condense the matter.* Occasionally, however, 
 
 «2ftfx5^^ n5F| ^rc^ C^^^l ^t|5l ^T^ II 
 
44 LITERATURE OF BENGAL, 
 
 a wide divergence is noticeable between the original and 
 the translation, and in some places an additional section 
 or story is found in the translation which does not 
 
 •^^n ^tJ^fJT ^^l^\X C^^W\l ^^^^m i 
 
 c^"1 ^^ ^r^^^s Tt^t ^c^\ ^j^^^ts ^^1 11 
 ^^Tft^r^ ^ 'i^-^w'^mi »ff ^^f5[ II 
 
 f ^^tljt ^^^^<N ^"n^^- *t^^"x^w'5[ B' 
 
 ^NfTI^I ^^H^Tt? ^[^^^N? ^]C^*f^^ I 
 
/ UNiVERSSTY 
 
 KASIRAM DAS AND HIS MAHABI|ARAJ'A. OF ^^^|4S^ 
 
 occur in the original. The excellent story of Srihat.sa, 
 for instance, which Krishna narrates to Yudhishthira in 
 
 ^1% c^ ^f^^t ^tsfs? ^^1 ^^°N 3p^» ^^\ w- 
 
 *[^^^Ti ^^^•'^rt. [ 
 
 t^ ^t^i ^^^ 7^1:^ ^t^ ^tsfif I 
 c^^^ts? ^.f®] ntt?it ^f^^ ^^^ 1^ 
 
 ^R CWf^ C^^^t^ ttf^ci ^^^ II 
 
 ^M<^ f^'<?t'^ #lv5i ^c^ ^r^l ^f^ II 
 
 ^v5f|?lt ^^ ^H C^f^^ ^^^ II 
 
 ^n^ ^i:^ c^^^w\ ^U^\ ^^ m<[ 1 
 
 f^Hs< ^^tCI n^C^t^ f^^l -^l<i II. 
 09 Jl^fff C^\^^ C^PI^ ^f^^^ I 
 
 *tlt?:i^.^ c^m wii^j n^*t^ II 
 e5(.i{^1, 5(f^^t 1^^ f^^ fi^^Sf cw*f I 
 ^tC^ "Sf^ ^^T ^^^ ^^^t^ f^c*t^ 11^ 
 
 ^n ^n 7f^^ ^jf^cT ^t^^c*f II 
 
 ^m\ c^f "^m CM'^ ^^ cw^ ^tf^ ii' 
 
 ^^ Um m^ ^m ^t^ 'si^^ n 
 
46 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 an early part of ¥ana Parva in the Bengali translation, 
 does not occur in- the- cowesponding portion of the 
 original, as published by the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 
 
 Such is the method in. which Kasiram Das has 
 performed the great task which he imposed upon himself. 
 The mere mechanical work of translating and condensing 
 a great Sanscrit epic into over thirty-six thousand Bengali 
 couplets is^ a tremendous task. If we suppose that 
 Kasiram. composed fifteen couplets every day, and that 
 he worked twenty days in every month, he must have 
 laboured ten years of his- life tO' bring this great; work to 
 completion. 
 
 And the merits of the translation are not of a mean 
 
 ^^5 -^\-^ ^ X-^ ff'f^ ^^^ r 
 "^■^1^ >2|7r^ ^ c^^ f^^ c^c*t V 
 
 ^f^ ^^ ^1 ^C^ C^^ f^sr \\TJ{ I 
 
 ^r^tc^ cpf^TTi c^^ f^w^ ^t^rr^ ii- 
 f![\\ ^Tt^ ^^^?r«i r^v^i ^tf^ ^^ I 
 '>\^'^'^ c^fei c^ iff^ ^r^^ ii 
 ^n^n ^m"* csm '^\ cit "^^^ • 
 w^t^i c?r^Tn ^r^ ^?ii ^^^ ^^ II- 
 ^i:^ ^tH tf^sT ^r^^ \f^^^ I 
 c^^ <5(rf5r ^r^ ^?r< <ss(: w^Q^f? ii 
 »lf c^ c^f^^tf^^ f^f g? ^^^ I 
 »tf ^^1 ^m ^''.^ itc^r c «¥t^c«i II 
 
 ^r5c^=( "^^ ^rc^ ^t:^ ^W c^^i 0' 
 
 ^i*fi^i^ \x^ ^c^ v.*( 'j^i^r^ I- 
 
tKASTRAM :D'AS A^X) "HJS MAHAKHAT? ATA. 47 
 
 order. The reader must not look for the heroic spirit 
 and the epic grandeur of the original in the Bengali 
 version ; but in siniphcity, sweetness and fluency, in a 
 lucid flow of narration and an inexhaustible flow of verse, 
 Kasiram Das remains unsurpassed and uneqalled in 
 Bengali literature. 
 
 And if success be a proof of true merit, Kasi ram's 
 merit is beyond praise. No work in Bengali, scarcely 
 even the Ramayana of Krittibas, is more extensively read 
 and more deeply honoured by the people of Bengal, 
 specially of the upper classes. The endless traditions 
 and tales of the past times have a charm and an attraction, 
 the ;morals inculcated and the incidents narrated never 
 fail to please, and the translator's dignified, but simple and 
 graceful verse never tires. Mothers know no better theme 
 for imparting moral instruction to their daughters, wives 
 know no better work for whiling away an idle houiT, 
 and elderly men know no richer store froni which to 
 narrate stories to groups of little children night after 
 night. Thus the 'tf^les of the Mahabharata have been 
 handed down from generation to generation with never 
 failing interest, and where is the Bengali who has not in 
 his boyish days passed many a long winter evening over 
 these moral tales which can never, never be other than 
 interesting and instructive ? 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Krittibas and his Ramayana. 
 
 Fifteenth Century. 
 
 There are reasons to believe that Kasiram Das 
 translated the Mahabharata in the fifteenth century. 
 Krittibas's date is very uncertain ; but it is probable 
 that he produced his Bengali version of the Ramayana 
 probably about the close of the same century. 
 
 Of the life of Krittibas we know as little as we know 
 of Kasiram Das, except that he was a Brahman by caste, 
 and was born at Fulia, near Santipur, in the District 
 of Nadiya. The two great pioneers of Bengali poetry 
 lived in the opposite shores of the sacred Bhagirathi. 
 
 The task which Krittibas set before himself was 
 less arduous than what his predecessor Kasiram had 
 performed. The Ramayana in the original Sanscrit 
 is not encyclopaedic in its character ; its main story 
 about the life and adventures of Rama is not overgrown 
 with mythology, cosmogony and theogony ; its episodes 
 are rare and restricted to the early portion of the work ; 
 and its leading narrative is seldom interrupted. The 
 Ramayana in fact is mainly the work of a single poet,* 
 
 * It cannot be denied that it has undergone alterations through 
 succeeding centuries, but in spite of them the epic poem continues 
 lo be one connected story, mainly the creation of one mind. A. learned 
 writer in the Westminster Review writes: — "The poem has evidf.-ntly 
 undergone considerable alteration since the time of its first composi- 
 tion, but still, underneath all the subsequent additions, the original 
 
KRITTIEAS AND HIS RAMAYANA. 49 
 
 working out a single connected story ; whereas the 
 Mahabharata is a creation of many centuries, and a 
 storehouse of endless stories. The Ramayana contains 
 professedly twenty-four thousand couplets or epic 
 verses ; the Mahabharata contains professedly eighty- 
 five thousand. The translator of the Ramayana Jhad 
 therefore a lighter task to peiform than the translator 
 of the Mahabharata. 
 
 In undertaking this task, Krittibas, like his great 
 predecessor Kasiram Das, wisely determined to condense 
 the original. We do not exactly know the length of 
 
 elements are preserved, and careful criticism might perhaps separate 
 the interpolations, and present the more genuine parts as a whole by 
 themselves. The task however, would be difficult, and ]:)erhaps as 
 impracticable as it has proved in the Homeric poems. For many 
 ages it is certain that the work existed only by oral tradition, and 
 each rhapsodist added or altered at his pleasure, or to suit the taste 
 or vanity of the princely family whom he served. The measure of 
 the poem, moreover, is of a somewhat fatal facility, and many 
 rhapsodists would naturally be ambitious of mingling their own songs 
 with those of their baids, and the habit of repetition would at once 
 supply them with a vocabulary of epic phrases to suit their purpose. 
 Whole chapters thus betray their origin by their barrenness of 
 thought and laborious mimicry of the epic spirit, which in the 
 case of the old poets had spontaneously burst out of the heart's 
 fulness like the free song of a child. But when the Indian Pisis- 
 tratus arose who collected these separate songs and reduced them 
 to their present shape, the genuine and spurious were alike included, 
 and no Hindu critic ever appears to have attempted to discriminate 
 between them." Westminster Review, Vol. L. 
 
 An edition of the Sanscrit Ramayana (Bengal Recension) with 
 an Italian translation was prepared by Gorresio, and published at 
 the expense of the late king of Sardinia. A French translation 
 has been given to the world by theindefatiguable Hippolyte Fanche, 
 and for a very meritorious metrical translation into English we are 
 indebted to Ralph Griffith. Pandit Hem Chandra Vidyaratna has 
 conferred a lasting obligation on the people of Bengal by publish- 
 ing an edition of the Sanscrit work (North-west Recension) 
 with an excellent translation in prose ; and the late poet Raj Krishna 
 Rai has given us a faithful and commendable translation of the great 
 work in Bengali verse. 
 
5© LITER ATUR-E OF BENGAL. 
 
 Krittibas's version, for, as we will state hereafter, that 
 version has been considerably altered and added to by 
 mischievous editors in recent times. An edition of 
 the work, printed in 1803 in the Serampiir Mission 
 Press, has however been reprinted ; and from this 
 edition we find that the twenty-four thousand couplets 
 of the original work have been condensed into about 
 sixteen thousand Bengali couplets. 
 
 But Krittibas has gone farther than this. A 
 comparison of his Ramayana with the original shews 
 that his version is no translation at all, but merely a 
 new narration of the story of the ancient epic in his 
 own way. There is considerable divergence in the 
 arrangem;ent of the matter ; much of the contents in 
 the original has been omitted, and many new incidents 
 and stories have been iiitrodaced. And even when we 
 compare the accounts of the same incidents in the two 
 works, we find them so dissimilar that the Bengali work 
 canix)* be called a condensed translation) of the Sanscrit 
 work. 
 
 One instance wldi illustrate this. The breaking of 
 Janaka's bow by Rama, and the nuptials of Rama and 
 his brothers, and the defeat of Parasurama,, have been 
 described in the last eleven sections of the First Book of 
 the Sanscrit Ramayain% viz. sections LXVIlto LXXVU, 
 comprising 305 cou[)lets. These subjects has been 
 reproduced in Krittibas's work (reprint of edition of 
 1803) in one long section of 365 couplets, but it is not 
 possible to call this section a translation, in any sense, of 
 the eleven sections of the Sanscrit work. The story has 
 
KRITTIBAS AND HIS RAMAYANA; Jf^ 
 
 been differently told in the two works ; and Krittibas 
 narrates the events entirely* in his own iway^ without any. 
 reference whatever* to the SansGrit^ work, * 
 
 * We quote the account of Rama's marriage trom the two 
 works. The Bens/ali. poet describes a Bengali matriagt; ceremony 
 of the present day- ! 
 
 In? jfl^l ^'^^^\ y\^^^bf\ ^^ ii 
 
 di^°. W"^1 ^^n 3ft:5lt ^Cltf ¥«J^^f ^t^fjl • 
 
 ^?t1 ntfn? ^M^12 ^tftsfl ?^f5( M 
 ^fl1%'o ^^ ^tf^^1 ^t^<i ^|5!JTT n^JTTI Ih 
 
 e^r^c^ 9"3;^*tfv ^f^^^i sic^ f^^i?. II 
 '^Ti°N*&trn ^f^t^? ^^^1^1 ^^^t2 1 
 
52 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 The Sixth Book of the epic descriljes the war between 
 Rama and Ravana, wliich is the crowning incident of 
 
 fe^frs c^ nto^i ^=?^t^n ^c^'i^^s II 
 
 ^fsT^t;^- f^^t^ '^^n I 
 
 c^r^H <i?:^ ^^1 f?^i ^t^^'^ *m \i 
 ^'•m'^r ?t^1 ^^ ^^^ ^tsfi:? I 
 »mi ^t^u fw!il Mft^T^ c^t«?:? II 
 ft ^imi^l^.^c^ l^^ ^'^m I 
 ^^1 ^t^ 'srt^, ^^' "^^ ^f ^«i i) 
 
 cT-r ^fe q'Ht citfe^ 5?t^t?ic«i II 
 
 '1 1^15 cw^ c^^ C?1J ^Ncl^'t I 
 C^t^1 ^m ^t^ ijR ^l^ "dW^ H 
 
 ^c^ ^i:?? ^^»^«) %^^i vs<^^^ II 
 
 ^^^ ^¥5T CSlf^ ^3^C5l^ (TfJ^I I 
 
KRITTIBAS AND HIS RAMAYANA. 53 
 
 the Story ; and in describing this war Krittibas has 
 scarcely folLbwed the story of the Sanscrit work. The 
 first forty sections of this Book in the original Sanscrit, 
 
 W.W ^^^^ f^^i ^m ^nt^ II 
 ^1 ^t9 *rc^ "^fci^ ^r^ f^^^i I 
 
 . ^1 ^tc^ ^f^ f^^ Tts?^ ^^^ II 
 ^<T< ^r^^i? ^f^ii^^ ?\^^^ I 
 5rf^ HfC^ ^tf^ f?^ c7f If tc^^ ?tr^ a- 
 ^rf^ witless c^*r ^f^^ f^^^«i I 
 "^«^c«i ^'^^n f^^i fvf^ w^*t^ II 
 ^^?^^ 5?tt ?c^ ^r?r ^t^r I 
 ^t^^? 5?c«i f^^i ^r^^ ^«tt^ II 
 
 ^# ^t^t^^ ^?W ^^ Vf^*t^ II 
 
 ^"^l ^t^t?ri r.tt^ ^^^tcw c^^tf^ II 
 ^^^t^1 f^^^t ^^Fl ^1 ^^^ ^^^ I 
 
 ^W ^5?1 ^^ipsT ^t>T ^^t^^ II 
 
54 tn'ERA^TU-RE OF BENGAL. 
 
 eomprising about a thousand couplets, have been oniit- 
 t?ed by ICrittibas, and he substitutes a small part of tliis 
 story in his first fwc sections. The war commences 
 with the sending of Angada as an envoy to Ravana, 
 which is described in Section XLI of the Sanscrit 
 work, and in Section VI. of Krittibas. 
 
 The incidents of tiie war then follow generally in tiie 
 same order as in Sanscrit. But Krittibas's account of the 
 battles is- his own, and he has introduced some new inci- 
 dents and new warriors of which there is no mention in the 
 Sanscrit. The account of Mahi-Ravana and Ahi-Ravana 
 and the childish episode of Hanutnan carrying the 
 solar orb under his arm find no mention in the 
 Sanskrit epic. 
 
 It will thus appear that Krittibas's work is not a 
 translation of the Sanscrit work. A class of reciters called 
 
 f!c^rc^^1 ^fl^t^ ^c^ cy\t ^'\^ 1 
 c^^ "^m ^tc^s nz-^ c^^ ^c^ ^\i^ II 
 
 ^5?T1 Tt5( ^C^ ^1^1 f^f^^ Tt<-\Z^ II' 
 
 ^^H w\^ '^i^ ^t©fl M^^ >2i^lR I 
 n^ ^^^"^^ W91 nf^5r^ ^c^ II 
 
 ^ffT^t^l T^^\ ^^T1 ^^ ^t^ ^^ II 
 
 ^t^i ^t«ft r^^i ^c^ ^f^^T ^^5? I 
 
 ^t^ ^"^^1 'ftJi^ ^c^ ^f^^r ^^Sfif II 
 
KR-lTTIliAS AND TlIS RAMAYANA. 55 
 
 Kathakas have flourished in this couniry from olden limes ; 
 they recite sacred legends before large audiences ; they 
 amuse and entertain their hearers by their wit, or move 
 them to tears by their elcKfuence ; and they thus teach 
 the unlettered poWic m the traditions of the past, ai%d 
 preserve from age to age the literary heritage of the 
 riation. The Ramayina is a fit subject for Kathakas ; 
 and the recitation lasts for a month or more, the speaker 
 taking up the story every day from the point where he 
 left it on the preceding day. It is supposed with reason 
 that Krittibas learnt the story of the Ramayana from 
 Kathakas, and that without attempting to trawslat^ the 
 Sanscrit epic he has given his version of the story as 
 be heard it. The poet bas himself toid us in several 
 places in his work that he lias composed it as he heard 
 it recited. 
 
 But if Krittibas fails us as a translator, as a poet and 
 composer he rises in our estimation. His narration is 
 fluent and easy and often sparkles with the richest 
 humour. Kasiram Basis a pious and learned student 
 who has endeavoured to give his countrymen a con- 
 densed, translation of the Sawscrit Mahahharata ; Krittibas 
 is a sprightly story-teller who tells the story of the 
 Ramayana with his own native wit. Kasiram Das is 
 anxious to teach his countrymen in the sacred traditions, 
 the undying legends, and the didactic narrations, which 
 ■compose the bulk of the Mahahharata, Krittibas 
 'delights in depicting in vivid colours the deeds of 
 iHanuman, the fierce rage of the Rakshasas, the mar- 
 vellous prowess of the god-like Rama. Kasiram 
 
56 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 Das approaches his subject vvitli reverence, and writes 
 in a chaste and dignified though simple style ; Krittibas 
 delights in the somewhat primitive battles between 
 monkeys and giants, colours his description with his 
 wit, and writes in the style of ordinary villagers. 
 Kasiram Das's work is the favourite study of pious 
 Hindu ladies and of religious and elderly men of 
 the upper classes ; Krittibas appeals more effectively 
 to the million. The village Mudi (confectioner) reads 
 his RafTiayana, when waiting for his customers, and the 
 village Kalu (oil-manufacturer) chants the story of Rama 
 an J Sita, as his bullock turns his primitive oil-mill with 
 a slow creaking sound. To the upper ten-thousand, 
 Kasiram Das's work is a repository of all the sacred 
 traditions and moral lessons of the Hindus ; to 
 the class of vendors, shopkeepers and the like, as weli 
 as to the upper classes, Krittibas^s work is a joy which 
 endureth for work. For the millions of Bengal, the two 
 works have been a means of moral education the value 
 of which cannot be over-estimated. 
 
 The simplicity of Krittibas's style and the great 
 circulation of his work among the lower as well as upper 
 classes has led to the frequent tampering of his text by 
 successive editors, until the editions now sold in the 
 Bazars have ceased to be Krittibas's work. We have 
 made our extracts from a reprint of the edition of 1803, 
 as it is less corrupt than more recent editions ; but even 
 that edition is not absolutely correct. Pandit Ramgati 
 Nyayaratna has given us a passage from a manuscript 
 of Krittibas's work written in 1099 of the Bengali Era, 
 
KRITTIBAS 4ND HIS RAMAYANA. 5^ 
 
 corresponding to 1693 of the Christian Era, and there- 
 fore two centuries old. We quote a passage below froii^ 
 this edition of 1693, as well as the corresponding 
 passage from the edition of 1803, and from an ordinary 
 Bazar edition of 1893.* 
 
 * Nst^i '^m ^N ^f^ ^f^^i m^ fi^ I 
 
 ^^ c^^ --rt^ ^1 %^^ ^^^*t ^?^ I 
 
 ^^ ^^^1 ^^ ^f^t^ c^^ ^?:^ ^t'^ 1 
 ^^ fw^ ^f^ ^^1 ^tfv5R c^fsiT^ ^H n 
 
 Edition of i6g^. 
 
 «f^ *rtn 5Ttff f^ccR ^^^«i ^Tf^ I 
 
 ^fR *fM f^^ C^t^l ^f^C^ t%»^^ 'I 
 
 3fr^i ^t^i ^^ "^Nc^ ^^ ^^ ^H I 
 
 Edition of i8oj (Reprint). 
 8 
 
$8 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 A comparison of the three passages quoted below 
 will indicate the nature of the alterations which Krittibas's 
 text has undergone within the last two hundred years. 
 We may assume that the text of 1693 was what Krittibas 
 wrote, as there was little of mischievous editorial activity 
 before that date, and printing was unknown in Bengal. 
 The alterations made between 1693 and 1803 are of a 
 verbal nature, and however much they may be regretted, 
 tliey are slight in comparison with what followed. In 
 the absence of any more correct edition, we may accept 
 the edition of 1803 as Krittibas's work for the purposes 
 
 vst?r1 ^'HoT ^t"5r ^"^ ^^ ^^^ I 
 ^^t^Tii ^tf^^ ^tt^fi ^is Nst^ 11 
 ^iw'^\i<[ ^t^it^ ^f^cNs 7f^^t*r i 
 
 '^\f•^ *ftn f?^ ^r^i ^f^r^ t^*^ 11 
 
 ^^\z^ ^tf^c^ ^i:^ ^ -nf^^n:^ ir 
 f^^ jfTssi ^1 ^f^c^ TiTfi ^? ni*r ^ 
 
 f^^ fvf^ «iftf^Tfl ?5f^c:^ ^^^t-TT II 
 
 Calcutta Edition of 1^93. 
 
KRITTIBAS AND HIS RAMAYANA. 59 
 
 of criticism, and we thank the Gupta Press for giving us 
 a reprint of this first printed editJon of the workf. Since 
 1803, however,. priiUiid editions- of thevvoFk.have mul^ 
 tipHed, and the misciiievous activity of editors, has in>^ 
 creased. The kte Pandit Jai Gopal. of; the. Sanscrit 
 College is reputed to have recast the older editions and 
 to have produced the modern ones. Comparing the; 
 text of 1803 with that of 1893 we find that the som<ewhat 
 loose metre of ICrittibas has been rectified, the. number 
 of syllables has been adjusted,ahe expressive but homely 
 words of the poet have been replaced by more refined' 
 expressions^ some lines- have been added and thrown in^ 
 here and there, and the homely beauty of Krittibas's 
 poetry has been lost. To our ear, Krittibas's irregular 
 verse and loose metre have more true music and more 
 genial force in them than the corrected metre, the sans- 
 critized expressions, and the more prolonged descriptions • 
 in the later editions of his work. 
 
 The Gupta Press has performed a patriotic work. by 
 reprinting the edition of 1803. But the task of produc- - 
 ing an absolutely correct text of the work, from, the 
 old manuscripts still available, has yet to be done. 
 The Bnngiya^ Sahitya Farishad. (Academy of Bengali- 
 Literature) has undertaken the task ; and it will earn the 
 gratitude of our countrymen by giving them, a correct 
 text of the immortal work of one of the earliest and. 
 greatest poets of Bengal. 
 
 Kasiram Das's work is perhaps less popular than that 
 of Krittibas, and has been: tampered with to a less extent.. 
 The great bulk of the work also, made further additions 
 
60 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 inadvisable even to modern editors^ and the more 
 dignified nature of the style and the subject rendered 
 such additions by no means an easy. But nevertheless 
 verbal alterations have been made, as can be found 
 out by comparison of a modeirn copy with an old 
 manuscript. And the Parishad will perform a patriotic 
 task by editing a cwrect edition of this work also. 
 
 The Bengali Mahahharata and Ramayana are the 
 first great literary works in the Bengali language ; 
 they are the foundations on which Bengali literature is 
 built. And the people of modern Bengal will not rest 
 content till they get back these great works in their 
 integrity. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Chaftanya and ms Religious Reform. 
 
 Sixteenth century. 
 
 We have seen in the last two chapters that h'terary 
 activity began in Bengal in the fourteenth and fifteenth 
 centuries. The sixteenth cerrtury witnessed a great 
 religious reform and a marked progress in philosophy 
 and culture. Indeed similar movements were observable 
 in every province of India in this age of renaissance and 
 reform, which corresponds curiously with the age of 
 renaissance and reform in Europe. It was in the 
 fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that Kabir preached 
 religious reform in southern and northern India, that 
 Chaitanya preached and worked in Bengal, and the 
 great Nanak founded a reformed religion in the Punjab. 
 It was in this age that Kasiram and Krittibas translated 
 the ancient epics into Bengali, and they were imrnediately 
 followed by th« great Sridhar who translated the epics 
 into Mahrati, and by the equally great Tulasi Das 
 who rendered the Ramayana into Hindi. It was in 
 this age or shortly after, that Mukundaram- in Bengal, 
 and Tukaram in Bombay, distinguished themselves by 
 original compositions which are still dear to their 
 countrymen. And it was in this age also tliat 
 
6t literature of bengal. 
 
 Raghunandan compiled a religious code for the Hindus 
 of Bengal, and Raghunath started the school of 
 philosophy which still attracts scores of students from all 
 parts of India to the sacred' precincts of Nadiya. The 
 movements of the human mind are more widespread 
 and far-reaching than historians generally suspect, and 
 there are special eras of culture when the human 
 mind all over the civilized world seems to expand 
 under a vivifying influence, and moves onwards with a 
 fresh vigour towards higher results. Such an era was the 
 fifteenth and sixteenth centuries which produced men 
 like Coperr^icus, Columbas and Luther in Europe ; 
 and such another era began in the eighteenth century 
 which witnessed the Independence of America and the 
 French Revolution. Chaitanya was the most remark- 
 able product of the sixteenth century enlightenment in 
 Bengal, and to a narration of his life and work we 
 now address ourselves. His biographers, Krishna Das, 
 Yrindavan Das and Lochan Das, have left us copious 
 accounts of the life and work of their greater master,. and 
 though, as staunch Vaishnavas, they believed Chaitanya 
 to be an incarnation of Krishna and have ascribed to 
 him numberless miracles, yet it is not a difficult or a pro- 
 fitless task to gleaa from their accounts the real facts 
 connected with the life of the great reformer of the 
 sixteenth century. 
 
 About the middle of the 15th century, Upendra 
 Misra, a wealthy and learned Vaishnava, lived in Sylhet. 
 He had seven sons of whom Jagannath Misra migrated 
 to the town of Nabadvvip or Nadiya. He had eight 
 
CHAITANYA AND HIS RELIGIOUS REFORM. 63 
 
 daughters by his wife Sachi, but none of them hved long. 
 At last Sachi bore him two sons ; the elder was named 
 Viswarup, and the younger was the future reformer of 
 Bengal. 
 
 He was born in Nabadwip in the year 1485 A. D., 
 that is about the time when the sjreat Luther was born in 
 Europe. The women of the family and the neighbour-, 
 hood came to see and bless the infant, and named it 
 Nimai, and notwithstanding that the* -learned men of the 
 locality gave the child the more pompous name of Vis- 
 wambhar, Nimai the child was called by all who knew 
 him. Later in life he was called Gauranga, or the fair- 
 complexioned, Krishna Chaitanya, or the incarnation 
 of Krishna, and sometimes Gaur Hari, or the fair 
 Krishna, — ^Ghaitanya being of a very fair complexion, 
 while Krishna, whose incarnation he was supposed to be, 
 was dark. Chaitanya is said to have been born in the 
 evening when there was an eclipse of the moon, and his 
 poetic biographer explains the circumstances by arguing 
 that there was no need for a spotted moon in the sky, 
 when an unspotted moon had appeared on earth ! 
 
 Various are the anecdotes recounted of the infancy 
 and boyhood of Chaitanya, all tending to shew that he 
 was an incarnate deity. While yet an infant "puking 
 and mewling in its mother's arm," Chaitanya seems to 
 have been very troublesome, and to have never ceased 
 crying, till the word Hari was shouted by the people 
 around him, thus causing the name of Krishna to be 
 preached and proclaimed before the infant had yet learnt 
 to speak. On one occasion the little child was licking an 
 
64 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 earthen toy, when Sachi came in, and reproved him for 
 mistaking earth for food. " And what is food but earth 
 and dust ?" argued the h'sping boy, " and what is our 
 body but dust?" A restless and mischievous boy as he 
 was, he teased the girls of the neighbourhood and 
 quarrelled with other boys. When the girls came to the 
 river-side with rice and other things to worship images, 
 the little truant appropriated the food to his own 
 use, and bade them* worship him, for he was the great 
 Master of the gods and goddesses they had come to 
 worship. Flying from his enraged mother the little boy 
 one day hid himself in an unclean vessel. This provoked 
 Sachi who bade him instantly to go and bathe in the 
 Ganga (Hugh River> to purify himself. The young sage 
 however calmly replied that uncleanliness dwelt not in 
 outward things but in the mind. It may be easily imagined 
 these and other anecdotes of a similar nature have 
 been invented by the followers of Chaitanya to prove the 
 godhead of their great master. 
 
 Chaitanya commenced his studies with Ganga Das 
 Pandit and shewed great intelligence and aptitude for 
 learning. It was about this time that the parents of 
 Chaitanya began to think of a suitable match for his 
 elder brother Viswarup, who was then in his early youth. 
 Viswarup however was otherwise inclined \ and filled 
 with religious fervour, he left his home and turned a 
 Sanyasi. The disconsolate mother had a yet severer 
 trial awaiting her. It was not long after, that Jagannath 
 Misra paid the debt of nature, and Nimai therefore was 
 
CHAITANYA AND HIS RELIGIOUS REFORM. C 
 
 the sole surviving stay and consolation of the bereaved 
 widow. 
 
 In his earlier days, Chaitanya had made the acquain- 
 tance of a girl named Lakshmi, daughter of Balla- 
 bhacharja, when she had come to the river-side to wor- 
 ship. The young student now thought of marriage, 
 and his widowed mother celebrated his marriage with 
 Lakshmi with feelings of mingled joy and sorrow. 
 
 As Chaitanya advanced in years, he began to gather 
 round him a large number of pupils, and his reputation 
 as a scholar became great. The way in which philo- 
 sophy, literature and religion have always been cultivated 
 among the Hindus up to the time of the English con- 
 quest, and even since then, is well known. There were 
 no regular academies, schools or colleges, as in Europe. 
 The sages of ancient India, however, set themselves up 
 as instructors, and gathered round them pupils varying in 
 number according to their reputation for learning. Such 
 pupils lived with their tutor in his house as members 
 of the same family, looked on him as their father, and 
 on his wife as their mother. Whatever might be their 
 rank or status in society, they were all equal in his eyes, 
 served him with equal fidelity during the period of their 
 education, and vied with each other in obedience and 
 respect towards him. The tutor received no fees, 
 but the pupils looked to his cattle, milked his cows, 
 begged food for his support, procured for him wood 
 from the forest and water from the well, served him 
 as his menial servants, and lived together in harmony 
 and peace. When their education was completed, each 
 9 
 
66 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 pupil was expected to make a handsome present to his 
 tutor, and this, — often a considerable sum of money, — 
 was all that the guru received for his pains. Each 
 pupil would then return to his own rank and status 
 in life, a few of the more clever and advanced 
 setting themselves up as new tutors and gathering 
 pupils around them. The ancient lore of India has 
 been handed down from generation to generation 
 in this simple arcadian style, and vestiges of such 
 institutions are still to be found in Nadiya and many 
 other places in India. Thus under the Hindu, the 
 Muhammadan, and even the English rule, these quiet 
 thinkers and professors have from century to century pre- 
 served and propounded the ancient learning of India, 
 and often started new questions in philosophy or law, 
 despising all exotic wisdom and foreign languages, be 
 it the Persian, the Arabic, or the English, and forgetting, 
 and forgotten by, a world of unquiet and aspiring states- 
 men, politicians and men of the world. 
 
 Chaitanya, then, set himself up as a tutor, gathered 
 pupils around him, and h4s fame as a man of 
 deep learning increased day by day. His reputation 
 spread throughout and beyond the limits of Nadiya. 
 He baffled those who came to beat him in learned 
 controversies, and satisfied others who came in 
 all humility to have their doubts explained. After 
 winning the admiration of all people in his native 
 place, he left his country and travelled into Eastern 
 Bengal. Thither too his fame had spread, and numbers 
 of people flocked around him to have the benefit 
 
CHAITANYA AND HIS RELIGIOUS REFORM. 67 
 
 of his instructions. He reached the banks of the 
 Padmavati and dwelt there for some months, instructing 
 an ever increasing circle of friends. He then returned 
 to his native place, but before he reached it his beloved 
 wife had breathed her Ikst. 
 
 Ghaitanya continued to give instruction to his 
 pupils at Nadiya ; he was now called Nimai Pandit or 
 Viswambhar Piandit. He assembled his pupils early in 
 the morning and taught them till about noon, after 
 which he and his pupils went to the river-side together 
 to bathe. Then they parted; and met again in the even- 
 ing, and continued their literary labors till a late hour in 
 the night. 
 
 The mother of Ghaitanya became anxious to marry his 
 son again, and the young Pkndit was married to Vishnu 
 Priya, the accomplished daughter of Sanatan whose 
 learning had got for him the title of Pdnditaraj^ or 
 the prince of the learned. A pupil of Ghaitanya, by name 
 Buddhimanta, volunteered to pay the expenses of his 
 tutor's marriage, and the ceremony was performed with' 
 great pomp. Soon after Ghaitanya again left his native 
 place and visited Gaya. 
 
 The visit to Gaya was the great turning point in 
 the life of the reformer. Enthusiastic in his disposition, 
 and attached to- the faith of Krishna from his early 
 youth, Ghaitanya had,, up to this time, lived and learned 
 and taught much in the same way as other men did. 
 But the sanctity of the place he visited, the instructions 
 of Iswari Pari a devout Vaishnava, and^ the local 
 religious associations of the place caused a thorough 
 
68 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 change in the character of the ardent young ma i. Ha 
 had Lijone to Gaya a noted scholar and a religious man, — 
 he returned an enthusiastic reformer. 
 
 Now, for the first time, were seen those violent 
 outward manifestations of faith and feeling which 
 characterized the ardent worshippers of Krishna in those 
 times. Fired with unwonted zeal, they were now and 
 then overtaken by paroxysms of faith, and wept and 
 laughed and danced like mad men. Horripilation, violent 
 perspiration, and frequent fits of fainting nmrked these 
 periods of religious ecstacy. The poor mother of 
 Cl>aitanya trembled for her son, and marked with fear and 
 concern the change in his demeanour, but it was beyond 
 the power of domestic affection to make the reformer 
 turn from the path he had chosen. It is not possible in 
 the present age of reason to conceive the extent to which 
 the mind can at times be subjected to the violent sway 
 of religious feeling and fanaticism. Chaitanya was now 
 a changed man ; he fired in his followers and pupils an 
 ardent faith in Krishna ; he ignored all rites and cere- 
 monies ; he proclaimed from house tops that the salva- 
 tion of man depended solely on faith in Krishna. The 
 town of Nabadwip suddenly rang with the loud Sofi- 
 kirtan of Krishna. 
 
 Day after day, Chaitanya and his followers assembled 
 and proclaimed and preached the faith of Krishna. 
 They met in the house of Sribas, where Nityananda, 
 Adyaita, Sridhar, and a number of other devout 
 followers anointed Chaitanya with water, sandal powder 
 and flowers. Their number daily increased ; people of 
 
CHAITANYA AND HIS RELIGIOUS REFORM. 69 
 
 all classes were struck with the zeal and piety of the 
 new sect ; many joined it ; and people of all castes and 
 denominations were welcomed to seek salvation through 
 faith in Krishna. 
 
 In the meanwhile the rise of this sect raised violent 
 opposition in many quarters. Hindus looked with 
 distrust and fear on a religion which ignored all rites and 
 distinctions of caste, while the Muhamraadan Kazi of the 
 town ordered all Sankirliuts to be forthwith stopped-. 
 Chaitanya, however, boldly met the Kazi, and the result 
 of the interview, we are assured, was that the Kazi 
 himself pronounced the holy name of Krishna aixi was 
 saved. Many miracles are ascribed to Chaitanya about 
 this period ; but we pass them by. 
 
 Thus passed the fi.rst twenty-four years of the life of 
 Chaitanya ; ar^d now he felt within him^ a powerful call 
 to proclaim the light that was in him through the length 
 and breadth of India. It was the small still voice which 
 he could not resist, it was the call of duty which could not 
 be silenced by the entreaties of friends or the tears of a 
 mother. In vain did Sachi attempt with many tears to 
 dissuade lier only friend on earth from leaving her a for- 
 lorn helpless widow ; in vain did even, the devout follow- 
 ers of Chaitanya persuade him not to leave his native 
 town. Chaitanya's heart was fixed and unmoved, and 
 early in 1509, he became a Sanyasi and left his native 
 town never to return again. During the remaining 
 twenty-four years of his life he wandered as the apostle 
 of Vaishnavism, and preached the faith of Krishna from 
 the banks of the Cavery to those of the Jumna. 
 
70^ LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 Chaitanya set out for Vrindavan on the banks of the 
 Jumna,, accompa^iied by Nityananda, Ratna and Mu- 
 kunda, three of his followers. He crossed the Hugh, for 
 Nabadwip was then on the east bank, and proclaimed 
 the name of Ivrishna in every village through which he 
 passed, to men, women and children. People w^re struck 
 with his enthusiasm, and it is no wonder if many 
 actually mistook, the wild enthusiast for a deity. His- 
 follower Nityananda was one of those who would have 
 liked to see his master always in. his native town* It was- 
 not difficult to mislead Chaitanya from, the right way. 
 to Vrindavan, and after three days' wanderings through^ 
 several villages to the west of the Hojgli, Nityananda. 
 brought back his master, to the Hugh again, Chaitanya. 
 reproved his follower, but was obliged to cross the river 
 and to rest for a few days in the town of Santipore. His 
 follower Adyaita there received him with open arms and 
 welcomed him to his hou^e. News travelled to Nabadwip 
 that the reformer had come back, to Santipur, and all his. 
 friends and followers came to see him. Affecting indeed, 
 was the m^eeting of Chaitanya with his faithful followers 
 whom he had left behind, but still more affecting was- 
 his meeting with his forlorn mother who came to Santi- 
 pur to see his son once more. They insisted with many 
 tears on his returning to Nabadwip, but Chaitanya had. 
 left his home as a Sanyasi and would not return. He 
 consoled his mother however as best he could, assuring 
 her that he would pass most of his time in Nilachala. 
 (Orissa\ so that she would receive frecjuent news about 
 him. To his followers he madti the parting request that 
 
CHMTANYA AND HIS RELIGIOUS RETORM. 7 1 
 
 they should proclaiQi the name and reh'gion of Krishna 
 in their honaes as he was going to proclaim it all over 
 India. They parted once more, and Chaitanya set out 
 on his travels. 
 
 Chaitanya now went southwards with Nityananda and 
 others, passed through Jaipur, Katak and Kamalpur, 
 visited the shrines of Sakshi Gopal, Bhuvaneswar and 
 Kapoteswar, and at last reached Jagannath. This last is 
 a place dedicated to Krishna, and the deep veneration 
 and ecstasy with which Chaitanya viewed this place may 
 easily be conceived. There too he met Sarbabhauma, a 
 learned and venerable man and a devout Vaishnava who 
 received Chaitanya with open arms ; and many and long 
 were the religious controversies which they held together. 
 From Jagannath, Chaitanya resolved to travel southwards. 
 Nityananda and others offered to accompany him, but 
 he vvislied to go alone, and was at last persuaded to take 
 one Krishna Das, a simple-minded Brahman, as his 
 sole companion. Southwards, then, went Cliaitanya with 
 Krishna Das, proclaiming the name of Krishna wherever 
 he went. People flocked round him and were struck 
 with his sanctity and enthusiasm, and numbers became 
 •converts. They returned to their villages, and told the 
 wonderful tale and converted others. Thus, says the 
 biographer of Chaitanya, the name of Krishna deluged 
 the land as by an inundation. 
 
 At Jiar, Chaitanya rested a few days in the house of 
 Ramananda Rai, a venerable and learned man, whom 
 he instructed in the truths of his religion and soon fired 
 with faith in Krishna. Thence he passed through numer- 
 
72 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 ous villag-es, everywhere making converts. Atheists, 
 Philosophers of different schools, Buddhists, and Saivas, 
 all yielded the palm to the new reformer, and many were 
 the converts he made. At last he reached the banks of 
 the Cavery and rested four months at Sriranga (Seringa- 
 patam). He visited the southern Mathura (Madura), and 
 then Rameswar, Chaitanya also visited Kanya Kumari 
 (Cape Comorin) and the Malaya or the Niigiri Hills. 
 Thence he travelled northwards, crossed the Tapti and 
 the Nurbudda, and visited Dandakaranya, Pampa, 
 Panchabati and other places noted in the Ramayana. 
 Near the sources of the Godaveri he was joined by his 
 old friend Ramananda Rai who had come here to meet 
 him. They travelled back to Orissa, and at Jagannath, 
 Chaitanya was met by most of his friends. His vows 
 forbade him to return to his native place, but Krishna 
 Das the companion of all his travels was sent to 
 Nabadwip with the joyful tidings of his return. It was 
 with great joy that his followers came and met him 
 once more in Nilachala. 
 
 Chaitanya and his followers remained at Jagannath 
 during the Rath festival, and great were their rejoicings 
 on the occasion. Prataparudra the king of Orissa 
 expressed a desire to see the Vaishnava leader, but the 
 Sanyasi's vow he had taken, forbade him to see a king. 
 A sort of compromise was effected, the king's son visited 
 the reformer, and Chaitanya blessed the father in the 
 son, and they embraced his religion. 
 
 After a residence of a few months at Jagannath, 
 Chaitanya resolved on visiting northern India. The 
 
CHAITANYA AND HIS RELIGIOUS REFORM. 73 
 
 king was distressed at this news, and Sarbabhaunma, 
 Ramananda and Nityananda, all tried to dissuade him 
 from the undertaking. Their persuation however was 
 fruitless, and at the close of the rainy season Chaitanya 
 left Jagannath. He went northwards through Bhuban- 
 eswar, Katak, Remuna and Panihati, and came once 
 more to Santipur. Affecting indeed was his meeting with 
 his mother who had come to Santipur from Nabadwip, 
 and who embraced her son with tears of joy. 
 
 Chaitanya once more took leave of his friends, sent 
 back his mother to Nabadwip, and left Santipur. 
 Among his companions were the brothers Rup and 
 Sanatan, ministers of the Muhammadan ruler of Behar. 
 They were of royal blood, and of high rank and much 
 wealth, but despised all these things for their love 
 of the reformer. Chaitanya's fame had now spread 
 on all sides, and vast numbers of people gathered 
 round him on his way towards Vrindavan. This was 
 an inconvenience to a traveller, and Sanatan rightly 
 advised him to part with all his companions if he wanted 
 to proceed on his journey. The year however was far 
 advanced, the rainy season had already commenced, 
 Chaitanya therefore was compelled to remain a few 
 months in Nilachala, to the great joy of king Prataprudra. 
 At the close of the rains, he set out for Vrindavan with 
 Balai)hadra Bhattacharja as his sole companion. 
 
 To avoid notice Chaitanya left the beaten path, and 
 went through a forest. His poetic biographer waxes 
 eloquent, and describes how in the presence of the great 
 master the tiger embraced the deer and danced with 
 
74 "LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 joy, and how the name of Krishna, chanted by Chaitanya, 
 made the flowers of the forest blossom and the birds 
 chirp with glee. He passed through Benares and 
 Allahabad, proclaiming the name of Krishna and making 
 numerotis converts as he went along. Great indeed 
 was his ecstacy when he at last gnzed on the Jumna 
 and visited Mathura and Vrindavan. His whole life 
 had been spent in proclaiming the name of Krishna, 
 and his fervour and his ardent love reached their 
 climax when he witnessed the 'scenes of Krishna's 
 boyhood and early youth. His paroxysms of feeling 
 came over him thick and frequent, and his life was 
 endangered by the repeated fits of fainting that he 
 underwent. From these scones Chaitanya returned to 
 Allahabad by the river. Here he was met by the 
 brothers Rup and Ballabh, who had sacrificed wealth, 
 rank and royal favor, and become devout Vaishnavas. 
 Their eldest brother Sanatan had in the meantime 
 got into a scrape. He too had resigned his service, 
 %ut the king would not let him go so easily. Incensed 
 at the conduct of Rup and Ballabh, the king ordered 
 Sanatan to be confined. Escaping after many difficulties, 
 Sanatan at last joined Chaitanya at Benares. Both 
 Rup and Sanatan were learned men and authors of 
 ■note, as we shall see in a future chapter, and long and 
 numerous were the religious dialogues between Chaitanya 
 and Sanatan at Benares. Sanatan was then sent to 
 join his brothers at Vrindavan to preach the name of 
 Krishna, and Chaitanya once more returned to his loving 
 friet>ds at Nilacbala. 
 
CHAITANYA AND HIS RELIGIOUS REFORM- 75 
 
 The remaining years of his h'fe were passed by 
 Chaitanya in Nilachala in meditations and in preaching 
 the name of Krishna. His devoted followers occasion- 
 ally came to visit him, the brothers Rup, Sanatan^ 
 and Ballabh came from Yrindavan and were received 
 by Chaitanya with joy, but they were again sent 
 back to Vrindavan. R<T,ghunath Das was also sent 
 to Vrindavan. Nityananda and others remained with- 
 Chaitanya in Nilachala. 
 
 A curious story is told' of the death- of Chaitanyai. 
 One evening, as he was wandering on the sea-beach with> 
 his friends, he was suddenly struck at the sight of the- 
 bright moon beams glittering on- the- blue waves of the 
 sea. In one of those paroxysms which were so frequent 
 with him, he mistook the sea for the blue waves of the 
 Jumma, He ran into the sea in ecstacy, and soon after 
 became insensible. His friends missed him and searched, 
 for him every where, and soon after, a fisherman brought 
 to his disconsolate followers the body of their beloved 
 master which he had fished up from the sea. Chaitanya. 
 died in 1533 at the early age of 48. 
 
 Such was the life of the great apostle of Hindu 
 monotheism in Bengal. Chaitanya did not found a new 
 religion. His religion is only a reformed phase of the 
 Hindu religion. It recognizes Krishna as the Supreme 
 Deity, ignores the caste system, and even admits Muha- 
 mmadans as proselytes. In the present day, however, 
 all lay Vaishnavas have adopted Hinduism and recognize 
 the caste system, and it is only among the mendicant 
 Vaishnavas that the religion of Chaitanya is- found to pre- 
 
76 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 vail ^ n its integrity. In this respect Vaishnavism re- 
 sembles Buddhisnri which has its monks and its lay 
 disciples ; and indeed scholars are aware that Vaishnavism 
 itself is a modern survival of Buddhism under a Hindu 
 guise. Buddhism in an idolatrous form prevailed 
 during many centuries after the Christian era in Orissa, 
 and the worship of Buddha, recognized by Hindus as 
 one of the incarnations of Vishnu, now survives in a 
 Hindu guise in the worship of Jagannath. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The followers of Chaitanya. 
 
 Sixteenth cefitury. 
 
 We have in the preceding chapter given a sketch of 
 the life and work of Chaitanya. In the present chapter 
 we shall very briefly review the work of some of the 
 companions of the reformer, — the Apostles of Vaishnav- 
 ism in Bengal."* 
 
 Among the followers of Chaitanya, Adyaita and Nitya- 
 nanda stand foremost. Indeed, the Vaishnavas of Bengal 
 regard them as partial incarnations of Vishnu, as part 
 and parcel of the spirit which had its full manifestation 
 in Chaitanya. 
 
 In the preceding chapter we have had frequent' occcv 
 sion to notice the acts of these leaders, nor is there much 
 to add. Adyaita was a wealthy and respected inhabitant 
 of Santipur, and is said to have prophesied the birth 
 of Chaitanya, and sent his wife to Nabadwip when the 
 great reformer was born. After Chaitanya had left his 
 home as a Sanyasi, never to return, the house of Adyaita 
 at Santipur was more than once the meeting place 
 where the Vaishnavas of Bengal flocked to see their 
 master, returned from his travels. All through his life, 
 Adyaita, though himself a wealthy man, held the poor 
 
 * For much of the information contained in this chapter we are 
 indebted to Ram Das Sen's paper on the works of the Vaishnava 
 Leaders of Bengal. 
 
78 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 wandering reformer in deep veneration. The descendants 
 of Adyaita still live in Santipur, and are held by all 
 Vaishnavas in the highest regard. 
 
 Nityananda was perhaps the most esteemed compa- 
 nion of Chaitanya. He was a wealthy inhabitant of 
 Nabadwip, and is said to have been by no means 
 indifferent to the good things of this life. Yet Chaitanya 
 held him in high respect and bestowed on him the title 
 of Pmbhu. His descendants are yet living. The 
 Goswamis of Khardaha are descended from him by the 
 male line, and those of Balagor by the female line. 
 Chaitanya, Adyaita and Nityananda are spoken of by the 
 Vaishnavas of Bengal as the three Prabhus. They were 
 all Brahmans by birth, and none of them seems to have 
 written any books either in Sanskrit or in Bengali. 
 
 Next to these come the six great writers who are 
 known as the Vaishnavacharjas of Bengal. They are 
 Rup Goswami, Sanatan Goswami, Jiva Goswami, Gopal 
 Bhatta, Raghunath Bhatta and Raghunath Das. It 
 is much to be regretted that they have all written 
 in Sanskrit, — the highest efforts of their genius appear 
 feeble and common-place because they are misdirected. 
 High indeed, in the rolls of the early Bengali authors, 
 had the names of Rup and Sanatan stood, if they had 
 written in their native tongue. As it is, their names are 
 generally known only among Vaishnavas, and the proud 
 position which they might have occupied is ceded to 
 Mukunda Ram and other writers who composed in the 
 language of the people. It is a lesson which has a 
 special application in the present day. 
 
THE FOLLOWERS OF CHAITANYA. 79 
 
 We have already noticed the prominent facts in the 
 lives of the brothers Rup and Sanatan in the preceding 
 chapter. They were of royal blood, being descended 
 from a prince of the Garnatic, and held high positions 
 under the Muhammadan ruler of Behar. Fanatics 
 and enthusiasts have always succeeded in gathering 
 round them a number of ignorant people, but the re- 
 foriner of the sixteenth century must have indeed had 
 a strange power to induce men of wealth and influence 
 to descend from their high position in society, to be 
 his humble followers. Rup and Sanatan gave up their 
 posts, sacrificed wealth, rank and royal favor, disregarded 
 royal wrath, and braved persecution, in order to become 
 humble Vaishnavas. 
 
 Rup Goswami has written several books. Ujjvala 
 Nihi?nafti is a book on Sanscrit rhetoric in prose and 
 verse. Under the plea of describing the life and acts 
 of Krishna, the writer discourses on love, piety and 
 devotion. Hansa Duta describes the distress of Radha 
 and the milknuaids of Gokula in the absence of Krishna. 
 They at last send a goose as a messenger to Krishna, 
 and hence the name of the book. Uddhava Sandesa 
 describes the agony of Krishna in the absence of 
 Radha, and the lover at last sends Uddhava as a 
 messenger to the beloved, hence the name of the book. 
 Srirupa Chmtamani describes the beauty of Krishna, 
 and Mathura Mahatmya^ as the name implies, describes 
 the glory of Mathura. Many other poems also were 
 written by this voluminous versifier. 
 
 Sane.tan Goswami has written very much less than 
 
8o LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 his brother. His Gitavali describes the Doljatra, Rasa, 
 and other festivities held in honor of Krishna. 
 
 Jiva Goswami was the son of Ballabh, the brother 
 of Rup and Sanatan. His great work is Shat Sandarbha 
 which, as its name signifies, is divided into six parts, 
 and describes rehgious and devotional feelings. 
 
 Gopal Bhatta was the son of Bankata Bhatta of the 
 village Bhactamari. Daring his travels Chaitanya stop- 
 ped for a period of four months in his house, and 
 the religious fervour and instructions of the reformer 
 left an impression on the mind of the young Bhatta. 
 Soon after the departure of Chaitanya, Gopal left home 
 and family and turned a wanderer like his master. 
 He stopped for a time at Benares with a learned 
 teacher, and turning a regular Sanyasi went to Vrindavan, 
 where he joined Rup, Sanatan and other Vaishnava 
 luminaries. He wrote several works, of which Hari- 
 bhakti'Vilasa is the best known. It treats of the duties 
 of Vaishnavas. 
 
 Raghunath Das was a Kayastha by birth, and the son 
 of a wealthy man. The Bhaktaviala states that he left 
 property worth nine lacs and a young wife of exceeding 
 beauty and loveliness for his love of Chaitanya. He 
 met the reformer at Jagannath. and Chaitanya held him 
 in great esteem and love. Afterwards he went to Vrinda- 
 van and lived with the celebrated Vaishnavas of that 
 place. Though a Kayastha by birth, he received from 
 Chaitanya the title of Acharja, and lived with the 
 five other Acharjas. These last were all Brahmans by 
 birth, but neither Chaitanya nor his followers recognized 
 
THE FOLLOWERS OF CHAITANYA. 8 1 
 
 caste inequalities. His Vihipakmumanjali Stotra is the 
 prayer of a devout Vaishnava perplexed with the troubles 
 of this world, and his Mandsiksha treats of the training 
 of the mind to the love of Krishna. 
 
 Krishna Das and Windavan Das and Lochan Das, 
 the biographers of Chaitanya, though not strictly speak- 
 ing his companions, may come in for a notice here. 
 They have written in Bengali, and their works are very 
 popular with Vaisiinavas. 
 
 Vrindavan Das was the son of Narayani who from 
 her girlhood was devotedly attached to the faith of 
 Chaitanya, Pandit Ramgati has erroneously supposed 
 her to be the daughter of Srivas a follower of Chaitanya. 
 The author himself informs us that his mother was the 
 daughter of a brother of Srivas."* And it was in the house 
 of Srivas that the little girl, then four years old, first saw 
 the reformer, and ever after loved him and his religion. 
 It would appear therefore, that Vrindavan Das wrote his 
 book about the middle of the i6th century, and after 
 the death of Chaitanya. 
 
 We confess we cannot discover much beauty or poetic 
 excellence in his book Chaitanya Bhagavat^ and if it is 
 a [)opular book with Vaishnavas we can only ascribe the 
 fact to its being the first book describing the life and 
 acts of Chaitanya. Krishna Das is lavish in his praise 
 of Vrindavan's work, and indeed compares Vrindavan 
 to the great Vyasa of ancient India. But we confess 
 we turn with a sort of relief from Vrindavan's affected 
 
 * Vide pp. 12 J of Chaitanya Bhagavat, 
 II 
 
32 LITER ATURT: OF RENGAT,. 
 
 Style and dreary Sanscrit quotations to the simpler 
 narrative of Krishna Das himself. 
 
 Krishna Das was born at Jhamatpur near Katwa 
 in the district of Burdwan, and was a Vaidya by caste. 
 He v^^as a devout Vaishnava and travelled to Vrindavan, 
 in which place he probably composed his Chaitaiiva 
 Cfiaritamrita. The date of the book is not known. 
 Very probably it was written some twenty years after 
 Vrindavan Das had written his book. It is, we think, 
 in every respect superior to the w^ork of Vrindavan 
 Das ; the style is simple, and the writer apparently 
 writes with feeling. The description of the rejoicings 
 in Nabadwip at the birth of Ghaitanya, the account 
 of Sachi's parting with her beloved son, and the des- 
 cription of the Rathajatra ceremony at Jagamiath, are all 
 instinct with feeling. 
 
 The third biography of Ghaitanya is Chaitanya 
 Mangal of Lochan Das. It is not considered a book 
 of high authority by the Vaishnavas. 
 
 Other voluminous Vaishnava works like Narahari's 
 Bhaktirntnakar and Madhava's Bhagavatsara, well- 
 known works in their days, are now well nigh forgotten. 
 Madhava is said to have also written a work on Chandi 
 which has been replaced by the more meritorious work 
 composed by Mukundaram. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Raghunath and his school of Logic. 
 
 Sixteenth century. 
 
 History repeats itself. The human mind often moves: 
 forward in the same direction, and by the same path^ 
 when insi)ired with fresh vigour and fresh light. There- 
 can be little in common between the age of rationalism" 
 and reform irr ancient rndia, — the sixth century before 
 Christ, and the age of renaissance in modern India, — 
 the sixteenth- century after Christ. The- Hindu- nation- 
 was free and the Hindu mind was untrammelled in- 
 the ancient age ; the nation was subject to a foreign 
 rule and its energies and thoughts were cribbed and 
 confined in the moderrt age. BXit nevertheless it is 
 impossible not to recognize in the renaissance of the- 
 sixteenth century after Ciirist a pale reflection of the 
 movement which was witnessed in the sixth century 
 before Christ. 
 
 Buddhism had almost died' out in Bengal, but it 
 was Buddhist monastic institutions and B'uddhist prin- 
 ciples of human equality and brotherhood which were 
 renovated in a Hindu guise in modem Vaishnavism. 
 And Chaitanya therefore is the modern counterpart of 
 Gautama Buddha. Ancient Hindu philosophy and logic 
 were scarcely known- in Bengalr before the sixteenth 
 century ; it was in that skck that the philosophical school* 
 
84 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 of Nabadwip was started, and Raghiinath is the modern 
 counterpart of Kapila. And lastly, Hindu orthodoxy was 
 alarmed at the spread of heterodox and philosophical 
 specniatioris in ancient India as in modern Bengal, 
 sacred laws and rules of orthodox rites were carefully 
 compiled and insisted upon, and Raghunandan of 
 modern Bengal is the counterpart of Vasishtha and 
 Gautama and other ancient compilers of sacred, laws. 
 We are afraid to proceed further with this parallel ; 
 it would be misleading to suggest a very close resem- 
 blance between India in the sixth century, B. C. and 
 India in the sixteenth century A. D. All that we wish 
 to indicate is that the Hindu mind in the modern age 
 has, under tl>e influence of new light and progress, 
 travelled once more in tl>e same direction, though 
 with feeble effort, as it did in the days of its ancient 
 vigour. 
 
 Mithila or North Behar was one of the most advanced 
 kingdoms in India from the time of Janaka in the epic 
 age,, and took a prominent part in the pi-ogress of 
 philosophy and thought which marked the seventh and 
 sixth centu-ries before Christ. It is possible that Gau- 
 tama the founder of logic flourished in Behar ; it is 
 certain that logical studies were kept up- 'm> the schools 
 of Mithila by an uninterrupted succession of scholars 
 and teachers. Pakshadhara Misra was the last of these 
 eminent scholars, and had his crowded ff^/ of logic in- 
 Mithila in the ftfteentb century ; and Vasudeb of 
 Nabadwip was one of the scholars who learnt logic irt 
 bis school. 
 
RAGHUNATH AND HIS SCHOOL OB' LOGIC. 85 
 
 Vasudeb returned to Nabadvvip with the title of 
 Sarbabhauma, and set himself up as a teacher, and the 
 three great men whose deeds have shed a bright light 
 on the sixteenth century, — Chaitanya, Raghunafcb and 
 Raghunandan, — all received their instruction in their 
 early days from- this prince of teachers. 
 
 Raghunatb was a poor orphan- and vvas blind of 
 one eye from his birth. In school he often puzzled 
 the venerable Vasudeb by his questions, and his eager 
 and inquisitive mind was not satisfied with the tradi- 
 tional solutions of difficult problems. It is said that 
 young Chaitanya and young R'aghunath were intimate 
 friends, and that the doubts and anxious enquiries of 
 Raghunath were often solved for him, by the future 
 reformer with his^ clear intellect and his strong natural 
 good sense. Raghunath thanked his friend for such 
 assistance, and hoped to pursue philosophical studies^ 
 with him through life. But their paths lay in different 
 directions ; Chaitanya went in for religious reform, and' 
 Raghunath, at the early age of twenty, Jeft his home and' 
 repaired to Mithila to complete his study of logic in. 
 that renowned "university-town." 
 
 Oid Pakshadhara Misra was still alive, and welcomed 
 his pupil's pupil to his school. In a short time however 
 he perceived that the mind of the young man was cast 
 in a different mould from, that of ordinary students, and 
 fehat traditional learning did; not satisfy him. Many 
 were the enquiries with which the young student puzzled 
 his venerable teacher, and. the fame of Raghunath spread 
 far and wide. 
 
86 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 It was necessary for a student on the completion of 
 his education to signalize him-self in a trial, and to win 
 his title. Young Raghunath fearlessly entered into a dis- 
 cussion with his teacher, and did not hesitate to demolish 
 his arguments. But it was not possible for the vener- 
 able Professor of logic to confess a defeat in the very 
 place where generations of students had looked up to 
 him as infallible. With a pardonable weakness, Paksha- 
 dhara concealed his defeat in a cloud of sophistry, and 
 humiliated his ardent opponent with bitter taunts and 
 ridicule. Young Raghunath left the school humiliated, 
 and to all appearance beaten in the discussion. 
 
 A story is then told for the accuracy of which it is 
 impossible to vouch, but which is worth repeating. 
 Smarting under disgrace and undeserved humiliation, the 
 young student is said to have sought the house of his 
 teacher by night, on vengeful thoughts intent. The 
 object of his ambition was lost, and his prospect in life was 
 ruined ; for it would be impossible to convince the 
 Hindu world that the great Pakshadiiara was wrong and 
 the unknown young student was right. His apparent 
 defeat and humiliation had ruined his prospects ; he 
 could win no title now and could open no school, no 
 students would gather round him and no one would credit 
 his acquirements and learning. A blow bad been struck, 
 such as only the heavy hand of a man, great in rank and 
 reputation, can strike on an unknown but aspiring 
 youth. The blow had fallen with fatal effect and it was 
 impossible to recover fron^ it j and the career for which 
 young Raghunatli had laboured for years, and which was 
 
RAGHUNATH AND HIS SCHOOL OF LOGIC. 87 
 
 the dream of his ambition, was lost for ever. Raghunath 
 was a ruined man, and Raghunath stole into his teacher's 
 house, — a desperate man. 
 
 The light of the full-vnoon fell on Pakshadhara's 
 house as-the old professor and his wife sat on the roof. 
 The gentle housewife was trying to please her husband, 
 but something troubled him and preyed on him. He 
 seldom replied to her and scarcely heard what she said. 
 To all appearance he had demolished young Raghunath 
 in the discussion held that day, but the good old teacher 
 could not forgive himself the art he had practised, 
 and he felt within himself that for once in his hfe he had 
 been fairly beaten, though none knew it. 
 
 Paksliadhara woke from his reveries when his gentle 
 wife spoke of the moon-beams and asked, — "Is there 
 anything in this world, lord, which is clearer and brighter 
 than the light of the autumn moon ?" " Yes, lady," 
 replied involuntarily the hoary professor, " there is a 
 young student who has come to my school from 
 Nabadwip ; — his intellect is brighter and clearer than 
 the light of the autumn moon." 
 
 Raghunath heard this conversation, his angry thoughts 
 were dispelled, he rushed forward and fell at his be- 
 loved professor's feet. Pakshadhara raised him and 
 embraced him, and the next day he confessed and pro- 
 claimed before all that Raghunath had really beaten 
 him in the discussion of the preceding day. The 
 triumph of Raghunath was complete, and he re- 
 turned to Nabadwip and founded the school of logic in 
 that place which has continued to be most renowned 
 
88 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 school of logic in India during these three centuries. 
 
 The story narrated above probably only gives 
 a concrete shape the fact that, since the sixteenth 
 century, the school of logic at Mithila has declined, and 
 the school of logic at Nabadwip has prospered. An 
 uninterrupted line of renowned logicians have flourished 
 in that town from the town of Raghunath to the 
 present day.* 
 
 Raghunath was still a poor man, but learning has 
 always been honoured in this country by high and low 
 alike, and it is said that a substantial cowherd of the 
 name of Hari Ghosh hel[)ed the young professer to build 
 his fc?/. Students from all parts of India came to the 
 scholar who had beaten Pakshadhara in logic, and 
 Raghunath lived to be a great and a famous man. 
 
 His great work in logic is Chintaviani Didhiti. Any 
 attempt to explain the contents of this book would 
 be beyond the scope of the present volume. 
 
 * I paifl a visit to a tol of losjic in Nabadwip in 1876, and met 
 students there from all parts of India. On my asking them the reason 
 of their coming to Bengal for education, they told me that while the 
 Vedas were taught at Benares, and other branches of learning in other 
 places, Logic was nowhere taught as thoroughly as at Nabadwip. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Raghunandx\n and his Institutes. 
 
 Sixteenth century. 
 
 We have remarked in the preceding chapter that Mithila 
 or North Behar was one of the most cultured kingdoms 
 in ancient India. Among all the nations of the Epic Age, 
 the Videhas of Mithila were considered the most cul- 
 tured. And when the nations of the Epic Age declined 
 in power, the Magadhas of South Behar took the lead, 
 and were for centuries the most powerful and the most 
 enlightened nation in India. There can be little doubt 
 that Bengal was first colonized by Aryans from Behar, 
 i.e., frgm the sister kingdoms of Mithila and Magadha, 
 and that for two thousand years Bengal received culture 
 and knowledge from her western sisters. And when 
 the light of modern literature and philosophy and reli- 
 gious reform dawned on Bengal in the fourteenth, fifteenth 
 and sixteenth centuries, we still mark that the light pro- 
 ceeded from the west. Chandidas's poetry was inspired 
 by Bidyapati and other poets of Mithila ; Chaitanya's 
 reform was a survival and a revival of the monastic 
 Buddhism of Magadha; Raghunath's school of logic 
 was an offshoot of the schools of Mithila ; and lastly 
 Raghunaiidan's compilation of sacred laws was in imita- 
 tion of such compilations made in Mithila. 
 
 Since the sixteenth century, however, Bengal has 
 taken the lead. Chandidas has been followed by a host 
 
'90 LITERATURE ^CfF BENGA^L. 
 
 of poets and writers in Bengal, down to the present cen- 
 tury, whose equals Behar has not produced. VaishnaVism 
 still flourishes in Bengal, and has been succeeded by the 
 more enlightened Brahmoism, based on the same princi- 
 ples of human equality and brotherhood, while Magadha 
 has witnessed no religious reforms in modern times. And 
 lastly the philosophical school of Raghunath, founded 
 in Nabadwip, is at the present day the most renowned 
 school of Hindu logic in India, while philosophy and 
 logic have declined in Mithila. 
 
 The compilation of sacred laws for the regulation of 
 the conduct of Aryan Hindus began in India before the 
 time of Buddha ^ and in those days each Sutra-Gharana 
 or distinct Sutra school had its separate body of laws 
 for the use of the followers of that particular school. 
 The Charanyavyuha names five distinct Gharanas or 
 schools of the Rig Veda, twenty-seven of the Black 
 Yajur Veda, fifteen of the White Yajur Veda, twelve of 
 the Sama Veda, and nine of the Atharva Veda. 
 
 The spread of Buddhism somewhat dislocated the old 
 arrangements, and the distinctions beween the separate 
 Sutra schools were lost. The institutes of Manu, which 
 in their existing form belong approximately to the time 
 of Ghrist, do not connect themselves with any particular 
 Sutra school, but profess to be the rules for all Aryan 
 Hindus. In other respects, however, Manu's institutes 
 are still archaic ; they recognize Vedic gods and Vedic 
 sacrifices, and ignore the modern Hindu Trinity, and 
 condemn the worship of images. 
 
 In later times, after the decline of the old Hiadu 
 
RAGHUNANDAN AND HIS INSTITUTES. Ql 
 
 races of Northern India, and even after the conquest of 
 India by the Muhammadans, bodies of sacred law still 
 continued to be compiled or recast. And these modern 
 compilations, like those of Vyasa and Parasara, inculcate 
 modem H;induism!and modern usages-, and the worship of 
 images. 
 
 The entire body of sacred laws,, viz.^ the Sutras,. 
 IVTanu's institutes, and the later law books, are spoken of 
 together as Smrifi ; and the study of Smriti is still a very 
 important portion of orthodox training all over India. It 
 may well be imagined that the study of Smriti was not 
 neglected in Mithila,,and spread from Mithila to BengaL 
 In the ninth century after Christ, Medhatithi flourished 
 in Mithila,, and wrote the first great and authoritative 
 commentary on MTanu's institutes. Rengal followed the 
 lead, and soon distanced her western sister. Kullukabhatta 
 was the son of t>ibakarabhatta, and was born near Gaur 
 in the fourteenth century. His commentary on Manu's 
 institutes has almost replaced all others, and has been; 
 pronounced by so great an authority as Sir William Jones 
 to be the most clear, the most concise, and the most 
 perspicuous commentary that has ever been written. 
 
 In the eleventh' century after Christ,. Vijnanesvara^ 
 of Western India- compiled the law of succession, calledi 
 Ihe Mitakshara, which prevails in Behar and in the west. 
 The law of succession in Bengal is somewhat different ; 
 and in the fourteenth century, Jimutavahana of Bengal 
 compiled the Dayabhaga, which has since been consi- 
 dered the authoritative work on Hindu succession, in- 
 
92 LITERATURE OF J3ENGAL. 
 
 Bengal. Colebiooke has translated both Mitakshara and 
 Dayabhaga into English. 
 
 But it was left to Raghunandan to compile a com- 
 plete code of ruks for religious rites and observances, 
 as they obtain ii> Bengal in the modern age, Raghu- 
 nandan was also of Nabadwip, and was by about twenty 
 years junior to Chaitanya and Raghunath ;. and he is 
 said to have also received his early training from the 
 venerable Vasudeb Sarbabhauma. No other school 
 master in the world has perhaps turned out such three 
 brilliant and great men as Chaitanya, Raghunath and 
 Raghunandan ! 
 
 While Chaitanya devoted himself to religious 
 reform, while Raghunath spent his life in philosophical 
 and logical studies, Raghunandan made his mark by 
 an authoritative and exhaustive compilation of the 
 rules of orthodox rites and observarjces for the people 
 of Bengal. He divided this great work into twenty- 
 eight chapters, each devoted to a separate subject,* and 
 he based his rules on a profusion of quotations from 
 the highest authorities. He laboured for twenty-five 
 
 * He himself specifies the twenty-eight subjects thvis : — 
 
 ^f^?^^^ ?fTi^(c5t Tir^K? <5f^fi{^'?:Tf I 
 
 ^v5f^T ^^c^t-^nc-sf ^c?rt<^^^ ^C!i ;^?:^ It . 
 <2ff^#t?f? ''^ff^t'sri^ csritfst^ ^l^-^^c^ I 
 fr^t^t? ^%^ ^?:^T CJpcu ^^^^c^l^c^ II 
 
RAGHUNANDAN ANI> HIS INSTITUTES. 93 
 
 years over this great work, and it remains a m-omiment, 
 hot only of his industry and learning, but also of his 
 comprehensive genius. 
 
 It is needless to state that Raghunandan's institutes, 
 though still considered the authoritative work in the 
 matter of rites ar>d ol^servances in Bengal, is losing its 
 importance with the progress of the tinges. An orthodox 
 work which insists with the utmost rigour on distinctions 
 between Brahmans and non-Brahmans (miscalled Sudras) 
 must lose its weight m an age when the non-Brahmans 
 also claim to be true bom Aryan Hindus, entitled to 
 the learning and the privileges of Aryan Hindus. A work 
 which multiplies and insists on purile rites and hurtful 
 restrictions must become obsolete, when the rites are 
 ignored and the restrictions are disregarded,, in pursuit 
 of progress and national well-being. A work which lays 
 down the duties of Hindu widows with cruel severity, 
 and recommends the burning of widows on the pyre, 
 must fall into disrepute when widow-marriage has been 
 legalized, and the burning of widows has been stamped 
 out as an offence and a crime against humanity. A more 
 advanced and healthier compilation of rules for the 
 social and religious use of modern Hindus, based on 
 their ancient scriptures, has become a desideratum. 
 
 These remarks should not be considered as a reflec- 
 tion against Raghunandan ; it is no fault of that 
 great compiler that the times have changed, and that 
 the rules compiled by him are no longer observed. 
 The scholar and the student can respect the laws 
 of Manu or of Justinian, although those laws have 
 
^94 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 become obsolete among modern Hindus and modern 
 Romans. 
 
 The school of Smriti started by Raghunandan still 
 continues in Nabadvvip. Eminent teachers have handed 
 down the traditional learning from generation to genera- 
 tion, and students still attend the Smriti tols of that 
 classic town, the Oxford of Bengal. 
 
 Besides Nyaya^ and Smriti other branches of Sanscrit 
 learning have also been studied in' Bengal. In Vyakarana 
 or grammar, Bopadeva of Bengal is the greatest writer 
 that modern. India has- produced. And Krishnananda 
 of Nabadwip, who was a contemporary of Chaitanya, 
 was a great compiler of Tantra literature, a literature 
 which flourishes in Bengal only among all the provinces 
 of India. We do not believe however that the other pro- 
 vinces lose much by the absence of this class of litera- 
 ture, as it only reproduces Buddhist superstitious rites 
 and practices in a Hindu guise, with, much that is dark, 
 cruel and reprehensible. Similar Tantra works and 
 Tantra practices are known in Thibet and other Bud- 
 dhist countries to this day. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 "MuKUNDA Ram and ms Chand!. 
 
 Seventeenth century. 
 
 TilE brilliant sixteenth century, which witnessed the 
 rise of Chaitanya, Raghunath and Raghunandan in 
 Bengal, also witnessed the conquest of that country by 
 the great Akbar, with the help of his Hindu generals 
 Todar Malla and Man Sinha. These events influenced 
 the national mind, and the first original poem in Bengali, 
 apart from songs and translations, was composed in 
 the seventeenth century. Makunda Rarii Chakrabafti 
 has fortunately left uS some account of himself and 
 his times. He was born in the village of Daminya, 
 near Salimabad, in the District of Burdwan. He was 
 the son of Hriday Misra, and the grandson of Jagannath 
 Misra, and he had an elder brother of the name of 
 Kabi Chandra- He tells us that when Man Sinha 
 became the ruler of Bengal, the oppression of a sub- 
 ordinate Muhammadan officer drove him from his 
 home, and that after long wanderings he found a kind 
 protector in Bankura Deb, a Zemindar in the District 
 of Midnapur. The seat of this Zemindar was in the 
 village of Anra, and he engaged the learned guest as a 
 tutor to his son, Raghunath, who subsequently succeeded 
 his father in the estate, and finds frequent mention in 
 the poet's work. 
 
 It is so seldom that a poet leaves us an account of 
 himself and his times, that we cannot resist the tempta- 
 
96 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 tion of quoting the whole of the account left by Mukunda 
 Ram in a note.* We give the substance of it in English. 
 
 * ^% ^^nfQ^ ^t<i«i 1 
 
 ^t ^^ ^^ c^^ ^z^ I 
 
 5fv3^1 ^f^T^fl ^15%^ II 
 
 ?t^1 ^t^f^'vi:^^ ^t:^ ^^U ^1:^^ ^c^ 
 
 vftfr^t^ 'iT^? ^f^^ 11 
 
 *f t^ c-nt^ c^? ^if^ c^c^ I 
 c^^^f^^^^tf^ ^ferc^i II 
 
 ^tf^t? ^€t^ ^tc^ -sf^t^l ^^tii ^tc^ 
 
 «r«n ^1^ ^iif r^ c^c5 "^c^^ ^;^tf% 
 
MUKUNDA RAM AND HIS CHANDI. 97 
 
 *^ The ancestors of Mukunda Ram to the sixth or 
 seventh generation hved in the petty village of Daminya, 
 engaged in agricultural pursuits. It appears that when 
 
 *l^m ^W '^fl ^^ Ttt ^t^ -Jfl 
 
 ^f^ t^^i ^f^^ i\<^ ^m I 
 
 nt'^ ^ot f^^Ti ^w^z^ a 
 c^^^?r ^^^^ ^^ -^tir f5|^ f^w 
 
 '^mwi^ ^^ ^^^ f^^ II 
 t^^ f^^i t^^ ^R ^f^^ ^*f^ ni=T 
 
 f»t^ ^K^ vQ?:5{^ ^ci 11 
 «(t«f^ ^^rnr ^rv5i ti?R?j *rf^^ c^t^i 
 
 ^m ^R3!fc^ f^^ Tftt c^t ^tii'T 
 5€r c?^i fjfiq^ ^nc^ II 
 
 ^:;5f^ w^^^ ^^ ^tf^ <5ftr^ c^t^T m 
 ^t^l ml sffn f^^i f^xsj 11 
 
 C^ft ^^ ^^1 ^t^l RCq^ FI«| f t^ 
 
 ^t®1 m^^ ^fk^ 7i#r^ I 
 *3 
 
gS LITER ATURT?. OF BENGAL. 
 
 Man Sinha became the ruler of Bengal, Muhammad 
 Sharif, an oppressive man, was invested with power and in- 
 fluence, and as a consequence the people were grievously 
 oppressed. Brahmans and Vaishnavas, traders and 
 agriculturists, were subjected to equal tyranny ; fallow 
 lands were entered as arable ; 15 katas of land were 
 reckoned as a bigah by a vicious system of measurement. 
 Every Rupee was short by 2^ annas. The agriculturists 
 began to sell off their cattle and grain, of which there 
 was a glut in the market, so that things of the value of 
 a rupee sold for 10 annas. Gopirtath Nandi, the Talukdar 
 under whom the poet held his lands, and who is des- 
 cribed as a pious man, got into a scrape and was im- 
 prisoned. 
 
 ^tWl ^t^^ f f5f '^l^ *J,^R ^t^ 
 
 f-r<s ^cf ^^c\ fsiatf^^ I 
 
 ^^ ^f^T ^to ^r^^ II 
 Tic^ ^iTt^i ^ c^ ^tc^ ^^n^i Tff^ 
 
 ^n^u i^i^-^ ^^«i II 
 
MUKUNDA RAM AND HIS CHANDI. 99 
 
 After consultation with the wise Srimanta Khan 
 of Chandibati, our poet left the home of his fathers 
 in bitter grief to seek shelter elsewhere. He reached 
 Bhetna, where Jadu Kundu, as the poet gratefully re- 
 cords, gave him food and shelter for three days. Honest 
 Jadu Kundu ! Little did he dream when, in compliance 
 with one of the most amiable customs of the country, he 
 gave shelter to a poor houseless stranger, that for his 
 good service, for which he sought no return, his name 
 would live in immortal verse. The poet then went down 
 the Gharai and crossed the Darakeswar, and reached 
 Pandurpur, where Gangadas did him some service. At 
 last Mukunda Ram crossed the Damodar and reached 
 Kuchutya in much distress, the children crying for food. 
 Oppressed with hunger, the poet fell asleep near a 
 tank, and saw the goddess Cnandi in a vision, and 
 she bade him sing her glory. Soon after, the poet 
 found shelter in the village of Anra in the district of 
 Midnapur, where he accosted the zemindar Bankura Deb 
 in verse for which he was rewarded with five arts of 
 dhan. The zemindar received the talented stranger with 
 open arms, and engaged him as a tutor to his son, Raghu- 
 nath. In those days zemindars delighted in gathering 
 learned and talented men round them, and as there was 
 no reading public, this was the only sort of encouragement 
 that learning received. 
 
 Mukunda Ram, who obtained the title of Kabi 
 Kankan, had two sons, Sivaram and Mahesh, and two 
 daughters Chitrarekha and Jashoda. The descendants of 
 the poet still live, not in Daminya, but in the neighbouring 
 
lOO LITER ATTJRE OF BENGAL. 
 
 village of Bainan. The descendants of Kaghunath, the 
 pupil and protector of the poet, live in Senapat a 
 village about four miles from Anra ; their estates have 
 all been taken over by the Kaja of Kurd wan. 
 
 Mukunda Ram has left us two poems. Tlie first is the 
 tale of Kalaketu, a hunter, and his wife Fullara ; and the 
 other one is the celebrated story of Srimanta Sadagar, 
 We will briefiy nrarrate the plot of each poem. 
 
 The book begins, as usual, with prayers to several 
 gods and goddesses, and with an account of Chandi, her 
 previous existence as the daughter of Daksha, the destruc- 
 tion of his celebrated sacrifice by Siva, Chandi^s second 
 birth as the daughter of the Himalayas, the destruction 
 of Kama, the grief and religious penances of Chandi, 
 and her final union with Siva.* Then follows the story of 
 Kalaketu. 
 
 Kalaketu the hero of the poem is a hunter of 
 k)w birth, and jxav^es to be the strongest among the 
 strong. He frequents the wood every day with his bow 
 and arrowsy and kills wild beasts, often fighting numbers 
 of tliem &ingle-hai?ded. His fame as a brave young 
 hunter increases day by day, and in course of time he is 
 married to Fullara. The married life of Kalaketu and 
 
 * For want of sixice we are imable to make any extracts, but 
 the reader will dnd many passages in this part of the work full of 
 the choicest humour. We would refer him to the disputes between 
 Haia and Parvati, as well as to the retjrets of women at their own 
 evil fate, when they see the handsome face and form of the bride- 
 groom, vSiva. Most of our readers know the celebrated passages of 
 Bharat Chandra on similar subjects, but most of them do not know 
 that these passages of Bharat Chandra are only imitations from the 
 original of Mukunda Ram. 
 
MUKUNDA RAM AND HIS CHANDI. lOI 
 
 Fullara has been well depicted by the poet, and the 
 strongest impression that one receives from a perusal 
 of the poem is its intense reality. The hunter, strong 
 and robust, but somewhat rude in his habits, frequents, 
 the forests and lives on the proceeds of his spoil. And 
 the poor but faithful Fullara takes the meat to the market, 
 cooks food for her husband, and administers to his wants 
 like a careful housewife that she is. 
 
 But Chandi will not allow her favourite Kalaketu to 
 pine in poverty. She appears in his hut during his 
 absence as a woman of superb beauty, and gives Fullara 
 to understand that she is desirous of sharing with 
 her the affections of Kalaketu. Poor, simple-minded 
 Fullara ! She is in a great fright at seeing a rival of 
 such beauty, and with ill-concealed jealousy she ad- 
 vises her to return to her husband, and never to leave 
 the paths of virtue. A long conversation ensues, and 
 the whole is one of the most interesting passages in the 
 work. The fair intruder however is immovable, and we 
 almost think we see the smile of ridicule which curls her 
 sweet lips as she listens to her rival. Fullara then 
 discourses on her own sorrows, and tries to dissuade 
 the fair visitant from sharing them, and the eloquence 
 with which she dwells on her poverty and troubles 
 all the twelve months in the year, would almost affect 
 any listener. But the disguised goddess says, truly 
 enough, that she has wealth of her own with which 
 she will make Kalaketu happy. Throughout the pas- 
 sage the replies of the goddess have a double meaning. 
 Most of our Bengali readers are familiar with the 
 
I02 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 account in Bharat Chandra's poetry, which Chandi gives 
 of herself to Iswar the!.ferryman when he takes her across 
 the river. The goddess, while virtually giving a true 
 account of herself, makes the ferryman believe that she is 
 a poor woman who has left her husband's home in grief. 
 But most of our readers are «^/ aware that the passage 
 is only a copy of a similar passage in Mukunda Ram's 
 poetry, and in some places it is a copy word for word.* 
 
 * We give a few extracts here from the remarkable conversation 
 between F'ullara and Chandi, but prudently refrain from venturing 
 to translate them into English. 
 
 ^^i^ ^m] ^rl^i f^f^iii ^it<T II 
 
 cwm ^t% ^1^1^ w\-^\ "^^ ^^I ^^1 
 
 f*r^^m ^ti^ ^tR ^f^ ^■^fi'V^ II 
 ^'tfi ^"vCH f^fvs csrt^ Tt:n?l c^Rf^i I 
 Tft^ 7f^ ^^ ^r>T f^^^ wm^ II 
 
 ^t =^tc^ ?F «^ m ^r^ C^ ^^f^ B 
 
 ^t^H ^fT>^l n:^ f s^t? ^c^ II 
 ^? f^^ ^^'^ ^'if^^rcJT ^^^t I 
 ^? ^t?i ^?(1 ^?1 nmmi ^^1 II 
 
 ^^Tii ^5f?i -nts^ ai^f^ ^^'f It 
 
MUKUNDA RAM AND HIS CAHNDI. 1 03 
 
 We should add that here, as elsewhere, the extracts we 
 have given from Mukunda Ram are from the scholarly- 
 edition of his works compiled from old manuscripts. 
 
 Fullara says :— 
 
 The goddess in disguise says ; — 
 
 ^t^ ^icw «f^c?r ^^^^ I 
 ^^^ ^^^ ^rtii- ^ftl ^t^^ ^tft Ft^ 
 
 clt^ ^^t8?f^ T^ ^t^^ II 
 3Tf^C^I Ti'jftsT C^Tf C-sifl ^n^f (^ 
 
 ^f^^TR 5Ttf^ (Tsrfq ^rf^ I 
 
 f^f«( t?F^ ^^^1 ^t^^ Tf^c^^ ^\^\ 
 nf^^tcn ^t^i c^^ ^t^ II 
 
104 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 Poor Fullara, when she finds all her entreaties and 
 tears are of no avail, leaves the hut and goes to meet 
 her husband in the agony of her heart. She returns 
 
 'ft^ ^^^ ^rf% ^t^\5 c^cn I 
 
 srsf^t^^ Tf^^tc^ <^tf^^ ftR^ '^tc^ 
 ^tfw ^^^s TT'Mtfi fr^ II 
 
 $l^r^ ^^«i ?Pi ^ci II 
 
 Fullara says ; — 
 
 ■^^ c^^ ^? ^f5 nff ftv? f^isr tf^ 
 
 C5?f ^ci^ ^^ CTt^ ?t^ II 
 
MUKUNDA RAM AND HIS CHANDI. I05 
 
 with Kalaketu who is equally struck at the remarkable 
 beauty of the fair visitant, but politely rebukes her for 
 coming alone into his house. Chandi makes no reply, 
 on which Kalaketu, with his accustomed boorishness, 
 wants to send her out somewhat unceremoniously, and 
 even takes to his bow and arrows. But lo ] his strength 
 fails him, and he stands like a pictured warrior, un- 
 able to shoot. Chandi then discovers herself, and to 
 make a long story short, points out the spot where 
 gold and treasures are buried, and Kalaketu be- 
 comes a rich man. By order of Chandi he hews down 
 a forest, and founds a new town dedicated to the 
 goddess. 
 
 In his account of the founding of the new town the 
 poet gives us a graphic picture of the manners of the 
 times in which the work was written. The way in whicti 
 raiyats were induced to settle in a new village, the rights 
 and immunities promised to them, the loan of cattle and 
 grain and money given them, the different customs of the 
 people of different faiths and castes, — -Muhammadans, 
 Brahmans, Vaidyas, Kayasthas, Goalas, Telis, Kamars, 
 Kumars, &c., — all this has been depicted with a fidelity 
 and photographic minuteness unequalled in the whole 
 range of Bengali literature. 
 
 Among the men who come to dwell in the new town, 
 Gujrat, is one Bharu Datta an astute Kayastha and an 
 impudent impostor. The poet has displayed a remark- 
 able power in delineating this character. His vanity is 
 unbounded, and the coolest impudence supplies the 
 place of real worth. We subjoin a passage in which 
 
 14 
 
lo6 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 Bharu Datta at his first meeting with Kalaketu gives 
 a boastful account of himself. There is a vein of the 
 richest humour pervading the passage.* 
 
 c^f^l ^t^i ^^1 vf^ fi^\ c^vs\ c^t^i ^^ 
 
 ^^5(C?^^9 m^1 II 
 
 ^\i^ ^tf^c^ vit^^^cvs I 
 
 c^t^ ^^ ^?r| ^^ ^tril c^? s(^ 
 
 fs^us ^^^ ^grl TfTT'f^ y 
 
 CT^ ^t1% ^^ilT? ^^=T II 
 
 ^ ''If^^t^ c^^ ^^ ^tfr ^tl% ^t^t 
 
 ^ wwl i^ c5fr ^^ c^ Tff^ T^tlt 
 
 «rr?F f?^1 ^ ^'^i^ ^t\5t II 
 «(tw ^«i^ fwc^ t.^ fH^ c^ f^^ ^ 
 
 ^rf^ <ttar ^f^ ^1^1 t^i ®Ftf^ ^^ 1^^ 
 
MUKUNDA RAM AND HIS CHANDr. I07 
 
 The late hunter is no good judge of character ; 
 he takes Bharu Datta at his word, and honors hirrt 
 and entrusts him with power. Such men when' in- 
 vested with power invariably turn oppressive, and 
 Bharu Datta is no exception to the rule^ The people 
 loudly murmur, and Kalaketu finds out his mistake 
 and turns Bharu out of his office. With his usual 
 effrontry and cunmng, Bharu goes over to the King 
 of Kalinga, arouses his jealousy at the sudden great- 
 ness of Kalaketu, and brings about a war between 
 the two kings. Kalaketu is beaten and confined, but 
 Chandi will not desert her follower. She appears in a- 
 vision to the King of Kalinga ; and the next morning 
 Kalaketu is released and sent to his own country, and 
 Bharu Datta is disgraced. 
 
 The story of Srimanta Sada^gar, which forms the- 
 subject of the second poem of Mukunda Ram, is so- 
 well known to most of our readers that a brief account 
 of it will sufKce. Dhanapati, a Gandha Banik by caste 
 and trader by profession, exhibits his pigeons to the king 
 one day, and it so happens that one of the pigeons 
 flies off and drops where KhuUana a girl of twelve 
 is playing. Dhanapati goes to her and demands her 
 pigeon, and is at the same time pleased with the amiable 
 
Io8 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 face and demeanour of the young girl. His wife is a 
 cousin of Khullana, and as merry repartees are allowed 
 between such relatives, Khullana replies to him merrily 
 and wittily. Proposals follow, and KhuUana's father con- 
 sents to the match. But his wife Ramhhabati naturally 
 hesitates to give her only girl to a man who has already 
 a wife, and administers a sound curtain lecture to her 
 mate, spiced with such mild epithets as "%^ "^m ^|C^ 
 ^^", whth which many a; careful house-wife in modern 
 as well as in ancient times has expressed her kind re- 
 gards for her husband. The bridegroom Dhanapatt 
 too has the benefit of a similar lecture from his wife 
 Lahana, cousin of Khullana, for wishing to marry 
 again at tiiis mature age ; but a kind word turneth 
 away wrath, and Dhanapati knows the truth of the saying. 
 He accosts I^ihana in the poMtest of terms, says that 
 the new bride is only to relieve L^.hana of her menial 
 work, and gives her gold for ornaments which have 
 alwayS' a magic effect in comforting and composing 
 the female mind. The marriage follows, but the happy 
 pair are not allowed to taste its sweets. The king 
 wishes to have a golden cage for a pet bird, and 
 Dhanapati is ordered to go to Eastern Bengal where 
 such articles were man:ufactured. Dhanapati leaves his 
 village in the District of Burdwan, leaving his new 
 wife Khullana to the tender mercies of her fellow-wife 
 Lahana. 
 
 For same time the two wives live in peace, but as- 
 often happens in Hindu families, a female servant 
 foments their jealousies and arouses their hatred towards. 
 
MUKUNDA RAM AND HIS CHANDI. lOg' 
 
 each other. Durbala, a character very powerfully drawn, 
 repairs to the elder wife Lahana, discourses on the beauty 
 of Khullana, and impresses on Lahana that Dhana- 
 pati will neglect her on his return. Such insinuations 
 arouse Lahana's jealousy, and after some subterfuges 
 she has a letter forged^ purporting to come from 
 Dhanapati, and directing that Khullana should be 
 employed in tending goats. Khullana is no patient 
 Griselda, for Mukunda Ram never paints characters with 
 superhuman virtues or vices. Khullana, though the 
 heroine of the poem, is like any ordinary woman of flesh 
 and blood, and it is no part of the poet's scheme ta 
 represent her as possessed of extraordinary patience or 
 virtue. She falls out with her fellow-wife, and even returns 
 her taunts and blows. 
 
 Khullana however succumbs at last, and consents to 
 take out her husband's goats every day to the fields to 
 graze. With a heavy heart and bitter tears she goes 
 through this unaccustomed and humiliating task, and 
 the account of her long sufferings and sorrows and 
 of her wanderings in fields and jungles, her soliloquies 
 and addresses to birds, her sleep and her dream of 
 her mother, — these are among the most affecting passages 
 in the work.* 
 
 * We make a few extracts here. 
 
 ^j;s^i ^m^ ^tc^ ^tn tw}^ ^tcJT !• 
 c^r>i b{['\^i-^ ^m\ ^tf^ nn ^^ ii 
 
no UTERA.TURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 Chandi at last comes to the rescue of Khullana. She 
 appears to Lahana in a vision and upbraids her, and 
 Lahana repents, embraces Khullana as her sister, and 
 
 ^\^iK ^^t^ c^r^ fsi^ ^"^ ^1 I 
 
 ^^r^^ 7rf%c^ 'fift ^^ 1^1 II 
 
 fW^ f55( 5lf^ ^f^1 ^1 C?^ Cn55T If 
 SS^'^ ^C^ t^^ *r^<^^tl5T ^tC5^ I 
 
 ^f^^ ^m ^ft^ f^? «2f^t»r II 
 ^t^ ^v5^ tn^ f^^ B^tf^ -sn^T I 
 tp^f^ "^"^ '^^^ ^f^"^ ^"^f^t II 
 
 ^*rt^ fV'N^^ ^c^ ^f*r ^i^^ II 
 
 ^5ff^TI1 ^Sjt^l ^^f¥ C^^ «(R I 
 ^n^t«( ^Ccf C^t^ ^C^ ^Tsffsf II 
 
 It was for a ^«>6 bird that her kusl:>and went to East Bengal to* 
 procure a golden cage, and Khullana bursts forth in>fco an exclamation* 
 of grief on seeing a pair of Suk birds on the tree : — 
 
 ^tfl ^^1 ^f'f f^CcT ^l-^-^ TN'd I 
 
 c^\^ c^^1 osftt^t'^r c^fcT ?tf^ ^tt ^t^ 
 
MUKUNDA RAM AND HIS CHANDI. Ill 
 
 relieves her of her humiliating work. Soon after Dhana- 
 pati, who like an easy-going, pleasure-loving man was 
 leading a life of pleasure in Eastern Bengal, returns to his 
 country with the golden cage, and who is so happy 
 
 Tt^Q ^f^ C^\^ ^-^M II 
 ^^^5 C^ TTfft ^^T t^^1 ^t^CI ^^ 
 
 ^^'^f liTm ^^ ^^n II 
 
 KhuUana makes a similar exclamation on seeing some bees 
 collecting honey from flowers : — 
 
 ^\ ^H ^^ '^'^ I 
 f&^ l^^ 5^f^^ II 
 
 f5^ l^^ CJ{U C5n II 
 
112 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 as the young and beauteous Khullana, the darb'ng of 
 her husband ? 
 
 f^^ F^r^^ ^f? ^t^ ^^ 
 
 f^^^^ ^t^a ^1% I 
 
 ^''':? ^ri:^t^m c^r^ t^^f^ ^t^ 
 ^1 <?s^ f^^f ^tit I 
 
 c^rfV^i ^^t^ %^ I 
 f^? ^#^ ^^^^ t5^ 
 
 ^^ c^tvj ^1% f*rc^ II . 
 
 ^fjT^ ^tt^ ^^5? I 
 
 ti^R ^^1 ^t^ II 
 
 KhuUana's address to the Kokil also deserves to be quoted :— 
 
 TR^'^r^ fw^rf^f-r f^^j ^^tw f^r^ 
 
 ^«( t^cci ^s[f^ ^5^ II 
 
MUKUNDA RAM AND HIS CHANDI. II3 
 
 We shall not dwell on the joy of the young wife on 
 the return of her husband ; nor on the schemes of Durbala 
 who, true to her character, goes first to congratulate 
 KhuUana with " ^(^ ^C^^ cw\^ ^1 ^itf^^tl^ m<['' &c., and 
 then to Lahana to foment her anger and jealousy with 
 *^ ^r^ m^^ W -srl ^-^U ^f^ ^^' &c. Then follows a graphic 
 account of Durbala's bringing things from the market and 
 the young wife cooks them with skill of a <://y^(? <:///V/;z^ 
 to please her husband. Lahana attempts to conceal her 
 cruelty towards KhuUana by many specious excuses, 
 
 ^t^ ^f? ^\^ ^t'« "sifc^^ XNI ^t^ 
 
 ^7\i^^ *rc^^ cwt^rt I 
 c^U ?i^ '^^^<[ ^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^ 
 
 fn^w^ft ^t^ ^^^1 li 
 
 ''It^ ^t^ ^t5{| ^5T ^^t^f ^^t^5T 
 
 ^^r^^ ^m (Tf^ -sffss II 
 
 ^5 
 
114 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 and vainly tries to dissuade Khiillana from going M her 
 lord. Needless it is to dwell on the raptures of the meet- 
 ing between Dhanapati and Khullana who appears in 
 superb dress and beauty, recourrts her sufferings, but 
 forgets them all in the en>braces of her lord. 
 
 But there is no rest for the merchant. The king is 
 in want of some spices, and Dhanapati must again leave 
 his home and his young wife, then with child, and 
 sail to Ceylon for the spices. Going down the Ajay 
 river, the vessel comes to th-e modern Hugli River, and 
 Successively passes by Nabadwip, Santipur, Tribeni, and 
 then comes into the boisterous Megna. There a storm 
 arises and destroys most of the boats. The merchant then 
 comes into the land of the Firingis (Portuguese) whom the 
 poet has described in very lincomplimeiUary language. 
 After this the merchant must come out into the open sea, 
 and the poet's notions of geography become somewhat 
 hazy, for he makes bis hero pass first through a sea of 
 prawns and lobsters, then through a sea of crabs, then 
 through one of snakes, then of alligators, then of cowries, 
 then of conches ! Any how the merchant at last manages 
 to come to Setubandha and thence to Celyon. In the 
 adjacent seas Dhanapati sees, through the deception of 
 Chandi, a marvellous sight, vii., that of a damsel of 
 superb beauty sitting on a lotus and swallowing an ele- 
 phant ! He narrates this story to the King of Ceylon who 
 takes him to be a liar and an impostor and imprisons 
 him, and so ends his adventure. 
 
 At Ujjaini, Khullana has a son whom she names 
 Sfipati or Srimanta. In course of time the infant grows 
 
IVrUKUNDA RA^r AND RIS CHANDI. 115 
 
 «p to a boy, and with other boys goes to the village 
 Patshala. One day, the guru gets an«;ry with Srimanta, 
 and taunts him in very vulgar terms in reference to the 
 absence of his father. The boy returns home, and 
 though of tender years, resolves on going, in quest of his 
 father. All persuasion is vain, the boy has. the de^ 
 termination of a man, and he has made up his mind. 
 
 Poor KhuJiana has not the heart to let her son go 
 to that distant region from whose bourne his father had 
 not returned ; but Chandi comes down, coiisoles the 
 distressed mother, and promises to take special care of 
 the son. Snmanta Sadagar sets sail,, and in due time 
 reaches Ceylon after witnessing the strange damsel on 
 the lotus whom his father had seen. He repeats the 
 story to the King of Ceylon who orders him to be executed 
 for telling a lie. Poor Srimanta is led to the place of 
 execution, but still remains unaltered in his faith towards 
 Chandi, whom headdressesin the thirty-four consonants of 
 the Bengali alphabet, — an address which Bharat Chandra 
 has imitated in his Bidya Sundar. The goddess descends 
 in the shape of an old Brahman woman, and ultimately 
 rescues Srimanta after beating back the whole force of 
 the king. The king at last discovers Chandi and wor- 
 ships her, honors her protege Srimanta, and promises to 
 bestow his daughter Susila on him. But Srimanta is dis- 
 consolate, and will not marry till he sees his father. At 
 his request the king releases all the prisoners, and they 
 are one by one provided with money and things and sent 
 home. The heart of the child throbs at the sight of his 
 iatber whom he has never seen before,, and the old man 
 
Il6 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 gives a true account of himself to the young Srimantay. 
 little knowing that it is his own son he is speaking to^ 
 Srinianta still remains incognito, and hands over the last 
 will and testament which his father had left with Khullana 
 before leaving home. AffectiDg is the passage in which 
 the old man, on seeing the letter, suddenly recollects 
 his distant home and cries out in bitter grief. The son 
 discovers himself, and they both return home to the 
 bosom of their family. 
 
 Such are the plots of Mukund^i Ram's poems ; witli 
 regard to the merits of his poetry we have said much 
 already. Its most remarkable feature rs its intense 
 reality. Many of the incidents are superhuman and mira- 
 culous, but the thoughts and feelings and sayings of 
 his men and women are perfectly natural, recorded with 
 a fidelity which has no parallel in the whole range of 
 Bengali literature. 
 
 The characters of Mukunda Ram, too, are not 
 princes and princesses, but men and women in the 
 ordinary ranks of life, a hunter of low caste and his 
 wife, a trader and his two wives. The poet has no 
 ordinary powers of character-painting. All the pictures 
 he has drawn are from life ; and often, without almost 
 intending it, he hits off in a few lines a character, 
 clear and distinguishable from all others. Kalaketu is a 
 boorish, strong, brave and simple-miuded hunter, Fullara 
 a poor dutiful wife, Murari Sil an astute shop-keeper, 
 Bharu Datta an impudent and pretending impostor, 
 Dhanapati an ease-loving, easy-going, elderly, well-to-da 
 trader, Lahana and Khullana are rival wives, with all 
 
MUKUNDA RAM AND HIS CHANDI. II^ 
 
 the faults and angry passions of rival wives, and Durbala 
 is a scheming old servant^ with all the nciischievousness 
 and self-importance of old servants in Hindu households. 
 Pathos is a strong point in Mukunda Ram's writings. 
 A sufferer himself, he has a ready sympathy for all 
 sufferers ; and poor Fullara and poor Khullana are not 
 ordinary sufferers. Mukunda Ram's language is flowing^ 
 perspicuous and musical, and a quiet humour pervades 
 his poetry. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 Ram Prasad and his Songs. 
 
 Eighteenth century. 
 
 It is possible to be a true poet without being a great 
 poet, and Ram Prasad Sen is a true poet, every inch of 
 him. In his hfe and acts, no less than in his songs, the 
 poet predominates over the man. 
 
 Raja Krishna Chandra Rai of Madiya will always- 
 figure in the annals of Bengali literature as a liberal and 
 enlightened patron of learning. The court of Krishna 
 Chandra was an assemblage of poets and learned Brah- 
 mans. Of these, two have left their names and works 
 to posterity. Ram Prasad Sen and Bharat Chandra Rai 
 are the two great poets of the eighteenth century. 
 
 Ram Prasad Sen, a Vaidya by caste, was born in< 
 Kumarhatta in Halisahar in the district of Nadiya, pro- 
 bably about i7?o. He was the son of Ram Ram Sen^ 
 and the grandson of Rameswara Sen ; and he had a son 
 named Ram Dtilal, and a daughter nan>ed Jagadiswari. 
 
 In early life he went to Calcutta as a Sarkar or 
 agent of a well-to-do citizen ; but like Frank Osbaldi- 
 stone, he ftlled his ledger books with poetry, and 
 composed songs when he should have cast up accounts. 
 The Head Sarkar took offence at this gross breach of 
 all rules and precedents, and took the trembling 
 young poet and his account books to his master.. 
 
RAM PRASAD AND HIS SONGS. II9 
 
 The latter, however, very unlike the elder Mr. Osbaldis- 
 tone, appreciated the talent of the young novice ; and 
 what was the surprise of the old Sarkar when the master, 
 instead of reproving the bad accountant, admired the 
 true poet, a^nd sent hirn back to his native village on a 
 pension of 30 Rupees per mensem. It is seldom that 
 men of business appreciate talent so quickly or honor 
 genius so handsomely. We transcribe the song which is 
 said to have specially charmed the young accountant's 
 master. It is a song addressed to the goddess Kali, 
 and clothed in metaphor, as Ram Prasad's songs 
 generally are.* 
 
 Ram Prasad, once more in his native village, gave 
 full vent to his talent for songs. He had no work to do, 
 no cares and anxieties to disturb his peace. Life for 
 him was as a sweet poem, — one sweet song full of 
 pathos and feeling. He was a Tantrika a devout wor- 
 shipper of Kali, and he was careless of this world, and 
 
 ^tR c^^^ m\T{ jf^ *i?1% II 
 
>I20 ■t.ITE'RAttTRE OF BENGAL. 
 
 -lived in liis faith in Kali. Kali or Sakti, Durga or 
 Chandi, is not an unapproachable deity ; she is the 
 ideal of a Hindu mother, tender and loving beyond 
 expression, ministering to every want and helpful in 
 «very difficulty. In her illimitable love she must put 
 up even with the reproaches of her wayward sons ; 
 and the songs to Kali are oftener complaints of her cruelty 
 than thanksgivings for her mercy. Most of the songs of 
 Ram Prasad relate to Kali, and it is impossible to con- 
 vey to the English read^er any thing of the pathos and 
 the tenderness with which the poet appeals to his deity, 
 or rather the child appeals to his mother. In this con- 
 sists the beauty, the simplicity, the sweetness of Ram 
 Prasad's songs, a sweetness so overpowering, that even 
 to the present day the listener is affected by them as 
 the very beggars of our towns sing the strains of Ram 
 Prasad from street to street. 
 
 The fame of Ram Prasad Sen spread from day to day, 
 till at last Raja Krishna Chandra Rai of Nadiya heard 
 of him, and welcomed him, and listened to his songs. To 
 know the poet was to admire him, to know the man was 
 to like him, and Ram Prasad soon rose in the Raja's 
 favour. He rewarded him with the title of Kabiranjan, 
 and with the more substantial gift of a loo bigahs of 
 rent-free land. In return, Ram Prasad wrote a poem on 
 the well-known story of Bidya Sundar, and dedicated 
 it to the Raja. We must admit, this work is disappointing 
 to the reader. It was not in Ram Prasad's line to write 
 long narrative poems, and his attempt was a failure. Pro- 
 bably too his anxiety to make the present commensurate 
 
RAM PRASAD ANl) HIS SONCS. '^T^I 
 
 with the kindness of the Raja hampered hriii in his /com- 
 position. We may therefore dismiss this subject with' the 
 remark, that the Bidya Sundar of Ram Prasad is generally 
 stiff and artificial, bat shews a thorough mastery of an 
 alliterative though somewhat artificial style.* ' 
 
 I Several stories are told about Ram Prasad. It 
 is said he went to Murshidabad with Raja Krishna 
 Chandra, and sang to the Raja in a boat on the Hugh. 
 Tiie boat of Nawab Surajuddawia passed that way, 
 and the Subahdar was pleased with Ram Prasad's songs, 
 -got him into his own boat, and commanded him to sing. 
 'Ram Prasad sang in Hindi, but the Subahdar would have 
 none of it, and cH'dered Ram Prasad to sing the same 
 ■songs he had sung Just before. The poet did so, and it 
 is said, the Subahdar was charmed with the performance. 
 
 * \BidycCs lament on the apprehension of Sundar. 
 C^fJ? «(^ C^iT -^i CtTCvH ^'t ^131 5^ 
 
 'The Queen^ lament on the detection of her daughter'' s frail t}i. 
 The Queeit's address to the King, 
 
 v%-^ wv{ ^rr^ ^t^ii ^^ ^^ fV-» ■ 
 
 : '^H ^^ ^^ ■^^ ^#^N©t ft il 
 
 i6 
 
122 LITERATURE OF IJENGAI,. 
 
 A curious Story is told of Ram Prasad's death. On 
 the last day of the Kali Puja, when the Hugh was covered 
 with boats carrying the images of Kali, Ram Prasad 
 became unusually excited. He sang of Kali till, by one 
 'account, he jumped from his boat into the river and was 
 drowned, or by another account, he fell down in a swoon 
 and died. 
 
 We quote below a few of the most popular songs Of 
 Ram Prasad.* 
 
 ^■SR 5(t5{^ ;sf^5r ^f c^ ^ ^Tft "^l^ ^^ 0\n\ i 
 vfl^si ^tn=( C^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^tc^ ^^c\ c^^ C^ I 
 
 fs^^m ^ic^ frpT -iifw^ trc^ C¥^^ c^t^«l1 ^t^ (M\ I 
 
 vQ^I ^^^f ^f^rt ^tr^ mi^ ^:^ c^i I 
 wc*f^ ^^^ ^<i1 ^t^ ^?^ ^i^ (M^ ^m I 
 
 «(ff^ ^tJtr'i fHr^ ^-1 cjfc^ ^^Kc^ c^i ii 
 
 ^^^ C5f^ T?t^1 ^^^^ ^^ I 
 
RAM PRA^AD» AND HIS SONGS. T2^ 
 
 One great charm of his poetry consists in the simple 
 homely similes, always drawn from familiar objects of 
 Ibwly village life. The cultivated rice-fieid, the ferry 
 boat, the village market, the oil-mill, such are the objects- 
 of his similes, routid- whi-ch he entwines- his feeling songs 
 with the most touching effect. 
 
 The eighteenth century produced many other poets 
 i« Bengal^ and' Ghanaram's voluminous work,, written^ 
 early in the century, has recently been published. But 
 Ghanaram. andi other poets like him are little known to 
 the reading public of Bengal. The songs of Ram. 
 Prasad and the poetry of Bharat Chandra are the greatest 
 literary products of this century; 
 
CHAPTER XI r. 
 
 . Bharat Chandra Rai: 
 Eighteenth century. 
 
 Contemporaneously with Ram Prasad Sen, and equally' 
 favoured by Raja Krishna Chandra Rai, Hved a more- 
 skilful poet, tlie talented Bharat Chandra Rai, — a "mine' 
 of talent" or Gunakar, — as the Raja called him. 
 
 Bharat Chandra Rai was the fourth son of Raja- 
 Narendra Narain Rai, a Zemindar of Burdwan. The seat 
 of his zemindari was at Pandua in the Pargana of Bhur- 
 sut, and his residence was surrounded on all sides by 
 a moat, traces^ of which are visible to the present day. 
 Narendra Narain had disputes with Ivirti Chandra Rai, 
 Raja of Burdwan, and made insulting allusions with re- 
 ference to Kirti Chandra's mother. The queen mother 
 was incensed, and sent an army which attacked and 
 took the forts of Bhabanipur and Pandua, and desolated 
 the states of Narendra Narain. Narendra Narain was 
 reduced to penury, and his young son Bharat Chandra 
 fled for shelter to the house of his maternal uncle at 
 Nawapara, near Gazipur,.in the Pargana of Mandalghat. 
 There he studied grammar and dictionary, and at the age 
 of fourteen returned to his native village, and married a girl 
 of the village Sarada. The match was considered dis- 
 honorable, and Bharat Chandra's elder brothers reproved 
 him for it. The future poet left his home in disgust, and 
 
BHARAT CHANDRA RAF. 1 25 
 
 took shelter with one Ram Chandra Miinshi, a Kayastha 
 inhabitant of Debanandpur near Bansbaria in the 
 district of Hugh', an-d there commenced th4; study of 
 Persran.. 
 
 The first poem« that B^iarat Chandra pu-bhshed to 
 the world were composed under curious circunTStances^ 
 Bharat Chandra was asked to Fead hymns to Satya 
 Narain on a certain occasion by the people with whom 
 he lived. The festive day came^ and how great was 
 the surprise of the people when, instead of reading the 
 verses usually read on such occasions, he read out tripadi 
 verses specially composed by him- for the occasion. 
 How much greater was their astonishment when on 
 being asked to chant verses again a few days after on 
 a similar occasion, he read out a new set of chaupadi 
 verses which he had composed afresh on. the same 
 subject. The poet was then only fifteen. 
 
 At the age of twenty Bharat returned home,, and as 
 he w^as well versed in the Persian language, he went 
 over to the court of the Raja of Burdwan, as a Muktear 
 or agent for his brothers for their joint estate. 
 
 Bharat's brothers however failed to remit rent in due 
 time, and the Raja, actuated probably by his old grudge 
 against the family, confiscated the estate and took it 
 over as \i\'s, khas lands. Bharat was imprudent enough 
 to protest, and he was imprisoned. Poor Bharat. 
 Chandra was now in utter misery,, but he did not lose 
 heart. He bribed the jailor and escaped, and at once 
 fled to Cuttack, where he lived under patronage of Siva 
 Bhatta the Mahratta Subahdar of the place. Cuttack,. 
 
126 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 as our readers know, has always been a great stronghold 
 of the Vaishnavas,. and in their company Bharat turned 
 a Vaishnava and assumed the dress^ and demeanour of 
 the sect. Shortly after, while on his journey to Brinda- 
 ban, he was surprised by some of his distant relatives 
 at Khanalcul Krishnagar. As rigid Hindus, they were 
 shocked at- the conversion of the poet. They prevented 
 him from going to Brindaban, and after much persuasion 
 made him forsake his Vaishnava dress, and Bharat was a 
 Hindu householder once- more. The readers oi ^miada 
 iJ/"rt/2^^a/ know that in describing the double conversion 
 of Vyasa, who first became a Vaishnava and then a 
 Sakta or Saiva, the poet has partly explained and partly 
 apologized for his own conduct. 
 
 After a short residence at h<is father-in-law's house 
 at Sarada, Bharat Chandra went over ta Chandranagar, 
 where Indra Naraiit Pa] Chaudhuri, Dewan of the 
 French Government, received him with honor. This 
 Pal Chaudhuri was a friend of Raja Krishna Chandra of 
 Nadiya, and used to lend him. money. On one occa- 
 sion, when Raja Krishna Chandra came to Chandra- 
 nagar, Indra N«arain> introduced the poet tO'him. The 
 Raja was pleased with the young poet, took him over 
 to Krishnaghar, and appointed him as a Pandit of his 
 court on a monthly pay of 40 Rs. He was pleased 
 with the short pieces which the poet now and then com- 
 posed, and asked him to compose a long poem, Anjtada 
 Mangai^ after the style of Mukunda Ram's Chandi. 
 Bharat composed the poem, and a Brahman of the 
 name of Nilmani Samadar set it to music, and sang, it 
 
BHARAT CHANDRA RAI, 127 
 
 before the Raja in parts as it was composed. At the 
 request of the Raja the tale of Bidya Sundar was subse- 
 quently embodied in the work. Krishna Chandra 
 was so pleased with the poet that he made him a 
 grant of lOO Rs, to enable him to build a house at 
 Mulajor which village he leased to the poet on a rent 
 of Rs. 600 per annum. 
 
 Shortly afterwards, an incursion of the Mahrattas 
 compelled Raja Tilak Chandra Rai of Burdwan to flei 
 with his mother to Kangachi near Mulajor, and they 
 took /«/«/ lease of the village from the Raja of Krishna- 
 ghar in the name of a servant Ram Deb Nag. This 
 Nag proved to be an oppressive Patnidaf, and Bharat 
 Chandra took a poet's revenge in a set of Sanskrit verses 
 entitled the "Nagashtaka" or the eight verses on Nag» The 
 Raja was so pleased with this performance that he made 
 over to Bharat Chandra i6 Bighas at Mulajor and 150 
 Bighas at Ghusti rent-free, intending that Bharat should 
 remove to the latter place if he chose. But Bharat's 
 co-villagers would not allow him to leave, and Bharat 
 continued to live at Mulajor. Bharat died at the age of 48, 
 in the year 1760. 
 
 Critics have formed very different estimates of Bharat 
 Chandra's poetical powers. Many of our countrymen 
 of the old school would place him in the highest rank of 
 poets, but we are unable to share this opinion. Bharat 
 Chandra with all his gifts is but an imitator of Mukunda 
 Ram, and we confess that Bharat Chandra's artificial 
 and polished strains strike us as lifeless, when compared 
 with the simple and faithful pictures from nature, with 
 
f 28 1,ITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 wlwcfe Miikunda Ram's works are replete. Miikimda 
 Ram draws from nature, Bharat Chandra daubs his 
 pictures with gorgeous colours. Bharat Chandra is 
 the more polished and artificial poet, Mukunda Ram 
 is the truer painter and the greater poet. 
 
 That Bharat Chandra has his beauties, none will 
 deny. His tliree works Annada Mangdl, Bidya Simdar^ 
 ^nd Mamlnkk form one continuous story, and are 
 in reality but one work. Like Mukunda Ram, Bharat 
 Chandra intends to glorify the name and deeds of the 
 goddess Uma or Chandi, and instead of narrating 
 the story of an imaginary hero, be has taken up the story 
 of the life of Bhabanand Mazumdar, the renowned an- 
 cestor of his patron and benefactor, Raja Rrishna 
 Chandra Rai of Nadiya, The poet begins wnth an 
 account of the birth of Uma, the great feast given 
 by Daksha to which Siva was not invited, the self- 
 immolation of Uma in consequence, her second birth 
 as daughter of the Himalayas, her marriage with 
 Siva, and other mythological stories with which every 
 Hindu is familiar. The poet's rare power of graceful 
 versification enables him to tell these stories with 
 effect, the reader peruses page after page with the 
 same sense of pleasure, and at times he is struck with 
 passages in which the poet shews a keen sense of 
 humour. Such, for instance, is the description of Siva's 
 marriage, and such again is the account of his disputes 
 with his young wife. We need scarcely remind our 
 readers, however, that in all these descriptions Bharat 
 is a close imitator of Mukunda Ram. 
 
BHARAT CHANDRA RAI. 1 29 
 
 We need not stop to narrate how the great poet 
 and saint, Vyasa, quarrelled with Siva, and made an 
 abortive attempt to build up a new Benares to rival 
 the town of Benares where Siva is worshipped by all. 
 We pass over all this, and at last find Uma on her way 
 to the house of Bhabanand Mazumdan She has to 
 cross a stream, and the account she gives of herself to the 
 ferryman is justly regarded as remarkable specimen of 
 artistic poetry. The whole passage ** may be interpreted 
 in two different ways, and while the ferryman under- 
 stands her to be the neglected wife of a Kulin Brahman 
 
 f^c»mc«i ^f^c'*!? ^f^^tc^ ntf^ < 
 
 ^rs^iS ^^nf% Rlf^^^ f^^^l I 
 
 f "^nn n^^ w^^<[] f^ I 
 
 ^« ^iFtlTTi ^r^ c^c? -mii ^Rl 
 ^1 "src^ ff^t*! Ttn f^^ c^^ -^1:1 n 
 ^fv»^(t5T 7!;5r.:5c^ ^tn f?^1 ^1^1 
 c^ csrtt^ ^tn^l ^t^"^ "^U "^i^ Ttt i 
 
 ^7 
 
130 LITERATURE *^OF BENGAL. 
 
 "who has many other wives, the goddess obscurely 
 gives a true account of herself. Our readers will perceive 
 that this passage is only an imitation of a similar 
 ingenious passage in Mukunda Ram's work ; but we con- 
 fess the imitation is superior to the original both in 
 grace and hi art, for Bharat is superior to Mukunda 
 Ram in art. tJma at last reaches the house of 
 Bhabanand Mazumdar, and from that day the house 
 rises in glory and importance. Pratap Aditya Rai, a 
 refractory Zemindar of Jessorelswaripur, defies the power 
 of the Emperor Aurungzeb, and the renowned Man Sinha 
 is sent to quell the chief. That warrior finds some diffi- 
 culty in carrying his forces over the swamps and marshes 
 of Southern Bengal, and Bhabanand renders 'him signal 
 assistance. At last a battle is '>fought of which we have a 
 spirited though somewhat grotesque description, and 
 Pratap Aditya is killed. It is when Bhabanand is accom- 
 panying Man Sinha in his marches that he narrates to the 
 Rajput chief the story of Bidya Sundar ; so that that 
 story is not a portion of the main plot in any way. 
 
 In the story of Bidya Sundar the poet has tried to 
 cast a stain on the Raj family of Burdwan, and his early 
 disputes with that family must have impelled him to the 
 task. The Gertif^an poet Heine sings : 
 
 Affront the liviW poets incit, 
 
 With weapons ancNlames they are furnished. 
 
 And Bharat Chandra has certainly revenged himself 
 on the house of Burdwan with his direst weapons ii> 
 his story of Bidya Sundar. The story is that of a 
 princess of the Burdwan house, who falls in love with 
 
BHARAT CHANDRA RAI. I3I 
 
 a young prince from Southern India who has come 
 to Burdvvan in disguise. The young prince secures 
 the services of an astute flower-woman whose character 
 has been powerfully drawn by the poet,* although it is 
 only an imitation, and not an improved|One, of Mukunda 
 Ram's Durhala. 
 
 The flower woman takes an epistle of love curiously- 
 woven by the foreign prince in a garland to the princess,, 
 and the e^ect which follows is described, .as only Bharat 
 Chandra can describe such subjects.f 
 
 ^'^tTf fr?f<T |«JT^ ^^1 ^t^ ^t^ I 
 t^s c^m ^rwi c^mi ^r^iT ^f^^t^ n 
 
 ^r^f) ^fe ^c^ <i*i^ ^'^i^? wc^ » 
 ^v5i tv<\ ^m '^^^^i^ ^n\ »ft^. i 
 
 f C^I ^^\§t ^tC^ f^C^ Tt^ ^t\?; 11 I 
 
 <£|i:^ ^1 ^^f^i ^s>1 ^tc^ c*fr^ 11 
 W1 c^r^l ^^ ^^ ^(CJT ^^ ^f^i 
 cp^v^l ^trf ^ft^ ^^ wtc^ ^f^T II 
 
 ^r^ ^jjf 5rf^ -^^ ^^ ?t^ ^tv5l I 
 
 ^-^ c^^1 l^ ^5f1 ^ ^f^ I 
 ^«(t^ ^^t^ ^f^^l <^|! 
 
132 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 Other incidents follow, and the prince Sundar at 
 last finds adniission into the appartments of the 
 languishing princess Bidya. The descriptions which 
 follow are repugnant to modern taste, and have left 
 
 ^\51 ^f% ^^ ^1 cn^ M? \ 
 Vi^ te ^f^ ^1^ H^ I 
 
 Off c?R cFc?r ^c^^ c^cit I 
 c^^^ cncTi \nf ^f^JT c^^i n 
 r^ ^f^c^ c^ic? ^mn •ntf^ t 
 ^t^rcw ^f^i^i f*r^t=T ^rf^ II 
 
 ^^ ^^ ^cT ^^C5T -^C?! II 
 
 ft^i ^nm ^f^^ c^^ I 
 
 C-5fTf^ ^rC^ f^ ^mt^ C^^ll It 
 
 ^I^C^ ^If^^ f^f'^^ ^5? I 
 
 ^'f^^ ^tci:^ ^t«i '51'tf II 
 ^^ Ttf^^t?:^ ^f?^ ^t'l I 
 
 ^-^ ^"^1 t^^T ^l&cT ^:^ II 
 ^^ c^si c^n ^Vflf ?^ II 
 
 f^ffn ^^ c?R f5^*i ^n I 
 ri^is f^ c^\^ f^N ^it^ I 
 
 ^?1 Tt^ fsf^ <tR?f ^ZH I 
 
 c^t^sf wt^ cnc^i f^ ffin w 
 
BHARAT CHANDRA RAI. 133 
 
 a Stain on Bharat Chandra's poetry and fame. Bidya's 
 frailty is soon discovered, and the anger of the queen 
 mother at her daughter's misconduct is powerfully des- 
 cribed.* At last the young prince is detected and ordered 
 
 ^^ '^*t ^t^ f5 '^iin\ 
 
 fV CWf^ ^f ^Tf^'I C^lH lit 
 
 ^^ ^tt ^^1 ^tt% ^^51 I 
 
 Cnt^t^ ^tl5ll| -HHt^ ^ffT II 
 ^v^ ftftfsS ^tf^^ 1t«( I 
 •^C«l ^tC^ ^% '^I'ttT ^? II, 
 
 f^Wn C^tC^ C^^^l ^5T ^I^Sf I 
 
 f»f^f^^ «(f^ c?r^5i ^cT I 
 
 vg-n, 'I'J^, ^^ ^c^ ^c^ I 
 
 ^t^^ fr?tC^ f^'SatTI TC^ D 
 
 ♦ Qptc«( ^rfft «(t^ Kv5 'sj^^ n^lTT ^ipi 
 
 ^ "^^ (7R ^^ ^f ^^Ttv^i ^^ ^tT 
 Fsn:^ 51^51 *i5^^ II 
 
134 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 to be executed. But the goddess Kali interferes and 
 saves the offender from his well-merited punishment, 
 even as Mukunda Ram's Chandi saves Srimanta Sadagar 
 when the King of Cfeylon orders his execution. 
 
 Bharat Chandra's style is always rich, graceful and 
 flowing. Nowhere perhaps in. the entire range of Bengali 
 literature do we find the language of poetry so rich, so 
 graceful, so overpowering in artistic beauty as in Bldya 
 Sundcir. Hie is a complete master of the art of versifica- 
 tion,_and his appropriate phrases and rich descriptions 
 
 ^^\\m fl^ f^^ ?t^ » 
 
 ^i^'^ta c^^si ^;tt?(«rtc<i II 
 ctW^t ^k^? ^t^l ^fw-i 'if^^^^ ^t^ 
 
 vf}^ ^'SI ^f^ f t^ Oft^^*l ^^ ^tlT. 
 ^(f^ t'ICcI -^m 5?2?|^ H 
 
BHARAT CHANDRA RAL 135 
 
 have passed into bye-words. It would be difficult to 
 overestimate the polish he has given to the Bengali 
 language. 
 
 Another feature of Bharat Chandra's poetry is the 
 vividness of his descriptions. As the descriptions are 
 not always of a healthy character, the reader regrets that 
 they are so vivid, but nevertheless confesses the power 
 of the poet. In character-painting however, Bharat 
 Chandra can not be compared with the great master 
 whom he has imitated. FuUara and Khullana are 
 women of flesh and blood with distinct characters ; in 
 Bidya we can discover no trait of Character except a 
 capiacity for voluptuous love. Durbala and Bharu Datta 
 are powerfully-drawn pourtraits from life ; Hira MaHni 
 is an over-drawn caricature. And in all the higher 
 qualifications of a poet, in truth, in imagination, and 
 even in tfue tenderness and pathos, such as we meet 
 with in almost every other Bengali poet^ Bharat Chandra 
 is singularly and sadly wanting. 
 
 Bharat Chandra died three years after the battle 
 of Plassey. New actors now entered on the stage ; and 
 ne\v influences shaped the course of the literature of 
 Bengal in the nineteenth century. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Ram Mohan Rai and mis religious reform. 
 
 ir74-i833' 
 
 We now enter upon the brightest period in the annals 
 of Bengali literature. The British Conquest of Bengal 
 was not merely a political revolution, but brought in 
 a greater revolution in thought and ideas, in religion 
 and social progress. The Hindu intellect came in con- 
 tact with all that is noblest and most healthy in European 
 history and literature, and profited by it. The Hindu 
 mind was to some extent trained under the influence of 
 European thoughts and ideas, and benefited by it. 
 
 Towards the close of the last century, Warren 
 Hastings compiled Hindu and Muhammadan laws for 
 the use of courts, and associated Pandits and Maulavis 
 with European Judges for the administration of justice. 
 This was the first intellectual contact between Europeans 
 and the best educated natives of Bengal. In 1799 Carey, 
 Ward and Marshman began their missionary work in 
 Serampore and established a Bengali press ; they printed 
 the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and other Bengali 
 works ; and they even started a Bengali newspaper. 
 In 1800 Lord Wellesley established the Fort William 
 College for the training of young" civilians in the lan- 
 guages of India, secured the services of the most learned 
 Pandits, and encouraged the compilation of vernacular 
 
Literature of Bengal. 
 
 p. 136 
 
RAM MOHAN RAl. 1 37 
 
 works. Sir William Jones, Colebrooke and Wilson pro- 
 secuted researches into the untrodden field of Sanscrit 
 learning and Indian antiquities ; they received the help 
 of Hindu Pandits ^ and they excited in the people of 
 India an interest in their past literature and history. 
 David Hare, a watchmaker in Calcutta, but a man of 
 strong common sense and philanthropy, initiated English 
 education in Bengal, and eventually helped in the estab- 
 lishment of the Hindu College in iSty. Richardson 
 and Derozio were sympathetic teachers, and inspired 
 in the young students of the Hindu College a passionate 
 admiration for English literature and English institutions. 
 And lastly, the great Macaulay advocated in his historic 
 minute that higher education should be imparted to the 
 people of India through the English language, and Lord 
 William Bentinck closed his beneficent administration 
 in 1835 by ratifying this minute, and placing English 
 education in India on a solid foundation. These are, 
 briefly, some of the steps by which English education 
 and European infl^uence have spread in Bengal in the 
 present century. 
 
 Ram Mohan Rai was the first brilliant product of 
 European influence in India. He was born at Radha- 
 nagar in the District of Hugli in 1774, the year in 
 which VVarren Hastings became the first Governor 
 General of India, and the Supreme Court was established. 
 The story of the life and work of the great reformer 
 would fill a volume ; it is the story of the social, moral 
 and intellectual progress of the Hindus during the first 
 thirty years of this century. The great controversies in 
 
1^8 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 which he engaged, first with his countrymen and then 
 with Christian ' missionaries, mark the awakening of a 
 new life in India. The pure and monotheistic Hindu 
 faith which he preached, and the church which he 
 established, flourish to the present day. And the numer- 
 ous works which he published, in English and in Bengali, 
 have now been compiled and placed in a collected form 
 before his admiring countrymen. The venerable Raj 
 Narayan Basu, himself a writer of merit and distinction, 
 has done a signal service to the cause of Bengali literature 
 by publishnig the Bengali works of Raja Ram Mohan 
 Rai. And later still, the English works of the great 
 reformer have been edited and published in two stout 
 octavo volumes by Jogendra Chandra Ghosh and Isan 
 Chandra Basu. Our countrymen are grateful to them 
 for this patriotic task ; but a proper biography of the 
 great reformer has yet to be written. We can, within 
 our limits, only narrate a few leading facts relating to 
 his life and works. 
 
 Ram Mohan's father was Ram Kanta Rai, a petty 
 Zemindar, who had served under the Nawabs of Mur- 
 shidabad, and had witnessed their fall. And Ram 
 Mohan's mother was Tarini Debi, a woman of great 
 piety and remarkable firmness of character, — virtues 
 which descended from mother to son. 
 
 Flindu boys, ambitious of obtaining employment, 
 used to learn Bengali and Persian in those days ; and 
 Ram Mohan acquired a knowledge of both the languages 
 in his native village, and was then sent to Patna in his 
 ninth year to learn Arabic. With his remarkable intelli- 
 
RAM MOHAN RAI. 1 39 
 
 geiice, young Ram Mohan masteued the Persian and 
 iVrabic languages in three years, and tlien proceeded to 
 Benares to study Sanscrit. This was the turning point 
 of Ram Mohan's Ufe ; It was in Benares that the young 
 man not only mastered the Sanscrit language, but 
 also acquired a knowledge of the noble tenets of the 
 UpaniskadS' and the Vedantiu, whicii he made it his life's 
 work to preach atid proclaim to his countrymen. 
 
 After- completing his education Ram Mohan returned 
 to his native village, and at the early age of sixteen, in the 
 year 1790, he wrote his famous work on the Idolatrous 
 Religion of the Hindus ( f^^ftfDH- C^\^f^^ «I^Mtslt ) 
 which is the first literary work in Bengali prose that we 
 know of. For while Bengali Poetry had flourished in the 
 previous cental ries, there was no such thing as a prose 
 literature in Bengal. Raja Ram Mohan Rai is the 
 father of prose literature in Bengal. 
 
 Ram Mohan's father was grieved and offended at the 
 publication of the young reformer's early work,* and 
 Ram Mohan had to leave his paternal home,, and spent 
 his time in travels.f It is said he penetrated into Thibet 
 and remained there for three years,, studying Buddhism; 
 
 * We regret we dd n)t find this first work, of Rnm Mohan Rai 
 in the collection of his works published by Raj Narayan Basu. 
 
 t Ram Moh:in Kai himself wrote of this in an autobiographical 
 sketch, addressed to a friend during- his stay in England : 
 
 "When about the age of sixteen I composed a manuscript 
 calling in question the validity of the idi^latrous system of the 
 Hindus. This, togeihei with my known sentiments on Uiat 
 subject, having produced a coolness between me ami my imrnediale 
 kindred, I proceeded (m my travels, and passed throu-di dilTerent 
 countries, chiefly within, but sou^e beyond the bounds of Hindustan^"' 
 
140^ LrTERATTJRE OF BENGAL. 
 
 His father rrow relented and called back his son to 
 his homey and Ram Mohan began the study of the 
 English language when he was ^t years of age. With- 
 his extraordinary intellect and his keen desire for fearning; 
 he not only learnt the English so as to be able to write 
 that language correctly, fluently and forcibly, but he 
 aW acquired some knowledge of French and Latin, and 
 it is said, of Greek and Hebrew also. At the same time 
 he carried on controversies with Brahmans about idol- 
 worship, the burning of widows, and similar subjects. 
 
 On the death of his father he obtained an appoint- 
 nient under Government, and rose to be a Dewan or 
 Sheristadar, He was employed for 15 years (1800-1 8 13) 
 in the service of Giovernment,. but the roatine of official 
 work did not suit his ardent mi^id, and in 1814 he retired 
 from work and settled down in Calcutta. 
 
 He was now fully eqtiipped for the great 6ontTo\'er- 
 sies into which he entered, on the one hand with ortho- 
 dox Hindus with a view to lead tliem- to the purer faithr> 
 of their ancestors, and oh the other hand with Christian! 
 missionaries who wished to replace Hinduism by Christian- 
 ity in India. Ram Mohan Rai selected for the modern. 
 Hindu his true position in the religious world, and he 
 fortified that position by translations from the ancient 
 Upanishads and other Hindu scriptures,, which had so 
 long been the monopoly of a few Pandits, and whicb 
 now came like a surprise and a joy to all thoughtful and 
 pious Hindus^ 
 
 It is not our purpose to enumerate all the works- 
 which proceeded fcom the great reformer's pen in this, 
 
JtAM MOHAN RAr. r4t 
 
 the most eventful period of his Hfe, but it is necessary 
 to mention some of the more important works. Ram* 
 Mohan retired from service and settled down rn Calcutta,. 
 not to rest but to- work, awd wovks proceeded from his^ 
 fertile per* with a rapidity which amazed and bewildered 
 feis friends and opponents alike. In 1815, appeared' 
 his BengaM rendering of Vedanta philosophy, and in- 
 the following year be published Vedanta Sara and an 
 abridgment in English of that system of philosophy. 
 The spirit, which inspired the pious and indomitable 
 worker is well set forth in the concluding lines of 
 his introduction to this work,— lines which should live 
 in the memory of his countrymen as long as they 
 continue to appreciate courage, honesty of purpose and 
 devotion to duty. 
 
 "By taking the path wftklii conscience and smaewly direct, I,, 
 born a Brahman, have exposed myself to the complainings andi 
 jeproaches, even of some of my relations, whose prejudices are: 
 strong, and whose temporal advantage depends upon the present 
 system. But these, however accumulated, I can tranquilly bear,, 
 trusting that a day wilV arrive, when my humble endeavours will 
 be viewed with justice, perhaps acknowledged with gratitude. At; 
 any rate, whatever men may say, I cannot be deprived of this 
 consolation : my motives are acceptable to that Being who beholds 
 in secret and com pensates> openly." 
 
 The 1816 and 1817, he translated several Upanishads- 
 into Bengali and into English,, and in the three following 
 years he published his powerful and famous discourses 
 in Bengali and in English, condemning the burning 
 of widows. As a specimen of Ram Mohan Rai's Bengali 
 prose style, we quote the concluding passage from the 
 
142 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 first of these essays.* Our readers will see that Bengali 
 prose had not yet received the purity and grace wiiich 
 
 .-2r#^i— 4'^n J^i^^siii >8 ^^^^«i ntnl ^^^ f^^i ■?rt^l 
 
 ^sf ^t^ S7rr^i[f€ f^% ^?^1 i^t^ 'X^^ ^"^^ ^tC 5?;^ ^C^ t^iTvs 
 
 ^^#^ I— ^tf^ ^€^tci{ ^ ^^t^f:=^ "m^-^ £fc^w ^K^ c^ c^^ 
 ^tf^r '^m\^ "<ftr^c^ f^^c^l ^tf ^ f^^l ^?itvfc*;t <^1f ^ fr 't^?! 
 
 c^T^n *?r>T^ <?rti^ 5(t ^« ji's f^r*t^ ^^ II 
 
 f^^^ \—c^ ^W^y\'m "fifs ^«^tc^ ^r^^ "ft^ir.^ ^t^ 
 
 ^f?r3[i( <rr^T ^^t ^^t ^^cs f^^^ ^f^m ^r?f«i *ft^ ^t^ ^tc3 
 nu^ ^1 f<?i ^tc^^ ^'Ktf'«f ^^^i^ ^? ^?ff ^^c3 f^ frc^ f^ 
 
 ^% »c^^ c^ vf9i TT^ci s(c*^^ 1^ ^^ ijTv ^rsf^ c^^it^ n^*^^! 
 
 ^J^^IC^^ ^t^l ^(^([C^^ 5f?IR^1 >1^3i «i^t«l «lt^^ I 
 
liAM MOHAN RAI. I43 
 
 subsequent writers have imparted to it. But Ram 
 Mohan's rugged and well-reasoned style suited the great 
 task he set before himself, — to battle single-handed 
 against a^ost of unreasoning antagonists, and to expose 
 evil customs and hurtful practices. Raja Radlia Kanta 
 T)eb headed ^the orthodox party in those days, de- 
 fended existing practices, and stood forth against all 
 reform. It was a curious spectacle, that of a Brahman 
 seeking to remove the abuses of modern Hinduism, 
 and a Kayastha standing forth as their champion and 
 defender ! The whole orthodox party gathered round 
 "Raja Radha Kanta, angry Pandits indulged in violent 
 attacks and vituperation, and for a time Ram Mohan's 
 ^ife was in danger, and he went about with a guard. 
 But the great and undaunted reformer never swerved 
 ■one inch from the path he had chosen, and he triumphed 
 over all opposition. 
 
 ^^^ fV^ Tt^^ ^fST ^^R ^t^^ ^f^f^ ^t5t^ C=1fi:^^ A^s >2ff%- 
 
 ^1%^ 11 
 
 Tt^l *It^ H^ ^^ ^T^t? ^<T'*!T R*5TI ^fC^s "4lf<l^^^ vi]^^ di^n 
 
144 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 The invincible combatant next turned his arms 
 against the Christian missionaries of Serampore. There 
 ;is a history connected with his Precepts of Jesus and his 
 •three Appeals which is worth recording. These essays 
 •were published between 1820 and 1823, and occupy 
 •over five hundred closely printed octavo pages of Ram 
 Mohan's English works. From early youth, Ram Mohan 
 preached monotheism and a pure system of morality, 
 and he was attracted by the teachings of Christ when 
 he came 4h contact with Christians. In 1820, he 
 published in Sanskrit and in Bengali the Precepts of Jesus ^ 
 separating them **from the abstruse doctrines and 
 miraculous relations of the New Testament." This 
 gave offence to the Serampore missionaries, and a reply 
 appeared in the Friend of India^ the editor Dr. Marshman 
 adding his own observation, and calling Ram Mohan 
 a "heathen.'^ 
 
 Ram Mohan published his first and second App^alSy 
 in defence of his Precepts^ and printed them at the 
 Baptist Mission Press, and Dr. Marshman successively 
 replied to them. But when Ram Mohan came forward 
 with his third and Final Appeal ^ the Baptist Mission Press 
 refused to print it Ram Mohan was not to be baffled ; 
 he established a press of his own, and published his 
 Final Appeal with its formidable array of Hebrew and 
 Greek quotations. Dr. Marshman republished his replies 
 in London, and the Unitarian Society there published 
 Ram Mohan's Appeals in 1824, and they were repub- 
 lislied in America, in 1828. 
 
 The remarkable ability and learning displayed by 
 
RAM MOHAN RAI. 145 
 
 Ram Mohan were at once acknowledged in Europe and 
 in America. Dr, Carpenter, commenting on the second 
 Appeal 'S.diA^, "that the excellent author is distinguished 
 by the closeness of his reasoning, the critical accuracy 
 of his scriptural knowledge, the comprehensiveness of his 
 investigations, the judiciousness of his arrangements, 
 the lucid statements of his opinions, and t'ne acuteness 
 and skill with which he controverts the positions of his 
 opponents." 
 
 But it was not the task of controverting the opinions 
 of his opponents, it was not the task of destruction^ which 
 Ram Mohan set before himself as the great work of his 
 life. It was the task of construction^ it was the task of 
 leading back his countrymen to the pure religion of the 
 Upanishads and the Veda-nta, which he set before himself. 
 As early as 1814, immediately after his retirement from 
 the service of Government, Ram Mohan founded the 
 Atmiya Sabha for the worship of the One Invisible God 
 of the Upanishads. Later on, he established the Veda 
 Mandir for the study of the Vedas. Many pious and 
 prayerful men gathered round him, and the cause of 
 Hindu monotheism prospered in spite of all opposition. 
 And at last, in 1828, he established the Brahma Samaj, 
 the crowning work of his life, "for the worship and adora- 
 tion of the Eternal, Unsearchable, Immutable Being who 
 is the Author and Preserver of the Universe." Dwarka 
 N-ith Tagore and Prasanna Kumar Tagore^k helped him, 
 and stood by him in this noble work, and Ram Chandra 
 
 * The proper spelling of the name is Thakur ; but we write 
 it as the maa»!>er3 of this cultured family write their names.- 
 
14^' LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 Vidyabagis was the minister of the Church froifr the 
 commencement. It was this minister who kept up the 
 church after Ram Mohan's death, until Dwarka Nath's 
 son Devendra nath Tagore accepted the reUgion of the 
 Btahma Samaj and became its stay and support. 
 
 We have so long spoken of Ram Mohan's labours in 
 the cause of religion, for his fame rests mair>ly on hi» 
 religious reforii^ But bis keen iiytellect and encyclo- 
 paedic mind grasped every question which attracted 
 public attemiony and in every question bis vast energies 
 were enlisted in the cause of reform. Ram Mohan Rai 
 and David Hare and Sir Edward Hyde East were the 
 prime movers in the founding of the Hindu College 
 in 1817. In 1823 Ram Mohan addressed a letter to- 
 Lord Amherst then Governor General, which almost 
 foreshadows Lord Macaulay's famous minute on the 
 merits of Sanscrit and English education.* And in the 
 same year we find him, along with Dwarka Nath Tagore 
 
 *We quote the concluding passages of Ram Mohan's letter here. 
 **The Sanscrit systeflf of educsrtion would be the best calculated to 
 keep this country in darkness, if such had been the policy of the 
 British legislature. But as the improvement of the native population 
 is the object of the Government, it will consequently promote a more 
 liberal and enlightened system of instruction, embracing Mathematics, 
 Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Anatomy, with other useful sciences, 
 which may be accomplished with the sums proposed by employing a 
 few gentlemen of talent and learning educated in Europe, and pro- 
 viding a College furnished with necessary books, instruments, and 
 other apparatus. 
 
 In presenting this subject to your Lordship, I conceive myself 
 discharging a solemn duty which I owe to my countrymen, and also' 
 to that enlightened sovereign and legislature which have extended 
 their benevolent care to this distant land, actnated by a desire to 
 improve the inhabitants, and therefore humbly trust you will excuse 
 the liberty I have taken in thus expressing my sentiments to yoat 
 Lordship." 
 
RAM MOttAN RAI. I47 
 
 and Prasanna Kumar Tagore, appealing to the Supreme 
 Court and then to the throne of England for the liberty 
 of the Press, and thus starting that system of constitu- 
 tional agitation for political rights which his countrymerr^ 
 have learned to value so much in the present day. 
 
 Ram Mohan also wrote on the rights of Hindu females 
 in ancient times, and on other legal questions, but it was 
 his prolonged endeavours to abolish the rite of 6*^?// which 
 brought him to prominent notice with the rulers of the 
 country. We have seen that he began the controversy 
 in 18 18, and after twelve years of persistent agitation he 
 had the satisfaction of witnessing the triumph of the holy 
 and righteous cause.* 
 
 It was thus that Ram Mohan Rai ardently and enthu- 
 
 *R'aja Radha Kanta Deb^ as the leader of tire orthodox commu- 
 nity, opposed the a.ho\ition o( Sa^i, Ram Mohan Rai and his party 
 supported Government on this memorable occasion, and presented 
 an address to Lord Williauv Bentinck after he had suppressed the 
 cruel rite. The reply of the Governor General to this address is 
 worth quoting. 
 
 "It is very satisfactory for me to find that, according to the 
 opinions of so many respectable and intelligent Hindus, the prac- 
 tice which has recently been prohibited, not only was not required 
 by the rules of their religion, but was at variance with those writ- 
 ings which they deem to be of the greatest force and authority. 
 Nothing but a reluctance to inflict punishment for acts which might 
 be conscientiously believed to be enjoined by religious precepts, 
 could have induced the DHtish Government at any time to permit, 
 within territories under its protection, an usage so violently opposed 
 to the best feelings of human nature. Those who present this address 
 are right in supposing that by every nation- in the world, except 
 the Hindus themselves, this part of their customs has always been 
 made a reproach against them, and nothing so strangely contrasted 
 with the belter features of their own national character, so incon- 
 sistent with the affections which unite families, so destructive of 
 the moral principles on which society fs founded, has ever subsisted 
 amongst a people in other respects so civilized. I trust that the 
 Jreproach is removed for ever ; and I feel a sincere pleas-ure iti- 
 
148 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 siastically supported every movement towards reform and 
 towards the regeneration of his country. Never since 
 the days of Chaitanya has Bengal witnessed such intense 
 ag;itation as during the first quarter of this century. 
 Never has one man attempted and achieved more 
 for his country than Ram Mohan Rai. 
 
 The Emperor of Delhi wished to send an agent to 
 England to represent some of his grievances, and he 
 chose Ram Mohan as his agent, and bestowed on him the 
 title of Raja. Raja Ram Mohan had always eagerly 
 wished to visit the western world and gladly seized this 
 opportunity, and he left for Europe in 1830. 
 
 His stay in England brought him no rest. His fame 
 had preceded him, and Ram Mohan Rai was requested 
 to give his evidence before the Select Committee of the 
 House of Commons on the Judicial and Revenue Systems 
 of India. The masterly essay which he wrote on this 
 subject occupies over a hundered pages of his collected 
 English works. He was also examined on the condition 
 of the native inhabitants of India, and he wrote on the 
 subject of European Colonization of India. 
 
 One of his great objects in proceeding to Europe 
 however was to support the abolition of the rite of Sail 
 in the House of Commons. He presented the petitions 
 which he had brought with him to the House of 
 Commons and the House of Lords in person, and had 
 the satisfaction of being present when the appeal 
 
 thir.kinj^ that the Hindus will ihereby be exalted in the esiimatioa 
 of ninnkiiid io an exteni in some dej^ree proportioned to the repug- 
 nance which wa; fell A>r the usajjc which has now ceased." 
 
RAM MOHAN RAI. 1 49. 
 
 against the abolition of Safi was rejected on the nth of 
 July, 1832. 
 
 Ram Mohan's great acquirements and noble work 
 became known all over England and in other countries 
 of Europe, and his presence was courted in the highest 
 circles and by men of learning. The poet Campbell 
 wrote of him, the antiquarian Rosen consulted him when 
 he was translating the Rig Veda, and the greatest living 
 philosopher of England, Jeremy Bentham, received him 
 with open arms, and addressed him as '"''Intensely admired 
 a?id dearly beloved collaborator in the service of mankind. ^^* 
 
 After a residence of three years in Europe, Raja Ram 
 Mohan Rai died on the 27th September 1833, and his 
 remains were interred in Bristol. A tomb was subsequent- 
 ly erected there by his friend and distinguished country- 
 man Dwarka Nath Tagore. 
 
 We have spoken of Ram Mohan's work in the for- 
 mation of Bengali prose. Scarcely less eminent are his 
 services in lyrical verse. The reader will scarcely sus- 
 pect the enthusiastic reformer to be the author of 
 some of the finest and noblest songs which the Bengali 
 language has known. f But the reformer had a heart 
 
 *"Your works" wrote Benlham lo Ram Mohan, "are made known 
 to me by a book in which I read a style which, but for the name of a 
 Hindu, I should certainly haveascril)ed to the pen of a superiorly 
 educated and instructed Englishman.'' And in the same letter, 
 while praising James Mill's great work on the History of India, 
 Bentham remarked : "though as to style I wish I could with trutli 
 and sincerity pronounce it equal lo yours." 
 
 t One or two specimens are given here : 
 
iS° LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 full^'of tenderness, piety and genuine feeHng ; and his 
 songs excite the noblest emotions of the human soul. 
 After a lapse of seventy years, the songs of Ram Mohaa 
 Rai are still sung in every home in Bengal 
 
 f^TT ^f<iin c^\z^ m^ ^1 ^jfetvs ^:^ 11 
 
 ^a ^^ ^ y\-\^ f?^ ^m ^^Tt^ I 
 ^<rt^ ^'oC^^t ^t^ ^%^ ^^^ II 
 
 «fC5TT ^t^T ^C^ f^^ ^fn HZ^ f^T^^S^ II 
 
 trf^ £ff5 'Ei^ -511 tfi f?f^i *j^ f^F^i ^m K 
 Nsr^ ^'^ C5c^ ^^ ^t?:^ ^t^^ II 
 ^i^ -^n ^ttr "f'jf ^"^c^ '^sm ^^ I 
 ^ilCt^ ^(^^*t f^^ ^c?i^?i II 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 TswAR Chandra Gupta and his SaTirks. 
 
 i8og-i8s8. 
 
 IswAR Chandra Gupta was bom In the village of 
 Kanchrapara in 1809, and is the earliest Bengali 
 poet of the present century. His poetry forms a 
 connecting link between the old school of Mukunda 
 Ram and Bharat Chandra and the new school of 
 Madhu Sudan and Hern Chandra. Born when the 
 Hindu society was in a transition state, and naturally 
 endowed wnth a keen humour, he freely ridiculed 
 much that was false and hollow, and also much 
 that was earnest and true, in the movements of his 
 time. As a poet Iswar Chandra does not rank very 
 high, as a satirist he stands first among the writers of 
 Bengal. 
 
 Iswar Chandra's poems have lately been published 
 in a collected form with a memoir of the poet's life 
 by the late Bankim Chandra Chatterjea, This work 
 will be our guide in the present chapter. 
 
 Iswar Chandra's father was of humble means, and 
 was employed on a pay of eight Rupees a month in a 
 factory close to his native village. Iswar sometimes 
 lived in his village, and sometimes in Calcutta in the 
 house of his maternal uncle. He lost his mother at 
 
152 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 an early age, and his father mirried again, mach 
 to the disgust of young Iswar. After this event Iswar 
 lived mostly in Calcutta, in the house of his maternal 
 uncle. 
 
 The education of the future poet was neglected ; 
 he acquired a knowledge of Bengali in Patshalas, 
 and also learnt a little English. He frequented the 
 house of the Tagore family in Pathuriaghata, and 
 graKiually rose to distinction under the patronage of 
 that family. He was married at the age of 1 5, against 
 his wishes as we are informed, and domestic bliss 
 was not in store for the young pair. 
 
 Under the patrona^ie and with the help of the 
 Tagore family, Iswar Chandra started a journal called 
 Sainhad Prahhakar in 1830, and the talent and 
 genius of the young editor soon attracted the atten- 
 tion of the literary world to the journal. Among 
 the writers in this journal we see the names of the 
 most distinguished men of the times, like Raja 
 Radha Kanta Deb, Ram Kamal Sen, Kara Kumar 
 Tagore, Prasanna Kumar Tagore, * Pandit Jay Gopal 
 Tarkalankar, Pandit Prem Chand Tarkabagish and 
 others. 
 
 Iswar Chandra's productions appeared in prose and 
 verse in this jourtial. He was an imitator of Bharat 
 Chandra's style, but was not a mere imitator. His keen 
 powers of satire are his own, and his verses on society 
 and life and on the events which were transpiring around 
 him, written in a free and easy style, are among the 
 biippiest pieces in their way in the whole range of Bengali 
 
ISWAR CHANDRA GUPTA AND HIS SATIRES, 1 53 
 
 literature.^c The poetry is not of a very high order, but 
 Iswar Chandra's witty and flowing verse, his satirical hits, 
 
 * A few instances will suffice. 
 
 t*v?lT#t ^^^^ I 
 
 d^T c-si?:? ^m-\ f^^i f^f^ctf^ dcJT ii 
 ^t^l \^ c?c^ ^t^1 ^^c^ ^^ ^it^ I 
 C5\^ c^?rT^ ff'^^T^ ^71^ ^it'sf ^it^ 11 
 f'tfe c*!^c^ ^i[\ ^y\ Tm^ Jff^ c^^ I 
 f^cJT ^tf^ f^»t ^r^ r^>i ^:^ c^^ II 
 'Tift ^^1 cq^^tpr ^'TtC?! C^5f I 
 c^^t^ c^l5^ c^% c*t^ c»r^ c*f^ II 
 
 fjl^:^^ f^^Tf^ ^'ttC'rfC'S ^f^ I 
 
 -^^, 5r^, c^^, ?rt^, ^tfr *tTtfr, ^f% I'l 
 ^^Ns c^fc^^rsn -n^ 'iK^^ \^ II 
 
 C^t^fTT (7(1^? C^1% ^i% ^Jf 3TC^ I 
 ^^1 'sj^tU^ ^t^ "^^ ^t^ ^^^ II 
 
 ?t^tr.^^ ftC^ ^t^ ^^t^<T >2n«l II 
 
 tV ^fcT? ^j-n ^tr^ C^^^^ f*f cT f^CH I 
 (9^ frfJT -^^t ^rt ^^ Tgl f^C?r II 
 
 30 
 
154 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 and his vivid descriptions were learnt by rot« by a 
 large circle of readers, and were the theme of never- 
 
 ^w ^c? c^c® cn^i c^ ?Fc? ^t^t^ I 
 
 ^f3f fVf5T c^ ^f^ ^^ >T^J1 C^C^ I 
 
 f^fr^ ^rv5^^ ^Tf ^#f^ ^^^ II 
 
 'ft^Cff^ 5?tf^ m? fs^ ^Tf3J ^"5( I 
 -jr^gNfe I^t^f^ '^^U{i[ ^ n 
 
 v5t^ C^T^ ^r^ ^f^ ^tf*f <(tf*f ?*n< I 
 
 ^^5 ^U ^1^1 «^'tC^ ^^ ^t^ "^ I 
 
 »ft^|t ^^W ^^ ^'^l ^^ Ciz^ II 
 
 m^ w^ ^t^ f^^i "^r? ^r^ ^i*( I 
 ^'jfi^ ^^^ j\^ 5ftf^ fvf^ ^^ II 
 
 ^«f^ ^^5 ^f^ ^^ ^N5?5T I 
 
 j^flfci ^fynri ^tTi 5^ w^ ^ II 
 
 ^i^C^ 5(1 9j|^^ f^ ^c^ ^c^T ^^ II 
 
 irf^tc^^ ^ff^cT ni 5?rf^ n?:\5 ^r^T I 
 35*Tm ffff^ ill m^ ^*tf*}^tfw cK« » 
 
 •siNl '^[fNQ 7[f% ^cT, ^f^ 5lTC^ c^^ ? 
 
BSWAR CHANDRA GUPTA AND HIS SATIRES. 155 
 
 ending admiration. No renowned poet appeared in 
 Bengal in the first half of the present century, and Iswar 
 
 f^f^ fVfJ^ C^^ CA^ c^^ ^^1 ^c^ ? 
 ^1^ ^T§ dr.5 ^f^ Sf^ ^i^] '^i%\\ 
 
 ^^ ft»f^ft I 
 
 ^1^ ^ft t^^t^c^ cci^ n\5i ^c^ II 
 
 f^l^t^'t ^^r^t^ f^*\^U ^^ i 
 «it^u?^ nc^.^T^i ^^t'l'Sf^^ 1 1 
 f'l^r? ^1:^^ f^f«f ^5^T[ ^N^si I 
 f^I ^tf^ inr ^-^ "5(1^^ -si^^ II 
 ^^i ^f^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^t^t^ I 
 ^^-^i ^f^^j.ciTr ^mii f^ti II 
 
 ^^^1^ ^^ fst^ nf^s ^¥ c^i:\5 1 1 
 
 ^ C^? T[% ^K^ ^t^ ^(^ ^t^ II 
 
 ^t^ 
 
 c^Hf<[ ^f^ci ^«(tpi ^t?if^ ^fn^ t- 
 
15^ LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 Chandra was the reigning king of the literary world in 
 his day. But the king had his opponents ! One Gauri 
 Sankar Bhattacharja started a rival paper, and a battle of 
 verse was waged for some time, marked more by abuse 
 than by wit ! 
 
 ^^c^ c^\^n m^ ^^] '^i ^n w 
 
 f55^n:nt^ ^u C5rr^ ^^ ^^ f^^ii i 
 tiw ^^^ ^H ^tt% ^n^ ^t^ dt'i I 
 
 ^^<P^R^n^ ^^jW^ I 
 
 f ^={ ^1, -5^1, -Sftl^t 
 f^^K^ ^l-JF ^ft C^1 ^t^ I 
 
 ^^^c^^ ^^ ^c^r ^c^ r^c5! Ji^ fs^i^ 
 c^i^1 ^m FN I 
 
 C^tC^Tt v5ttC=^^ C^tC^ CIC51 dt^t 
 
IS WAR CHANDRA GUPTA AND HIS SATIRES. 1^7^ 
 
 In course of time, Iswar Chandra started the monthly 
 Prabhakar^ teeming with his inexhaustible verse^ and also- 
 with prose compositions. He wrote the lives of the older 
 Bengali poets, Mukunda Ram, Bharat Chandra, Ram» 
 Prasad and others in this journal, and this was the 
 first attempt to compile the biogra{>hies of our old 
 writers. Tlie monthly Pirabhakar became a power irt 
 the land, and young writers of talent and genius like 
 Dina Bandhu Mitra and Bankim Chandra, who subse- 
 quently rose to fame and distinction, served their first 
 apprenticeship under Iswar Chandra Gupta in the 
 monthly Prabhakar. 
 
 Iswar Chandra also took part in recitations and' 
 musical performances, ("^^t^, \\'^ ^t^vStt &x:.\ which 
 were in fashion in bis day, and bis ready wit and ready 
 
 (AW.\ -^t5*f c^i^i. Tit^ii •«*iv5 »r^ \ 
 (?m(.\ sx\TM ^\^\ w^ \T^ ^^ H 
 
 0^-^^ JT^ \^ clt^ f^T^ Vfcf I 
 (J\UT.\ ^^t^ -^T.-^, ^|?1 5r^c^ II 
 
 <9x.%x.\ ^^ '^:^ s^fr ^T^ \i-^ I 
 
75^ LITERATURE OF BENGAL, 
 
 verse were much appreciated. In his last days he tumecE 
 to more serious works, mostly translations from the 
 Sanscrit like his Prabodha Prabhakar and Bodhenditc 
 Bikas. The extract which we give below* from 
 Bodhendu Bikas is a fair specimen of Iswar Chandra's 
 
 * C^ ^-^ 3T^^ I >i)t ^"xTim^ ^fsTW ^5( ^f^^i f^TlNst 'l^ir^ 
 
 ^^1 ^s^,— c^^ci ^ts^'^f ^cn &?[*i ^^,— ^^5^ ^^^r^^-^<^, f^^ti:^^ 
 ^^ 5(1, 9f^^ c^C5i? c^f^^ ^^, ^^c^^ ffifii ^t^n c<2r^ '(t^ 3t^c[j:^ 
 
 C?C^^ ^r^=J 5(1 ^r^T^rl C?C^C^ ^f^,CTt«f ^^^ C^-l^^^ ^f%^t5T 
 
 -'sf^^R, '^ ?« t\H\ c^mr^ ^^ *f^ ^t^ c^^l 5(tt 1 --^rfw ^t 
 
 ^C^ ^ftW d)^T>5T C*tt«1 ^TI"?!— "5^1 •2[fs5^i:n^ f^ f5(^C^ 
 ^^CnsC^ K f^?^ ^f ^^5 ^.^^ ^It^^ Ctff^N© C^f*^C^ f C © ^f«- 
 
 ^5 5^^i ^f5^ ^?f 511 1 f^r^i 'T^^ ^cs^ ^#1, ^^tf^^ '^^\% 
 
 ■n^ c^ ^^^^ ^w^t#t ^t#r^ ^Tc^, s5vi\^ ^^^3?' ^r?^i >lC^t^ 
 
 ^f^C?l^ ^1^131 -mXi ^u^^ ^^t^ ?tc^ ^? 5(1 I ^^ f?f53j-. 
 
 •sr^sT c^i^. f^T^ffsf^ 5^, ^^i, ^t^, ^A\ ^tf^ ^r^n? fp ^^«rc5n 
 c^mtc^ fs^^c^ ^'ft ^fiic^- niu ? c^5(i(i ^t5T^ f ^ ■<^t^i ^^'^■ 
 ^<^^i «2nf f;5^-5??ic^ sff « ^c^?i Tfm\ 'sr5Ri, ^^ ^t^ ^n, c^c^ 
 
 ^^5 t^a^ r.?p^^ ^?/:->[^ ^t*!^ ^['V^, -^ ^^fTi- '«ir5(^i =?c^^ 
 
ISWAR CHAN-DRA GUPTA AND HIS SATIRES. I59 
 
 prose Style. Our readers will observe that Bengali prose 
 Avas not yet perfect. Iswar Chandra's prose is not as 
 •happy and natural as his poetry, but is artificial and 
 ■alliterative, and somewhat grotesque. 
 
 Minor Poets. 
 Among the minor poets who flourished in the first 
 lialf of this century, one at least deserves mention. 
 Madan Mohan Tarkalankar was a contemporary of Iswar 
 Chandra. He was born in 1815, and was for sometime 
 Professor in the Sanscrit College, and subsequently 
 became a Judge-Pandit and then a Deputy Collector. He 
 died in 1858, /. 6. in the same year with Iswar Chandra 
 Gupta. His Rasa Tarangini is a translation into ornate 
 •and musical Bengali verse of some Sanscrit verses on 
 love ; and his Vasavadaita is a Bengali adaptation of the 
 well-known Sanscrit novel of that name by Subandhu. 
 
 ^I?t^^ f^c^^Hi ^^ I c^ "srt^^ I f^c*r^ «f*r«ft^ '^'^ i£it 
 
 ^m^ ^ViWl'^ ^°N*f^ 's\^^^ ^r.*R ^f*!1 nf^^TK ^^ I ^^ -?S^r5^\5 
 
 Some of Iswar Chandra's compound words are virtually Sanskrit 
 compounds. The following passage from Bodhendu Bikas will 
 ilkistrate this. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Akhay Kumar Datta. 
 
 1820-1886. 
 
 Akhay Kumar Datta and Iswar Chandra Vidyasagaf 
 "were the true successors of Raja Ram Mohan Rai. They 
 inherited his strong enthusiasm for social reform and 
 devoted their lives to the good of \}cmt country. And 
 they also perfected the literary prose style of Bengal 
 vrhich was first rudely shaped by Raja Ram Mohan 
 Rai. 
 
 Both Akhay Kumar and Iswar Chandra were born in 
 1820, Akhay Kumar being senior by two months. Both 
 set before themselves the same lofty purpose, 'uiz. the 
 moral instruction of the people and the reform of social 
 abuses. Both contributed to the formation of a chaste 
 and dignified literary prose style in Bengali. And both 
 lived to a ripe old age, and have lately been taken away 
 from us, honored and lamented by the nation. A 
 meritorious biography of Akhay Kumar has been 
 compiled by Mahendra Nath Vidyanidhi, and an equally 
 meritorious life of Vidyasagar has been compiled by 
 Chandi Charan Banerjea. We cordially acknowledge 
 our indebtedness to both these industrious writers. 
 
 Akhay Kumar was born in Chupi, near Nabadwip, 
 and was the son of Pitambar Datta. His mother was 
 Dayamayi, a woman who was distinguished alike by her 
 
AKHAY KUMAR DATTA. 1-61 
 
 remarkable intelligence and her natural piety ; and like 
 Ram Mohan Rai, Akhay Kumar inherited t^ie virtues of 
 Ivis mother. He learned Bengali in his village Patshala 
 and also picked up a knowledge of Persian ; and at the 
 age of ten he came to Kidderpore near Calcutta^ where 
 his father was staying. 
 
 The story of the early struggles of Akhay Kumar 
 to acquire sound knowledge through the English 
 language is among the most touching episodes of his 
 instructive life. A copy of Pearson's Dialogues on 
 Geography and Astronomy, in English and Bengali, 
 fell into his hands, and the young boy of ten read 
 with intense interest and delight the account of clouds, 
 rain^ lightning and thunder, in the Bengali version. His 
 eager mind was filled with a desire to know more of the 
 secrets and laws of nature, and at this early age Akhay 
 Kumar determined to l-earn English in order to acquire 
 such knowledge. 
 
 After studying with private teachers for some years to 
 little purpose, the enthusiastic boy got himself admitted 
 in a Missionary school at Kidderp-ur. His father was 
 alarmed, for a Missionary school was, in those days, 
 looked upon with dread. It was at last settled that the 
 intractable boy would reside with a cousin in Calcutta, 
 and attend the Orientai Seminary^ a Hindu institution 
 wliere English was taught. Akhay Kumar was admitted 
 there at the age of sixteen, and virtually commenced his 
 English education at this age ; the knowledge of 
 English which he had been able to acquire before this 
 Mas but nominal. 
 
 21 
 
l62 LrTERATURE OF BENGAL, 
 
 But poor Akhay Kumar's difficulties were not yet 
 at an end. He could pay no schooling fees for the 
 period of one year, and the penni'fess boy can>e to the 
 proprietor, Gaur Mohans Adhya, with tears in his eyes^ 
 and asked pern>ission to leave the school, as he could 
 not afford to- pay, Gaur Mohan haKi nrrarked the intelli- 
 gence and the uprightness of the boy, he took pity on 
 him, and permitted him' ta pursue his studies without 
 payment of fees. 
 
 But a lotig cou^rse of irrstrirction in this institution 
 wa-s not 'in store for Akhay Kunxir^ On the death of 
 his father at Benares, he had to leave the school after 
 remaining there for less then three years. His keerr 
 desire for knowledge however con»tinu«d wnabated,. 
 the study of Natural Science had special attraction 
 for him, and he continued the study after leaving 
 school. And at the age of twenty be began to learn 
 Sanscrit^ the knowledge of which befitted him for the 
 great task of bis life, the developn^ent of Bengali prose 
 literature. 
 
 Iswar Oiandra Gupta was then- the king of the 
 literary world in. Bengal, and Akhay iCumar became ac- 
 qtiainted with him. On one occasion, Iswar Chandra 
 asked Akhay to translate an article which had appeared 
 in an Englisli daily paper, "But I have rjever conjpose(i 
 anything in Bengali prose," said young Akhay, "how 
 can 1 translate this" ? With his usual kindness for 
 talented young men, the veteran Iswar Chandra en- 
 couraged him in the task, and admired his performance 
 when it was done. Such was Akhay Kumar's initiatioi>. 
 
AKHAY KUMAR DATTA. 163 
 
 into the status of a Bengali writer, and henceforth he 
 began to compose articles for the Prabhakar^ 
 
 But such compositions did not pay, and Akhay 
 Kumar had now to seek for means of livelihood. 
 Various friends gave liim various advices. One advised 
 him to be a Daroga, and Akhay Kumar seriously began 
 studies to qualify himself for such a post. Soon how- 
 ever he turned away from those studies in disgust ; the 
 Police Department lost an honest Daroga, and Bengal 
 gained the most talented author and enthusiastic re- 
 former of his day ] Another friend advised the young 
 man to study law ; but Akhay Kumar instinctively felt, it 
 was not the vocation for him. "Laws change from 
 day to day," he said, "what is the good of studying them ? 
 I desire to learn the immutable and unchangeable laws 
 of nature which rule the universe." Thus time rolled 
 on, and eventually, Akhay Kumar discovered his true 
 vocation in life. 
 
 The venerable Debendra Nath Tagore had taken 
 up the task of religious reform which Raja Ram Mohari 
 had initiated, and ten years after Ram Mohan's death 
 in England, started the Tatwabodhini Patrika^ a monthly 
 journal, in 1843. Young Akhay Kumar, then only a 
 youth of 23, became the editor of the paper which soon 
 became a power in the land. It is scarcely possible in 
 the present day, when journals have multiplied all over 
 the country, to adequately describe how eagerly the 
 moral instructions and earnest teachings of Akhay 
 K umar, conveyed in that famous paper, were perused 
 by a large circle of thinking and enlightened readers. 
 
'^54 LITERATURE OF BENGAf.. 
 
 •People, all over Bengal, awaited every issue of that paper 
 with eagerness, and the silent and sickly but indefatig- 
 able worker at bis desk swayed for a number of 
 years the thoughts and opinions of the thinking 
 portion of the people of Bengal. Scientific articles, moral 
 instructions, accounts of different nations and tribes^ 
 stories of the animate and inanimate creation, all that 
 could enlighten the expanding intellect of Bengal and 
 dispel darkness and pejudices, found a convenient vehicle 
 in the Tatwabodhini Fatrika. The great Prabhakar, con^ 
 ducted with all the ability and wit of the veteran Iswar 
 Chandra Gupta, continued to be a favourite with ortho- 
 dox Hindus of the old school. But the Patrika was 
 conducted in a newei style, and struck a deeper cord 
 in the heart of the young Hindu. It created a thirst 
 for knowledge and for moral elevation^ it awakened 
 in rising generations a moral enthusiasm and a religious 
 fervour, and it spread that spirit of reform and of 
 progrefis of which Raja Ram Mohan Rai was the first 
 great apostle in this century. The profound thought 
 and the earnest tone of Akhay Kumar's writings struck 
 even those who were intensely partial to English 
 education in those days. It is said that the talented 
 > Ram Gopal Ghr)sh, one of the most brilliant students 
 of the Hindu College, read one of Akhay Kumar's 
 articles, and turning to his friend, the distinguished Ram 
 Tanu Lahiri, remarked ;— "Have you evtrseen profound 
 and thoughtful composition in the Bengali language ? 
 It is here." 
 
 For twelve years, Akhay Kumar worked indefatigably 
 
AKHAY KUMAR DATTA. 165 
 
 for this paper. He formed a style of Bengali prose which 
 for elevation, dignity and moral earnestness, has never 
 been surpassed. He wrote articles some of which have 
 since been separately collected and published, and are 
 his best known works, like Charupatha and Dharmaniti. 
 And for twelve years he was the apostle and the teacher 
 of the party of progress and reform in Bengal. But 
 nature could sustain no longer, and Akhay Kumar was 
 prostrated by a disease of the head. 
 
 While Akhay Kumar distinguished himself by his 
 writings in the Tativabodhini^ the venerable Vidyasagar 
 also made bis mark in literature by works, the like of 
 which Bengal had not produced before. His great 
 abilities, and his connection with the Sanscrit College 
 and the Education Department, gave Vidyasagar immense 
 influence and power, and he exerted that influence to 
 reward real merit. He appreciated the talent and genius 
 of Akhay Kumar, and when the post of Deputy 
 Inspectors of schools was created, Vidyasagar ofl'ered 
 one of them, with a pay Rs. 150 a month, to Akhay 
 Kumar. The latter was then getting only Rs. 60 a 
 month as editor of Tahvabodhini, but his duty impelled 
 him to the task, and Akhay Kumar knew no higher 
 pleasure in life than the performance of his duty. He 
 . therefore declined without a pang the more lucrative 
 appointment offered to him. 
 
 But the philanthropic Vidyasagar would not be 
 
 thwarted. When the Normal School was established in 
 
 Calcutta, Vidyasagar settled with the authorities that 
 
 ( Akhay Kumar would be its head teacher on a pay of 
 
1 66 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 Rs. 200 a month. Akhay Kumar wished to dech'ne this 
 offer also, and it was only at Vidyasagar's strong and 
 persistent request that he was compelled to accept it. 
 The annals of literature are replete with stories of mutual 
 jealousies between rival authors ; it is with sincere 
 gratification, therefore, that we record this evidence of 
 cordial good feelings between Vidyasagar and Akhay 
 Kumar, — feelinf!;s which reflect equal honour on both 
 the great writers. 
 
 It was in 1855, ^^^^ ^^ withdrew himself from the work 
 in connection with the Patrika^ and became Head teacher 
 of the Calcutta Normal School. But his disease became 
 worse, and he had to resign the appointment after two 
 or three years. The year which marked the death of 
 Iswar Chandra Gupta witnessed the practical retirement 
 of Akhay Kumar from all work. 
 
 He lived for nearly thirty years in enforced privacy 
 and retirement. One great work issued from his re- 
 tirement ; it is an account of the Hindu sects, adapted 
 from H. H. Wilson's English work, and prefaced by a 
 long dissertation on the Hindu Aryans which is a 
 masterpiece of learning and erudition, conveyed in 
 forcible and graceful style. 
 
 After nearly thirty years of an inactive life, the 
 talented Akhay Kumar passed away from us in 1886. 
 He lived to see the fruits of his labour ; and the genera-, 
 tion which had grown up around him in his closing days 
 had been educated on his works, imbued with that 
 healthy knowledge which he lal)oured to spread, and with 
 that earnest spirit of progress which he endeavoured to 
 
AKHAY KUMAR DATTA. 167 
 
 infuse. He lived also to see the Bengali style, which he 
 and Vidyasagar had dignified, made richer day by day 
 by varied and meritorious works. 
 
 The great merit of Akhay Kumar's style is its earnest- 
 ness, its surpassing vigour and force. We quote a few 
 passages below,* and the reader will be able to judge 
 for himself The style is the man, and Akhay Kumar's 
 
 * f^^^t^ t-l^^l ^^tH^^ ^ t^l"^ -il^ ^'l^ 7\1<[\717{ 
 
 ^§ri 7Tc<it^^-^cF f^5^«i ^r^c'sc^iT I ^r^Kw? ^f7[ti[ts?j ^n-^t^*iT, 
 
 <£t^^ ^f^3r ^*li] ^^l y\n^'f NQ •^■\%>\^l ^^N ^^C^l^^ ^RTTt 
 
 cwm ^^^i? ^rt, w<5 ^^v\^ut ^[^\i^n ^^r^i ^t^KW i c^^ 
 -^ti^^, ^f^f^ ^s"*m ^(1 1 ^^5? f^?ii '■.fffr mf^*f?i ^^^'Mi '^i- 
 
 C^^-^^(t ^^-"^^ ^^* ^^ «(^I5^ t^'t^^w Tt^^f^ I tf t^:?^ ^t^1?^ 
 
l68 LITERATURE OF BENGAL* 
 
 Style reflects the true patriot and the earnest, enthu* 
 siastic reformer. Vidyasagar's style appears to us to 
 be more finished and refined, Akhay Kumar's is more 
 forcible and earnest. In Vidyasagar's style we admire 
 the placid stilless and soft beauty of a quiet lake, re» 
 fleeting on its bosom the gorgeous tints of the sky 
 and the surrounding objects. In Akhay Kumar's style 
 we admire the vehemence and force of the mountain 
 
 •Sflf^ ^X^ ^^-^ ^^TVf^^^5( ^f<iTri ^IH ^ C^t ^^T-*il^ f^l^ '^^- 
 
 Uz'>\<[ n*rti;5i-^s?'o 5t^«i ^FfMi ■^-m'^n nf^Qj ^Ui'^ ^li^ i ^1^1 ! 
 "^^^^ c^t«^i^ ! ^f^^i ^^^ '^^n's■^<f>^^Mvi f^i^^ fi^isf ! ^f 
 
 >f i^i^?5 ^r< c^f?m W5t? ^^^^ ^Ti ^1 's 'it^^- c^f'r^i ^3Er^^ ^rrf^- 
 ^T^ ^^ ^1, ^ f^^!^^ ^f^lW^ n^t^'^ fsj^mi ^r^^t^ <2fmsr5{ 5^lt I 
 
 ^f^=iT-^i:7f^ jfspR ^, ^(^K^f fs?«3Ri ^t%, "1^«f^1 f^t^ -2r5fcT« 
 ^^sTll ^r53 f^ ^1 ?" f^R c^ti^ ^^ r^<Tl ^^*i\ ^lu^ ^wn^^ 
 
 Ti*^-?'!! i^ft^R^ ^^'fl"'"r*i ^f ^ ^R1 ^^1^^ f5(^^t« ^ 'ff^^i^^ 
 
AKHAY KUMAR DATTA. 169 
 
 forrent in its wild and rugged beauty. Vidyasagar is 
 the more accomplished master of style, Akhay Kumar 
 is the more forcible preacher. Modern Bengali prose, 
 as we. understand it, has been shaped l)y these twin 
 workers whose memory will be long preserved in 
 Bengal. 
 
 We have said before that both these writers were 
 enthusiastic in the cause of social reform. Vidyasagar's 
 great work of reforni was to ameliorate the condition 
 of Hindu widows, and to legalize their remarriage. ' 
 Akhay Kumar was compelled by his illness to retire 
 early from the field of active work, and could not take 
 a part in this noble movement; but the last extract, 
 which we have quoted below shews how earnestly, how 
 intensely he felt on the subject. Every true-hearted 
 Hindu must feel keenly on the subject ; but it is given 
 only to men like Akhay Kumar and Vidyasagar, who 
 combine a manly courage with true tenderness of heart, 
 to battle against unreasoning prejudices and heartless 
 selfishness in the cause of reform. 
 
 It would be going somewhat beyond the scope of our 
 work to indicate the influence which Akhay Kumar 
 exerted on the Brahma Samaj to which he belonged. His 
 biographer, Pandit Mahendra Nath informs us, that it was 
 Akhay Kumar's uncompromising regard for truth which 
 led him to question the infallibility of the Vedanta. He 
 thought on the subject, and discussed it with his fellow-- 
 workers, until the Brahma community were at last 
 persuaded to reject the doctrine of the infallibility of 
 the ancient scriptures, while they still eontinued to 
 
 22 
 
ijO LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 revere them as holy and venerable works, nobly fitted 
 for our instruction and guidance. This was one of the 
 most noted changes in the history of the Brahma Samaj, 
 and it was due to Akhay KumaF^ more than to any one 
 else. 
 
 We are indebted also to Pandit Mahendra Nath 
 Vidyanidhi for many passages from the writings and 
 speeches of Akhay Kumar, which have never yet beenp 
 published in a collected form, but which are instinct with 
 eloquence and beauty. A complete edition of Akhay 
 Kumar's literary works has yet to be published, and we- 
 look to the Brahma Sanrnj for th?e perforriiance of this- 
 patriotic task. 
 
 Other Religious Writers, 
 
 X .. A host of talented writers continued the work when 
 Akhay Kumar retired from the field. The venerable 
 Debendra Nath Tagore continued to preside over the 
 Brahma Samaj, and issued a series of religious work* 
 which have greatly benefited and dignified Bengali prose. 
 Raj Narayan Basu, the companion and collaborator of 
 Akhay Kumar, has enriched the language by a series of 
 lectures and discourses mostly on religious subjects. The. 
 sons of Debendra Kath have distinguished themselves in 
 literature and song, and the Bengali language will bear 
 on it the impress of the work of this talented and cul- 
 tured family. Keshab Chandra Sen and his section of 
 the Brahma Samaj have followed in the footsteps of 
 Debendra Nath, and have enriched Bengali literature by 
 
^ nr THE 
 UNJVERSITY 
 
 OF , 
 
 XKHAY KUMAR DATTA^^^j£Og^ 
 
 sermons and lectures. And Pandit Siva Nath Sastri, 
 who heads the third section of the Samaj, is also the 
 writer of meritorious works. Thus modern Bengali 
 literature owes much to the religious movement initiated 
 by Ram Mohan Rai, 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 IswAR Chandra Vidyasagar. 
 
 i820-i8gi. 
 
 Akhay Kumar and Iswar Chandra were twin workers 
 in the field of social reform and literary culture. Iswar 
 Chandra began a little later than Akhay Kumar, but 
 his endeavours were more arduous and more prolonged, 
 and the scene of his struggles against social abuses 
 lay not only in the arena of letters, but also in the arena 
 of actual life. 
 
 Iswar Chandra was born in 1820 in the village of 
 Birsinha, which was within the limits of Hoogbly District 
 at one time, but is now within the limits of Midnapur. 
 He was the eldest son of his father Thakurdas 
 Banerjea, who held a humble post in Calcutta on 
 Rs. 10 a month. Like Akhay Kumar, he received his 
 early training in his village Patshala, but was removed 
 by his father to Calcutta at the age of nine, and 
 was admitted in the Sanscrit College. Iswar Chandra 
 suffered all the privations of poverty ; he lodged in poor 
 quarters, lived on poor food, cooked his own meals, 
 and wore ragged clothes, while he was prosecuting his 
 studies. And not unoften he suffered from the pangs of 
 hunger, and went without a meal. Few of the thousands 
 of students who prosecute their studies in our schools 
 in the present day have any idea of the privations 
 which poor Iswar had to go through, sixty years ago. 
 
Literature of Bengal. 
 
 J). 172 
 
 Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar. 
 
ISWAR CHANDRA VIDYASAGAK. l}$ 
 
 ' In the midst of such privations, young Iswar Chandra 
 distinguished himself by his remarkable intelligence, and 
 generally held the first place in his class. He studied 
 Sanscrit Grammar, Literature, Astronomy, Sacred Law, 
 and Philosophy, distinguished himself by bis compositions 
 in Sanscrit prose and verse, and also picked up a slight 
 knowledge of English. In 1839 he finished his education 
 by passing an examination in Hindu Law, and obtained 
 the title of Vidyasagar ; and in 1841 he was appointed 
 Head Pandit of Fort William College, on a pay of 
 Rs. 50. It was then that young Vidyasagar began to 
 improve his knowledge of English. 
 
 Five years later, when Akhay Kumar was swaying the 
 ideas and opinions of thoughtful and earnest men in 
 Bengal by his articles in the Tahvabadhini Patrika, Iswar 
 Chandra was appointed Assistant Secretary to the Sanscrit 
 Collei2;e. The following year, 1847, witnessed the publica- 
 tion of his first literary work, Betal-Panchabinsati. The 
 work marked an epoch in the history of Bengali prose, 
 and the beauty and richness of Vidyasagar's style disclosed 
 resources of the Bengali language which no one had 
 suspected before. Nevertheless, like all first attempts, 
 Betal had its faults ; the style was too ornate, and a little 
 too artificial. 
 
 Iswar Chandra was a man of great independence of 
 character. His suggestions in some matters were not 
 accepted by Rasamay Dutt,* then Secretary to the 
 
 * The proper spelling is Datta. But we write the name as it 
 is written by the members of this cultured family. 
 
174 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 Sanscrit College and a leading man of his time, and 
 Iswar Chandra resigned his appointment as Assistant 
 Secretary. 
 
 He entered the Fort William College once more as a 
 Head Clerk, and soon associated himself with the great 
 and good-hearted Drinkwater Bethune in the cause of 
 female education in Bengal. And in 1850 the manage- 
 ment of the girls' school, called after Bethune, was 
 entrusted entirely to the enthusiastic Pandit. In the 
 same year he re-entered the Sanscrit College as Professor 
 ■of Literature, in the post vacated by Madan Mohan 
 Tarkalankar, of whom we have spoken before. But a 
 higher honour was in store for him. Rasamay Dutt 
 resigned his post about this time, the posts of Secretary 
 and Assistant Secretary were amalgamated into that of 
 Principal, and Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar was appointed 
 the first Principal of the Sanscrit College. 
 
 Vidyasagar had now ample opportunities to reform 
 the method of teaching in that institution, and his modern 
 and easy method is appreciated by thousands of young 
 Bengalis who have studied Sanscrit since. It became 
 possible, under this method, to acquire a knowledge of 
 Sanscrit without shutting ones-self out from all other 
 learning and knowledge in the universe. 
 
 Educational work of all kinds crowded on Vidyasagar 
 thick and fast. His friend Bethune died in 185 1, and 
 the Lieutenant Governor, Sir Frederick Halliday, placed 
 the Bethune School under the management of Vidyasagar. 
 The great scheme of establishing aided schools all over 
 Bengal was inaugurated in 1854, and Vidyasagar sub- 
 
ISWAR CHANDRA VIDYASAGAR. 1 75 
 
 mitted his masterly report for carrying out that scheme. 
 His plan was approved, and he was appointed Inspecter 
 of Hooghly, Burdwan, Midnapur and Nadiya on a pay of 
 Rs. 200, in addition to Rs. 300 which he was now getting 
 as Principal of Sanscrit College. He organized boys' 
 schools in the four districts, established over 40 girls' 
 schools in Hooghly and Burdwan, and superintended 
 the work of the Sanscrit College and the Normal School 
 in Calcutta. In the midst of these vast labours he never 
 tested from his literary work ; his Saku?ttala, adapted 
 from the Sanscrit drama of Kalidasa, was published 
 in 1855. 
 
 But a task, mightier than educational reform and 
 literary culture, now attracted the attention and the 
 energies of the great and manly worker. Great as was 
 his intellect, Vidyasagar's heart was yet greater, and 
 the unfortunate condition of his countrywomen often 
 affected him to tears. The wrongs of Hindu widows 
 aroused his strongest sympathy, and he now prepared 
 himself for a great movement to redress those wrongs. 
 
 It did not take a Pandit of Vidyasagar's learning 
 much time to discover that the ancient Hindu scriptures^ 
 did not enjoin perpetual widowhood ; and in 1855 he 
 startled the Hindu world by his work on the remarriage 
 of Hindu widows. The excitement which the work, 
 coming from the pen of a learned Brahman, caused 
 among the orthodox Hindus of the day cannot be des- 
 cribed. i\buse and vituperation were poured forth from 
 all sides on his devoted head, pamphlets and publications 
 purporting to point out his mistake were issued in quick 
 
lyS LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 succession, songs were composed and sung in Calcutta and" 
 in remote districts, rediculing Vidyasagar and his great 
 endeavour. Amidst this storm of indignation which he 
 had raised, Vidyasagar stood unappalled and unmoved. 
 He issued a second book on the subject, replying to all 
 the arguments which had been brought against his posi- 
 tion, and replying to them with a wealth of learning and 
 a facility of expression which silenced opposition, and 
 practically closed the controversy ! Not content with this 
 literary triumph, Vidyasagar associated himself with all 
 tiie influential men of his time, with Prasanna Kumar 
 Tagore, Ram Gopal Ghosh, Pratap Chandra Sinha and 
 others, and appealed to Government to declare that the 
 sons of remarried Hindu widows should be considered 
 I'Cgitimate heirs. The Government of the day responded 
 to this reasonable demand against unreasoning opposition 
 and heartless selfishness, and the measure was passed 
 into law in 1856. 
 
 But the reformer's work was only half done. Vidyasagar 
 was not the man to sleep in the shade of his laurels. 
 He raised subscriptions in the cause of widow-marriages, 
 and the very year, in which the law was passed, 
 witnessed the celebration of the marriage of a Hindu 
 widow with Srish Chandra Vidyaratna, then Judge-Pandit 
 of Murshidabad. Other instances followed, and some 
 years later the indomitable reformer gave his only son 
 in marriage with a widow. Never since the days of 
 Ram Mohan Rai had Bengal witnessed such single-heart- 
 ed devotion in the cause of reform, such triumph of 
 humanity over the wrongs and abuses of centuries. Widowr 
 
iSWAR CHANDRA VIDYASAGAR. 177 
 
 »iarriages have not been very frequent in Hindu society 
 since that time, but the path is now open ; and Hindu 
 fathers who will have the courage to save tiieir girls of 
 tender years from life-long widowhood will bless the 
 name of the great reformer for generations to come. 
 
 Vidyasagar did not long retain his appointment under 
 Government. His great independence of character did 
 not always please his superiors, and he resigned his ap- 
 pointments, worth Rs. 500 a month, in 1858. Four years 
 after he produced his master work, Stiar Bananas, based 
 on Bhavabhuti's finest drama in Sanscrit, Whether we 
 consider the grace and elegance of the style, the skilful* 
 ness of the narration, or the tenderness and pathos which 
 pervade the work, we must rank it among the noblest 
 productions in Bengali prose. 
 
 Minor works proceeded from the pen of the veteran 
 writer in quick succession, and were welcomed and 
 adopted in schools all over Bengal. The princely in- 
 come which Vidyasagar thus derived w^as devoted to 
 the relief of suffering and distress. Hundreds of widows 
 and orphans owed their living and education to his charity, 
 every great cause, every v7orthy movement, received 
 his support, and the greatest and richest eemindars of 
 the land delighted to honour the venerable Pandit 
 who lived a simple life, whose courage in the cause 
 of reform was indomitable, whose kindness and charity 
 were inexhaustible. The name of Vidyasagar became a 
 household word all over Bengal, his charities were far- 
 reaching and extensive, his help was sought for by those 
 m distress and never sought in vain, and his books 
 
 ^3 
 
ij^ Ln'ERATURE OF BENG^AL. 
 
 were read by the young and the old. Vidyasagar wats 
 scarcely better known as an author than as a reformer 
 and a philanthropist. 
 
 One more lofty aim attracted his attention in his 
 later days. The system of polygamy, specially }>revalent 
 among the Kulin classes of Bengal, is degrading to 
 men, and causes untold suiTering to women, and the 
 veteran reformer girded up his loins oiTce more in the 
 cause of reform. He puWisbed works proving that the 
 ancient Hindu Sastras do not sanction polygamy 
 without restriction^ and are not as merciless to women 
 as modern Hindu custom has conie to be. Once more^ 
 orthodox Hindu society felt the blow from the gauntleted 
 hand of the Fandit. Replies were attem'pted^ and abuse 
 was showered on the reformer in vain,, for Vidyasagaf 
 stood unmoved. It was not possible however for the 
 Government to prohibit po4yganTy by law,, and the 
 triumph of Vidyasagar in this mstance remained only 
 a literary triumph. 
 
 This was Vidyasagar'^s last greaft erideavour.. The 
 fest fifteen years of his life were spent in well-earned re- 
 pose,, and the Government created him a Companion of 
 the Indian Empire in 1877. His zeal for progress 
 remained unabated, and he never hesitated to extend 
 a helping hand to those who needed his help.* His 
 
 * My readers will pardon my citing a characteristic instance 
 which concrerns myself. When I commenced a translation of the 
 Rigveda Sanhita into the vernacular of Ken;^al in i.S85» my endeavour 
 to popularize the ancient scriptures met with a perfect storm of 
 opposition from my orthodox countrymen. Ainong the few Pandits- 
 who encouraged me in the task was the venerable Iswar Chandra" 
 Vidyasagar, 
 
rSWXR CHANDRA VIDYASAGAft. tj^ 
 
 charities too continued unabated, and thus passed the 
 closing years of the great author, reformer and philan- 
 thropist, until he died in 1891, lamented all over Bengai 
 •as no man has ever been lamented within our recollection. 
 Monuments of marble and bronze lie scattered ail over 
 our metropolis in memory of men Considered great, 
 because they held high posts in their day. The monu- 
 ment of Vidyasagar is in the hearts of his countrymen-, 
 and will remain for ever enshrined in their grateful 
 recollections.* 
 
 OtitER Prose-Writers. 
 
 At the close of an account of Vidyasagar's life, 
 some mention should be made of Bhudeb Mukerji,. 
 who succeeded Vidyasagar as an educationist, and has 
 
 * The following is a fair specimen of Vidyasagar's style : 
 
 ^r^?:^^ ? c^i^r^ ^^^ ^1 Ti ^^^1 ^t^f^ "^^1 ^-"^ '^tf ^, ^tf^ 
 v8 ^\^H ^r^^M^¥ 7[i^K ^^r^*i ^f^c^ I ^^licw^^i ^^^t5[ 
 
l8o LITERATURE OF BENGAL, ' 
 
 also written some works in Bengali prose. He was 
 born in Calcutta, and was junior to Vidyasagar by five 
 years ; and he was educated first in the Sanscrit College, 
 
 ^t ^Tm\, c^^^^u ^t^m^ ^t^^t^ -wm\, ^^ ^^'\i-^ 
 «f=?T^ ^f^i:3 ^mz^^ i ci'^e) ^t^tf ^ ccitR^ vQ 'Jt'pt^ ^5C^, ^ti:t r 
 ^\'^n "^^nu ^\^^) ^f<5c^^, ^gjf^^^^'X'^^ iit ^«^1 ^f^TTi, 
 
 •^l^fTt^ ^tR ^ ^m^^ Tf^^l HT^f^ ^K5T^*l ^f<1^^5(l ^^1 
 
 ^I^^'^^ ^*l^ nfC^ 'Tv^tr ^^cf I cfS^el xfi:? ^^4^151^, ^^t 
 
 c^Fic« tf^iri "^rf^, ci'sgei ^f^pi^ ^?R ^^K^ f^ft^i '^hz'^ 
 
 ^lf^^1, ^t^'^T^ ^ f*f^ ^^t^T^ ^f^^1 C^t^5{ ^f^^Tj cTif5ii;ci^ I 
 
 ^tW'.'^C^ 4^^5i: ^f?C^ ^T^^ ^[l\m^ 1 
 
 A more eloquent passage on the ciuel custom of enforced 
 widowhood is quoted below ; 
 
 tWR'l^^ Ti^fC^^I C^5^f^^n ^iFf^ ^^^^51 ^f^51 C^r^K'^P C^^^ 
 
 cc^'ff^*!? ?i^ff" 5f«(T^ ^^ ^ *r^^ *i^, ^f^ (.'^^ c>T w*r ^^^m 
 
ISWAR CHANDRA VIDYASAGAR. I Si 
 
 and then in the Hindu College. After filling the posts 
 of Head Master of Howrah School and Superintendent 
 of Hooghly Normal School, Bhudeb became Assistant 
 Inspector of Schools in 1862, and eventually Inspector 
 of a Division in 1869. He was made a Companion 
 of the Indian Empire in 1877, and a member of the 
 Bengal Council in 1882, and in the following year he 
 retired from service. He died in 1894. His earliest 
 works are two historical tales in Bengali, adapted from 
 a well known English book called Romance of History. 
 His latest works are his three thoughtful Pnibandhas 
 or essays on domestic life, society, and ceremonial rites, 
 which fill nearly eight hundred pages of his printed 
 works. 
 
 Another historical romance is Bangadhip Parajaya 
 by Pratap Chandra Ghosh. Hara Chandra Ghosh suc- 
 ceeded Rasamay Dutt as Judge of the Court of Small 
 Causes in Calcutta. Both were leading men in their 
 time, and they were the first natives of Bengal who filled 
 that high and responsible post. Pratap Chandra is 
 the son of Hara Chandra Ghosh, and his work is 
 connected with the story of the conquest of Raja 
 Pratapaditya of Jessore, by Man Sinha the general of 
 Akbar. 
 
 A more witty writer was Pyari Chand Mitra, and 
 his Alaler-gharer Dulal is a social tale of Bengal. It 
 has been translated into English. 
 
 The patriotic zemindar Kali Prasanna Sinha also 
 wrote a satirical sketch on modern society called Hutam 
 Pechar Naksha ; but he has done more hstino; service to 
 
l82 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 the cause of Bengali'Iiterature and modern progress by his 
 meritorioas translation of the Sanscrit Mahahharata into 
 Bengali prose. The work had been translated into Bengali 
 by the Pandits of the Maharaja of Burdwan some 
 years before, but Kali Prasanna Sinha's translation is 
 simpler and more literal, and is more acceptable to the 
 public. He employed a number of Pandits to make this 
 translation, and widely distributed the work, free of cost, 
 among those who took an interest in the ancient epic. 
 
 The example of Kali Prasanna Sinha was not lost, 
 and the Ramayana was published in original Sanscrit, 
 with a meritorious prose translation into Bengali, by 
 Pandit Hem Chandra Vidyaratna, in 1868 to 1885. 
 
 Kali Prasanna Sinha's Mahahharata and Hera 
 Chandra Vidyaratna's Ramayana are the best prose 
 translations of those epics in the Bengali language. 
 
CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 DraMaIic Writers. Dina Bandhu MiTra^ 
 
 1829-1873. 
 
 Kulina-Kula-SarVasVa is said to be the ftrst original 
 dramatic work in Bengali. It was composed in 1854, and 
 indicates the spirit of the tiriTes. The veteran satirist, Isvvaf 
 Chandra Gupta, \Vas' still hurh'og bis s-arcasms 017 all social 
 reforms, but the shafts of bis wit fell poinfdless" among 
 the earnest worker^ af the day/ The Hindu College 
 was yielding its anfnual crap of young men with English 
 education ar?d western notions ; Akhay Ivumar had 
 educated his countrymen in advanced ideas ) and the 
 great Vidyasagar had espoused the cause of female 
 education^ and was even then n>editating his memorable 
 attack on the cruel custom of enforced widowhoods 
 It was at such a time, in 1854-, that the first original 
 dramatic composition, KidirtU' Kulct-Sarvasua held up 
 the custom of Kulinism and polygamy ta deserved 
 fidicule and contempt. 
 
 The author, llam Narayan Tarkaratna,i was junior to- 
 Vidyasagar by three years, being born in 18^3 ; and was 
 
 educated in the Sanscrit College. \\^ then became a 
 teacher in the College, retired on pension in his old age,. 
 and died in 1885. 
 
 The history of the stage in Bengal deserves a brief 
 
 narration. Jatra and other theatrical performances 
 
184 LlTERATtriRE OF bengal! 
 
 t)f the old style were the pastime of our fathers, and 
 Kabi^ Pachali and Half-Akrai were then in fashion. But 
 the Sans-Souci theatre was established in Chowringhee 
 early in the century, and men like H. H. Wilson, the 
 oriental scholar, and Hume) Magistrate of Calcutta, took 
 part in the performances. Native Indian gentlemen 
 witnessed these performances, and occasionally got up 
 theatrical performances among themselves ; and Shakes* 
 peare's plays were acted in English, or Sanscrit dramas 
 were acted in Bengali translations. At the special 
 request of Jotindra Mohan Tagore, (now Maharaja Sif 
 Jotindra Mohan Tagore,) Ram Narayan's original drama 
 Kulina-Kula-Sarvasva was acted in 1856 in the premises 
 of the Oriental Seminary. In the following year the 
 eminent Kali Prasanna Sinha, translator of the Maha- 
 bharata, had his own translation of f^ikramorvasi acied 
 in his house with great pomp and magnificence, the 
 translator himself taking a part on the stage. The 
 performance excited a great deal of interest in the town. 
 It was then decided between Jotindra Mohan Tagore 
 and Rajas Pratap Chandra and Iswar Chandra of the 
 Paikpara Raj family to get up a permanent theatrical 
 house on a grand scale for the encouragement of the 
 Bengali drama. The scheme was matured, and Ram 
 Narayan the author of Kulina-Kula-Sarvasva was to 
 compose a new drama. The magnificent garden house 
 of Belgachia, belonging to the Paikpara Rajas, was to 
 be the scene of the new theatre. No expense would 
 be spared to make the scenic decoration and the per- 
 formance a success. 
 
DRAMATIC WRITERS. -DINA BANDHU MITRA. 185 
 
 It was under such auspices that Pandit Ram Narayan's 
 seciond drama, Ratnavali^ was to be acted. But the 
 Rajas had many friends among the European officials 
 of Calcutta, and they desired to witness the performance. 
 It was necessary to invite them; it was necessary to 
 make an English translation of the drama in order to 
 enable them to follow the acting. 
 
 This was the first introduction of the greatest literary 
 genius of the century into the arena of letters. Madhu 
 Sudan Datta was a brilliant student of the Hindu 
 College. He had become a Christian and had gone to 
 Madras, where he had worked as a teacher, and distin- 
 guished himself by his " Captive Ladie" and other com- 
 positions in English verse. He had now returned to 
 Calcutta and heid an appointment in the Police Court. 
 He was selected to translate the new drama for the Eng- 
 lish visitors, and he did it with credit and distinction. 
 
 At last in July 1858, the drama was acted under 
 circumstances of pomp and scenic decorations which' 
 surpassed the utmost expectations. The Lieutenant- 
 Governor of Bengal, the Judges of the High Court, and' 
 other high officials witnessed the performance. Every one 
 was charmed with the acting \ a new era was opened 
 for the Bengal Drama. 
 
 Madhu Sudan's ambition was fired. He had written 
 much in English verse, and had written with ability and 
 p oetic talent, but all attempts to court the Muses in 
 a foreign tongue must be fruitless. His genius saw 
 at a glance its true scope. Madhu Sudan who had 
 hitherto never written a line of Bengali prose or verse, 
 24 
 
lS6 LITERATtJRE OF BENGAL. 
 
 Madhu Sudan who almost despised the Bengali language, 
 — was impelled by his "vaulting ambition" to be a 
 Bengali author ! His friends laughed at the idea ; they 
 did not know what is possible for true genius to attempt, 
 and to achieve. 
 
 Madhu Sudan was thus the first student of the 
 Hindu College, properly educated in English, who 
 turned to Bengali literature. All the renowned authors 
 who had hitherto served their mother-tongue, Iswar 
 Chandra Gupta, Akhay Kumar Datta, Iswar Chandra 
 Vidyasagar and others, were men who had acquired 
 an imperfect knowledge of English, mostly by their 
 own endeavours. The alumnii of the Hindu College 
 had hitherto looked with contempt on Bengali literature, 
 had written prose and verse in English, had hoped 
 to distinguish themselves in English literature. The 
 truth came like a flash of inspiration to Madhu 
 Sudan Datta that true genius mistakes its vocation 
 when it struggles in a foreign tongue. Madhu Sudan 
 lived to correct his mistake and to be the most 
 eminent poet in his own language. And since Madhu 
 Sudan's time the alu?n?iii of our schools and colleges, — 
 those who have sought literary fame and were worthy of 
 it, — have won their laurels in their mother tongue. 
 
 The success of Ratnavali inspired Madhu Sudan 
 with the idea of writing a Bengali drama. He went to 
 the Asiatic Society's rooms, took away ^some Sanscrit 
 dramas and Bengali works, read them, and pondered 
 on them. He then put his hand to the task he had 
 imposed on himself, and his genius carried him through. 
 
DRAMATIC WRITERS. — DINA BANDHU MITRA. I 87 
 
 The result was Sarmishtka, one of the best and 
 most beautiful plays in Bengali. The production was 
 submitted to Prem Chand Tarkavagish a learned 
 Pandit of the day, but Prem Chand returned it with 
 the remark tha^ it had sinned against all the rules of the 
 Sanscrit drama ! Madhu Sudan was then advised to 
 accept the suggestions of Ram Narayan the successful 
 author of Rattiavali ; but he would have none of it, 
 and only adopted some of his verbal corrections. He 
 truly wrote to a' friend on this occasion, — "You know 
 that a man's style is the reflection of his mind, and I am 
 afraid there is little congeniality between our friend and 
 my poor self. However, I shall adopt some of his 
 corrections."* 
 
 The drama was acted at Belgachia theatre with great 
 success, Jotindra Mohan Tagore himself composing 
 some songs for the piece. 
 
 Both Ram Narayan and Madhu Sudan lived ta 
 compose some more dramas. Ram Narayan's Naba 
 Natak is a clever hit on his countrymen who seek to 
 indulge in the joys of wedded life at an advanced age, 
 and marry girl-wives. Madhu Sudan's /^(Si^w^Z't?// and 
 Krishna Kumari are meritorious works, the latter being 
 based on the story of the princess of Udaypur whose 
 tragic fate threw a gloom over Rajasthan early in this 
 century. Madhu Sudan then turned to blank verse and 
 to epic poetry ; and the story of his success in that line 
 and of his life will be told in another chapter. 
 
 *''See Jogendra Nalh Basu's life of' Michael Madhu Siidatx Datta^ 
 
J 88 LITEKATURE OF KENGAL. 
 
 As Madhu Sudan retired from the field of Bengali 
 drama, his place was filled by a writer who has won 9 
 higher distinction in this department of literature. The 
 new writer was Dina Bandhu Mitra. All the first three- 
 dramatists of Bengal were of nearly the sanie age ; Rani' 
 Harayan was born in 1823, Madhu Sudan in 1824, and 
 Dina Bandbu in 1S29; Like Madhu Sudan Datta, Din^- 
 Bandhu was edircated in the Hindu College ; he distin- 
 guished himself in government service in the postal 
 departmeiTt ; but he devoted his talents to the improve- 
 ment of his mojiher tongue. He died in 18^73. 
 
 The oppression of the Indigo planters of Nadfya and 
 Jessore w^as the su'bject of complair>t for many years f 
 and our readers will find an extra?ct which we have giver^ 
 from Iswar Chandra Giipta's poetry, in which the poet has 
 indulged in a feeling appeal to the Queen of England' 
 against this . oppression. The oppression however 
 cgntimied unchecked, and Dina Bai>dhu, who was born in- 
 ChaubeKia villj^e in Nadiya District, had ample oppor-^ 
 tunkies to »ote the doings of the planters and their 
 subordinates. At last in J&60, be published his first 
 dramatic work, N^il Dtirpan, anon-ymously, bringing; 
 together facts and incidents which had come under hi* 
 observation, and weaving them, into the main plot witl> 
 the skill of a true artist. 
 
 The literary beauties of the work are by no mean^ 
 insignificant. An honest f^tijily and its most amiable 
 inmates enlist the sympathy of the reader from the 
 beginning, and at last wake in him the keenest sorrow 
 Cor their misfortunes, All th^ members of the family 
 
DRAMATIC WRITERS. — DINA BANDHU MITRA, 189 
 
 are well delineated. The old, simple-minded, affectionate 
 father, the elder son managing the estate and the 
 younger studying at a College in Calcutta, and their wives, 
 the most innocent and amiable creatures- in the world, 
 have all been well delineated. Clouds gather on the 
 horizon of their felicity and thicken as the story proceeds, 
 and there are few readers who can read to the end 
 without feeling deeply aifected. 
 
 The sensation caused by the drama was great. The 
 Rev. J. Long, a true-hearted missionary and frrend of the 
 people, translated the work into English in order to hold 
 pp to the powers that be, a picture of the oppression* 
 which was going on under the British rule, for the 
 pecuniary benefit of British adventurers and speculators^ 
 This vvas too much for the European residents of 
 Calcutta, and their organ the Englishman. A prosecution" 
 was instituted against the Rev. James Long, and he 
 was thus immortalized. The memory of the benevolent 
 ipissionary, who was fined and imprisoned iiT the casej 
 ifS still cherished by-tlie' p^ple of Bengal for what he 
 did, and what be sufferec^ for them. 
 
 High-handed exercise of power does not always 
 perpetuate a wrong, and the wrong suffered by the 
 raiyats of Bengal from the indigo planters was too 
 glaring to be bolstered up by an unju-st prosecution. The 
 Indigo Commission published a report arKi made dis- 
 (Closures which could not be gainsaid, aJid Sir John Peter 
 Grant, the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, did his best to 
 befriend the raiyats. But the deliverance of the raiyats 
 came from themselves, they combined,, all over Nadiya,, 
 
190 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 not to grow indigo, and they submitted to every outrage 
 rather than yield to the planters. Factory after factory 
 failed in consequence of this combination, and the 
 oppression of indigo planters is a thing of the past in 
 the Nadiya District. 
 
 Nothing afterwards written by Dina Bandhu cart 
 compare with Nila Darpan from a literary point of 
 view. In his Nahin-Tapasvini and Lilavati there are 
 undoubtedly fine passages, but still there is nothing to 
 equal the pathos which pervades the Nil Darpan, 
 In fact the most popular and the best known of Dina 
 Bandhu's later productions like Sadhahar Ekadasi and 
 Jamai Barik are popular and successful farces, and Dina 
 Bandhu is known to his countrymen more as a humourist 
 and satirist than as a serious dramatic writer. But 
 there is a difference between Dina Bandhu's satires and 
 Iswar Chandra's satires. Iswar Chandra is opposed 
 to all social progress, and he pours forth his withering 
 scorn in his own matchless verse on new-fangled ways. 
 Dina Bandhu is not opposed to any section, he is too 
 good-natured and good-hearted to attack any particular 
 community, he only ridicules folly and vice. The 
 lash of Iswar Chandra's satire cuts deep, Dina Bandhu's 
 milder and gentler admonitions inf!ict no wound, 
 but hold up vice only in its natural and hediouj 
 colours. Iswar Chandra is the more powerful satirist, 
 Dina Bandhu is the pleasanter humourist. Iswar 
 Chandra's ready and witty verse was the war cry of 
 his party, and the barbed and pointed shafts of his 
 vigorous if coarse sarcasms were the wapons of their 
 
i:)RaMatic writers.— dina bandhu miTra. 191 
 
 war. Dina Bandhu waged no party-strife ; his good- 
 natured humour spread a sunshine of gladness around 
 him, and his ridicule of vice and folly was appreciated 
 by all. 
 
 Dina Bandhu also wrote some poems, which are 
 distinguished by a harmonious flow of verse. One 
 instance will suffice.* 
 
 fv^i ^r^, f^^i Tt^, f^^i ^m^, 
 
 T^n^v^ ^c^ c^t^ ^°^i1 ^If^ '^t?f> 
 dmtl ?<Tfsf ^tf^ ^mii v^n I 
 
19^ H^I-RRAttrtlE OP BEN<?AI^ 
 
 The Bengali Stage. 
 
 Dina Bandhu lived to see the Bengali stage based 
 on a permanent basis, — the patronage of the play^ 
 going pubHc. The Bengal Theatre was started shortly 
 before the death of the dramatist, and it has been 
 succeeded by a number of theatrical houses, some of 
 which leave little to be desired in orderly management, 
 scenic decorations, and meritorious acting. The insti- 
 tution, which the Rajas of Paikpara wished to create and- 
 to foster in 1856 and in subsequent years from their own 
 resources, became a permanent institution of the land 
 before twenty years had passed ; and it now looks up, not 
 to Rajas and chiefs, but to an enlightened public for 
 support. The Kabi^ the Pachali^ the Half-Akrai are 
 things of the past ; Jatras too do not attract crowds in 
 the metropolis as they did before ; the educj^ted public 
 
 ^cft^ -Sf^C^ ^tR "^Tt^l C^t^" ^f I 
 
 ^-rs? ^7p( Ci^l ?t^l ^t^i vfcf 
 
 f^x^ ^C^ ^t^tfsT^ ^^ ^^ ^5T I 
 ^f^(^ ^t^ ^1:^ ^9|1 STtfl^ ^!I, 
 
 ^*H nrl%'Pi ^N ^^ ^r^'^ ^?r, 
 
 Sttradhuhi Kavya. 
 
DRAMATIC WRITERS. — DINA BANDHU MITRA. I93 
 
 prefer to see modern dramas put on the stage with 
 all the latest improvements and scenic decorations. 
 
 Among the successors of Dina Bandhu Mitra, whose 
 name is legion, it will be enough to mention a few of the 
 best. Mano Mohan Basu is the Nestor among the 
 living dramatists, and his Sati Natak, Harish Chandra^ 
 Ramabhisek^ and other plays will always be read with 
 interest and profit. Jyotirindra Nath Tagore has written 
 Asrumati and various other plays, and the talented 
 Rabindra Nath has composed Raja o Rani among other 
 works. And lastly. Raj Krishna Rai has composed 
 Prahlad Charitra and some other popular plays, but 
 is better known as the translator of Ramayana into 
 Bengali verse. Some of our actors on the stage are also 
 the writers of clever plays and meritorious farces. 
 
 But a really great dramatic genius has yet to rise in 
 Bengal. The drama has not kept pace in merit with 
 poetry and fiction, of which we will speak in the next 
 two chapters. 
 
 25 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Madhu Sudan Datta and his Epic Poetry. 
 
 1824-187 J. 
 
 Madhu Sudan Datta is the greatest literary genius of 
 this century, and the full record of his life, compiled 
 by Jogendra Chandra Basu, is the most meritorious 
 biographical work yet written in the Bengali language. 
 This work will he our guide in the present chapter. 
 
 Madhu Sudan was born in 1824 in the village of 
 Sagandari in the District of Jessore. His father Raj 
 !5jarayan Datta had four wives, Madhu Sudan being the 
 child of the eldest. Raj Narayan was a man of property 
 and substance, and a pleader of the Sadar Dewani 
 Adalat. Madhu Sudan remained with him in Calcutta^ 
 and \vas admitted in the Hindu College at the age of 
 thirteen. 
 
 The Hindu College, which was established in 
 181 7, effected a revolution in the ideas of the young 
 Hindus of the day. They imbibed in that College a 
 warm appreciation of western literature and western 
 civilization, and brooked with impatience the unreasoning 
 restrictions which modern Hindu customs had imposed 
 on them. Trained under teachers like Derozio and 
 D. L. Richardson, the first young men who came out 
 from the Hindu College were fired with an ambition 
 to reform all that was unhealthy, and to reject all that 
 was hurtful, iu Hindu customs and rules. The reaction 
 
Literature of Benqal. 
 
 $, 194 
 
 Madhu Sudan Datta. 
 
MADHU SUDAN DATTA AND HIS EPIC POETRY. 195 
 
 against the restrictions of ages went perhaps a httle 
 too far, but we can scarcely regret this reaction to 
 which is really due all the steady improvement and 
 reform which have been effected in tbs century. 
 One may laugh at the anglicised young coUegiates ojf 
 the first half of this century, but it was those young 
 collegiates w^iose advanced ideas and training leavened 
 the society in which they lived, and made the sober- 
 reforms of later times possible. Men like Kashi Prasa<^ 
 Ghosh, Ram Gopal Ghosh and Rama Prasad Rai, likp 
 K. M. Banerjea, Debendra Nath Tagore and Ptasanna 
 Kumar Tagore, were among the early students of the 
 Hindu College, and the ideas which they received 
 with their English education permeated the society in 
 which they lived. The writings of Akhay Kumar 
 Datta reflected the progress infused into Hindu society 
 through the Hindu College. The reforms effected 
 by Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar were possible only after 
 Hindu society had been permeated with advanced ideas 
 through a healthy English education. For a time th;e 
 ■«/?/;«/??/ of the Hindu College stood aloof from directly 
 taking a part in improving their national literature.; 
 they still indulged in dreams of distinguishing themselves 
 in English. But the dream was dispelled in time, and 
 when the ardent young collegemen espoused the cause 
 of their own national literature, they achieved results 
 which silenced their critics and astonished thciir best 
 friends. The present century has produced nothing 
 in verse comparable to that of Madhu Sudan and no- 
 thing in prose comparable to that of Bankim Chandra. 
 
J 9^ LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 Madhu Sudan remained in the Hindu College for 
 six years, from 1837 to 1842, and distinguished himself 
 among a band of young men who were remarkably 
 intelligent. Pyari Charan Sarkar, Prasanna Kumar 
 Sarbadhikari, Gobind Chandra Dutt, Shashi Chandra 
 Dutt, Jagadish Nath Rai, Kisori Chand Mitra, Ganendra 
 Mohan Tagore, Bhudeb Mukerji, Raj Narayan Basu, 
 and Bhola Nath Chandra were students of the Hindu 
 College at the same time with Madhu Sudan ; and one 
 of his fellow students writes that Madhu Sudan was the 
 Jupiter among these stars of the Hindu College. 
 
 Like many young students of the Hindu College, 
 
 Madhu Sudan began to write English verse, some of 
 
 which has been preserved by his biographer. Love and 
 
 misanthrophy were the favourite themes in those times 
 
 when Byron's poetry still held the world in thrall, but 
 
 some patriotic poems, like that on king Porus, indicate 
 
 that Madhu Sudan felt for his country like the other 
 
 young men of his day. Permeated with western ideas, 
 
 the young poet longed to visit Europe even in those 
 
 early days, and was filled with an ambition for glory 
 
 or a nameless grave in Albion's distant shore. 
 
 *'I sigh for Albion's distant shore, 
 
 lis valleys green, its mountains high ; 
 Though friends, relations I have none 
 In that far clime ! Yet Oh I sigh 
 To cross the vast Atlantic wave 
 For glory, or a nameless grave !" 
 
 Kid(ier/>nr, 1841. 
 
 It M'as during his college days that Madhu Sudan's 
 father desired to give the young man in marriage, and 
 a suitable bride was selected. Madhu Sudan objected, 
 
MADHU SUDAN DATTA AND HIS EPIC POETRY. 1 97 
 
 but his father insisted on the marriage. This was the 
 turning point in Madhu Sudan's life. He ran away to 
 Christian missionaries, was concealed for four days in Fort 
 William, and in February, 1843, was baptised and took 
 the name of Michael Madhu Sudan. 
 
 This incident is only one more illustration of the 
 maxim that senseless coercion leads to violent reaction. 
 Madhu Sudan's father and mother were no doubt worthy 
 people ; but young Madhu Sudan must have contemplated 
 with grief and humiliation the domestic arrangement 
 under which his mother shared her husband's affection 
 with three other fellow-wives. And when his father 
 determined to marry him against his wishes and entreaties, 
 the young man took the first step which offered itself 
 to him to escape, and became a Christian. The history 
 of social reforms in the present century illustrates the 
 truth that great abuses lead to reform, senseless coercion 
 leads to reaction. 
 
 Madhu Sudan now studied in the Bishop's College 
 for four years, his fond father still paying the expenses of 
 his education. Madhu Sudan had learned English and 
 Persian in the Hindu College ; he now learned Greek, 
 Latin and Sanscrit in the Bishop's College. Later in life 
 he studied and learnt Telegu and Tamil in Madras, 
 he picked up French, German and Italian in Europe, 
 and he had also some knowledge of Hebrew. Madhu 
 Sudan was thus one of the most distinguished languists 
 among our countrymen. 
 
 The relations between Madhu Sudan and his father 
 gradually became strained, and Madhu Sudan felt 
 
198 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 himself lonely and without a friend in the world. Some 
 Madras students attended the Bishop's College, and 
 Madhu Sudan secretly resolved to leave his province 
 and to try his chances at Madras. He secretly completed 
 all arrangements, and in 1848, sailed for Madras. 
 
 His first days in Madras were days of poverty, 
 wretchedness and distress. Poverty impelled him to 
 write to the local papers, and his elegant composition 
 soon attracted attention. He once more launched into 
 compositions in English verse, and the story of Prithu 
 Rai, the last Hindu King of Delhi, and his bride Sanjuta, 
 formed the subject of his meritorious poem entitled the 
 Captive Ladie^ which was published in 1849. 
 
 The publication excited the utmost interest in 
 Madras, and an English reviewer wrote in the Athenaeum 
 that it contained passages which "neither Scott nor 
 iByron would have been ashamed to own." But if 
 Madhu Sudan aspired to win a lasting. literary fame by 
 his English poetry, he found out his mistake before long. 
 Even the great and good-hearted Drinkwater Bethune, 
 to whom a copy of the poem was presented, wrote, and 
 wrote truly : 
 
 "He could render a far greater service to his country and have 
 a better chance of achieving a lasting reputation for himself if he 
 Avould employ the taste and talents whicli he has cultivated by the 
 study of English in improving the standard and adding to the stock 
 of the poems of his own language." 
 
 A few days before the publication of his Captive 
 Ladie, Madhu Sudan had married the daughter of a 
 European indigo-planter in Madras. Sweet indeed are 
 some of the lines which the poet wrote on this occasion ; 
 
MADHU SUDAN DATTA AND HIS EPIC POETRY. 1 99 
 
 •'Yes, — like that star which, on the wilderness 
 Of vasty ocean, wooes the anxious eye 
 Of lonely mariner, — and wooes to bless, — 
 
 For there he hope writ on her brow on high : 
 He recks not darkling waves, — nor fears the lightless sky. 
 
 "Oh ! beautiful as inspiration, when 
 
 She fills the poet's breast,' — her fairy shrine ;— 
 Wooed by melodious worship ! Welcome then ; — 
 Though ours the home of want, I ne'er repine, 
 Art thou not there, even thou, a priceless gem and mine ?" 
 
 But the wedded life of the wild and wayward poet 
 was not destined to be happy. Within a few years after 
 his marriage he was separated from this first wife, and 
 united himself with the daughter of the Principal of the 
 Madras Presidency College. It was this second wife 
 who stuck to him through life amidst all his weaknesses 
 and misfortunes, and was the mother of the children he 
 has left. 
 
 After a stay of eight years in Madras, Madhu Sudan 
 returned to Calcutta in 1856 with his English wife. His 
 ambition to distinguish himself by his English composi^ 
 tions had proved fruitless, and he was as helpless and poor 
 as when he had left Bengal. He accepted the humble 
 post of a clerk, and then of an interpreter, of the 
 Calcutta Police Court. It was in these circumstances of 
 distress that Madhu Sudan first turned to the composition 
 of dramas in his own native language, under circumstances 
 which have been described in the last chapter. 
 
 Madhu Sudan's first Bengali work Sarmishtha 
 appeared in 1858, — the very year which witnessed the 
 death of his great predecessor, Iswar Chandra Gupta. 
 Madhu Sudan's second drama Padmavati, appeared in 
 1859. The poet followed up his success by two clever 
 
 ...A 
 
300 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 farces, unique in his time, one ridiculing the vices and 
 foHies of "young Bengal," and the other ridiculing 
 the more dangerous hypocrisy and profligacy of "old 
 Bengal." His successes fired him with a new ambition. 
 He had formed high conceptions of poetry from his 
 deep appreciation of Valmiki and Homer, and he felt 
 within himself a call to imitate the lofty sublimity of 
 those poets. But the jingling of the Bengali rhyme 
 was ill suited to such attempts, and he remarked to his 
 friend and adviser Jotindra Mohan Tagore, that there 
 was no great future for Bengali poetry until the chains 
 of rhyme were rent asunder. Jotindra Mohan replied 
 that blank verse was scarcely suited to the Bengali 
 language, and that even in the French language 
 blank verse was not a success. But, replied Madhq 
 Sudan, Bengali is the daughter of Sanscrit, and nothing 
 is impossible for the child of such a mother ! In his 
 enthusiasm Madhu Sudan promised to make the en- 
 deavour, and to prove that blank verse in Bengali 
 was possible. Jotindra Mohan, listened to the 
 proposal incredulously, but promised to pay for the 
 publication of Madhu Sudan's proposed work, if it 
 was a success. Madhu Sudan set to work with his 
 accustomed impetuosity and zeal, and the Tilottama^ 
 published in i86c, was the result of this historic 
 conversation. 
 
 When this work in blank verse appeared, it took the 
 literary world by surprise. The power of diction, the 
 sublimity of conception, and the beauty of description 
 could not be denied ; but nevertheless the reading 
 
MADHU SUDAN DATTA AND HIS EPIC POETRY. 20t 
 
 world wondered at the audacity of the writer and could 
 not believe his work to be a success. Ridicule was hurled 
 on the ambitious writer from all sides, contemptuous 
 parodies were published, and writers of Iswar Chandra 
 iGupta's school, as well of the modern school of Akhay 
 Kumar and Vidyasagar, pronounced the attempt to be a 
 failure ! The eminent Vidyasagar himself, ever ready to 
 appreciate and encourage merit, could not pronounce 
 Tilottama a success ; writers and critics of humbler merit 
 and less candour ridiculed the writer and condemned 
 the work. 
 
 Amidst this storm of opposition and ridicule Madhu 
 Sudan stood unmoved. Never was the greatness of 
 his genius, the loftiness of his purpose, the indomitable 
 strength of his will, more manifest. He was resolved to 
 prove by a higher endeavour and a loftier achievement 
 that he was right, and that the world was wrong. It was a 
 repetition of the story of Lord Byron whose earlier poems 
 were condemned, and who retaliated with the might of 
 a giant in his English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. 
 Only Madhu Sudan retaliated in a nobler manner ; he 
 did not abuse his critics, he convinced and silenced them 
 by his success in a higer endeavour. 
 
 Among the few who pronounced Madhu Sudan's 
 Tilottama to be a success was Jotindra Mohan Tagore 
 himself. He acknowledged the beauty of the work, 
 owned his defeat, and published the work at his own ex- 
 pense. The eminent Rajendra Lala Mitra, who was issuing 
 the Bibidhartha-Sangraha from 1851 for spreading cul- 
 ture and general information among his countrymen, was 
 
 26 
 
!202 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 another critic who recognized the success of Tilottama. 
 And Raj Narayan Basu, the venerable collaborator of 
 Akhay Kumar Datta, was charmed with the noble per- 
 formance. "If Indra," he wrote, "had spoken Bengali, he 
 would have spoken in the style of the poem. The author's 
 extraordinary loftiness and brilliancy of imagination, his 
 minute observation of nature, his delicate sense of beauty, 
 the uncommon splendour of his diction, and the rich 
 music of his versification charm us in every page." 
 
 But a sceptical world had to be convinced, and the 
 world was convinced by Madhu Sudan's grander poem, 
 Meghanad-badh^ published in t86i. This time the 
 critics were fairly convinced ! The great Vidyasagar 
 admitted his mistake with his accustomed candour, and 
 acknowledged Madhu Sudan's genius and the success of 
 his great endeavour. The voice of ridicule, though not 
 completely silenced, failed to have any effect. All Bengal 
 felt that a new light had dawned on the horizon of the 
 nation's literature, that a genius of the first magni- 
 tude had appeared. The munificent Kali Prasanna 
 Sinha, translator of the Mahabharata^ was one of the 
 strongest admirers of Madhu Sudan, and he convened a 
 meeting of the literary society which he had established 
 to honour the great poet. Rajas Pratap Chandra and 
 Iswar Chandra, the cultured Jotindra Mohan Tagore, 
 the talented Rama Prasad Rai and Digambar Mitra and 
 many others were present on this occasion. Madhu 
 Sudan was duly honoured, and the first edition of his 
 Meghanad-Badh was exhausted within one year. 
 
 It was. in this year, 1861, that Madhu Sudan published 
 
MADHU SUDAN DATTA AND HIS EPIC POETRY. 203 
 
 his third drama, Krishna Kumari^ of which we have 
 spoken in the last chapter, as well as his sweet and musir 
 cal but unfinished work Brajangana. And the following 
 year witnessed the publication of the spirited epistles 
 known as the Birangana, Within four years, from 1858 
 to 1862, he built up a literary reputation such as has 
 not been equalled in Bengal in this century, or in any 
 preceding century. 
 
 In 1862, Madhu Sudan Datta left India for Europe. 
 He remained in Europe five years, was called to the 
 Bar, and composed a book of Bengali sonnets which 
 is well known to our countrymen. In 1867 he re- 
 turned from Europe and began practice as a barrister 
 in Calcutta.* He began well, but the poet was not 
 fitted for the ceaseless endeavours and the prosaic 
 duties of a lawyer's vocation. Madhu Sudanis liabilites 
 increased, and his income dwindled away from year to 
 year. His health failed, and his wife who was true to 
 him to the last began also to suffer in health. Friends 
 ceased to lend when there was no hope of repayment, 
 his two children and his wife suffered the pangs of want 
 before his eyes, and mental anxiety and bodily infirmities 
 prostrated him in 1873. He laboured in his death-bed 
 to obtain some pecuniary relief, and composed the 
 
 *It was in this year that I had the pleasure of first seeing the 
 great poet. A friend who accompanied me was as great an admirer 
 of Madhu Sudan's poetry as I myself, and Madhu Sudan did us the 
 favour of reading some portions of his Meghanad to us. He was 
 then, what he always was in life, genial, kind-hearted, and 
 good, but careless and improvident. Misfortunes darkly closed 
 over the last years of his life, and within six years after I had 
 seen him so genial and so full of life, Madhu Sudan was no more. 
 
204 LITERATURE OF BENGAL, 
 
 Mayakanan, tinged with the tragic sadness which marked 
 the close of his life. 
 
 Jay Krishna Mukerji of Uttarpara gave Madhu Sudan 
 a home in that place, but the poet never recovered from 
 the infirmities that were preying on him. He returned 
 to Calcutta, and without a home to call his own, he took 
 shelter in the charitable hospital of Alipur. Three" 
 days before the poet's death, his faithful and much- 
 suffering wife Henrietta breathed her last. Madhu Sudan 
 heard of this and with tears in his eyes repeated the sad 
 lines from Macbeth : 
 
 "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow 
 "Creeps in this petty pace from day to day 
 *'To the last syllable of recorded time. &c. 
 
 He died on the 29th June, .1873. 
 
 It is not possible within our limits to review tha 
 different works of the great poet in detail, and it would 
 be useless to review them cursorily. We will therefore 
 confine our remarks to one of his works, Meghanad 
 Badh^ which is the greatest literary production of this 
 century. 
 
 Meghanad Badh Kavya is a story from the Ra?nayana, 
 and relates to the death of Meghanad or Indrajit, the 
 most renowned and powerful of the sons of Ravana. - 
 Ravana stole the wife of Ran->a in bis absence, and 
 Rama with his brother T>akshmana crossed with a large 
 army to Ceylon, and invaded I^nka the capital of 
 Ravana. That great king sent army after army against 
 the besiegers, but the adamantiue chain was not broken,. 
 
MADHU SUDAN DATTA AND HIS EPIC POETRY. 20^ 
 
 ^nd every army and every general sent against the 
 besieging force perished. 
 
 . The first book opens with a description of Ravana's 
 
 court, Ravana being sunk in sorrow at the news of the 
 
 death of his son Birbahu and the destruction of the 
 
 force sent with him against Rama. Ravana laments the 
 
 death of all the great warriors who have fallen fighting 
 
 against the foe, and compares his great city to a festive 
 
 house in which the lights are one by one extinguished; 
 
 and the merry sound of harp and flute hushed. 
 
 into silence. At his request the wounded soldier, 
 
 who had returned from the battle, recounts the deeds 
 
 of his son in a spirited description which rouses 
 
 Ravana from his grief. He mounts on the walls of 
 
 Lanka, reproaches the great ocean for wearing a fetter of 
 
 stone to cross over Rama's army, and bursts into grief 
 
 at the sight of Birbahu's corpse stretched on the field 
 
 of battle. He returns to his palace which is suddenly 
 
 filled with the voice of woe ; Chitrangada the bereaved 
 
 mother of Birbahu enters. She had been blessed, she 
 
 says, with one priceless treasure, and had deposited 
 
 it with the king, even as a dove deposits her young in 
 
 the dark hollow of trees. The king is the protector of 
 
 poor men's property, where is poor Chitrangada's treasure 
 
 now ? Ravana is stung with the reproach of his queen 
 
 and determines on instant war. At his command the 
 
 city resounds with the sound of war, and horses and 
 
 elephants and cars and ranks of warriors fill the streets. 
 
 Indrajit or Meghanad, the sole surviving son of Ravana, 
 
 hears that his father has resolved to go to war in person. 
 
2o6 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 He hastens to Lanka from his country seat, and is 
 permitted by his father to lead the army.* 
 
 The second book is a description of the heavens. 
 Indra is informed of Meghanad's resolution to fight 
 Rama the next day. Meghanad is invincible in war, 
 and Indra therefore repairs with his wife to the great 
 and benign Uma to pray for the safety of Rama. The 
 conversation that ensues breathes softness, and is worthy 
 of the celestial speakers. Indra pleads the cause of the 
 
 f^^ c^c^ c^^, ^T% c^Ni ^w\ ^^ ; 
 
 C^R^ Cmv^ ^^, ^TSrl, ilCJlC^ J\l^L*[ 
 
 ^t^^ ? ^ M^^] cm^^ ^tf^^, 
 
MADHU SUDAN DATTA AND HIS EPIC POETRY. 207 
 
 virtuous Rama, robbed of his wife Sita by the un- 
 righteous Ravana. The wife of Indra takes up the tale, 
 and expatiates on the woes of Sita, now confined in 
 a forest in Lanka, where she weeps day and night 
 for her virtuous lord. Uma answers them with a gracious 
 smile that her lord Siva favors the family of Ravana, 
 and she is powerless to aid Rama. Suddenly a sweet 
 fragrance fills the heavens, and the sound of distant 
 bells is wafted in the air. Rama in distant Lanka is 
 offering his prayers to the benign great Uma. Uma can 
 resist no longer. She repairs to her husband Siva, in- 
 terrupts him in the midst of his devotions, and obtains a 
 promise that Lakshmana would kill Meghanad on the 
 following day, A message is sent to the goddess Maya 
 who sends down celestial arms to Rama. Rama is full 
 of gratitude to the gods, and enquires how this debt can 
 ever be repaid. Gratitude to gods, truly replies the 
 celestial messenger, consists in supporting and cherishing 
 the poor, in restraining the passions, in living in the 
 paths of virtue, and in adherence to truth. The gift of 
 sandal and flower and silken cloth is despised by gods^ 
 if the giver is impure. 
 
 The third book is one of the most striking and 
 beautiful in the whole work. Pramila, the wife of 
 Meghanad, is disconsolate at the absence of her lord, 
 and longs to leave her country-seat and repair to Lanka 
 where her lord has gone. But the way lies through 
 Rama's army, how can Pramila go ? enquires her 
 hand-maid. Pramila, no less favoured with valour 
 than with beauty, answers with pride and indignation, 
 
2o8 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 when the mountain-stream leaves her home for the 
 ocean, who can obstruct her course?^' At her command 
 iher maids and attendants, all valiant warriors, conceal 
 or heighten their charms by donning armour and grasp- 
 ing the martial spear, and martial music proclaims the 
 inarch of the beautious Amazons. Rama will not fight 
 with women, he willingly and even respectfully lends a 
 passage, and the radiant file of valour and beauty passes 
 by, illumining the darkness of the night. Rama, struck 
 with the sight, can scarcely believe that it was not a 
 gorgeous dream. 
 
 In fine contrast to the spirited descriptions of 
 the third book, the fourth is full of pathos and, 
 tenderness, and dwells on the woes of poor Sita, 
 now a captive of Ravana. One lady alone of 
 Ravana's family, Sarama, the wife of Bibhisan, sympa- 
 thises with her, and repairs to her, and listens to her 
 tales of former days. Sita narrates how after leaving 
 Ayodhya with Rama and Lakshmana, she dwelt in the 
 forest of Panchabati and enjoyed the forest life, how 
 
 ^r^ c^^ f\ni c^ c^ c^i^^ Nsm "511% ? 
 
 'ff*!^ ^?t5 ^rfW f^^ ^Sf-^CcT ■; 
 
 c?f?i:^ c^^c^ c^m f^^^^zl[ ^^ ? • 
 
MADHU SUDAN DATTA AND HIS EVlC POETRY. 209 
 
 wild flowers bloomed round her cottage and the sweet 
 and joyous chirp of forest birds waked her every 
 morning, how peacocks danced before her and wild 
 deer came in herds as her guests, and how she hospitably 
 entertained these innocent dwellers of the forest. She 
 adorned herself by the margin of the lake with fresh 
 flowers, and her dear lord, pleased with her new dress, 
 would address her as the fairy of the woods ! Will 
 poor Sita meet her lord again and serve him with her 
 affection ?* The narrator can proceed no further, she 
 
 t^^i ^^, ^f^ '^tfsr, '^5f ^^ f^?it I 
 trf«( ^v5 '^tc^ =^^*-r ; fi«j c^H ^cj{, 
 
 fsT^T ^^ ^^ fr^ G\\f's^ ; ^5t^) 
 3Tn5^ f^^ ^]%, ^t^^^ ^#,— 
 
 ^^:f ^'^^ ^tr^, f^^ ^ ^t^c^, 
 27 
 
2^IO LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 weeps bitter tears in woe. Sarama entreats her not to 
 proceed further if those recollections give her pain, 
 but poor Sita would fain proceed. The river filled 
 by the rains pours forth its water on both sides, 
 and the heart that is full of grief finds relief in 
 imparting its grief to others. Sarama cannot choose 
 
 f^^n f^3T f^^i ^f^^ c-^^^ ? 
 ^f^rt^ ^m^^s c^m f^f? ^^c<r 
 
 c¥^ ^A, c^^ ^m, c^^ ^1 Tbf^-3, 
 
 C^^^r ^^^ ^-sr) ^^5t^ c^ci ; 
 ^t^, ^^ ^t^ f^ c^i nt^ «£ftn^tc««( ? 
 
MADHU SUDAN DATTA AND HIS EPIC POETRY. 2H 
 
 but listen. In the forest of Panchabati, Sita heard 
 the voice of fairies in sylvan sounds, and saw their 
 dance in the glimmer of the sunbeariis ori the lake. 
 Sometimes she would walk with Rama by the river, 
 and view on her spacious bosom new heavens, 
 new stars, new radiant moons. Sometimes she would 
 climb a neighbouring hill, and there sit at the feet 
 of Rama, even as a creeper winds round a tree. 
 There she heard from him various discourses on 
 sacred subjects, even as Uma hears the Vedas and 
 the Puranas from the immortal lips of Siva on 
 mount Kailasa. Will poor Sita hear the music of that 
 voice again ? Even now, in the solitude where she 
 lives, she thinks she hears that voice, — will she never 
 hear that music again ? Thus Sita's story goes on. She 
 narrates how in that forest Ravana went in the disguise 
 of a beggar and stole her, how Jatayu obstructed his 
 passage, how Sita fell into a swoon and dreamt a dream, 
 how Ravana was victorious and brought Sita to Lanka. 
 
 In the fifth book, Maya, the goddess of illusion, sends 
 a dream to Lakshmana. The vision comes to him in the 
 guise of his mother, and asks him to worship Chandi 
 at her temple situated in the north of Lanka. Lakshmana 
 obeys, and Uma appears in person and blesses him. 
 Meghanad also rises with the dawn from the embraces of 
 Pramila, takes an affecting leave of his mother, and repairs 
 to a temple to finish his devotions before going to war. 
 
 The sixth book describes the death of Meghanad, 
 and is in our opinion about the weakest in the whole 
 work. Rama has not the heart to let his brother go and 
 
212 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 do battle with the terrible foe in the heart of Lankd, 
 but at last consents. Lakshmana, dressed in celestial 
 armour, and accompanied by Bibhisan, repairs to Lanka 
 concealed by Maya from the eyes of all. Meghanad 
 suddenly sees his foe in the house of worship, and misr 
 takes him for a god in disguise, but Lakshmana soon 
 undeceives him. He will not even allow Meghanad to 
 don his armour or furnish himself with arms, but 
 Meghanad strikes Lakshmana on the forehead with a 
 cup, and Lakshmana falls into a swoon. Maya revives 
 him, Meghanad is bewildered with strange sights by 
 Maya, and Lakshmana kills him.* It is this portion of 
 
 ^f^^l ^^1% T^% >.^<[^ ^r^c^ 
 
 7[^t^ ^^j ^f5, ^^7fl ^fecT 
 1%^^'<^ ¥f!^ ^C^ ntC\5 ^'^(^CcT, 
 
 f*i«i$^ -51 il^ few I 
 
MADHU SUDAN DATTA AND HIS EPIC POETRY. 213 
 
 the work which we regret the most. The- death of 
 Meghanad is not worthy of him. In his anxiety to 
 magnify the prowess of his hero the poet forgets that 
 Lakshmana himself is also a warrior. In tiie original 
 Ramayana^ Lakshmana kills Meghanad in fair fight. Our 
 poet arms Lakshmana with celestial arms, conducts him 
 with another warrior Bibhisan to meet.Maghanad who is 
 perfectly unprepared, and even then, Lakshmana is struck 
 down. The poet forgets that the prowess of a warrior is 
 set off best by representing his foemart as worthy of his 
 steel, not by representing him as a child. Homer, from, 
 whom our poet frequently borrows his ideas, has not 
 represented Hector as a child in "order to adequately, 
 describe the prowess of Achilles. 
 
 The seventh book is in many respects the sublimest 
 in the work. Siva, who is always inclined in favor, 
 of Ravana, is affected at the death of Meghanad, 
 and sends a messenger to fill Ravana with his own^ 
 prowess to give him a day for revenge. The minor 
 gods descend in a body to assist Rama, nor is 
 he unworthy -of celestial assistance. Indra gazes on 
 Rama as on a rival king of the heavens, and 
 Kartikeya sees his own image in the young and bold 
 Lakshmana ! Ravana's few dignified yet affecting words 
 to the bereaved mother of Meghanad, his address to 
 his army, the spirited conduct and reply of his troops, 
 and the stirring description of the battle that ensues, 
 find no parallel in the literature of Bengal. Nowhere, 
 except in the pages of Homer, has battle between more 
 than mortal combatants been so vividly, so powerfully 
 
2 14 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 described. Ravana is intent on killing Lakshmana, 
 the slayer of his son, and vain are the attempts to 
 resist his course. Indra, the king of the heavens, cannot 
 hurl his thunder, for a higher power checks him ; 
 and Kartikeya retires wounded and smiling when it 
 is whispered to him that Siva has filled Ravana with 
 his own prowess. Rama comes forward, but Ravana 
 wants his brother Lakshmana and will not fight with 
 the elder brother. Hanuman, Sugriva, and the othei* 
 leaders of Rama's forces quail before Ravana, till 
 the latter at last finds out Lakshmana fighting like a 
 young lion, and they both eagerly mingle in a dubious 
 combat. Gods and men gaze with wonder on the 
 furious battle, and Ravana himself in the midst of the 
 combat pauses in admiration of the valour and prowess 
 of his young and undaunted foe. But none can oppose 
 Ravana to-day, and Lakshmana falls as a falling star, 
 the celestial arms sounding at his fall/^ 
 o ^^tt^T 7\TSiZ7\ C^WWC^ 
 
 <1^ 1 ^^c^ ?^: c^f%^l c\fzi'\ 
 
 cw^^ ^%% ^^ ^^if^^i am I 
 "vi}^^«i c^ ci^ei" ^\^ff\] ^z^im 
 
MADHU SUDAN DATTA AND HIS EPIC POETRY. 215 
 
 Who shall describe the woes of Rama on the dread- 
 ful night after the battle, when Lakshmana lay with 
 other great warriors dead on the field ? The eighth 
 book commences with this touching scene. Stars twinkle 
 
 ^^f^^1 €t^J{tft c^>f^f:?i c^*ffr, 
 
 C*ft^ ^^, Cvf^r^ CN5t^1 <11J^^ ^^1" 
 ^?IWT«^ ^9"^''^2 ^5^H ^C^ I 
 
 ^f^^n:^ ^^^tsf ^f^5Ti, ''Tf^rrf^ 
 
 *f%^^tf^^ *lf^ «(f^3i ^li^ 
 
 ^1 ; f^^ ^rf^ ^^1 ^rfw c^i^ ^t^" 
 
2l6 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 in the sky, the battle-field is lighted by fires here and 
 there, and Rama bemoans the death of Lakshmana, 
 the companion of all his toils, the affectionate brother 
 who had left his home, his wife, and his kingdom 
 to attend on him. Uma is affected, and with the 
 permission of her lord Siva, she sends Maya to take 
 Rama to the realm of shades, where Rama's father will 
 tell him the means of reviving Lakshmana to life. The 
 poet borrows from Homer as well from Hindu mythology 
 in his description of hell. Maya takes Rama through 
 regions where sinners are punished after death. He 
 then passes over to those happy regions where the good 
 and virtuous live after death. There he meets his father 
 who tells him of a medicine by which Lakshmana is 
 eventually brought back to life. 
 
 The last book describes the funeral of Meghanad. 
 A truce of seven days is granted by Rama at Ravana's 
 request. Pramila mounts the pyre with the corpse of her 
 lord after taking an affecting farewell of her maids and 
 companions, and Ravana bursts into an exclamation 
 of bitter, heart-felt grief, at the loss of the bravest of 
 his warriors and the dearest of his sons.* 
 
 * ^StJlf^ ^^tlf^ ^f^vll ^r^C^ ; 
 
madhu sudan datta and his epic poetry. 2i7- 
 
 Other Poets. 
 
 Ranga Lai Banerji was a contemporary of Madhu 
 Sudan, and his first work, Padniinir Upakhyan came 
 out in the same year with Madhu Sudan's first work, 
 Sarmishtha^ in 1858. It is a spirited poem on a welU 
 known episode of Rajput history, and was much admired. 
 It was followed by his Karmadevi and Surasundari ; 
 
 ^(^■(■^[3^1 ! f^^ f^f^, ^1%^ C^-S^m 
 
 c^^ c^m] (.-^m ^f% ^^t^ "^im^ ! 
 
 ■ ^ ■ «Tf%C^ f^ ^^ "^i^ ? c^Ti^z^ f^f?r^ 
 
 ■^tm^, C^ ^C^ C^tC^, 1%1l^ C^^C^T 
 
 f^ ^i:^ ^t^ ^t^, ^Itr:^ f^ ^Hf ? 
 
 ^1 ^tN52 ^I'^Tf cff^ { f^ 9(tcrf f^f^cfV 
 
 <ii ntv5i Tt^^ Wf ^t^c*t^ ^tt^ ?" 
 
 28 
 
2l8 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 but the fame of the poet was soon eclipsed by the brighter 
 star of Madhu Sudan's genius. Ranga Lai died in 1887. 
 Among the many poets who are still spared to us, and 
 who continue to enrich the Bengali language, we must 
 single out three who stand pre-eminent. Hem Chandra 
 Banerji is the Nestor among the living poets, and was 
 born in 1838. His spirited verse, full of fire and 
 of feeling, won the admiration of the reading public 
 even when the fame of Madhu Sudan was in the ascen- 
 dant ; his patriotic Lyric on India is known by heart 
 to a large circle of readers, and his more ambitious 
 epic, Britra Sanhar, is instinct with beauty. But 
 perhaps Nabin Chandra Sen has struck a still deeper 
 chord in the hearts of his countrymen. His first great 
 work, Palasir [uddha^ came like a surprise and a joy 
 to his countrymen, and pleased the reading public by 
 its freshness and vigour and its voluptuous sweetness. 
 His great epic On Krishna is still in progress ; and his 
 last work Amitabka on the life and teachings of Buddha, 
 somewhat after the style of Arnold's Light of Asia, 
 sustains and enhances the reputation of the great poet 
 of the Hindu revival of the present day. And lastly, 
 Rabindra Nath Tagore, youngest son of the venerable 
 Debendra Nath Tagore, has distinguished himself in 
 poetry, drama and fiction, and his matchless songs are 
 sung in every cultured home in Bengal. Some other poets 
 have also distinguished themselves by their talent and 
 genius. Pandit Siva Nnth Sastri's NirbasiUr Bilap is a 
 work of great merit, feehng and pathos. Ananda Chandra 
 Mitra is an eccentric genius, and his Helena Kabya and 
 
MADHU SUDAN DATTA AND HIS EPIC POETRY. 219 
 
 Mitra Kabya are written with feeling in forcible verse. 
 Krishna Chandra Mazumdar's Sadhhab Satakis a well- 
 known and meritorious work. And Behari Lai 
 Chakrabarti's Banga Sundari and other poems display 
 power and feeling. A host of other writers haye written 
 meritorious works too numerous to mention. 
 
 It is a sign of the times that female writers have 
 within the last ten or fifteen years entered within the 
 arena of Bengali poetry. Foremost among them should 
 be mentioned the name of Srimati Kamini Sen, now 
 Mrs. K. N. Rai. Her beautiful verses collected under 
 the name of Alo-o-Chhaya^ (I^ight and Shade), pourtray 
 the dignity of suffering and of work with a delicacy 
 of touch and depth of feeling which are remarkable. 
 Srimati Man Kumari's Kusumanjali is a work of merit> 
 Srimati Girindra Mohini Datta followed with her 
 Asrukana^'xn which the unutterable woes of a Hindu widow 
 are pourtrayed by one who has felt them, and can express 
 them with power and with eloquence. To the same class 
 belongs the poetry of Rani Mrinalini of Paikpara, whose 
 Nirjhari7ii is a marvel from the pen of a young widow 
 of sixteen. Lines like those quoted below* strike a 
 
 ^tf^^1 ^N^t<f Cgt^^ i 
 
 cT2^ Ns1^l i£)^i ^?r, 
 
'zio 
 
 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 •cord in every feeling heart, and display a depth of 
 despair and an eloquent simplicity of real sorrow, which 
 our greatest poets can scarcely excel. 
 
 Thus the first emotion which has inspired our 
 'poetesses, and to which they have given eloquent 
 expression, is one of suffering, of sorrow for the dead, 
 of duty towards the living. These are sacred feelings 
 which most forcibly to the female mind, and naturally- 
 enough our poetesses have received their first inspiration 
 from these feelings. We welcome them in the field of 
 literature and poetry, and we hope that- as years roll by, 
 and as they take an increasing share of literary work on 
 themselves, they will also take a larger and more com- 
 prehensive view of life with all its varied feelings and 
 hopes, joys and sorrows. For real life in its widest 
 hianifestation and its deepest meaning is the truest 
 poetry, — real life, painted in those colours which gleam 
 from the heaven of the poet's imagination, and turn the 
 veriest dew drops into pearls ! 
 
 ^^ fr^ ^*r Cr^ 
 
 15[fTfv8 ^i^^\ ^tf^ 
 
 C?^ C5:C?r C^^ f^5^1 
 C^Z7\ c^ ^tt ^tt 
 
Literature of Bengal. 
 
 221 
 
 Bankim Chandra Chatterjea. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 I ,....■ 
 
 f ; Bankim Chandra Chatterjea and his Novels. 
 
 1838-1894., . . ■ 
 
 Bankim Chandra is in prose what Madhu Sudan is inr 
 verse, — the founder of a new style, the exponent of a 
 new idea. In creative inagination, in gorgeous des- 
 cription, in power to conceive and in skill to describe, 
 JVladhu Sudan and Bankim Chandra stand apart from 
 the other writers of the century; they are the first, 
 the second is nowhere. And if the poet's conceptions 
 are more lofty and more sublime, the novelist's 
 creations are more varied, have more of human interest, 
 and appeal more touchingly to our softer emotions. 
 The palm must be given to the poet who has bodied 
 forth beings of heaven and earth and the lower regions 
 in gorgeous verse which sprang into existence like an 
 echo to his ideas ; but the reader, after he has traversed 
 the universe on the wings of the mighty poet, will 
 descend with a sense of pleasure to the homely scenes 
 of the novelist, peopled with figures and faces so true and 
 life-like, so sparkling and animated, so rich in their 
 variety and beauty, that they seem to be a world by 
 themselves, created by the will of the great enchanter ! 
 
 Bankim Chandra was born in 1838, in the same year 
 with the poet Hem Chandra Banerjea. He was the son 
 of Jadab Chandra Chatterjea, who served Government 
 
222 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 for many years as Deputy Collector, and then retired on 
 pension. Bankim Chandra was educated in the Hooghly 
 College and then in the Presidency College of Calcutta. 
 The Calcutta University was now founded, and Bankim 
 Chandra obtained his degree, and was the first B. A. in 
 India. 
 
 In his early years, he with Dina Bandhu Mitra served 
 apprenticeship in the Prabhakar journal under the 
 veteran Iswar Chandra Gupta, and Bankim Chandra no 
 doubt acquired much of his ease and facility of writing 
 from this early exercise. Shortly after he had passed his 
 B. A. Examination, he was appointed a Deputy Collector, 
 and he served in different districts. But literary ambition 
 was his ruling passion, and he laboured to achieve 
 something new and great in prose as Madhu Sudan had 
 done in verse. Both were inspired by European models 
 but were sustained by their own genius, and both of 
 them thoroughly assimilated new ideas with the spirit 
 of their country's thought and literature. Madhu Sudan 
 wrote a thoroughly Hindu epic, though inspired by 
 Homer, and Bankim Chandra wrote novels of Hindu life, 
 though his imagination was fired by the wonderful crea- 
 tions of the prince of modern novelists. Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 In 1864, appeared his first historical novel Durges- 
 Nandini^ and the literary world in Bengal was taken by 
 surprise, as it had been three years before, on the 
 publication o{ Meghanad. The boldness of the conception, 
 the skill and grace of the execution, and the variety and 
 richness and surpassing freshness of the figures which live 
 and move and act in this wonderful work, indicated 
 
BANKIM CHANDRA CHATIERJEA. 223 
 
 a creative genius of the highest order. Nothing so bold 
 and original had been attempted in Bengali prose, 
 nothing so powerful and so life-like had been executed 
 in Bengali fiction. The venerable Vidyasagar had 
 published his greatest work, Sitar Banabas, only two 
 years before, and the work was an adaptation of a 
 Sanscrit drama into Bengali prose. Within two years 
 a new epoch seemed to have dawned on the horizon of 
 Bengali prose literature, — an epoch of original works 
 of the imagination, the like of which Bengal had not 
 known before. 
 
 Bankim Chandra did not escape the ridicule which 
 greets every new endeavour. Critics and disappointed 
 writers poured forth their rage on the devoted head 
 of the young author, his style, his conceptions, his 
 story, were all condemned, and he was put down as a 
 denationalized writer, an imitator of European models. 
 But censure and invectives pass off, and a work of real 
 genius stands unmoved like a rock rising above the 
 waves. And after thirty years, the reading public of Bengal 
 acknowledge Durges-Nandini to be one of the greatest 
 works in Bengali literture. 
 
 The nineteenth century has indeed been a bright 
 century for Bengali literature. But if we were called upon 
 to point out the brightest decade within this century, we 
 should unhesitatingly point to the ten years from 1854 
 to 1864. More original work, more substantial and lasting 
 work, was done within that decade than either before or 
 after. The eminent Vidyasagar inaugurated the great 
 widow-marriage movement, and also published his 
 
224 ' LITERATURE OF BENGAL. ^ 
 
 greatest work, Sitar Banabas, within this decade. Ram 
 Narayan Tarkaratna began and Dina Bandhu Mitra 
 completed the inauguration of the modern Bengali 
 drama within these years. Madhu Sudan erected his 
 monumental epic in blank verse, and Bankim Chandra 
 founded his new school of fiction, within this memorable 
 decade. It seems as if the literary activity of the century 
 reached its culminating point in the decade closing in 
 1864. All the best works of the best writers, Vidyasagar, 
 Dina Bandhu, Madhu Sudan and Bankim Chandra were 
 crowded within those ten years. 
 
 Having won his spurs by his first endeavour, Bankim 
 Chandra did let the grass grow under his feet. The 
 weird and wild story of Kapala Kundala is perhaps a 
 more wonderful creation of the writer's fancy than even 
 his first great work. And Mrinalini which followed, 
 although less sustained than its predecessors, is en- 
 livened by some characters which only a true poet can 
 conceive. 
 
 Eight years had now elapsed since the publication 
 of Durges-Nandhii^ and in 1872, Bankim Chandra 
 formed the idea of issuing a first class literary magazine 
 in Bengali. The Banga Darsan was accordingly 
 started, and under the editorship of Bankim Chandra, 
 this new magazine rapidly rose in popularity and 
 in fame. 
 
 The literary activity of Bankim knew no bounds.' 
 Turning aside from his favorite historical romances, 
 Bankim Chandra began to publish in the Banga Darsan 
 a social tale which soon attracted thousands of readers. 
 
BANKIM CHANDRA CHATTERJEA. 225 
 
 'Bisha Brikkha is the first and most powerful of 
 Bankim Chandra's social novels. Beside this story, 
 continued in the magazine from month to month, 
 other articles animated by wit or replete with inform- 
 ation of the most varied kind, and all written in 
 Bankim Chandra's matchless style, soon made the 
 Banga Darsan the most popular as it was the most 
 ably written journal of the day. Bankim Chandra 
 now became the sole king of the literary world as 
 Iswar Chandra Gupta had been in an early part of 
 the century, and his long rule continued for over 
 twenty years till the day of his death. During this 
 period Bankim Chandra had no equal and no rivaL 
 Madhu Sudan and Dina Bandhu died in 1873. 
 Akhay Kumar and Vidyasagar had practically retired 
 from literary work. Hem Chandra's greatest and 
 best works had already appeared, and the sound 
 of his harp was now rarely heard. And the younger 
 generation of writeis and poets looked up with veneration 
 to the great author of Durges Nandini and Bisha 
 :^r//^/^/^^/, and submitted to his literary sway. Many of 
 them wrote in the Banga Darsan^ many profited 
 by his example, advice and help, all owned him as 
 their king.* 
 
 * It Avas in 1872, when the Bauga Darsan was started, that 
 Bankim Chandra suggested to nie to write in my native tongue. 
 As the incident throws some light on BanUim Chandra's zeal for 
 his country's literature, the render will pardon my narrating it. 
 .Bankim Chandra was a young Deputy Collector when my faiher, 
 twenty years his senior, was an honoured and experienced Deputy 
 Collector and was meditating retirement from service. Bankim 
 Chandra was often in the same district wilb aiy fattier, regarded 
 
 29 
 
226 Literature of bengal? - 
 
 Novels, social and historical, now came out in rapid 
 succession from the fertile pen of the great writer, and 
 his style, always rich and harmonious, became more 
 and more simple and perfect with age. His Z>ebi 
 Chaiidhiitani and Ananda Matha and Krishta Kanter 
 Will and other novels, his lighter tales sparkling with 
 the richest humour, and his social, historical and 
 critical essays instinct with thought, found thousands 
 of readers all over Bengal. Whatever he touched 
 glowed with the light of his genius. For a generation 
 the reading world feasted on his unceasing productions ; 
 Bengali ladies in their zenana bought every new work 
 of Bankim Chandra as it issued from the press, and 
 
 him with the hij^hest respect, and lamented his death, when my 
 father died in the performance of public duty in l86l, like that 
 of an elder and honoured relation. Bankim Chandra always took an 
 interest in me, ten years his junior, and tried to enlist me in ihe 
 cause of vernacular literature. It was in 1872, when we were talking 
 qbout \\\Q: Bani^a Darsan, \.\\^\. I happened to express my appreciatioa 
 of some of the characters of Bankim's novels. " If you appreciate 
 Bengali literature thus," said the veteran novelist, " why do you 
 not work for it?" "I, write in Bengali !" said I with some surprise, 
 *' why, I have never written anything in Bengali. I do not know 
 the Bengali style." ** Style !" said he, " why, what a man of yoiwr 
 education will write will be Bengali style, and your cultured feelings 
 will do the rest." "You will never live by your writings in 
 English," said he, on this pr on another occasion, "look at others* 
 Your uncles Gobind Chandra and Shashi Chandra and Madhu 
 Sudan Datta were the best educated men of the Hindu College iii 
 their day. Govind Chandra and Shashi Chandra's English poems 
 will never live, Madhu Sudan's Bengali poetry will live as long 
 as the Bengali language will live," These words created a deep 
 impression in rae, and two years after this conversation, my first 
 Bengali work, Bant^a Bijeta^ was out in 1874. When that work was 
 issuing in another Bengali magazine, Bankim Chandra's Chandra 
 Sekkar was appearing in the Banga Darsan. He wrote to me of my 
 rjvnl work with his utmost good feeling, and once wrote humorously, 
 **I am crowding my canvas with characters; — it won't do for a 
 veteran like mi to b;- b.'\i'^a by a youngster !' 
 
BANKIM CHANDRA CHA'riKRjF.A. .227 
 
 <^ young men in schools and colleges knew his latest 
 
 ^ utterances by-heart.* • ; •'. 
 
 In his later years, he began to write on religious 
 
 * The following passage from Indira is a fair specimen of 
 Bankim Chandra's later and simpler style of Bengali prose. 
 
 ^feT5{, "f^^tlc^" ^I%Q, C^, ^tC^ ^t^t^ ^T-sft^l ^nt^=T ^^r^C^ 
 
 fif^^— ^t^ ^<T ^^ cit^l ^rlc^^— ii^ri{ ^fsrt^ c^i:^ ^it^i f^dl 
 
 ^r«^ftC^^ fV ?" ^R^l ^iTt^ '^tft^ 1CS( ^ ^T1 ^%T— ^^t^ 
 
 ^t^1 ^f^i^^T I \5«ri( c?it^ \^ ^tt— ^m^? n^ ^f? ^^^ fi^/i 
 
 fsf^ nvf3:5f, f^^ll ^C<, TOl T^^li:?, C7[t ^^ ^fs^ff^^ JpfiJ^t. 
 
 ^rf^Ttci^ I ^fsri^ ^^"^ ^W^ f^w^ Fif^^^V 'it^tt^^'T, 
 <:"5fty5i, ^ncw ^m^ f^^, ^[c^ ?ii'ft^ ws{T.-^^ ^ \ wi^?r ^f^ff c^ 
 
2 28 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. : 
 
 Subjects. His great work on Krishna is written on the 
 same lines as the thoughtful English work Ecu Homo, 
 
 Bankim Chandra's opinion on the question of the remarriage 
 of Hindu widows is thus explained in his essays on Samya ox 
 Equality. 
 
 f<r^r^ ^^!I1 ^5fr5 ^m ^C^, -^C^ H«(^mT<l ^65N3 f^-^\T.\ ^r«(^[TT 
 
 'w^ijf v^sT^r^ nr^'t^r ^r^c-5 t^1 ^^^ ^1 ; c^ mf^ni:«r^ "sniMf 
 
 f'l'^TrH^ff ^5fffl-5 ^Rf , C^ ?I^^ ^If^^ Tfr?(TN3 nf<i3) '^^t^Hf*l|l, 
 
 c^?3i^r, >i[#^i f^jf^i \^j^ ^Tfifn ^r^ n^t^^c^^n f^^ 
 "m c^t^t f^<^i, ff^f i?®i?, ^r^ c^ ^t€t?[i ^^^, -^fi)! c^t^i^^ 
 
 f^^-sff^TTTr^cn^ ntT%3«i >ii^n f^^^, c-?r :5t^f^ ^^]«^1 ^t-i^i ^?it 
 
 7{^cT ?^ "^ntC^, ^3il^ f^RT '^RH -Sff-s 'sii^^ ^f^^i^ 1 ^t 
 
 ^tf^^f I ^''^ri^ ^31 ^[^5 ft ^1 \^ ^^n ^r^^m I ^R ^rt 
 
 ^r^ sjHiccf, c^fit^ wt^ ^(^ ^fs 5itt, 'm'^^ c«t^t^ # ^h^-s^ 
 ^1, ^U, vfii^ r^^f'i ^?r, ^^^^f5f^ ^f«f^:5^ ca'i*tt'^l ^n^ I "ii^ 
 
 ?f*n«T ^^. ^n^? ^^ f%®=l ^f"^ ffC^ I f-^^ C3t^T^ C^?I1 C>T 
 
BANKIM CHANDRA CHATTtKjEA. * "229 
 
 and created a profound sensation in Bengal. Krishna^ 
 not as a deity but as a man, as the great Yadava chief 
 who tried to avert war by his wise counsels and ever 
 helped the cause of virtue, — this was the theme of his 
 work. And he proved to the perplexity of his orthodox 
 countrymen that the story of the amours of Krishna finds 
 no mention in the earliest works in Sanscrit literature, 
 £lnd is the mischievous fabrication of later poets. H6 
 
 f^^^ .fit ^7\-i\ ^, f^^irf^f^tr^*^ .^ti:^ '^l^^ f^ ^1 I t^^t?^ 
 
 f^^'T^i ^f^^l ^tc^l t\mi^ Tff^ ^f<i^1, f^nii;^'[f^i:5T ^f^?'^ 
 ^f^c^^wi^! ^^R ^*ft^ :^°NTivfn^, "-^iTiNfi^i corn's c^f^" 
 
 ■^f^TTl t'sC^fsr Tft^l^l ^a C^t^ ^H11, " ^R tl^1 Ctr I" ^fq^l 
 
 <i3f "nr^^c^ ^r^^ l^f r^^t-sr ^^f^^ i f^^ -^i^if ciw, ^i5t<(i viil; 
 1%&r^ ^fs ^!i^?f ^nnr^ "51^:^ ^f^^itr^'.^^, ^[^tm?.^ 'sfRtf^i^ti 
 
 ^C^ ^f<f cq^tt f%4fti? f^Ccf ^t^ 5^ ^1, C"^ ^'^^ 'l^^^.^'^^l c^ 
 
 ^^ nfr f^g ^5(T ^tfr<i 7T»s>T^ ^fiit^-w, c^^ n^^tf^i^tc^ ^.^^ 
 
 ^t^ ? f^^cir ^r^^ ^^^t^ ^^ c?'^ft'?i1 flf^^i:^ 7f^ ^Bt.^ 
 
 *(^¥r?it WTi -sittR, c^^ ^1 c^''^?F^ ; c^^^ w^'fi U^-^ mt^''^ 
 ^1, c-^^ =11 c^ ft ! 1^1 ^]> ^i\-^m, ^i^ ^^T*fi^ iV ? t^1 "^f^ 
 
230 ...LITERATURE OF BENGAL. : 
 
 also took Up the study of the Vedas, and felt himself 
 instinctively drawn to the Hindu revival of the present 
 generation, not to the noisy revival of ceremonials and 
 forms and hurtful rules, but to the revival of the purer 
 deeper and more catholic monotheism of the Hindus 
 which alone can unite and strengthen the nation. 
 
 Bankim Chandra was made a Rai Bahadur, and a 
 Companion of the Indian Empire by the Government, 
 and died in 1894, lamented by his countrymen. Why 
 is it that so few of our literary men live to the age 
 of three score and ten ? Ram Mohan Rai died at 59; 
 Iswar Chandra Gupta at 49 ; Dina Bandhu Mitra at 
 44; Madhu Sudan Datta at 49 ; and Bankim Chandra 
 at 56. The fathers of Bengali prose literature, Akhay 
 Kumar Datta and Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar lived ap- 
 proximately to the full period of human life, probably 
 because they retired from labours early, and passed their 
 old age in repose. Akhay Kumar died at 66 and 
 Vidyasagar at 71. 
 
 These were the kings of our literary world in the 
 present century, and the curious reader can mark the 
 periods of their reign as precisely as the reigns of 
 political sovereigns. I. Ram Mohan Rai reigned from 
 1815 to 1830, Raja Radha Kanta sharing his reign and 
 ruling over the orthodox section. II. Iswar Cha^idra 
 Gupta then reigned from 1830 to 1855, Akhay Kumar 
 sharing his rule during the last twelve years. III. The 
 venerable Vidyasagar then ascended the throne with 
 his memorable movement for the re-marriage of Hindu 
 widows, and his rule lasted till 1872, Madhu Sudan 
 
BANKIM CHANDRA CHATTER JEA. 23 T 
 
 and Dina Bandhu and Bankim Chandra sharing the rule. 
 IV. And after a brief and rej^rettable war over the ' 
 question of the abolition of polygamy, Vidyasagar abdi- 
 cated the throne; Madhu Sudan and Dina Bandhu' 
 also died in 1873 ; and Bankim became the sole ruler, 
 and reigned over the literary world for twenty two 
 years. 
 
 Other Writers. 
 
 The stream of Bengali literature has broadened 
 within the last thirty years, since the date of Durges 
 JVandini, and it is difficult within our limits to give any 
 account of this progress and development. The plan 
 which we have pursued in the present work is to confine 
 our remarks to the works only of the leading writers, 
 and to briefly enumerate others who were their colla- 
 borators or contemporaries. We will follow this plan 
 in the present chapter. 
 
 Magazines. Literary magazines, some of great merit, 
 have multiplied since the days _ of the Banga Darsan^ 
 but have mostly been short-lived.; ThQ Ganankur^ the 
 Arya Darsan, the Bandhab, xhQ Naba Jiban xind the 
 I^raehar wQie. excellent magazines, but have ceased to 
 exist.- The Bharati, the Nabya Bharat, the Sahitya, 
 the Sadhana and the Janmabhumi are among the best 
 magazines of the present day. The first named journal 
 is conducted by a lady, Srimati Sarna Kumari Ghosal, 
 daughter of the venerable D.^bendra N ith Tagore. 
 
2:^2 •C-ITF.RATURK OF BENGAL. 
 
 Novels. The same lady is the author of Dip Nirbai%^ 
 and a number of other meritorious novels, and it is a 
 sign of the times that ladies have taken to writing works 
 of fiction as well as of poetry. Sanjib Chandra Chatterjea^, 
 brother of the gifted Bankim Chandra, has written. 
 MadhabilatciL^ :Kanthamala and other interesting novels^ 
 and Chandra Sekhar Mukerji's Udbhranta Prem is also 
 a well-known work. One of the best of modern novels 
 is Swaritalata by the late Tarak Chandra Ganguli, 
 a simple and pathetic tale of social life in which the 
 characters are powerfully delineated. Indra Nath 
 Banerjea's Kalpataru is a humorous but realistic novel 
 of Bengal village life. Damodar Vidyananda has written 
 'Mrinmayi "^wdi a number of other stories, Chandi Charan 
 Banerjea has composed MonoramcCs Griha and other 
 moral 'domestic tales, and Chandi Charan Sen has 
 published Nanda Kumar and other historical novels of 
 Orthodox proportions. Pandit Siva Nath Sastri, who has 
 distinguis-hed himself by hrs poetry and his religious 
 works, has also composed Mejo Ban and other meri- 
 torious works of fiction ; and Rabindra Nath Tagore, one 
 of the foremost poets of the day, has composed short 
 tales which bear the stamp of his genius. Debi 
 Prasanna Rai Chowdhuri has written a number of 
 interesting tales ; and the veteran dramatist Mano 
 Mohan Basu has written a mei^itorious tale about Ranjit 
 Sinha^ called D'ulin. To complete the list, mention 
 may be made of Ban^a Bijeta and three other tales of 
 Indian History by the present writer, as well as his social 
 novels, Samar and Saimij. 
 
BANKIM CHANDRA CHATTERJEA. 233 
 
 Essays. Bankim Chandra's thoughtful essays in 
 the Banga Darsan on literary, social and scientific 
 subjects were largely read by his countrymen all over 
 Bengal, and the example he set has been largely 
 followed. Foremost among the essayists of the present 
 day is Kali Prasanna Ghosh of Dacca, whose Prabhat 
 Chiiita and Nihhrita Chinta and other thoughtful 
 essays are widely read and appreciated. Raj Krishna 
 Mukerjea and Chandra Nath Basu were among the 
 most eminent of Bankim Chandra's collaborators, and 
 have written much that is valuable and thoughtful. Raj 
 Krishna was a man of accurate scholarship and learning, 
 and his Prabandhas are marked by a spirit of honest 
 research. Chandra Na'th Basu has distinguished himself 
 more by his critical and social essays, like his Sakuntala 
 Tatwa and his Hindutwa, Dwijendra Nath Tagore, son 
 of the venerable Debendra Nath Tagore, has written 
 much that is philosophical and thoughtful in his Tatwa 
 Prakas and other essays. Other writers of lesser note 
 are adding to the stock of our current prose literature. 
 
 Religion and Antiquities. The Asiatic Society 
 continues to publish meritorious editions of ancient 
 Sanscrit works, and many private Pandits and Editors 
 are engaged in the same patriotic task. Our concern 
 however is with Bengali translations and compilations, 
 as they enrich the literature of Bengal, at the same time 
 that they add to the store of our antiquarian knowledge. 
 Pandit Satyavrata Samasrami is the profoundest Vedic 
 scholar in Bengal, and has done much for the spread 
 of knowledge by his editions and translations of 
 
 30 
 
234 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 Yajurvedd and Samct Veda and his researches in his 
 journals. Mention may also he here made of the 
 edition and translation of the Rig Veda by the present 
 writer which caused a sensation among his orthodox 
 countrymen in 1S85. An abridged compilation and 
 translation of the entire body of Hindu sacred literature 
 by the same writer is now in course of publication 
 under the title of Hindu Sastra. The late Dr. Ram 
 Das Sen published a number of valuable essays 
 on Indian antiquities, and Prafulla Chandra Banerjea 
 has written on the Hindus and the Greeks. Mahesh 
 Chandra Pal and Sita Nath Datta have edited and 
 translated the Upanishads, and Kailas Chandra Sinha 
 is a laborious worker in the field of antiquities. 
 Excellent editions and translations of the Bhagcruatgiia 
 have been published by several writers, and the 
 Bangabasi press has presented the reading public with 
 a translation of the Dharma Sastras, and is now 
 publishing the Puranas. The ethusiastic Sisir Kumar 
 Ghosh is engaged in writing a life of Chaitanya with 
 all the fervour of a true believer, and other editors 
 and translators, whose name is legion, are engaged 
 in editing, translating and elucidating ancient works. 
 Much of this work is perhaps superficial and even 
 narrow in its scope and object, and is r>ot therefore 
 likely to last. But in spite of all that is sectarian 
 and hoUow, the increased attention now bestowed on 
 ancient Hindu scriptures is likely to be attended with 
 the best results, and will have the ultimate effect of 
 drawing the people closer to the nourishing and life- 
 
BANKIM CHANDRA CHATTERJEA. 235 
 
 giving faith of the Upanishads and the Vedanta and the 
 Bhagavatgita^ which has been, and ever will be, the true 
 faith of the Hindus, 
 
 History. History continues to be studied in English, 
 and little progress has been made in this subject in the 
 Bengali language, except in the matter of school books, 
 Rajani Kanta Gupta's History of the wSepoy War is 
 however a valuable and meritorious work, compiled from 
 original sources. 
 
 Scientific Works. Scientific instruction must also 
 continue to be imparted in this country through the 
 medium of the English language for a long time to come. 
 Abinas Chandra Kabiratna's translations and editions 
 of Sanscrit medical works deserve praise. 
 
 Biographies. It is a hopeful sign of the times 
 that there has been a remarkable development in our 
 biographical literature within the present generation. 
 Some meritorious lives of the great men of other nations 
 have been compiled, but the best biographical works in 
 Bengali are the lives of Bengali authors. Pandit Ram Gati 
 Nyayaratna's History of Bengali Literature is a praise- 
 worthy compilation of the lives of our best writers, 
 Nagendra Nath Chatterjea's life of Ran^ Mohan Rai is a 
 meritorious work, but does not do full justice to its great 
 subject. Mahendra Nath Vidyanidhi's life of Akhay 
 Kumar Datta, Jogendra Chandra Basu's life of Madhu 
 Sudan Datta, and Chandi Charan Banerjea's life of 
 Vidyasagar have been referred to in the preceding pages, 
 and are exhaustive and excellent works which leave little 
 to be desired. 
 
236 LITERATURE OF BENGAL, 
 
 Poetry and Drama. Mention has been made of 
 the hving dramatists and poets at the close of the last 
 two chapters, and it is needless therefore to enumerate 
 them here. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 General Intellectual Progress. 
 
 Nineteenth century. 
 
 In the last seven chapters we have traced the progress 
 
 of Bengah literature in the nineteenth century ; it is a 
 
 ^ . , . progress which we can contemplate 
 
 Progress in Liter- ^ 
 ature in the 19th cen- with pleasure and with legitimate 
 
 *"^y* pride. Not a decade has passed 
 
 but has brought forth new writers and a marked 
 
 development. In the early tens and twentid^, the 
 
 great Raja Ram Mohan Rai carried on the work of 
 
 progress, and the conservative section, headed by the 
 
 learned Raja Radha Kanta Deb, stood up for ancient 
 
 rites and customs ; and the result was the formation of a 
 
 healthy and vigorous prose literature. In the thirties, the 
 
 poet Iswar Chandra Gupta came on the stage, and 
 
 enriched Bengali poetry with his flowing and witty and 
 
 interminable verse, displaying a copious power of the 
 
 language unsuspected before. In the forties, more 
 
 earnest workers came on the field ; Akhay Kumar's 
 
 dignified instructions, literary, scientific and moral, were 
 
 listened to by the advanced school of readers in Bengal, 
 
 and Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar began his manly work in 
 
 the cause of educational, social and literary reforms. 
 
 In the fifties, Ram Narayan Tarkaratna founded the 
 
 school of modern ^Bengali drama, and the great Madhu 
 
238 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 Sudan Datta erected his monumental epic in blank 
 verse. In the sixties, Dina Bandhu Mitra developed 
 dramatic literature, and Bankim Chandra began his new- 
 school of fiction and his long and brilliant rule in the 
 world of letters which has terminated only with his 
 death. In the seventies and eighties, new writers rose 
 to distinction, and the genius of Hem Chandra, Nabin 
 Chandra and Rahindra Nath sheds a lustre on the 
 closing years of this eventful century. 
 
 But when we have spoken of the Bengali writers of 
 the century, we have given only a partial and imperfect 
 account of our country's progress. Englishmen are now 
 the rulers of India, the work of administration and of 
 the courts of justice is carried on in English, higher 
 education is imparted in English, and the English is the 
 one language in which the people of the different pro- 
 vinces in India can communicate with each other. Much 
 of the literary work of our countrymen must therefore 
 be done, and has been done, in English. Our most 
 influential journals must be conducted in English, our 
 best legal works must be composed in English, forensic 
 eloquence can develop itself only in English, constitUr 
 tional agitation and political work must be carried on in 
 English, and even scientific and historical researches, 
 meant for all the races of India and for European readers, 
 must also be in English. It is necessary therefore to take 
 a cursory view of the work done in English in order to 
 grasp fully the progress made in the present century. 
 
 Raja Ram Mohan Rai was the first worker t)f the 
 century in English as he was in Bengali ; and his 
 
GENERAL INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS. 239 
 
 controversies with Christian mis- 
 Enl^rsh^?""'' ^ionariesand his essays on social 
 
 questions display an extent of 
 
 knowledge, a power of reasoning, and a mastery over the 
 
 English language, which surprised distinguished English 
 
 writers of the day. His controversies have now been 
 
 well known forgotten, but his translations of the ancient 
 
 Upanishads into English were among the first attempts 
 
 to explore into Sanscrit literature and Indian antiquities. 
 
 Raja Ram Mohan Rai helped in the founding of 
 
 the Hindu College in 1817. The ?[xs\. alumnii of the 
 
 „. , ^ „ , ColleGfe, however, left the path 
 
 Hindu College and ° 
 
 compositions in Eng- opened out by the eminent 
 
 IS verse. reformer, and for a time indulged 
 
 in the dream of distinguishing themselves in English 
 
 verse. Fired by the example of such men as Derozio 
 
 and D. L. Richardson, and impelled by their ardent 
 
 appreciation of western literature to which they had 
 
 found a golden key, they employed their talents in 
 
 contributing to English literature. Kasi Prasad Ghosh 
 
 led the van, and his book of poems in English attracted 
 
 much attention, as the first attempt of Young Bengal 
 
 in English poetry. The talented Madhu Sudan Datta 
 
 followed the example, and his Captive Ladie published 
 
 in Madras in 1849 '^^s already been spoken of. 
 
 The Dutt family of Rambagan, sons and nephews 
 
 of Rasamay Dutt of whom we have spoken before, 
 
 also entered this field, and soon left all competitors 
 
 behind. The early effusions of Shashi Chandra Dutt 
 
 and Govind Chandra Dutt received the deserved 
 
240 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 compliment of a favourable review in England in 
 Blackwood's Magazine. Shashi Chandra lived to com- 
 pile historical and other works which have been published 
 in ten volumes, and Govind Chandra with some of 
 his brothers and nephews published the Dutt Family 
 Album in England. His talented daughter Taru Dutt 
 then wrote a small collection of Lays and Ballads of 
 India which Edmund Gosse brought to the favourable 
 notice of the British public. H. C. Dutt has written 
 liis Lotus Leaves and G. C. Dutt his Cherry Blossoms. 
 O. C. Dutt still delights us with his sonnets and translar 
 tions from the German and the French, and J. C. Dutt 
 has published the Indian Pilgrim, in Spenserian verse. 
 
 But the dream of earning a fame by contributions 
 to English Poetry has now passed away, and Young 
 
 _ ,. . ^. .^. Bensjal has succeeded better in 
 
 Indian Antiquities. 
 
 more practical subjects of study. 
 Not long after the time of Raja Ram Mohan Rai, 
 Dr. K. M. Banerjea began his researches into Sanscrit 
 learning. He embraced the Christian religion, and his 
 perfect knowledge of Sanscrit and his command of a 
 graceful English style made him an effective and 
 powerful writer in the field of Indian antiquities. His 
 Dialogues on Hindu Philosophy is a profound work, 
 shewing a knowledge of the different systems of Hindu 
 philosophy which very few scholars then possessed. But 
 philosophical and scientific researches fail of thdr 
 mark when they are made with the object of supporting 
 a particular creed or faith, and Dr. Banerjea's work 
 puffers from tliis reason, and has never been as acceptable 
 
GENERAL INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS. 24 1 
 
 to scholars as it otherwise might have been. In his 
 later days, Dr. Banerjea wrote another work, Aryan 
 Witness, as profound as his first work, but marked by 
 the same partizanship which takes away from its value. 
 
 Dr. Rajendralal Mitra succeeded him in antiquarian 
 and scholastic researches, and soon acquired a European 
 reputation by his learning. He started a cheap magazine 
 called Bibidhartha Sangraha in 1851, in Bengali, for 
 spreading useful information among his countrymen, 
 but never succeeded well as a Bengali writer. On the 
 other hand his researches into Indian antiquities were 
 appreciated, and the Government of Bengal employed 
 him, first in examining the ancient temples of Orissa, 
 and then in examining the temple of Buddha Gaya. 
 Two magnificent works, rich in photographic illustrations, 
 and replete with information about the arts, manners and 
 life of the ancient Hindus, were the result. In the 
 meantime the scattered contributions of the scholar in 
 learned journals were collected and published in two 
 volumes, entitled Indo-Aryans^ which will remain ^ 
 monument of his learning.* 
 
 Less ambitious than the eminent Doctors were writers 
 like Bhola Nath Chandra and Lai Bihari De who have 
 
 Works of inforraa- embodied much useful informa- 
 **°"* tion about their country in their 
 
 excellent works. Bhola Nath's Travels of a Hindu 
 continues to be a most interesting book of information 
 
 ^ I take this opportunity of ackndwledginor my great indebted- 
 ness to these volumes, in writing my work on Civilization in 
 Ancient India. . 
 
 31 
 
24^ LrTERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 about India^ and Lai Bihari's Peasant Life in Bengat 
 
 describes ihe life of the Bengal agriculturist in the gui!5e 
 
 of a pleasing novel. 
 
 In journalism, Harish ChafKira Mukerjea took the 
 
 lead about the middle of this cen-tury, and the ability^ 
 
 honesty and devotion with which 
 Journalism. , , , ^ , , ^ , . 
 
 he advocated the clamis of his 
 
 countryn>en in the columns of the Hindu Patnof^ 
 which he founded, received deserved praise and recog- 
 nition. Kristo Das Pal succeeded Harish Chandra 
 worthily, and laboured for his country with real talent 
 and sound judgment as the editor of the Hindu Patriot 
 until the day of his death. 
 
 Journalism and public-speaking have gone hand in 
 hand, and the people of Bengal have coiitinued to- 
 
 represent their wishes, and express 
 Public speakers. ... ... . , 
 
 their views and opinions, in the 
 
 English language with marked abiMty. Ram Gopal 
 
 Ghosh was the first great public speaker in Bengal^ 
 
 and he distinguished himself in the middle of this 
 
 century by his eloquence and patriotism as the great 
 
 tribune of the people. Surendra Nath Banerjea is a 
 
 Worthy successor of Ram Gopal Ghosh in the art of 
 
 public speaking, and in the great work of the political 
 
 advancement of his country. He has laboured steadily in 
 
 this cause during the laist quarter of the century, he has 
 
 earned for his countrymen an increasing measure of 
 
 self-government and of represetitative institutions, and 
 
 his name will be associated by the future historian of 
 
 Bengal with the political advancement of the people. 
 
GENERAL ITTELLECTUAL PROGRESS. 24^ 
 
 Political associations, strong in their influence and 
 moderate in their representations, have also flourished 
 in Bengal during this half century, 
 tiofs!'"^'''*^ ^""°^*" The British Indian Association, 
 an association of zemindars, is 
 the oldest representative public body in the land. The 
 Indian Association has been founded later on a more 
 popular basis. And lastly, the National Congress unites 
 the representative and best educated men from all parts 
 of India in the work of political progress, and carries on 
 a constitutional agitation with moderation and ability. 
 
 Less loud, but not less deep, is the stream 
 
 of religious and social progress which has broadened 
 
 since the days of Raja Ram Mohan Rai. The task 
 
 begun by him has been worthily continued by the 
 
 venerable Debendra Nath Tagore, and the service he 
 
 has done in continuing the work of moral progress 
 
 cannot be overestimated. Trained under the moral 
 
 influence of Debendra Nath, Keshab Chandra Sen 
 
 founded a new section of the Brahma Samaj in 1868; 
 
 and he and his followers will 
 Brahma Saraaj. ,1 u j • 
 
 always be remembered as pioneers 
 
 of social reform who, as a body, first ignored the caste 
 
 system in the present century, and allowed inter-caste 
 
 marriages. It is a fortunate circumstance that his life and 
 
 teachings have been recorded by his friend and fellow- 
 
 preacher Pratap Chandra Mazumdar in a v/ork which is 
 
 the best biographical work in English, written by a native 
 
 of India. A third and more popular section of the Brahma 
 
 Samaj was founded som^ ten years later, and the talented 
 
244 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 Siva Nath Sastri and his colleagues are worthily carrying 
 on the work of this advanced section of the Samaj. 
 
 The progress of the Brahma Samaj is an auspicious 
 sign, because the Brahma Samaj really is an advanced 
 .section of the Hindu Samaj. One section of the 
 Brahmas still call themselves Hindus, and all sections 
 •have adopted Hindu social and religious rites with some 
 modifications, live Hindu lives, and derive their instruc- 
 tion from Hindu sacred works. The social progress 
 of the Brahmas leavens the entire Hindu society, th6 
 two^ communities are drawing closer year after year; 
 and " when the young society will have counted its 
 first hundred years of existence, its members will b^ 
 reckoned as a section of advanced Hindus, as the 
 founder of the Samaj meant them to be. 
 
 Among the Hindus, outside the pale of the Brahma 
 
 Samaj, there has been a better understanding among 
 
 the different sections in recent 
 Hindu Reform. „„ , . . 
 
 ' years. 1 here is a desire on the 
 
 part of all sections, orthodox and heterodox, to drawr 
 
 -closer together, and work for national progress and 
 
 general good. The domination of the priestly caste which 
 
 impeded the nation's progress is becoming feebler, the 
 
 endeavour to bolster up priestly privileges is becoming 
 
 fainter, the hurtful restrictions of caste are becoming 
 
 weaker, among advanced Hindus in Bengal. There 
 
 is a desire to sink social disunion, to ignore modern 
 
 restrictions, and to turn towards the unpolluted 
 
 religion and morality of the ancient scriptures to 
 
 .yi^hich modern Hindus are now turning for guidance. 
 
GENERAL INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS. 245 
 
 There is hope in all this, as well as sign of progress. 
 
 In science, Young Bengal has not succeeded as well 
 
 as he should have done. Excellent physicians have been 
 
 turned out from the Medical Col- 
 
 trief "^"" ^""^ ^"'^"^" ^^§^^' ^"^ students distinguished 
 for high proficiency in Chemistry 
 and Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, have come out 
 of our colleges. But they have as yet given no indication 
 of a capacity for original research. The want of costly 
 instruments in this country may be one reason of this 
 failure, the absence of a class of scientific workers is 
 another. Dr. Mahendra Lai Sarkar's Science Association 
 languishes for want of zealous workers, and the Industrial 
 Association lately started has not yet perceptibly fostered 
 industrial pursuits. Feeble attempts are made now and 
 then in starting new industries, or renovating old ones 
 under new methods. The spinning and weaving of 
 cotton and jute, which grow so plentifully in this 
 country, are done for us in England, and Bengal has 
 not taken any appreciable share in cloth manufacture 
 in which Bombay has set an example. Bengal has not 
 :yet distinguished herself in any way in science and 
 industries under the influence of English education. . 
 
 Law is a /more congenial subject of study for the 
 people of Bengal, and it has been remarked by so high 
 _ an authority as Sir Henry Maine, 
 
 that in this subject the nation has 
 shewn something like true merit and genius. The 
 ability, of which Prasanna Kumar Tagore and Rama 
 Prasad Rai and other pleaders of their generation gave 
 
246 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 evidence, attracted attention, and the highest judicial 
 
 posts under Her Majesty's Government in India were 
 
 soon won by the talented practioners. Rama Prasad 
 
 Rai, son of Raja Ram Mohan Rai, was appointed 
 
 a judge of the High Court of Calcutta, but he did 
 
 not live to take his seat on the Bench. Samhhu 
 
 nath Pandit followed, and later on, the talented Dwarka 
 
 Nath Mitra distinguished himself by his eloquence, 
 
 learning and zeal at the Bar, and eventually made 
 
 one of the soundest and best judges of the High 
 
 Court. Other able men have succeeded him, and Sir 
 
 Ramesh Chandra Mitra acted as Chief Justice of 
 
 Bengal for a period. Among the Bengal Mahommedans, 
 
 Sayad Amir AH has won a seat on the Bench of the 
 
 High Court, and has also distinguished himself by 
 
 his learned works on the Life of Mahomet and on 
 
 Mahommedan Law. But Sayad Amir All's works are not 
 
 the only meritorious legal works composed by natives 
 
 of Bengal in modern times. The munificent Prasanna 
 
 Kumar Tagore has founded a chair for lectures on law ; 
 
 and the lectures, annually delivered, mostly by natives 
 
 of India, form a series of meritorious works on Indian 
 
 Law. 
 
 In the work of general administration, the people 
 
 of the country have been admitted to take a share with 
 
 . , . . ^ ,. greater caution, their efforts have 
 
 Administration. ° 
 
 been more arduous and prolonged, 
 and their success therefore is a matter of greater congra- 
 tulation. The administration of India is unconsciously 
 affected by party triumphs in England, and it was 
 
GENERAL INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS. 247 
 
 when a strong and healthy liberal reaction gave the 
 seats in the Parliament to the real representatives of 
 the British nation in 1832, that a real share in adminis- 
 trative work in India was for the first time given to 
 the people of Bengal by Lord William Bentinck. The 
 class of men whom he appointed, Sub Judges and 
 Deputy Collectors, soon distinguished themselves by 
 their ability, capacity for work, and knowledge of their 
 country, and the creation of these appointments has 
 strengthened the Government, and brought British rule 
 more in touch with the people. 
 
 In T852, Lord Russell revived the question of 
 Reform in England, and the second Reform Bill was 
 passed in 1867. It was within these years that the 
 Covenanted Civil Service was thrown open to all Her 
 Majesty's subjects, and the first native of India entered 
 the Civil Service, In 1862, Satyendia Nath Tagore, a son 
 of the veneral)le Debendra Nath Tagore, passed the Open 
 Competition held in England for admission into the 
 Civil Service of India. An ungenerous alteration in the 
 system of marking, which immediately followed, pre- 
 vented other natives of India from succeeding for some 
 years. In 1869 however, three other natives of Bengal 
 and one native of Bombay passed the Open Competition. 
 And since their time, young men are proceeding to 
 England in increasing numbers, year after year, to 
 compete for the Civil Service, to qualify themselves for 
 the Bar or as Doctors or Engineers, or merely to 
 complete their general education. 
 
 The third and last Reform act, equalizing franchise 
 
248 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 in counties and boroughs, was passed in England in 
 1885. The wave of liberal reaction reached, as on 
 previous occasions, as far as India, the Local Self- 
 Government Act and the Municipal Act of Lord Ripon 
 were passed between 1884 and 1886, and the people 
 were thus admitted to a larger share in the administra- 
 tion of local affairs. 
 
 The training of our young men in England has been 
 attended with beneficial results. Men who have entered 
 
 the higher ranks of services by 
 Appointment to . " . . . ^ , 
 
 higher services after passing exammations m England 
 
 examinations in Eng- j^^ve taken, as Civilians, Doctors 
 land. 
 
 or Engineers, a responsible share 
 
 in the work of administration to which their country- 
 men generally are not admitted. Bengali Civilians 
 have held the posts of District Officers, District Judges 
 and Divisional Commissioners, Bengali Medical men 
 have held the post of Civil Surgeons, and Engineers have 
 risen to the rank of Executive Engineers. This direct 
 enlargement of the share taken by the people of Bengal 
 in the administration of their country benefits the people, 
 and makes British rule stronger and more popular in 
 India. 
 
 No less signal is the service rendered by those who 
 have came out as members of the Bar, Mano Mohan 
 Ghose, who went to England 
 with Satyendra Nath Tagore, came 
 put as the first Bengali Barrister. The poet Madhq 
 Sudan Datta came out about the same time, and 
 Womesh Chandra Bonnerjea came out shortly after, in 
 
GENERAL INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS. 249 
 
 1868. Madhu Sudan is dead ; but Ghosh and Bonnerjea 
 are among the Nestors of the Bar at the present time. 
 The service they have rendered to the country by helping 
 the cause of justice and thus improving administration 
 is great. But the service which they have rendered as 
 workers for the poHtical advancement of their country- 
 men is still more valuable. Younger Barristers are 
 walking in their foot-steps, and our country owes and 
 will continue to owe much to her talented and patriotic 
 sons who have taken to the legal profession. 
 
 For the rest the great rush of our young men to 
 
 Europe is silently causing a reform in our social rules. 
 
 These young men ask no sanction from the leaders of the 
 
 caste organization when they cross the seas and proceed 
 
 to Europe, or when they return 
 
 visit to Europe! *^ ° ^"^ ^^^^ among their friends and 
 relations, and occasionally marry 
 out of caste. Orthodox Hindu society is gradually 
 becoming familiarized with such departures from old and 
 cast-iron rules, and silently accepts the fact that a living 
 society must be progressive. The best way to do a 
 thing is to do it, says the proverb, and Young Bengal, 
 educated in Europe, knows the truth of this proverb. 
 Social reforms for which men like the venerable Vidya- 
 sagar spent the best portions of their lives are being 
 effected unostentatiously, without discussion in pam- 
 phlets and journals, and without the sanction of learned 
 conclaves of Pandits. A deed done is worth more than 
 years of idle discussion ; Hindu society feels it, and is 
 gradually accepting the inevitable. 
 32 
 
250 LITERATURE OF BENGAL. 
 
 Young Bengal has his faults, and is not in want of 
 Vcandid friends" to point them out to him. But his 
 critics, who are so severe on his 
 failings, know little of his difficult- 
 ies and his struggles. Within the present century, YoUng 
 Bengal has endeavoured to form a healthy national 
 literature, has striven for social and religious reforms 
 in the light of the ancient Hindu scriptures, has dis- 
 tinguished itself in law and administration, and works 
 hopefully and manfully for the good of the country. 
 There is reason for hope in all this, but there is more 
 reason for earnest work in the future ; and it rests 
 entirely with ourselves to work out the results already 
 foreshadowed. There is not a nation in Europe which 
 has not shaped its own destiny by centuries of hard and 
 arduous toil in past ages. We live in happier times, and 
 under the influence of a heathier liberal opinion, and it 
 rests with ourselves whether under these influences, 
 and under the generous guidance of England, we shall 
 move onward in the path of national progress, as all 
 English colonies are doing in this age of progress. 
 
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