TH E

LITERATURE OF BENGAL

A BIOGRAPH ICAL AND CR ITICAL H ISTORY FROM THE EARL IES'

I T IMES

CLOSING WITH A REV IEWOF INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS

UNDER BRIT ISH RULE IN IND IA

KOMESH CHUNDER QUTT,

0?“w e mmAN cum . sm v xcs, AND or TH E m om s nuns , mum SR-AT

one . comm ssw x na AND supsnmrz x nsm or TRIBUTARY menus, ORISSA

AUTHOR or“c xvm zn lon m ANC l ENT mmA,

“

REVISED EDITION : WITH PORTRAITS.

THACKER SPINK Co . : CALCUTTA.

ARCHIBALD CON STABLE Co . : LONDON .

1 895 .

«a .

2 1-608 3

PR INTED By S. K . SHA

ELM PRESS

BRADON STREET, CALCUT'

I‘

A.

RAI SHASH I CHANDRA DUTT BAHADUR

7HE F OLL0WIN G PA 65 5

ARE DED ICATED AS

A TOKEN OF

GRATITUDE, ESTEEM AND AFFECTION

Daé/zz’

nSkalzbazpur, BY H IS NEPHEW

1877. THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

Bengali Language and A lphabet

Early Sanskrit Poetry.-]ayadeva. ( 12th century) 1 1

Early Bengal i Poetry.—Chandidas. ( 14th century ) 26

Kasi Ram and his Mahabharata. ( 15th century) 38

Krit tibas and his Ramayana. ( 15th century) 48

Chaitanya and his Rel igious Reform. ( 16th century) 61

The fo l lowers of Chaitanya . ( 16th century) 77

Raghunath and his school of Logic. ( 16th century) 83

Raghunandanand his Institutes. (16th century) 89

Mukundaram and his Chand i. ( 17th century) 95

Ram Prasad and his Songs. ( 18th century) 1 18

Bharat Chandra and his Poetry. ( 18th 124,

RamMohanRai and his Rel igious Reform. (1774 - 1833) 136

Iswar Chandra Gupta and his Satires. ( 1809- 1858) 15 1

Akbay KumarDat ta. Bengali Prose. ( 1820- 1886) 160

Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar. Bengal i Prose. ( 1820- 189 1) 172

DramaticWriters. Dina BandhuMitra. ( 1829 - 1873) 183

MadhuSudanDatta and his Epic. ( 1824- 1873) 194,

Bank im Chandra Chatterjea. F iction. ( 1838 - 1894) 224,

General intel lectual Progres s. ( l gth century) 237

PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION.

ABOUT twenty years ago. I pub lished ina local

magazine a series of b iograph ical and cri t ical

essays onBengal i writers, and t hey were pub l ished ia a co l lected formunder the disguise of a nom

de plume in 1877. The pub l icat ion d id not receive much attent ionat the t ime, but it attracted

the notice of t hat prince of Ind ianstat ist icians,SirWi l l iam Hunter. He embod ied much of the

informat ion conveyed inmy book inhis valuab lework on the Ind ian Empire, and he suggestedt hat a more complete treatment of the subjectshould be attempted .

’

The work of bringing out a more comp lete

work onthe subject has been deferred from year

to year amidst o ther works wh ich have claimed

my more immed iate attent ion. I do not regret

this de lay, as the information avai lab le on t his

Subject is now far more sat isfactory than it was

twenty years ago . More at tent ionis now g i vento

“A complete treatment nf the subjec t is st ill a desideratum,

which it is hoped that Benga l i research wil l befo re long supply.

Mr. whose vo lume has beenfreely used in the fo l lowing pages

would confer a benefit bo th on his countrymenand onEuropeanstudents of the Ind ian vernaculars by undertak ing the task .

"

W. W. Hunter’s IndianEmpire ( 1886) p. 347. note.

ii PREFACE.

the study of Bengali li terature by the peo ple of

Bengal a Bang iya Sahitya Parishad or Academyof . Bengali Literature has been formed, and has

turned its attent ionto the restorat ionof the te x ts

of our o ld aut hors and some ex ce l lent biograph ical

works l ike the li ves of Akbay Kumar Dat ta;

Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar and MadhuSudanDat tahave late ly been publ ished in Bengali . These

encouraging circumstances have reminded me of

my duty, - long deferred ,—of bringing out a fairlv

complete account o f Benga l i li terature . And

the honour wh ich the Bangéva S ahity a Parishad

has done me,by e lec t ing me its first President ,

impels me to choose this occasion to place before

mv countrymen genera l l y , and be fore Europeanstudents of Ind ianvernaculars, a connected story

o f l i terary and intel lectual progress inBengal duringthe last e igh t centuries .

It is necessary to say one or two words ab outmy predecessors in t h is fie ld . Iswar Chandra

Gup ta, the first great poet of t h is century, anaccount of whose l ife and work wi l l be found in

Chap ter XIV . of the present book,was the first

wri terwho at tempted to publ ish b iograp h ical ac

counts of prev ious writers but his at temp t neces

sarilv met wi th imperfect success . Iswar Chandra

was fo l lowed b y other Bengal i wri ters o f lesser

no te, whose treat ises used to be read in tne last

PRE FAC E . i i i

generation. Pandi t Ramgati Nyayaratna then

took up the task, and made enquiries into facts

connected wi t h the l i ves and writings of past

authors, and produced a meri torious work a quarterof a century ago . The work has appeared ina

second edi t ion, but Benga l laments the recent

deat h of the industrious and venerab le Pand i t . A

number of separate b iograph ical works, some of

t hem very ful l and complete, have also been

lately issued ; and I have in the present ed i t ion

of th is work deri ved much informat ion from t hese

separate works.

The add it ional informat ion now avai lab le on

the subject of Bengali l i terature ,wh i le it is most

we lcome to the comp i ler, has made the work of

comp i lat ionmore arduous. I had no idea, when I

undertook to produce the present ed it ion, that

nearly all the work done twenty years ago wouldhave to be redone. But as the work proceeded,.t h is became more and more manifest . I have

accord ingl y v irtual l y rewri t tenmost port ions of theb ook, inc lud ing the first five chapters as we l l as the

last eigh t chap ters, and I have added two new

chapters on the schoo ls of logic and law at Naba

dwip . The work therefore may be regarded as

a lmost a new one . The very limi ted t ime I had a t

my d isposa l d id no t permi t me to perform t h is

work as le isure ly and careful l y as I would

iv PREFACE.

wish to do it but I hope neverthe less that the

book wi ll be found to be a readab le hand- book,

correct up to date , onthe subject wh ich it treats .

And the subject is one wh ich is worth study .

Li terary mo vement inBenga l commenced at least

e igh t centuries ago wi th composi t ions inSanscri t,and -Jayadeva, a nat i ve of Bengal , has left his

mark on Sanscri t l iterature by his mortal song,now rendered into Engl ish by Sir Edwin Arno ld .

Bengal i l iterature, properly so cal led,began

w i th imi tat ions of the song of Jayadeva inthe

fourteenth century, and wi th translat ions of the

great Sanscri t ep ics into Bengal i inthe fifteent h

century . Then followed the bri l l iant si x teent h

century wit h its re l igious reform inaugurated b v

Chai tanya ,and its stud y of p h i losoph y and sacred

law fostered b y Raghunat h and Raghunandan.

The seventeent h century commenced wit h a

great original composit ionby Mukunda Ram,whom

Professor.E. B . Cowell o f Cambridge de l igh ts to

cal l the Chaucer of Bengal . And the e igh teenth

century produced Bharat Chandra a masterof verse,and Ram Prasad a master of song . A brigh ter

epoch opened wi t h the nineteent h century Raja

Ram Mohan Rai was the first bri l l iant product

of Eng l ish educat ion in India,and devo ted his

l i fe to re l igious reform and to the formation of

a heal thy Benga l i Prose . Iswar Chandra Gup ta

PREFACE .

was a versat ile poet and sat irist,

and AkbayKumar and Vidyasagar cont inued the nob le work

which Raja Ram Mohan had commenced . The

great MadhuSudan Datta wrote a nob le epic in

b lank verse,D ina BandhuM i tra and others wrote

dramat ic works,and Bank im Chandra Chatterjea

has created a new school of fict ion,and has

brought Bengali prose to the state of its present

perfect ionand grace .

These are the greatest authors t hat Bengal has

produced, and whose memory the people of Bengal

love to cherish . O f liv ing writers I have not

givenany detailed account the t ime for a proper

cri t icism of their work has not yet come . Let ushope that they will be the pioneers inliterature

inthe nex t century, and that Bengal wi ll shew

as brilliant a record of progress in the nex t centuryas inthis, which is ab out to close .

CUTTACK,R . C . DUTT.

October, 1 895 .

CHAPTER I .

BENGAL I LANGUAGE AND ALPHABET .

I t is not d ifficul t to trace the gradual changes inthe

spoken tongue of Northern Ind ia by the hel p of the

anc ient works wh ich have'

been preserved in Sanscri t .

In Ind ia, as e lsewhere, pol i t ica l and re l igious changes

have been attended,—not with sudden changes inthe

spoken tongue, as i s somet imes imagined, - but wi th a

sudden recogni t ion of such changes which introduce

themse lves s lowly enough .

When the v igorous colonists of the Epic Age left

the irmothercountry inthe Punjab beh ind, and founded

powerful k ingdoms along the Ganges and the Jumna,

the Sanscri t of the Rig Veda was replaced by the

Sanscri t of the Bra/Imam : and Upamirl mdr in the

cul tured courts of the Kurus and the Panchalas, the

V idehas and the Kosalas. Th is was the first change of

wh ich we have any recorded ev idence, and we may

rough ly fix the date of th is change at ( 500 B . C .

Wi th the ri se of Magadha and the advent ofGautamaBuddha, who preferred to preach to nat ions inthe spokentongue, the Fall language was recognized as the spokentongue of NorthernInd ia ; it had replaced the Sanscri t of

the Bra/Inland : and Upam’

skadr. Scholars general ly agree

m a nua ls or BENGAL.

wi th But'nhpf and Lassen that the Pa l i stands “onthe first

step c'

f-the ladder of departure from Sanscri t, and is the

first,of the series of dialec ts wh ich break us that rich

and fert i le language.

”The date of the l i terary and

.

ge'neral recogni t ionof the Pal i language may be rough ly

fixed at 500 B . C .

Inthe centuries fo l lowing the Christ ianEra, the Pa l i

became gradual ly replaced by the Prakrits, the spoken

dialects of the people. The hero ines ofKa l idasa speak

Prakri t and wh i le Dushyanta makes love inSanscri t, thebeauteous Sakuntala responds to his love in the softer

Prakrit. Vararuchi, one of the “nine gems”of V ikrama»

di tya’s court, is the earl iest grammarian who recognizes

the Pralt rits in his grammar ; and he d ist inguishes four

d ist inct d ialects of the Praltrit, via , di am /m1}Scum;

sem’

,P cu

'

mclzi and Magad/u'

. We may fix the date of this.

l i terary . recognition. of the Prakri t dialec ts at 500 A. D.

The difl'

erent Ptakrits have been mod i fied into thed ifferent spokend ialects of modern India.

’

It is proba

b le that the Maizrmubh i and Saum sem'

Ptakrits have

been mod ified,into the modern. H ind i, and that the

M agad/d Prakri t has been mod ified into . the modem .

Benga l i . H ind i rece i ved l i terary recogni tion in the

twelfth century after Chris t, the Bengal i inthe fourteenthcentury

,

I f we take up any large number of col loquial

Bengal i words derived from the Sanscri t, we shal l ia

variab ly find inthem traces of the Prakri t . I f we take

up any sentence at random from our every-day conversa

tion,we shal l find that mom of the words have been

BENGALI LANGUAGE AND ALPHABET.

deri ved from the Sanscrit, through the Prakri t. Wesubjo inina foot-note a l ist of words, furnished by Pand i tRamgati Nyayaratna, wh ich wi l l shew at a glance that

the Bengal i language is immed iately derived from the

Prakri t.’

The Bengal i language is thus a descendant of

Sanscri t, the mother of languages. I t should be re

membered however that a large number‘

of loca l words,wh ich were probably used in Bengal before the Aryansasserted their possess ion and spread the ir language in

new mi ss 1mm at“‘1

m

first first

fi ts asst

st uff! amam:

as?

4 LITERATURE or? BENGAL.

th is country, havefound theirway into the'

Bengali tongue.

Many fami l iar Bengal i words connected wi th fish ing

and cul t ivat ion, wi th manufacture and arts, wi th domest ic

l ife and occupations, cannot be traced to Sanscri t roots,and must he of ind igenous origin. W i th the growth of

l i terature however these words have a tendency to dis

appear, and the Benga l i language is gra dua l ly approx i e

mat ing to the Sanscri t invarious ways.

This process is spec ial ly observable inthe present

century . Whoever has taken pains to compare the

best works of the present age wi th the works of the last

century, must have observed that the Sanscri t element

has great ly increased in the Bengal i of the present day ;and th is change, —and we cons ider i t a change inthe,

righ t d irec t ion, - is at tributab le to a variety of causes.

The spread of European cul ture created the necess i ty

of a prose l i terature. Our wri ters began to be fami l ia

fi tted wi th ideas wh ich could no t find expression in

verse. Ph i losophy and the sc iences came wi th inthe cate

gory of publ ic tui t ion,and were learnt by an ever

increas ing c irc le of students ; and when they wanted

to g i ve expression to the ir ideas in their na tive tonguethey found out its inadequacy . Ph i losophy and the

sc ienc es were in past centuries cult ivated in the aca

demies of Nuddea, but they‘

were cul ti vated in Sanscri t,

only by a few,and those few neves concei ved the idea

o f po pularizing and spread ing such. knowledge . A more

li bera l spiri t however was imbi bed in“

th is century from

the West, and those who imbi bed such no t ions were

ted ‘

to spread and popularize the knowledge they had

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

6 ursaaw aa or BENGAL.

sors . A comparisonof a poem of the present centurywi th one of the past century will at once ind icate the

d ifference.

We open a book before us at random, and find s

poem ent i tledmy inthe Sraéannumber of the Bangm

D zm an,1 280 B . E .

’ I t beg ins thus :

aa gfi crfit v wgm i

W i th the exceptionof two words only, anand win,all the rest are Sanscri t words.

We turnovera few pages and come to another poement i t led mfiminthe Bizadra number. I t beg ins thus

am am am new,

units I t ! t im er,

wai t mfamm m ar,

m fi-rcwfiwmmfirm,

m m , sfi . 5m ,

m. t fi h i s. flat?!W.

« firs s tf‘

ntt 1mmm I

Inthese eigh t l ines there are only fourwords wh ich

are not Sanscri t, a n,m , ( 331 and A l l the other

words are Sanscri t, though some of them have Bengal i

terminat ions. The four words above ment ioned are

of course derived from Sanskri t roots.

This port ion was writ ten in July 1874 . and the quotationstherefore are from the Bangs Darya) : of 1280 B. E .

BENGAL! LANGUAGE AND ALPHABET.

The Arwinnumber has no poetry, and we thereforeturnto the Kartik number. The poem on mabeg insthus '

as: as i f ; f ate .

was fi ft h-t were ,

s lw a sstf‘t,

nfasi f“ ? Elfinfwfil are t

Inthese l ines only two words 815? and fi s fit are no t

Sanscri t . The terminations are Bengal i of course .

Inthe seventeen l ines wh ich we have quoted above,there are only eigh t words wh ich are not Sanscri t.

We now turn to the poetry of the last century, and

select a passage at random from Bharat Chandra ’s

centre a s wtwtfa I

fai l am t f‘

r mufit 9 ttftf’s

as amt as warmi t?

was am (em“ 9151 t o: we a t w :

virginm ym t

« first v twtfa m fins mfflsft cs at fm m t

F oilsmm mm fawn!arm firs awlW a

7ltv't st fm m am: at m msf? (mt emi ts“

8 L ITERATURE or BENGAL.

Our readers wi l l see at a g lance that most of the

words inth is passage are non-Sanscri t, al though most ly

derived from Sanscri t roots.

We have dwel t at some length onth is change be

cause it is a change of wh ich we should take note. The

Bengal i language, though undoubted ly deri ved through

the Prakri t, seems to be fast d ivest ing i tself of the

Prakri t forms, and approximat ing to the Sanscri t. The

moderntendency is touse Sanscri t words rather thantheir

Prakri t forms in all works of l iterature, except dramas

and l igh t fic t ion. To select some words from Pand i t

Nyayaratna’s l ist

,we prefer an; toW , q; toW, w to

am, 65 to 5m ,amto m ,

film to ma, fawnto fitt hi s?! to are , i t! to ( F5 . fi sts to flai l, st to get, anto amin our l i terary works. The l i terary language is thus

undergo ing a transformat ionunderour owneyes.

I t would he a mistake however to suppose that we are

imi tat ing Sanscri t ideas. The reverse is rather the case,

ournot ions, our ideas, our ways of th ink ing, our sty le

of wri t ing are day by day d iverg ing from the classical

Sanscri t model, and tend ing towards the European. I t

is words only that we are borrowing from the Sanscri t .

Thus, at the same t ime, we are borrowing from two

widely d ifferent sources.

We have now briefly ind icated the orig in of the

Bengal i language and its development in modern

t imes. I t remains now to make a few remarks with

regard to the Bengal i al phabet.

BENGALI LANGUAGE AND m anag er. 9

A cursory examinat ion of the Bengal i alphabet

wi l l conv ince our readers that it is derived and simpl ifiedfrom the Devanagari alphabet. This mod ification was

made many centuries ago, and all that ex ists of Benga l il i terature from the t ime of Chand i Das and Kasirarn

Das was recorded inth i s modernBengal i alphabet.But th is does not take us to the orig in of the Ind ian

al phabet . The Devanagari charac ter i tself is of com

parat ively recent orig in. The oldest Ind ian character

known is not the Devanaga ri, but the o lder one in

wh ich Asoka’s inscri pt ions are recorded. A l l the inscript ions of Asoka, except those in the Punjab, are te

corded in what is called the [ ado-Pali or SantaAroka‘

c harac ter. Th is is the earl iest character used inIndia of

wh ich we have any knowledge now, and its date is the

date of Asoka, via , the th ird century before Christ.

The la te General Sir Alexander Cunningham, who

was the greatest authori ty onthe subjec t of the Ind ian

al phabets, subjec ted the old Indo-Pali character to a

careful exam inat ion, and came to the conc lusion that

th is Ind iancharacterwas of pure ly Ind ianorig in.

! And

the majori ty of scho lars who have studied and d iscussed

the subjec t are of the same op inion. Professor Max

M ii ller ho lds that Ind ia had no wri tten alphabet be

fore the fi fth century B C , and tha t the Ind ianalphabet

was then borrowed from the West . But Dr. Roth ex

presses his conv ict ion, based ou prolonged Ved ic

stud ies, that the vast co l lect ion of Ved ic hymns could

See Cunningham’s remarks on this subject noted in my

Civ ilisat ioninAncient Ind ia (London, 1893) Vol. I p. 25 a my.

2

8° um aaw aa or BENGAL.

not poss i bly have depended for existence on oral trans

m iss ion, and he considers it as a sine qua nor: that

writ ing was known in Ved ic t imes. Dr. Biihler holds

that the Ind ian al phabet wi th its five nasals and three

sibilants must have been developed in the grammati

cal schoo ls of the Brahmans. Dr. Goldstiicker holdsthat writ ing was known when the Ved ic hymns were

composed . And the profound scholar Lassenma inta ins

that the Judo-Pali al phabet is of purely ind igenous

Ind ianorigin.

I t would appear therefore that some alphabet was

formed and deve loped inInd ia in the Ved ic times ; that

probably a later mod ificat ion of th is alphabe t is the

L ido-Pali character in wh ich Asoka recorded his im

scriptions in the th ird century B . C. that the ornate

D evanagari character was a later deve lopment of the

simpler and o lder Indo Pal i character ; and that the

Eengah’

character is a s impl ificationand latermodifica

t ionof the Devanagari character.

CHAPTER I I .

EARLY Sanscarr Pomav .—JAYADEVA.

A Gaaar development in Sanscrit l i terature and learning took place betweenthe sixth and e igh th centuries of

the ChristianEra, and all the wri ters who are knownas

C lassical Sanscri t poets, and whose works are st i l l popular

inall part s of Ind ia; appear to have flourished inth is age.

Kal idasa took the lead, probably inthe sixth century, in

poetry and indrama, and was immed iately succeeded byBharavi . Harshadeva,Dand in,Banabhatta, Subandhuand

Bhartrihari wrote dramas, fict ionand poetry inthe seventh,and the immortal Bhavabhut i closed the brigh t l ist in

the eigh th .

° Class ical poetry ends wi th him, imi tators

and feeble wri ters rose later on. Such were Magha

who wrote S impalaéaJ /za in the eleventh century, and“

V isakha Datta who composed Mad'm Rab /tam when

the Musalmans were already in Ind ia.

Bengal does not come to not ice by her l i terary work

ti l l th is late period. I t is sa id that Bhatta Narayana

who composed Vem’

San/lam was one of the Brahmans

who came to Bengal from Kanouj in the t ime of k ingAd isura, but we know l i tt le of the k ing and less of the

poet . And it is a lso said that Sri Harsha who composed

N a ir/mama in the twel fth century l ived in Bengal, al

For anaccount of C lassica l Sanscrit Poetry, Drama and Fic

gansee my C iw'

lizahbninAmim t India, (London, 1893) Vol. I I . ,

cones 258 to 302.

1 2 LITERATURE OP BENGAL.

though accord ing to Rajasekhara he was born in

Benares.

The earliest poet whom we cancla im to he a true sonof Bengal is Jayadeva, the composer of the immorta lsong Gi la Govz

'

na’a ; and we wi l l devote the present

chapter to an account of the l ife and works of th is

earl ies t poet of Beng al . He was a poet of the court of

Lakshmana Sena, and flourished in the twelft h century,as has beenproved by a co lophon of anancient copy of

his poem d iscovered by Dr. Bt’

ihler in Kashmir. There

is other evidence corroborat ing th is fact . Jayadeva him

sel f speaks of h is contemporaries inhis poetry Bidyapati

and C handidas, poe ts of the fourteenth century, acknow

ledge Jayndevn to be the ir great predecessor and Sana

tana, a learned Vaislmova wri ter of the six teenth century,Speaks of Jayadeva as a poet of Lakshmana Scott 's t ime.

Very l i t tle is knownof the l i fe of th is, the earl iest

poet of Bengal . He was born in Kendubilwa, better

known as Kendul i, in the d istrict of Birbhum. H is

father’s name was B‘

hojadeva, and his mother’s Bama

deviq In early l i fe Jayadeva left home, and it is said,began preach ing the fa i th and love of Krishna. He

had a few pupi ls and fol lowers, and it is asserted that

he attempted to es tabl ish a reformed rel ig ion l i ke'

what Chaitayna did four centuries later. Al l th is,however, we must accept wi th caut ion. Much of

what l i ttle we know of Jayadeva is from Vai shnava

wri te rs, and they were natura l ly anxi ous to d iscover and

establ i sh a resemblance between so great a poet and

their guest Ma ster. That Jayadeva'

s faith in Krishna

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

14 t rrzaaruaa or BENGAL.

Padmav’

ati and nursed with affect ionand care.

°Whervshe attained her youth, her father was tak ing her to

“

the god, intending to devote'

her to his serv ices. In

the way however he dreamt a dream, and the god to ld ’

him to g ive his. ch i ld in marriage to a certa in devoutfo l lowers of his, named Jayadeva. The Brahman d id as

th is match -mak ing god commanded . Jayadeva, then

lead ing a l ife of stud y and devot ions, was unwi l l ing to

encumber h imself wi th a wife ; but the g irl would not

leave him,and sa id she would fo l low him through l i fe

though forsaken. One must love partridge very wel l

to accept it when thrown in one’

s face,”the sort of

fee l ing one would natural ly fee l undersuch c ircumstances,but our poet knew better ; be rewarded her persistent

affections wi th marriage, and they made a very afl'

eco

t ionate and happy couple ever after in l i fe.

The death of Padmavati furnishes us wi th another

story . She is sa id to have beenso affect ionate a wife that

a false rumour of her husband’s death caused her death .

Such virtue however dwel t in the name of Krishna, tha t

the poet no“

soonermuttered that name than his spouse

woke to life again:

The most celebrated story however, connected wi th

the poe ts l ife, is that relat ing to the compos i t ion of a

certa in passage in the ro th Sarga of the Gila Gow'

nda .

The passage occurs where Krishna is represented as pac ify

ing the wrath of Radhika, who had beenoffended wi th

him forhis promiscuous love, and had assumed a contemp.

tuons si lence towards him. as f‘lafit flea: (Fifi d im :

means,“Onmy head, as anornament, place yourbeante~

EARLY. SANSC R IT POETRY.—JAYADEVA. l s

Gus feet,”—these words be ing a touch ing appea l wh ich

an offended mistress se ldom resists. When Jayadeva

composed th is, he looked onKrishna as anardent lover ;but after he had wri ttenthe first portion, via , On my,

head, as an ornament,” he remembered that Krishna

was a god as we l l ; and he hesi tated to add any th ingabout a human foot be ing placed on the head of a

dei ty . F i l led wi th doub ts the poet went to bathe in the

river. Soon afterPadmavat i saw herhusband returnand

ask for hismeals. The breakfast was produced and finish

ed, and thenhewent to the room where the GM: Gar/{mi n

was kep t, and wrote someth ing. After her husband had

finished his meals, the duteous wife finished hers, when

10 her husband came in aga inand ca l led for breakfast.

The worthy dame certa inly d id not rel ish th is unseason

able joke, but her husband was obst inate. and asserted

that he had only thenreturned from his bath and had not

yet takenhis meals. The confusion of poor Padmava tiwould have beencomplete, but she sta ted tha t he had

just before added someth ing to his book . The bookwas ex amined, and what was the poet’s surprise whenhe found that after the words, Onmy head, as anorna~

ment,” wh ich he had wri tten before, the words “

place

thy beauteous feet”had been added . The mystery

was soon cleared up. The god Krishna had marked

the doubts wh ich . had arisen inthe mind of his votary,

and had solved the d ifficul ty by personal ly assuming the

shape of Jayadeva. coming into his house, and wri t ingthe passage h imself.

There is more in th is story thanat first sigh t meets

r6 ureuw ae or BENGAL.

the eye. The real hes i tationfel t at the passage was notby Jayadeva, but by later Va ishnavas who regarded

Krishna as God, and the story was invented to explain

away the poet’s audac i ty .

I t is said, that the k ing of N ilachala was offended

at the widely spread ing fame of Jayadeva, and wrote

a book on the same subject and cha l lenged compari.

son. Learned Pand i ts, unable or unwi l l ing to dec ide

the quest ion, placed both the vo lumes at the temple

of Jagannatha, ca l l ing upon the de i ty to dec ide it.

I t is sa id that the dei ty held the volume of Jayan

deva onhis breast, and threw away the work of k ingSatwika. Posteri ty has suffic ient ly v ind icated the cri t ical

powers of the de i ty. Centuries have ro l led away and

the fame of Jayadeva remains und iminished, and wi ll

continue to remainso as long as the Sanscrit languageis not forgot ten.

Centuries have rol led away since the death of Jayndeva, and yet to the present day anannua l fair is he ld atKendul i by the Va ishnavas inmemory of the departed

poet . At th is fa ir, fifty or s i xty thousand menassemble

round the tomb of Jayadeva for worsh ip, and the Va ish

navas st i l l s ing of the amours of Krishna and Radhika

immortal ized in the Gila Govinda .

The Bengal i was no doubt the spokentongue of

Benga l at the t ime of Jayadeva, as it is now. But the

learned and the elite st i ll considered the Sanascrit ton

gue as the irnoble heri tage, and authors v ied wi th each

o ther in writ ing in th is language. A l l learned works,therefore, all speeches incourt, all trad i t ional and genea

EARLY SANSC R IT POETRY.

-~JAVADEVA. I 7

logical fables, were composed and rec i ted in Sans

cri t . Learned Brahmans carried onthe ir invest igat ions

in th is learned language, and poets, des irous of ih

grat iat ing themselves wi th k ings, composed and pro

nounced stifl'

art ific ial poetry ina dead language. It was

thus that the I tal ians of the age of Dante and Boccacio

wro te inLatin it was thus that Anglo-Saxon wri tersof the t ime of the great A lfred made feeble attempts in

the language of Rome. A l l attempts ina fore igntongue

or ina dead tongue must necessari ly be feeble and thus,wi th the s ing le except ion of Jayadeva

’s works, all com

.

»

posi t ions of the twelfth century have beenforgotten, anddeserved ly forgotten.

The Gila Govinda, however, is an exception, and a

noble except ion. I t is a book of songs on the amours

of Kri shna and Radhika, d iv ided into twel ve Samar orCantos, each Surgu being d iv ided into several P raban

dkar, and each Pm band/m consist ing of several verses.

The first th ing that strikes the reader inth is poem is theexquisi te mus ic of the songs. One would suppose thesonorous and somewhat art ific ial Sanscri t language wasunsui ted to so much softness and melody but it is amaster hand that wakes the lyre, and the ear is pleased

and rav ished wi th a flood of the softest music before one

comprehends the sense. Inthe hand of a Bengali poet

the Sanscri t language loses its august st iffness and as

sumes more than I tal ian softness and constant yet

melod ious repet i t ions and al l i terat ions make the Gila

Govz'

nda a remarkable and singular work inthe Sanscri tlanguage.

« 8 L ITERATURE or saunas .

And if the book'

is rich inits music, it is no less rich

in its descript ions. The blue waves of the Jumna,

the cool shade of the Tama l tree, the soft whisper?

ings of the Malaya breeze, the voluptuous music o f

Krishna’s flute, the t imid glances of the love striken

m i l k-ma ids, the hand workings of a lover’s heart ,

the pangs of jealousy, the sorrows of separat ion, the

raptures of t e-union,—all these are c learly and v iv idlydescri bed in the song of the immortal hard of Bir

bhum.

The poem begins wi th a descript ionof love- lornmi l kma ids d isport ing themsel ves around Krishna inthe coo lshades of Gokul . Radhika sees thi s ; she marks wi th

b i tter pang the love of Krishna shared by less worthyrivals ; and yet the very sigh t of Krishna hal f tempers

her sorrow. Noth ing can be more beaut iful than

the description of the joy and del igh t wh ich the

forlorn and abandoned Radha feels, involuntari ly and

almost in spi te of herself,at the very sigh t of him who

is so dear to her heart . An Engl ish version conveys

no.

idea of the beauty and softness of the orig inal,

yet such as it is, we quote from Sir W i l l iam Jones’s

translat ion

That god whose check is beaut ified by the nectar of his smiles,who se pipe drops in his ecstacy, I saw in the groves encirc led bythe ( lams

'

els of Vraja who gazed onhim askance from the cornerso f his eyes. I saw him inthe grove wi th happier damse ls, yet thes ight o f him de l ighted me. Soft is the gale which b reathes over

yon c lear poo l , and ex pands c lustering b lossoms of the vo lub leAsoka—soft yet rievous to me inthe absence of the foe of Madhu.

Del ightful are t e flowers of Amra trees on the mounta into s

whi le the murmuring bees pursue theirvoluptuous toi l ,—d eligh ul

EARLY sansca rr POEl RY.—JAVADEVA. l gs

yet affecting to me 0 ! friend, in the absence of the youthfulResava.

’

In the sorrow of her heart Radhika retires into her

grove and weeps . There the Dut i sees her and descri besto her afresh the amours of Krishna . Radha’s heartbleeds afresh, and the work ings of a jealous m ind are

powerful ly described by our author. We wil l quote one

passage inwh ich she conc ludes a touch ing and bi t ter

lamentat ion.

O , ga le scented with sandal, who breathest love from the re

gions of'

the south, be propit ious but for a moment when tbo trhast brought my be loved be fore my eyes thou mays t free ly waft:away my soul l Love, with eyes l ike b lue water- l il ies, againassa i ls '

me and triumphs, and whi le the rfidy of my be loved rends myheart, my female friend is my oe, the coo l breeze scorches me l ikea flame, and the nectarodmpping moonis my po ison. Bring d iseaseand dea th, 0 gale of Ma laya l seize my spirit, 0 1god wi th fivearrows I ask not mercy from thee no more wi l l I dwe l l in thecottage of my fa ther. Receive me into thy azure waves, 0 l sisterYama ha, that the ardour o f my heart may be al laye d 21'

W firs tx smm m ism i t

scwtsfl tfitmam i fs amat eur: talum fanfareWatt 115m : 1mmcattfttwwsamhrtfi s t rt'tt tfit outfit 6 rsmart : cs tm w sw tt ‘ttw fet tfirm s tainless ai lmentmuffi nwf

‘

vt a ims}?sfits autismnot

et'zfs ‘sksmt of?! f'tsfa‘fis: afl fe t

Gita Gom'

rtda , zud Sarga .

Our quotat ions are made from l l aridas H irachand’

s ed i t ion of

the Gi te Gom’

nda. The above translat ionmus t have beenfrom someother ed itionas s l ight d iflerences are observab le.

tm rsmwa res tfula imat wf'lra{at t

i t s: asse ts facts am:

that as amam e fwfit r

20 L ITERATURE OF BENGAL.

But the hour of retri but ioncomes at las t . The Duti

goes back of Krishna, and descri bes to him the wretched

state to wh ich be has brought his be loved. Krishna is

seized wi th cuntpunct ion, seeks out Radb ika, and tries

to. pac i fy herwrath by a touch ing entreaty and appeal.

The appea l is too lengthy for quotat ion, we quote a

port ionof it .

S

kpeak but one mi ld word, and the rays of thy spark l ing teeth

wi l l ispel the g loom ofmy fears. My tremb l ing l ips like th irstyri m/aka: long to drink the moon-beams o f thy check. 0 ! mydarl ing , who art naturally so tendcr-hearted, abandonthy causelws

indignat ion. At this m oment the flame of desire consumesheart, 0 ! grant me a draught of honey from the lotus of

mouth. Or if tho ubeest ine x hora b le, grant me death fromarrows of thy keeneyes ; make thy arms m

ycha ins, and punish

true accord ing to thy pleasure. Thouart my fc, thouart my ornament, thouart a pearl inthe oceanof my mortal birth O l be

favourab le now, and my heart shall eterna l ly be gra teful . Thineeyes, which na ture formed l ike b lue water- l i lies, are become throughthy resentment l ike petals o f the crimson lotus ; O l t inge wi ththe ir effulgence these my dark l imbs tha t they may g low l ike theshafts of love t i pe d wi th flowers. P lace on my head that foo t

l ike a fresh lea and shade me from the sunof thy passion whosebeams I am unab le to bear. Spread a string of gems on those twosoft g lobes let the go ldenbe l ls of thy zone t ink le and proc laim the

mi ld ed ict o f love l Say, 0 8 damsel , with de l icate speech, slull I

dye red wi th the juice of alaktaba those beaut iful feet which willmake the ful l -b lownland-lotus b lush wi th shame ?

fiaf‘

ss sh am : farmfastfamtfirst?”amfil ( it: sortie strum t

mum: offi ces: sprint s salts

{ touri smate: s tunfarts firm : It

s temfi t t fs sas tfso «mm«2mmam a as: snarl

-dam t

fa t to sets e fafa“ at a s?!

unfit fits as stringm ar t

C t'

tnGom’

na'

cr, 7M Surya:

U fa wafsfsaaffsvnst t

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

22 LITERATURE OF BENGAL.

not . I f she had proper cause of offence, the offender

has done proper penance, and all resentment is at an

end . Krishna ret ires to his grove, and Radhika fol lows

him,and is thus welcomed with anoutburst of passionate

welcome.

Enter, sweet Radha, the bower of H ari seek de l ight, O thouwhose bosom laughs with the foretaste of happiness.

Enter, sweet Radha, the bower graced with a bed of Asokaleaves seek de l ight, O thouwhose garland leaps with joy onthyb reast .

Enter, sweet Radha, the bower i l lumined with sweet b lossoms

seek delight, O ! thouwhose l imbs far e x ce l them insoftness.

Enter, 0 ! Radha, the bowermade coo l and fragrant by ga lesfrom the woods of Ma laya seek de l ight, O ! thouwhose amorouslays are softer thanbreezes.

Enter, 0 ! Radha, the bower spread with leaves of twiningcreepers ; seek de l ight, O ! tbouwhose arms ha ve b een so longinfle x ib le.

Enter, 0 ! Radha, the bower which resounds with the murmurof honey-mak ing bees seek de l ight , O l thouwhose embrace yieldsmore equisite sweetness.

Enter, 0 Radha , the bower attuned by the melod ious bandof Kokilas seek del ight , O thouwhose l ips, which outshine thegrains of the pomegranate, are embe l l ished whenthou speakes t bythe brightness of thy teeth.

sqsaqgasawfaawma faa amtwtaaaa

‘

lufiti film I

affsse aafirswcau7meast enw oasaametfit'f sumwtaaflffiufiti fi at?! tqzswaas aastca n

f i asaafss efsamwcaarmaim amfi lafi afawn

gfl agflmm n

assaflasfl aaafeuflto

arti st arcsmus tard“ fans 1

museums- silts a

EARLY SANSCR IT POETRY .—JAYADEVA. 23

Here we‘

must pause. The pleasures of a reunion. between two such amiable and enthus iast ic lovers may

be better conceived thandescri bed evenby the inimi

table Jayadeva . Enough has beensaid to ind icate the

character and meri ts of Jayadeva’s poetry. He is the

only poet in Bengal who h as atta ined eminence by

wri t ing in, a dead language, who has wrung such soft

melody out of an art ific ia l c lassical language, who has

emba lmed and perpe tuated the amours of Radha and

Krishna insongs wh ich rema inas the so le spec imen of

lyrical compos i t ionin Sanskri t l i terature .

Wemay here ment ionsome scho lars have d iscoveredinthe Gita Govinda a concea led al legory . The joys of

Kri shna incompany wi th the mi lkma ids of Brindaban

represent earth ly pleasures wh ich seduce our heart and

lul l our senses for a t ime. The love of Radha is true

eternal fel ic i ty, to wh ich the m ind of the repentant

s inner at last turns from the sensual and fleet ing

pleasures of th is world . Th is may be the concept ionof

the poet ; and the fol lowing passage wh ich we quote

fi s s aama‘

tm m«ma amatraaa

‘

t’tf‘sa film! I

fsafflfav haw an

afi firsflfi gav fas am

afi -rarm artwfi ’tfi afi rm l“a nswereru

“mafiae fav afm tptta

a fa't ants attmi tafw first lN fl h fnfam n

Gi la Com'

uda, 1 IM Sarge .

24 mreaaruauor BENGAL.

from Sir Edwin Arnold’s exquisi te translat ion of

Govt'

nda wi l l shew that the five mi l kmaids, descri bed by

Jayadeva, in real i ty personify the five senses —smell,s igh t, touch, taste, and hearingOne wi th star b lossomed ehampaewreathed . woos him to rest his head .

On the dark p i l low of her breas t so tenderl y outspread tAnd o

’

er his b row wi th ro ses b lownshe fans a fragrance rare,‘

l‘

ha t fa l l s onthe enchanted sense l ike ra in inth irst y air ;Wh i le the companiyr of darnsels wave many anodorous spray .

And Kri shna lang log , toy ing. s ighs the so ft spring away .

Another gaz ing inhis face. s its wi stful ly apart .Searching it wi th those look s of love t hat tea from heart to heart ;Her eyes

—afire wi th shy des ire, ve i led by the r lashes b lackS peak so that Kri shna cannot choose but send t he message backinthe company of damse l s whose b right eyes inthe ringSh ine round him wi th soft meanings inthe merry l ight of spring.The third one of that dazz lin band of dwe l lers inthe woodBody and bosom panting w it the pulse of youth ful b loodLeannover him, as inhis car a lightwme th ing to speak .And thenw i th leaf-so ft ll imprints a ki ss be low his cheek ;A k iss that thri l l s. and rishna turns at the s i lkentouchTo gi ve i t backr -Ah Radha ! forgett ing the too much.

And one wi th arch sm i le beckons h im away from Jumna‘s banks.Where the ta l l bamboos bri st le l ike spears inba tt le ranks,

And p lucks his c lot h to mak e him come into t he mango shade.Where the frui t is ripe and go lden. and the m i lk and cakes are lai d ;O h l go ldenred the mangoes . and glad the feast s of Spring.And fa ir t he tiowers to lie uponand sweet the dancers s ing.Sweetest of all that Temptress who dances forhim nowWi th subt le fee t wh ich part and meet inthe Rae measure slow,

To the ch ime of s i lver b an ice, and the bea t of rose-lea f hands,And p ipe and la te and c m I played by the wood land band s ;S o that who l ly pa ss ion aden—e c , ear. sense. soul o '

ercomcKrishna is theirs inthe forest ; i s heart forget s i ts home.

I t is l i kely , the whole poem, l ike Spenser’s Fairy

Queen, is meant to be anal legory but the allegory is so

overla id wi th rich, v iv id, and melodious descript ions, tha tthe reader misses the al legory , does not care for thea l legory, and pours on the descri ptions. The fame of

Jayadeva rests not on the ph i losoph ic or mora l sigui

ficationof the Gila Gom'

uda, but onthe splendid imagery,the tender fee l ing, and the melodious descript ions wi th

wh ich the work is replete.

EARLY SAN SCRIT POETRY .—JAYADEVA. z5

Inhis own words, whatever is del igh tful in the

modes of music, whatever is exquisi te in the sweet art

of love, let the happy and wise learnfrom the song of

a rmori alwristwatch : asthma

fi wtafmswwasms lmttmaths : lWW: «m anicure streams SH

won: nix -rim arts: swarm : uGila Gov

'

r'

nda, Sarga.

C HAPTER I II .

EARLY BENGA L] Lvmc POETRY .

Fourteen/fl Cenlury .

THE student who peruses wi th pleasure the po l ished

works of Bankim Chandra orMadhusudanwi l l scarce ly

suppose that the stream of Bengal i l i terature, which has

only in recent days at ta ined such puri ty and expanse,

began to flow as early as the fourteenth century of the

Christ ian era. And he wi l l scarcely th ink that Chaucer

o f England and Chandidas of Bengal were we l l nigh

contemporaneous wri ters that five hundred years have

rol led away s ince Chandidas first wrote and sang ; or,

calculat ing twenty -five years to a generat ion,that twenty

generat ions have chanted the lays and d i tt ies of th is

Father of Bengal i Lyric Poetry .

Chandidas is the earl iest vernacularpoet of Bengal,butit is not possi ble to speak of himwi thout say ing someth ingo f Bidyapati, the earl iest poet of Behar. Trad i t ion has

handed down the names of these two poets together

they l ived and wrote about the same t ime and their

poetry has the same theme, the loves of Radha and

Krishna. Jayadeva popularized th is theme inhis inimit

able Sanscri t work Gita Govr'

nda, composed inthe twelfth

century ; Bidyapati took up the subject and composed

his songs in the vernacular of Behar inthe fourteenthcentury ; aud it is probable that Chand idas was only

C HANDIDAS . 27

animitatorof Bidyapat i, and drewhis inspiritation' from

'

his contemporary of Behar. Thus the earl iest Bengali

poetry that is extant is indebted by the earl iest poetry of

Behar.

Bidyapa ti flourished in Behar in the fourteenth

century . The descendants of the poet st i l l possess the

v i l lage of Bapsi inTirhut by v irtue of a deed of gi ft from

Siva Sinha to the poet, dated 293 o f the era o f Laksh

manSen, i . e. , 1 400 A D . In this document Bidyapati

has beendescri bed as a Saba/i i or a poet of meri t, so that

he must have made his mark before 1400. A st i l l

more important document is the F ury? or annals of

T irhut. I t is anauthent ic h istory of that D istrict, and

beganto be wri ttenin 1 248 Saka, i . e., 1325 A. I) . The

P an]? gi ves an account of Bidyapat i who is described as

the sonof Ganapat i, and a court ier of k ing Siva Sinha.

Si va Sinha ascended the throne in 1 369 Saka, 11 a ,1 446

A . D. , and mus t therefore have gi ven away Rapsi to

the poet during the l ife t ime of his father who

rei gned no less than6: years We further learn from

the Panj i that Siva S inha had three wives, Padmabati,Lakhima Dev i and Biswa Dev i, who after the death of

the irhusband successive ly reigned for 18 months, 9 years

and 1 2 years . S iva Sinha and Lakhima De vi find fre

quent ment ion in the songs of Bidyapati, and there

canbe no doubt that the poet l ived about the c lose 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 L ITERATURE or BENGAL.

out Bengal at the t ime of Chai tanya, and Chai tanya in

his early youth was edified wi th the poetry of Bidyapati

and Chand idas.

G lo ry to Jayadeva, the king and ornament of poets, and toBidyapat i the source of sweetness g lory to Chandidas, for sweet

ness unequa l led inthe world , whose sweet and pure strains inproseand verse my Master Gaur Chandra (Chaitanya) re l ished with

Sharup Rai .“

Again,The Great Master (Chaitanya ) with Ramananda Sensings and

hears day and night the songs of Chand idas and Bidyapati, and the

sweet Gita Gov intlasl'

We have said before that Lakhima Dev i the queen

of Siva Sinha is often spokenof inBidyapati’s poems.

Trad i t ionhas it that the int imacy between the princess

and the poet was c loser than was a ltogether just ifiable,and that Bidyapati

’

s death was caused by th is i l l ic i t love.

We have no hes i tat ion in rejec t ing these stories al to

gether as the invent ionof later days.

We now returnto Chand idas the subject of the pre

sent chapter. Chandidas was a nat ive of the v i l lage of

Nannur, inthe D istrict of Birbhum, about 24 m i les to

at: s ame: arfi amfs f’lfi l’lfil famlrtfs amt: I

anas Selma as ama famgatewarmII

w e: afss my as fans as}9 mm: silts

«i t‘

s one: (snare marti al amam rift s uPada Ka/pataru.

Tss’

lwmfarnrtfs , altar:“

out ? i ts ,

trim ai ls 01t

sari amtw HCH, aster-

g alfafirca,am amarmWW5

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

30 LITERATURE or BENGAL

on a certain day, he saw a beauti ful flower float ing on

the riverwhere he had gone to bathe. He took it upand went to worsh i p Bishalakshmi. The goddess

appeared in person, and asked for the flower that she

might place it onher head . The worsh i pper was awe

struck, and enquired what strange v irtue 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 al lowing the poet to place it at her feet. The

goddess repl ied,“Foo l ish ch i ld, my Master has been

worsh i pped wi th that flower, it is not fit formy feet, let

me hold it onmy head .

” “And who may My Master

b e P”enquired the poet. Kris/ma, was the reply and

from that day the poet exchanged the worsh ip of the

goddess for that of K rishna.

I t is scarcely necessary to add, that later Vaishnava

wri ters have taken advantage of Chandidas’

s conversion

to prove the superiori ty of their dei ty, and have invented

th is fable. One thing however is plain, namely, that

the rivalry between the two creeds has preva i led in

Bengal, as elsewhere inInd ia, from remote t imes.

Chandidas has immortal ized the washerwomanRami

inhis poems, and numerous are the stories told abouttheir loves. The poet was informed that he could not

perform Sad/tan t i l l he had a fa ir companion,not by

marriage, not formoney, but one to whom his heart

would be Spontaneously drawn at the first sigh t . Our

poet went out insearch of such a person, and it was no t

long before he found one . A washerwoman was wash

ing c lothes on the river side, the poet saw herand was

CHANDIDAS . 31

fasc inated. Day after day he would go to the river

s ide wi th a fish ing rod as a pcrtex t, and sat there,

gazing on the woman. Words fol lowed and love

ensued, and the poet left his home and parents, and

ever afterwards lived wi th Rami, a washerwoman as she

was by caste.

Chandidas was a renowned singer. One day, it is

said, he went to a neighbouring vi l lage Mat i pur to sing

wi th his paramour and whenthey were returning, the

house inwh ich they had takenshe l terfe l l down, and they

were both crushed and d ied ineach other’s arms. The

story has perhaps l itt le foundation in fact . We nowturnto the works of these poets .

The poetry of Chandidas presents a stri king 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 paral le l end s. Bidyapati excels in the.

richness

of his imagery, the wide range of his ideas, the ski l l and

art d isplayed inhis varied s imi les. Chandidas has but

h is nat ive, simple, excessive sweetness in place of all

these qual i t ies. Bidyapati ransacks the unbounded stores

of Nature and of Art to embel l ish his poetry Chand idas

looks with in,and records the fond workings of a feel ing,

lov ing heart in simple strains. In Chandidas’

s poetry

there is a wealth of fee l ing and pathos ; Bidyapati com

bines th is wi th a quick fancy, a varied imagery, a lean

ing for grace and ornament . The faul ts of the two

poets are also characteristic. Chand idas is c loy ing, and

sometimes monotonous, Bidyapati is often art ific ial

32 ursau’uae or BENGAL.

in his images and ideas. At the same t ime both

d isplay a knowledge of the workings of a lover’s

heart, and pourtray them feel ingly and minutely,the first troubled impressions of love, the res istless force

of its influence, the bi tter pangs of separat ion and

jea lousy, the work ings of hope, the efl'

ects of despa ir.

We wi l l try to i l lustrate our remarks wi th a few

extracts. There is no Engl ish versionof ei therBidyapati

or Chandidas, and we have therefore for our Engl ishreaders ventured to render into Engl ish verse the extracts

made from the poets. We need scarce ly remark that our

version wi l l very often fai l to convey the deep feel ing

wh ich characterizes the original .

We make an extract at random from Bidyapati .°

I t descri bes the first impress ions of love in the heart of

Krishna onseeing Radha.

Soondid the love ly visionpart I’Tis gone I wake with suddenstart lA c loud-wrapped l ightning sent its dartUponthis troub led love~sick heart .Scarce hal f removed was her vei l ,Uponher l ips played ha lf a smile,And half a g lance her sweet eyes shed,And hal f her bosom was displayed,

° mfi wta z fa c¢tama| csmm atalmwwfiss flmfl m 'm c‘li m l

mi smanamsm afimtt t m mmwtrsauafim trwmwfi ,m rfi m sw r

sw a m .m m ,m m sm n

t fufi v q w,n 1fi ai a, $mwmma lH a i f a

rufs fl rafi ans qs qsn s rft vm l

fimmfs we, arm orstam afi Qfi mm w‘nt

C HANDIDAS. 33

The rest

i

her dur/ml d id concea l ,I gazed and fel t my senses ree lH er beauty, bright as burnished go ld,Love’s amorous rohe did sweet enfo ld ,And flung love

’

s soft and si lkenchain,Uponthe hearts o f prostrate men

H er pearly teeth were sweet ly placedOnruby l ips with beauty graced ,And so ft she spoke,— I gazed invain,Insat iate gazed onher again

Our readers must b e struck wi th the art of the

poet, wi th the s im i les and figures wi th wh ich the

smal l poem is so beaut iful ly embel l ished, we had a lmost

sa id, so thickly crowded . In this Bidyapati is inhis own

e lement . Not so Chandidas. H e has ne i ther the power

nor the inc l inat ion to rove. H e feels deeply, and s ings

feel ingly . We quote from his poems a converse passage,a passage in wh ich Radha is suddenly struck and

entranced at hearing the very name of Krishna.

ill Wetranslate it thus.

Friend who hath named that name PThrough me it stea ls,My heart it thri l ls ,

My soul i t do th inflame

Ah who sha l l te l lWhat sweet do th dwe ll

Inthat b eloved strainI name tha t name .

My soul’s all flame

Oh wi l l he come again

ras am s ati re s t: ant,ems fe s s frat t iara afs a onwas sisal arts ens n=ns tfa news tra ta armwas: canam tmists wifealtsafar

-

5 s lat-

s“

amtwantwfaa cancarats ati a it? s i tsu

34 m atures ]! or BENGAL.

We extract a somewhat longer piece° from Chand i

das. It is a lov ing appeal from Radha to Krishna,

a more touching appea l it would be d ifficul t to find any

where.

Love how shal l I my fee l ings tel l ?Be mine, indeath and l ife,

Inafter- l ives, infuture b irths,To be thy duteous wife.

Yes to thy feet my heart be t ied

B s i lken t ies of love,I n or all, my heart and soul ,I’

ll be your doating s laveI'

ve thought if inthis wide wide worldAno ther friend I own,

Inloving vo ice to name my name.

A las a las I there’s noneInearth, inheaven, inafter-world,Alas who loveth me ?

O l to thy feet I turnfor he lp.

To thee a lone to thee

Thendo not Spurnme, I am weak ,0 I do not turnaway

I’ve thought and fel t, without thy help,I have no o ther way.

If for a moment thee I miss,A death- l ike trance I own

I’ll keep and nurse thee onmy heartE

’

enas a precious stone

“fi t was afaawrffi tam am ,W3 s aw,

err-tater{i s gt: a

(emusate, fi rmWe, attire cam sirfa t

as “fast. as anaim. far-sq {i ota rifa n

e tfim« fears, a fanem , anaremetwith? tam i f?!m . s tains are,menwit h: ant i nai rs 61 W, Sli msyn,

warmsfm an: twh o afoul, rm aims, e at ; m rm ni f6361 at C361 first, analwere , at {1 $615 (we I

errant c‘rftmra, 11mmfirm, fife cs si ft? aria n

w’

tfitrfi fim, afiratfi cafe,m or9mmafar

sfertmW, amw e, stats a’

rtemflfs a

CHANDIDAS . 35

The same intense feel ing,— the same ab sence of all

figures of speech , marks th is poem. We shal l pass on to

another ex tract,‘ descri b ing the despa ir of Radha inthe

absence of her beloved .

A cruel throb is inmy heartI’

ll leave my home,

And thither roam,Where never'

s known love’s fata l art .

Friend who sha l l say that love is sweetI loved and smi led ,

My heart’s begui led ,

And l ife- long sorrow is my fate

For love should e’

er a damse l sigh,O spare her shame,

Infire and flame,A k inder death, 0 let her die

For I have fel t this hitter grief,My eye

-ba l ls shineWith ceaseless brine,

Says Chand idas, O for her l ife

Se ldom doth Bidyapati mani fest such deep feel ing.

and pathos. H is strong po int l ies, as we have already

said, inhis imagery and embe l l ishments . But never

theless the poet of Behar too can equa l the poet of.

o Benga l inhis own element when he chooses to d ivest

h imself of his art, and s ings as only a true poet can

a»fi t me] {cw first

at camarea, ormmat era, are fel ines eat awe C25 are fi sh

’s e ta I

affine etfirrs faitfs affirm,ai rfare wot canu

{flai l aim, i ifi trowel, orfi tMafia am i

gm WEI onmarti al, safe 91,l f irst n

{Wfimfiri f, at age:warm, cam5 a“

inaRF?! l

swarmW, at i tis amnewcrfa a

36 Lt'

rRRATURE or use“.

s ing ; an] the celebrated l ines quoted below"

ins tance to the po int .

I’ve gat ed and gazed onbeauty’s gl ow,

E’

er since my l ife began,Insa t iate st i l l my eye

o ha lls swim,‘

ainwould I gaze ainI '

ve heard his h oney ropping words.E'er s inCe my l ife began,

Insa t iate sti l l my ear remains,Fainwould I hearaga in2What happy nights with him I passed,Unhappy yet I feel ,What years my heart I cooled 00 his,Insa tiate burns it s ti ll.

Overa hundred years elasped between the t ime of

Chand idas and tha t of C ha i tanya. Wi thinthese hundredyears a host of poets of lesser note flourished . A

large number of poems composed with inth is period

are ascri bed to Gov inda Das. I t ‘

is easy to percei ve

therefore that more thanone poet of that name flourished .

Indeed Gom'

mia Dar means servant of

’

Krishna, and

it is not unl ikely that most of the poets who wrote

t the loves of that de i ty assumed that coveted name .

Ba m Das, Joan Das, and many other poets of

lesser note, flourished during that period .

Their poetry or rather song has the same charac~

teristic qual it ies. They are a lways sweet, and often d is

play a v iv id fancy and considerable depth of feel ing, and

they all relate to the amours of Radha and Krishna.

i t anunfitm.m firms, ana l ferf’tz comon?up are ,merema, arrears w m naremrfir-h, ze ta re turn, a t i f“ h as arman: air in, farferment. safestass at emin

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

CHAPTER IV.

K AS I RAM Das AN D’

H IS MAHABHARATA.

F if teen/ft century .

IN the last C hapter we have spoken of the lyric

poetry of the fourteenth century . I t was probably in

the fifteenth century that Kas iram Das undertook and

performed the mighty task of translat ing the Sanscri t

epic M afiab/zarata into Bengal i verse. Kasirarrr’s

work is the first great and nat ional l i terary work in

the Bengal i language, it is a foundat ion of rock on

wh ich the nat iona l l i terature of Bengal has been

sub sequently bui l t up. C hand idas is the [ f irmer of Bengrrlz’

song ; Kasiram Das is the F i lmer of Benga li litera ture,

properly so cal led .

Unfortunately we know l i tt le of the l ife of this great

poet. H e was borninSingi, near Katwa in the D istrict

of Burdwan and the supposed s i te of his house is st i l l

po inted out as Keser H/zit‘

a . He was a Kayastha by

caste, and his bo ld endeavour to popularise the great

epic of anc ient Ind ia among his countrymen in s imple

Bengal i verse was regarded wi th suspic ion and d istrust .

A Brahman poet Krittibas fo l lowed his ex ample, and

translated the other great epic Ramayana into Benga l i

verse, and his laudab le work too was v iewed wi th

jealousy and d ispleasure. And a popular verse is often

repeated

a l'i'

tma, ste am, uni alumna,a?$33WWW

KAS I RAM DAS AND H IS MAHABHARATA. 39

.

Kasidas and Krit t ihas , and those who constant ly seek to

assoc ia te with Brahmans - these are dangerous men.

"

Such narrow jealousy howeverdoes not turnthe t ideof knowledge, and the great poet of the fi fteenth centuryfirst led his countrymen into that store-house of Sanscri t

poetry and learning which we have learnt to apprec ia te

more and more wi th the lapse of centuries and the

increase of knowledge.

The ma instory of the Maltabfiam la is wel l known.

I t descri bes the contest between the Pandavas and the

Kuruprinces for the throne of Kuruland . The Pandavas

were banished at first, but they made powerful friends

and demanded their share, and the western port ion of

Kuruland, wi th Indraprastha for its capital, was ceded

to them. They staked and los t thi s k ingdom however

at d ice, and ret ired into the wi lderness, accord ing to

their pl ighted word. On the exp iry of the prescri bed

period they came forward aga inand demanded a share

of

.

the k ingdom. The Kuru princes refused this,

and t he consequence was a d isastrous bat t le inwh ich

all the great princes of NorthernInd ia took part, and in

wh ich the Kurutri be was we l l nigh ex term inated . The

Pandavas won, and establi shed their rule in the Kuru

k ingdom.

Connected wi th the main story,the manners and

customs of the t imes, the pomp and splendour of

courts, the rules of war and peace, the power and

jea lousies of k ings, and the hero ism and chi va lry of

the Kshatriya warriors of anc ient Ind ia have been

described wi th graphic force, and unsurpassed power.

40 LITERATURE or BENGAL.

On the other hand . the inner work ings of the human

mind and all its varied feel ings, love, hatred, jea lousy

between rival princes, revenge that knew no sat iety,the pa t ience of a suffering sa int, the greatness of a

true hero —all the various shades of human charac ter,

from the subl ime v irtues of Bhishma who drew forth

tears of admirat ion from the enemies who ki l led him,

to the fiery jealousies of Duryod‘

hana who engaged the

whole of northern Ind ia in a d isastrous war rather

thancede five v i l lages to his much-hated cousins —all

t hat a true poet and a great poet is capable of, has

been worked out wi th penc i l of a Homer. Homefis

charac ters are not more l i fe-l ike than the men of flesh

and blood, of determinat ion and valour, who figure in

the great Sanscri t epic ; and Homer’s inc idents are

not more subl ime inconcept ionor graph ic indescript ion

than those of the Mahabharata. The world has seenno

nobler creat ion of the imaginat ion thanthe great epic

of the H indus.

But wh i le the epic of Homer was col lected and

preserved by P is istratus the ruler of A thens, as early

as the s i xth century be fore Christ, no H indurulerof ant iqui ty took the trouble of preserving the

grea t H indu epic from subsequent add i t ions and

interpolat ions. Generat ions of poets have accord ingly

added to the old epic unt i l it has almost changed its

charac ter, and the crystal stream of true epic poetry is

lost ina wide morass ofmyth ical episodes and my tho log ical

stories, of cosmogony and theogony, of never end ing

d idact ic and dogmat ic instruc t ions. All th is ep isod ical

KA‘

S IRAM BAS AND ms MAHABHARATA. 4 x

m atter fi l ls three~fourths of the epic in its present shape ;

t he lead ing narrat ive bare ly takes up a fourth part .

When the ev i l had been done, an at tempt was

made to prevent further ex pansion of t he work. The

c ontents of the epic were descri bed ina sort o f preface,

and the number of s/o/ms or couple ts in each Book was

g iven, so as to prevent further add i t ion. The curious

reader will find these numbers in the no te g i venbelow,

”

as wel l as the number of couplets actual ly found in the

publ ished ed i t ionof the work .

The total number of couplets enumerated in the

preface comes to near eighty- five thousand . Butt he l imi t so fi x ed has beene x ceeded inst i ll later ages,

further add i t ions have beenmade, and the Sanscri t Mat/za

6/tam ta now publ ished contains over ninety thousand

Books. Sect ions .

Adi

Sabha

VanaVirata

Urlyoga

Eb ishmaDrona

Kama

AnusasanaA svani erlha

A smmavasa

Mansa laMahapras thana

S arga

Number of couplets Number of couplets inthea ccord ing to pref a ce. Asiat ic Society ’

s Edit ton.

8884 84792709

1 1664 174 782050 23766698 7656

5884 56568 909 965 1)

4964 5046

3220 3671870 8 1 1

775 827I 4732 139433000 7796

3320 2900

1 506 1 105320 292

320 109209 312

4 : uraaaruas or BENGAL.

couplets, exc lud ing the M ir-im am . I t is an encyc le o

pted ic work ; all the ta les and trad i t ions and mytho logi

cal '

stories of Ind ia have b een comprehended in th is

one work. As a store-house o f H indu trad i t ions , i t

has thus been rendered unique and i nvaluable ; as an

ep ic poem it has beenruined .

Endeavours have been made from t ime to t ime to

d isentangle the lead ing narrat ive 'from episod ical matter,

and to publ ish it separately. But as yet, such endeavourshave not met wi th success .

!

Inundertak ing'

to t ranslate th is vast work into Benga l i

verse for Bengal i readers, Kas iram Das very wisely

dec ided to condense the mat ter in the translat ion. The

Bengal i vers ion is a l i t t le over one- third o f the original

Sanscri t poem in ex tent, cons i s t ing of about th irty-six

thousand couplets. The work of condens ing the orig inal

epic has been performed wi th though tful care ; and

wh i le mere verba l descri pt ions have beengreat lyabridged,the stories and incidents have been repeated in the

Bengal i vers ionwi th s carce ly any important omission.

One instance, selec ted at random,wi l l convey to our

readers the process ad op ted by the translator. The

famous s tory of Sakuntala has beenso ld in the ori g inal

Mahabharata in six sec t ions of the F irs t Book, viz.

The edit ionof the grea t epic pub l ished by the As iat ic Societyof Benga l is we l l knownto a ll scho lars. A meritorious trans lat ioninBenga l i prose by the late munificent Ka l i l’rztsanna S inha is the

versionnow ingenera l use inBenga l . AnEng l ish trans lat iono f thework was undertaken and nearly completed by the late P ra tapC handra Rai . H is widow has pious ly undertaken to complete thiswork .

KAS l RAM DAS AND ms MAHABHARATA. 43

sec t ions LX IX to LXX IV. Sect ionLXiIX,giv ing an

account of Dushyanta’s hunt in thirty-one couplets, has

beenredttced to e ight couplets by‘Kas iram. Sect ionLXX,

descri bing king Dushyanta’s entry into Kanva’s forest in

fifty couple ts, has beenreduced to tencouple ts inBenga l i .

Sec t ion 1.XXI,

’

narrating DUShyanta’s meet ing and con

versat ionwith Sakunta la, has been reduced . from forty

two couplets in the orig inal to twentyv five in the

translat ion. Sec t ionLXX II conc ludes Sakunta la’s story

of her birt h in nineteen couplets in Sanscri t,and has

beenrendered innine teencouplets by Ka s iram : Sect ion

LXXI I I speaks of Dushyanta’

s marriage with Sakuntala

in thirty' three couplets, wh ich have been rendered in

twent y -four in Bengali And sect ionLXXI V’

narrates

the subsequent s tory of Sakunta la and of the birth of

Bharata inone hundred th irty-ei g ht couplets, wh ich have

been translated ine ighty- six in the Benga l i vers ion. Wereproduce be low the who le of sec t ion LXXI I wi th

Kasiramf

s vers ion, and'

the readerwi l l find that Kas iram

can be a fa i thful translator when he is not cal led

upon to condense the ma tter.

° Occas ional ly, however,

a»s tree ts as mm I

153sets I

sm ut nerr. affirms awtflfifl t

whenammm as usum s « tram s rtmwsfarfm n

fanfare: 3mm : (was t s tamens It

q feames : at as: m i ss ame n) lGimme 6 «meanms 5 : inf-miau t

44 LiTBRATURE O I? BKNQAL.

a wide d i vergence is not iceable be tween the original and

the translat ion, and in some places anadd i tiona l sec tion

or story is found in the trans lation wh ich does not

anus vim {finmm fe fflfl i'

t t

matte : ni ts: m “this? I

warm mmmfwrace sa: tfi rtfsm s t: <1 fins

'mfitfwatq tspinm ix al ienm m: {new t

wfacw'

m tttm'tt: W’t‘tlft imt em

amtmeant 9 filament 0

61m em maths emWant an: t

mam steam: atminim wfafw t t

cal“m armvia: firstwant: ant

aw ca‘

l swim : itis? fm t ent

ass ists 11 1h t =t sttm nt1 t

err: mam am s tfna'

h fe ts t twi s teta-means : are: mm“fawn t

rumm 3”

:WW! t

s : are first : 1é zf¥nwmWi t?! l1129W :m t: v e tsWai st-1I

m mfi esta amt: m mmasts-

ct t

ai ls“ an: earwet can-swamt

sar

i s: rrm tfi vt'mnfrs tfwtq tfiléC-

“

t Faint? amWi ts : rtfimfilm t

wt'

vtfm m eat:mm mm“'

smart mnts tw 613t am n

35 612163 extremis t: frrbm d rum it

their“: m inns mm: rtfmfss t tagent

‘

s m : as : sifrim 1m t

M ! fiftie s: farts int fut tri mlwpwas at 5 inset: am m isfits ] I

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

46 LITERATURE or BENGAL.

anearly part of PlumPar-rm ih the Bengal i translat ion,does no t occur in the correspond ing port ion of the

ori gina l, as pub l ished by the Asiat ic Soc iety of Benga l .

Such is the method in wh ich Kas iram Das has

performed the great task which be imposeduponh imse lf.

T he mere mechani cal work o f trans lat ing and condensing

a great Sanscri t epic into over th irty~six thousand Benga l i

couplets is a tremendous task . If we suppose that

Kasiram compo sed fifteen couli lets every day, and that

he worked twenty days in every month, he must have

laboured ten years of his l ife to bring th is great work to

complet ion.

And the me ri ts of the translat io nare not of a mean

a s s in{intan{fir-

5 m s

affirmcam s ex rim as} It

£311t ( 713as {first ears I

“ th an? afi canfits (Wt-i rif : anasm are in m lwatts mid st canfits? arm? r

fuzz si ts ne st-t Fawn1 t art s t

w at crfamera rmm a s It

ari wife rims wfim afim t

035 0"s an! armas raw t

W fi fsmfinW3 t h at I

m et amamW'

Cem t‘l t

3mswa th a t qfit Fws tfim l1 5mm1 1 s ite: an! s tat cantmfwm first was ?"M im i

m amWt art s ci rime t

KAS IRAM DAS AND HHS MAHAIBHARATA. 47

order. The readermust not look for the heroic spirit

and the epic grandeur of the original in the Bengal i

vers ion ; but ins impl ic i ty, sweetness and fluency,in a

luc id flow of narrat ionoand an inexhaust i b le flowof verse,

Kasiram Das rema ins unsurpassed and nneqalled in

Bengal i l i terature.

And if suc cess he a proof of true meri t, Kas iram’s

meri t is beyond praise. No work in Bengal i, scarcely

eventhe Ramayana of Kri ttibas,is more ex tens ively read

and more deeply honoured by the people of Benga l,spec ial ly of the upper c lasses. The end less trad i t ions

and tales of the past t imes have a charm and an at tract ion,the morals inculcated and the inc idents narrated ne ver

fail to please, and the translator’s d ignified, but s imple and

graceful verse never t ires. Mothers knowno bet ter theme

for impart ing mora l instruc t ion to the ir daughters, wi ves

know no be tter work for whi l ing away an id le hour,

and e lderly men know no richer store from wh ich to

narrate stories to groups of l i t t le c h i ldren night after

nigh t. Thus the tales of the M rlzabh am ia have been

handed downfrom generat ionto generat ion wi th never

fa i l ing interest, and where is the Bengal i who has not in

his boy ish days passed many a long winter evening over

these moral tales wh ich cannever, never be other than

interest ing and instruct ive?

CHAPTER V.

Knt ' l‘rnms AN D H IS éAMAYA‘

NA.

fi f teen{11 C ert-ta ry .

TH ERE are reasons to bel ieve that Kas iram Das

translated the M z/mb/zam la in the fifteenth century.

Krit t ibas’

s date is very uncerta in ; but i t is probable

that he produced h is Benga l i vers ion of the Ramayana

probably about the c lose of the same century .

O f the l i fe o f Krit t ibas we know as l i t t le as we kne w

of Kasiram Das,ex cept that he was a Brahmanby caste

,

and was born a t Fulia,near Sant ipur, in the D i stric t

of Nad iya . The two great pioneers of Bengal i poetry

l ived in the opposite shores o f the sacred Bhagirathi.

The task which Krit t ibas set before h imsel f was

less arduous than what his predecessor Kas iram had

performed . The Ramay ana in the orig ina l Sanscri t

is not encyclopzedic in its character ; its main story

ab out the life and adventures of Rama is not overgrown

wi th mytho logy, cosmogony and theogony ; its episodes

are rare and restric ted to the earl y port ionof the work ;

and its lead ing narrat ive is seldom interrupted . The

Ramay ana infac t is mainly the work o f a s ing le poet,!

I t canno t b e denied that it has undergone a l terat i ons throughsucceed ing centuri es , but tnspi te of them the epic poem cont inuesto be one connec ted s to ry, ma inly the creat ionof one mind . A learnedwriter in the VVC s lm l lh l t t Rev i ew tv t i tesz—“The poem has ev ident lyundergone cons idera b le a l tera t ion s ince the t ime o f i ts first compos i

t ion, but s t i ll, underneath all the subsequent add it ions, the original

x nrrrtnas AND nts nansvana .

‘

49

Work ing out a single connected story ; whereas the

M alian/lama: is a creation of many centuries, and a

s torehouse of end less stories. The Roz/lemma conta ins

professedly twenty-four thousand couplets or epic

v erses ; the M alp rlrlmm /a conta ins professed ly eighty

five thousand . The transiator of the Ramayomr b ad

rtherefore a l ight er task to perform than the translator

o f the Malinda/t ram.

In undertak ing th is task, Krittibas, l i ke his great

predecessor Kasiram Das,wisely determ ined to condense

the original . We do not exac t ly know the length of

e lements are preserve d, and careful criticism might perhaps separate

the interpo lat ions, and present the more genuine parts as a who le byt hemse lves . The task however, would be difficul t, and perhaps as

impract icab le as it has proved in the Homeric poems. For manyages it is certainthat the work ex ist ed only by oral tradit ion, andeach rhapsod ist added or al tered at his p leasure, or to suit the taste

or vanity of the princely family whom he serve d. The measure o fthe poem, moreover, is o f a s omewhat fata l fac il ity, and manyrhapsodists would natural ly he amb itions of ming l ing their ownsongswith those of their bards, and the hab it of repet it ion would at oncesupply them with a vocabulary of epic phrases to suit their purpose.

Who le chapters thus betray their orig in by their barrenness of

thought and laborious mimicry o f the epic spirit , which inthe

case of the old poets had spontaneously burs t out of the heart’

s

fttlness l ike the free song o f a chi ld . But whenthe Ind ian t’is istratas arose who col lec ted these separate songs and reduced themto their resent shape, the genuine and spurious were a l ike inc luded ,

and no (Pl inducritic ever appears to have at tempted to d iscriminate

between them .

” Wcriminrter Rev iew, Vol. L.

Anedit iono f the Sanscrit Ramayana (Bengal Recensioni Wi thanI ta l iantrans lationwas prepared by Gorresio , and pub l ished at

the ex pense of the late k ing of Sard inia. A French translat ionhas beeng ivento the world by the indefat igut b le H ippo lyte Fanclt e,and for a very meritorious metrica l translat ioninto Eng l ish we are

indeb ted to Ra lph Griffi th . Pund i t l l em Chandra V idyarama has

conferred a last ing o b l igat ion onthe people o f Benga l by pub l ishing an edition o f the Sanscrit work (North-west Recension)with anex ce l lent trans lat ioninprose and the la te poet Raj KrishnaRai has rivcnus a faithful and commendab le translationof the gre

at

Work in enga l i verse .

r

se uram '

rvas or BENGAL .

Krittibas’s version, for, as we wi l l state hereaftery that

version'

has beenconsiderably al tered and added to by

m isch ievous ed i tors in recent t imes. An ed i tion of

the work, printed in 1 803 in the Serampur M ission

Press, has however been reprinted ; and from th is

ed it ion we find that 'the twenty-four thousand couplets

of the ori g inal wmk have been condensed into aboutsi xteenthousand Bengal i couplets.

But Krit tibas has gone farther t han th is. A

comparison of his Ramayana with the ori ginal shews

that his version is no translat ion at all, but merely a

new narrat ionof the s tory of the anc ient epic inh is

own way. There is considerable d ivergence in the

arrangement of the mat ter ; much of t he contents in

the orig inal has been omi tted, and many new inc idents

and stories have been introduced. And evenwhenwe

compare the accounts of the same inc idents in the two

works, we find ‘

them so d iss imi lar that the Bengal i work

cannot be tcalled ae ondensed translat ionof the Sanscrit

work.

One tinstance wil l i l lustrat e th is. The break ing of

Janaka’

s bow by Rama, and the nupt ials of Rama and

his brothers, and the defeat of Parasurama, have been

descri bed inthe last elevensect ions of the First Book of

the Sanscri t Ramay ana, m’

z. sect ions LXV I I t o LXXVI I,

compris ing 305 couplets. These subjects has been

reproduced in Kritt ibas’s work (reprint of ed i t ion of

1 803) in~one long sec t ionof 365 couplets, but it is notposs i ble to cal l th i s sect iona translat ion, inany sense, of

the elevensecti ons of the Sanscri t work. The story has

KRITTIBAS AND ms RAMAYANA . 5 :

been di fferent ly to ld in the two works ; and Krittibas

narrates the events ent irely inhis ownway, wi thout anyreference whatever to me -Sanscrit work .

“

‘We quo te the account of Rama’s marriage from the two

works . The Benga l i -poet describes a ‘Bengafim m e ceremony.o f the present day

amv tm m mf r

w e f irst: “ranfi rw -amm aul: new". amalfmmw n.

anim al“amW WQWJ

in: rim 1m mmm m umassmm: m cmWt: fi r‘ltffl tunF-sm 1mmt rauma m in

WI?) a tfirflq“marks: an:W1

mm C‘N fi iw‘lk « or: onomufe fmmm in“rawuan: rma n103 1: ammm smtofl fl fi fltfl m1 3 6m g : 0“ was 8 3: 65WW m c

ersm vnfinq'

i ttWfl V FWmin: n'

m a mW inm wtmw rs i

ammmmm:Watmanum wfit aimnew? unm '

tvflfitz16Wwim

Wfi: we: affi rmW16mm : l

W n t rimWemam flimu~

warmas: am fl lfi’m fi

‘

fi a

mm mm affirm are firs t: in

ufit: mfim w « fi n1mm .

am 1

« mice -l m c rfi m:W111?“u

s: m amm a ls or BRNGAL.

The Si x th. Book of the epic descri bes the warbetween

Rama and Ravana, wh ich is the crowning inc ident of

vmai im flw‘uflmx ca lmfwssq fefwcflth fl

‘tefl fwafi flh : u

nay-Ema: w N ewm : 3 611 t

fame try-rural : mmme n

3c « may q fif’

ai tfm I

faafir: CU nfw imenuatriumn.mmw m: wires m ma a

aml’trmfl M ianfim z arm : n

aW f? 1115 amt

ne was fwtm an m an( Erma 9116! m f mat om "muWWW315 1WW Watt ! lwas! fl awfmnstfafi G rew l

53mmmon: kw new I

ammaWmM Wawnpam cmWfl eaasWe l

(M i f“!m catfwé armornamt! m (

”

N CW“Wai t t

warW wa s:We mm a

“ i f“WmfenF fin}! l

01m“

; mm fenaw tram.

mmm a t?! wa rm cmt

t urn m M nfmw 0

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

54 L ITERATURE or hereon .

cornprising about a thousand couplets, have beenomit»

ted by Krittihas, and he substi tutes a smal l part of th is

story inhis first five sec t ions. The war commences

with the send ing of Angada as an envoy to Ravana,

wh ich is descri bed in Sec t ion XLI ol'

the Sanscri t

work , and inSect ionVI . of Krittihas .

The inc idents of the war thenfo l low general ly inthe

same orderas inSanscri t . But Krittibas’s account of the

batt les is his own, and he has introduced some new inci

dents and newwarriors of wh ich there is no ment ioninthe

Sanscri t . The account of Mnhi-Ravana and Ah i -Ravana

and the ch i ld ish episode of Hanutnan carry ing the

solar orb under his arm find no ment ion in the

Sanskri t epic .

I t wi l l thus appear that Krittibas’s work is not a

translat ionof the Sanscri t work . A class of rec i ters cal led

m im WW smrfi l

5m sfima m m fl sfi t

fiwm m fl fl smi fm :

w i n tm m m m m al

Wtssnm wmm uvanma 1m amfilfiwfi rms :WtWWWFi fi ! Wanfl? {fm fi finnmfim si ts um Witwas m i fim3m m

wasmfwutm ssm m uW atch fitmm t fimm t

m ufi m vfia mm nam wmsfi am afim i

am ammam mal s?“ u

KRI’

I‘

T IBAS AN D ms RAMAYANA. 55

Kai/lurker: have flourished inth is country from o ldent imes ;

they rec i te sacred legends before large aud iences they

amuse and enterta in the ir hearers hy the irwit, ormove

them to tears by the ir eloquence and they thus teach

the unlet tered publ ic in the trad i t ions of the past, and

preserve from age to age the l i terary heritage of the

nat ion. The Ramayana is a fit subject forKiri/id eas ;

and the rec i tat ion lasts for a mont h ormore, the speaker

taking up the story every day from the po int where he

left it onthe preced ing day. I t is supposed wi th reason

that Kritti bas learnt the story of the Ramay tma from

Kat/takers, and that wi thout attempt ing to translate the

Sanscri t epic he has given his versionof the story as

he heard it . The poet has h imself to ld us inseveral

places inhis work that he has composed it as be beard

But ifKri tt ibas fai lsus as a translator, as a poe t and

composer he rises in our est imat ion. H is narrat ion is

fluent and easy and often sparkles wi th the richest

humour. Kasiram Das is a pious and learned student

who has endeavoured t o give his countrymen a con

densed translat ionof the Sanscri tMahabharata Kritt ihas

is a spright ly story- tel ler who tel ls the story of the

Ramay ana wi th his own nat ive wit . Kasiram Das is

anx ious to teach his countrymen inthe sacred trad i t ions,

theundy ing legends, and the d idac t ic narrat ions, wh ich

compose the bulk of t he Mahd i /im am. Krit t ibas

de l igh ts in depic t ing .in v iv id co lours the deeds of

Hanuman, the fierce ra ge of the Rakshasas, the mar

vel lons prowess of the god- l ike Rama. Kasiram

56 ”remnant: or neuron .

l ) as approaches his subject wi th reverence, and writes

ina chaste and d ignified though simple style ; Krit tibas

del ights in the somewhat primi t ive batt les between

monkeys and giants, colours his descri pt ion wi th his

wit,

and wri tes in the sty le of ord inary vi llagers.

Kasiram Das’s work is the favouri te study of pioos

H indu lad ies and of rel ig ious and elderly men of

the upper c lasses ; Kritt ibas appeals more effec tivelyto the mi l l ion. The v i l lage Mudi (confectioner) reads

his Ramayana, whenwai ting for his customers, and the

v i l lage Ka la (o il-manufacturer) chants the s tory of Rama

an] Si ta, as his hullock turns his primi t ive o i l-mi l l wi th

a slow creak ing sound . To the upper ten- thousand,Kasiram Das’s work is a reposi tory of all the sacred

trad i t ions and moral lessons of the H indus ; to

the class of vendors, shopkeepers and the l ike, as wel l

as to the upper c lasses, Krit tihas’s work is a joy wh ich

endureth forwork . For the mi l l ions of Bengal , the two

works have beena means o f mora l educat ion the value

o f wh ich cannot be over-est imated .

The simpl ic i ty of Krit tihas’s style and the great

circulat ion of his work among the lower as wel l as upper

c lasses has led to the frequent tampering of his text by

success i ve ed i tors, unt i l the ed i t ions now sold in the

Bazars have ceased to be Krittibas’s work . We have

made our extracts from a reprint of the ed i t ion of 1 803,

as it is less corrupt thanmore recent ed i t ions but even

that ed i t ion is no t ab so lutely correct. Pand it Ramgati

Nyayaratna has given us a passage from a manuscri pt

of Kritt ihas’

s wo rk wri tten in 10 99 of the Bengal i Cra,

“

KRITU BAS AND H IS Ram varva . 57

c orrespond ing to 1693 of the C hrist ian Em, and there

fore -two centuries old. We quote a passage below from

t h is ed it ion of 1693, as we l l as the correspond ing

passage from the ed i t ionof 1 803, and from anordinary

Bazaredi tionof

s emm m gfi s‘

fvflt smm i

W afs t mmwrfli‘

rt a nm ucw WWW flfil {Fat

-

s mm:

sm mm as zs s tssmm

{fanamfram er s f-‘

t‘ss ume w snmvnfim t

m tfirm am rrfam uWainw v fm m m m uws fis sft m i tfs

‘

cs cmms 'n‘tutzfit m am a stratum :

M WQNWW W 'QN

amWt «thisrgfit anan f orlmm min: m mina rtsm l

mucwfa rtfim sfircrfim mmmm an: ati’am a t:Wt! amtuas set sift firms m m t

urfitm firs cam vfitta fi 'ss um i h im! m was fun a

shammists 161m affirm uflmm w z finw atWHMuw as fit? o f? am t tfirta cam an it

yrs mmart-v ist a firfwnmmt antra arteri al thatma sh it i

. E dil ion

38 “m antras or BENGAL.

A comparison of the three passages quoted b elow

wi l l indicate the nature of the alterat ions wh ich Krit tibas’s

text has undergone with in the last two hundred years.

We may assume that the 'text of 1693 was what Krittibas

wrote, as there was l i ttle of misch ievous ed i torial act i vity

before that date, and print ing was unknownin Bengal .

The alterat ions made betweenr693 and 1 803 are of a

verbal nature, and howevermuch they may be regretted,they are sl ight in comparison with what fol lowed . In

the absence of any more correct ed i t ion, we may accept

the edit ionof 1 803 as Krittibas’s work for the purposes

3 111m at: as as mm lmats sti nt a s fi stf'tmm umics atfat s t fircvfm s ent l

mininfirmmints as a m11Gm: m mm m t 1mm lm MWWill’s mmarm nam mmm sfi ceWM :

mitts-

rart’

s rm arm s tart-tnW mm i ts aim Goofs :

eram 01t cafirm asst?ua smfl mfims mam a

wrfs runfirs em vfim mm at

fl e t snowanwas film lshafts wtfim not as s li m n

M ahatmafimw m mmfv i fr

‘

ors tfi marm v ista in

w ri s tmi ss fi ft snas?“W211 ca lm sli ts misfitu

Calcutta Edit ionof 1893.

x mm sas awnms RAMAYANA. 5 9

of cri t ic ism,and we thank the Gupta Press for g iving us

a reprint of th is first printecb ed it ionof the work. Sin

1 803, however, printed ed i t ions of the work have myt iplied, and the mi sch ievous act iv i ty . of ed i tors has in

creased. The late Pand i t Jai Gopa l of . the Sanscri t

Co l lege is reputed to-have recast the o lder edi t ions and

to have produced the modern. ones . Comparing the

tex t of 18 03 wit lr that of 1893 we find that the somewhat

loose metre of Krit tibas has been»rect ified, the number

of sy l lables has beenadjusted,. the expressive but home ly

words of the poet have beenreplaced by more refined

emressions, .some l ines have been added and thrown in.

here and there, and the homely beauty of Krittibas’s

poetry has been lost . To our ear, Krit't ibas

’s irregular

verse and loose metre have more true music and more

genial force in them than the correc ted me tre, the sans

eritized e x press ions, and the more prolonged descri pt ions

in the later edit ions of his work.

The Gupta . Press has performed a patriot ic work ' by'

reprint ing the ed i t ionof 1803. But the task of produc

ing an. abso lute ly correct tex t of the work, from the

old manuscripts st i l l ava i lable, has yet to be done:

The Baug iy a Sa lub 'a P arrir/zad (Ac ademy of Bengal i

Li tera ture) has undertaken the task ; and it wi l l earnthegrat i tude of our countrymenby g iv ing them a correc t

text of the immorta l work. of one of the earl iest and

greatest poets of Bengal.

Kasiranr Das’s work is perhaps less popular thanthatof Krit tibas, and has beentampered wi th to a less ex tent .

The great bul k of the work a lso, made further add i t ions

Ll'

l'

li RrKl’

URE OF Bl'. N f l .\ l

inadv isable even to modern ed i tors, and the more

ql ignilied nature of! the sty le and the subject rendered

such add i t ions by no means aneasy. But neverthelessverbal al terat ions have been made, as can be found

out by comparison of a modern copy with an old

manuscri pt . And the Pad s/urd ' wi l l perform a patriot ic

task by ed i t ing a correct ed i t ionof th is work also .

The Bengal i M rlzab/zam ta and Ramayana are the

first great l i terary works in the Bengal i language ;they are the foundat ions on which Bengali literature is

bui l t . And the people of modernBengal wi l l not rest

content t il l they get back the se great works inthe ir

integrity .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

62 e saaruae or BENGAL .

Raghunandancompi led a re l ig ious code for the H indus

of Bengal, and Raghunath started the schoo l of

ph i losophy wh ich st i l l at tracts scores of students from all

parts of Ind ia to the sacred prec incts of Nad iya. The

movements of the human mind are more widespread

and far-reach ing than historians general ly suspec t, and

there are Spec ial eras of cul ture when the human

mind all over the c i vi l ized world seems to ex pand

undera v ivifying influence, and moves onwards wi th a

fresh v igour towards h igherresul ts. Such anera was the

fifteenth and s i xteenth centuries wh ich produced menl ike Copernicus, Co lumbas and Luther in Europe ;and such another era began in the eigh teenth century

wh ich wi tnessed the Independence of America and the

French Revo luti on. Cha i tanya was the most remark

able product of the si xteenth century enl igh tenment in

Benga l, and to a narrat ion of his l ife and work we

now address ourse lves. H is biographers, Krishna Das,

Vrindavan Das and Lochan'Das,have left us Copious

accounts of the l i fe and work of the ir greatermaster, and

though, as staunch Vaishnavas, the y be l ieved C hai tanyato be an incarnat ionof Krishna and have ascri bed to

him numberless mirac les, yet it is not a d ifficul t or a pro

fitless task to glean from the ir ac counts the rea l facts

connec ted wi th the li fe of the grea t reformer of the

si x teenth century .

About the midd le of the 1 5 th century, Upendra

M isra, a wea l thy and learned Vaishnava, l ived inSy lhet.He had sevensons of whom Jagannath M isra migrated

to the town of Nabadwi p or Nad iya. He had e ight

CHAITANYA AND ms RELIG IOUS REFORM. 63

daugh ters by his wi fe Sach i,but none of them l ived long.

At las t Sach i bore him two sons the e lder was named

V iswarup, and the younger was the future reformer of

Bengal .

He was borninNabadwi p in the year 1 485 A. D. ,

that is about the t ime when the great Lutherwas borninEurope. The women of the fami ly and the ne ighbour

hood came to see and bless the infant, and named it

N ima i, and notwi thstand ing that the learned men of the

loca l i ty gave the ch i ld the more pompous name of V is

wambhar, N ima i the ch i ld was cal led by all who knew

him. Later inl ife he was ca l led Gauranga, or the fa ir

complexioned, Krishna Chai tanya, or the incarnat ion

of Krishna, and somet imes Gaur Hari, or the fair

Krishna—Cha i tanya be ing of a very fair complex ion,wh i le Krishna, whose incarnat ionhe was supposed to be,was dark . Chai tanya is sa id to have been born inthe

evening when there was anec l i pse of the moon, and his

poet ic biographer ex pla ins the c ircumstances by arguing

that there was no need for a spot ted moon in the sky,

whenanunspotted moonhad appeared onearth l

Various are the anecdotes recounted of the infancy

and boyhood of Chai tanya, all tend ing to shew that he

was anincarnate de i ty . Wh i le yet an infant “ puk ingand mewl ing in its mother’s arm

,

” Cha i tanya seems to

have beenvery troublesome, and to have never ceased

cry ing, t i l l the word fl uf f was shouted by the people

around him, thus caus ing the name of Krishna to be

preached and proc laimed before the infant had yet learnt

to speak . Onone occasionthe l i tt le ch i ld was l icking an

64 urem runs or as s es s.

earthen toy, whenSach i came in, and reproved him for

mistak ing earth for food . And what is food but earth

and dust argued the l isping boy, and what is our

body but dust A rest less and mischievous boy as he

was, he teased the girls of the neigh bourhood and

quarrel led wi th other boys. When the girls came to the

rivers ide wi th rice and other th ings to worsh i p images,the l i ttle truant appropriated the food to his own

use, and bade them worsh i p him, for Ire was the great

Master of the gods and goddesses they had come to

worsh i p . F ly ing from his enraged mother the l i ttle boy

one day h id h imself inanunc leanvesse l . This provoked

Sach i who bade him instantly to go and bathe inthe

Ganga (Hugl i R iverl to purify h imsel f. The young sagehowever calmly repl ied that unc leanl iness dwel t not in

outward th ings but inthe mind . I t may be eas i ly imagined

these and other anecdotes of a s imilar nature have

been invented by the fo l lowers of Chaitanya to prove the

godhead of their great master.

Chaitanya commenced his stud ies wit h Gangs Das

Pand i t and shewed great intel l igence and apt i tude for

learning . I t was about th is time that the parents of

C hai tanya began to th ink of a sui tab le match for h is

e lder brotherV iswarup, who was theninhis early youth .

V iswarup however was otherwise inc l ined ; and fil led

wi th rel igious fervour, he left his home and turned a

Sanyas i. The d isconsolate mother had a yet severer

tria l awa i t ing her. I t was not long after, that Jagannath

M isra paid the debt of nature, and N imai therefore was

cnarraava am) nts RELIG IOUS REFORM. 65

the sole surv iv ing stay and consolat ion of the bereaved

widow.

Inhis earl ier days, Chai tanya had made the acquain

tance of a g irl named Lakshmi,daugh ter of Bal la

bhacharja, whenshe had come to the river-s ide to wor

shi p. The young student now though t of marriage,

and his widowed mo ther celebra ted his marriage with

Lakshmi wi th feel ings of mingled joy and sorrow.

As Chai tanya advanced inyears, he began to gather

round him a large number of pupi ls, and his reputat ion

as a scho lar became great . The way in which ph i lo

Sophy, l iterature and re l igionhave a lways beencul t ivated

among the H indus up to the t ime of the Engl ish con

quest, and evens ince then, is wel l known. There were

no regular academies, schoo ls or co l leges, as inEurope.

The sages of anc ient Ind ia, however, set themse lvesupas instruc tors, and gathered round them pup i ls vary ing in

number accord ing to their reputa t ionfor learning. Such

pupi ls l ived wi th their tutor in his house as members

of the same fami ly, looked onhim as their father,and

onhis wi fe as theirmother. Whatever migh t be the ir

rank or status insoc iety, they were all equal inhis eyes,

served him wi th equal fide l i ty during the period of the ir

educat ion, and v ied wi th each other in obed ience and

respec t towards him. The tutor received no fees,

but the pupi ls looked to his cat t le, mi lked his’

cows,

begged food for his support, procured for him wood

from the forest and water from the wel l, served him

as his menia l servants, and l ived together in harmony

and peace. When their educat ion was completed, each

9

66 ‘ LITERATURE or BENGAL .

pupi l was expected to make a handsome present to his

tutor, and th is,—oftena considerable sum of money,

was all that the gum received for his pains. Each

pupi l would then return to his own rank and s tatus

in -l ife, a few of « the more clever and advanced

setting 'themsel ves up .as new tutors and gathering

pupi ls around them. The anc ient lore of Ind ia has

been handed down from generat ion to generat ion

in th is s imple arcad ian sty le, and vest iges of such

inst i tutions are st i l l .to he found in Nad iya and manyo ther places in Ind ia. Thus under the H indu, the

Muhammadan, and even the Engl ish rule, these quiet

th inkers and professors have from century to century pre»

served and propounded the anc ient learning of Ind ia,and oftenstarted new quest ions in phi losophy or law,

despising all ex ot ic wisdom and fore ign languages, be

it the Pers ian, the Arabic, or the Engl ish, and forgett ing,and forgot tenby, a world of unquiet and aspiring states

men, pol i t icians and menof the world.

Chai tanya, then, set h imselfup as a tutor, gathered

pupi ls around him, and h is fame as a man of

deep learning increased day by day. H is reputationspread throughout and beyond the l imi ts of Nad iya .

He baffled those who came to beat him in learned

controversies, and sat isfied others who came in

all humi l i ty to have their doub ts expla ined . After

winning the admirat ion of all people in his nat i ve

place, he left his country and travel led into Eastern

Bengal . Th i ther too his fame had spread, and numbersof people flocked around him to have the benefit

cnarranva AND ms RELtcrOUs REFORM. 67

of his instruct ions. He reached the banks Of the

Padmava ti and dwel t there for some months, instructinganever increas ing c irc le of friends. He then returned

to his nativ e place, but: before he.

reached it his beloved

wife had breathed her last .

Chai tanya cont inued to give instruct ion to his

pupi ls at Nad iya ; he was now cal led N ima i Pand i t or

V iswambhar Pand i t . He assembled his pupi ls early in

the morning and taught them t i l l about noon,after

which he and his pupi ls went to the river-side together

to bathe. Then they parted, and met aga in in~the even

ing, and cont inued the ir l iterary labors t i l l a late hour in

the nigh t.

The nio therO f Cha i tanya became anxious to marry his

son again, and the young Pandit was married to V ishnu

Priya, the accompl ished daugh ter Of Sanatan whose

learning had got for him the t i t le Of Pandr’

tamj , or

the prince Of the learned . A pup i l ofChai tanya, by name

Buddhimama, volunteered to pay the expenses Of his

tutor’s marriage,and the ceremony was performed wi th

great pomp . SoonafterChai tanya aga inleft his nat ive

place and v is ited Gaya.

The v is i t to Gaya was the great turning po int in

the l ife of the reformer. Enthus ias t ic inhis d ispos i t ion,and attached to the faith Of Krishna from his early

youth, Chai tanya had, up to th is t ime,l ived and learned

and taught much in the same way as other men d id .

But the sanct i ty of the place he v is i ted, the instruct ions

of Iswari Puri a devout Vaishnava, and the loca l

re l ig ious assoc iat ions of the place caused a thorough

68 museum s: ov BENGAL.

change inthe character of the ardent young man. H e

had gone to Gaya a no ted scholarand a relig iousman,he re turned anenthusiast ic reformer.

Now,for the first t ime, were seen those v io lent

outward mani festat ions of fai th and feel ing wh ich

characterized the ardent worsh i ppers of Krishna in those

t imes. F lTCd wi th unwonted zea l , the y were now and

thenovertaken by paroxysms of fa i th,and wept and

laughed and danced l i ke mad men. Horri p i lat ion, vio lent

perspirat ion, and frequent fits of fa int ing marked these

periods of rel ig ious ecstacy . The poor mo ther of

Chai tanya trembled for herson, and marked with fearand

concernthe change inhis demeanour, but it was beyond

the power of domest ic afi'

ect ion to ma ke the reformer

turnfrom the path he had chosen. I t is not poss i ble in

the present age of reasonto conceive the extent to which

the mind canat t imes be subjected to the vio lent sway

of rel i gious fee l ing and fana tic ism. C ha i tanya was now

a changed man he fired inhis fo l lowers and pupi ls an

ardent fa i th inKri shna b e ignored all rites and cere

monies he proc lai t from house tops that the sal va

t ionof mandepended solely onfa i th inKrishna. The

townof Nabadwip suddenly rang wi th the loud San

kirttm of Krishna.

Da y after day, Cha i tanya and his fol lowers assemb led

and proc la imed and preached the fai th of Krishna .

They met in the house of Sribas, where Nityananda,

Adyaita, Sridhar, and a number of other devout

fo l lowers ano inted Cha i tanya wi th water, sandal powderand flowers. The irnumber dai ly increased people of

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

70 m a gnum: or BENGAL .

C haitanya set out forVrindavanonthe banks of the

Jumna, accompanied by N ityananda, Ratna and Me

kunda, three of his fol lowers. He crossed the Hug l i, for

Nabadwip was then on the east bank, and procla imed

the name of Krishna inevery v i l lage through wh ich he

passed, to men, womenand chi ldren. People were struck

wi th his enthus iasm, and it is no wonder if many

actual ly mistook the wi ld enthusiast for a dei ty. H is

fol lower N ityananda was one of those who would have

l iked to see his master always inhis na t ive town. I t was

no t d ifficult to mis lead C ha i tanya from the righ t wayto Vrindavan, and after three days’ wande rings through

severa l v i l lages to the west of the Hugh, Nityananda

brought back his master to the Hugl i again. Chai tanya

reproved his fo l lower, but was obliged to cross the ri ver

and to rest for a few days inthe townof Santipore. H is

fo l lower Adyaita there rece ived himwi th open arms and

welcomed him to his house. News travelled to Nabadwiptha t the reformer had come back to Sant i pur, and all his

friends and fo l lowers came to see him. Affect ing indeed

was the meet ing of Chai tanya wi th his fai thful fo l lowers

whom he had left beh ind, but st i l l mo re affec t ing was

his meet ing wi th his forlornmother who came to Sant i

pur to see his sononce more. They insisted wi th many

tears onhis returning to Nabadwi p, but Chai tanya had

l eft his home as a Sanyas i and would not return. He

consoled his mo ther however as best he could, assuring

her that he would pass most of his t ime in N ilachala

(O rissal,so that she would rec e ive frequent news ab out

him. To his fo l lowers he made the part ing reques t that

CHAITANYA AND H I S RE L IG IOUS RE FORM . 7I

they should proc la im the name and rel ig ion of Krishna

intheir homes as he was going to proc la im it all over

Ind ia. They parted once more, and Cha i tanya se t out

onhis travels,

C ha i tanya nowwent southwards wi th N ityananda and

others, passed through Jaipur, Katak and Kamal pur,v isi ted the shrines of Sakshi Gopal , Bnuvaneswar and

Kapoteswar, and at last reached Jagannath. This last is

a place ded icat ed to Krishna, and the deep venerat ion

and ecstasy wi th which Cha i tanya v iewed thi s place may

eas i ly be conce ived . There too he met Sarb ahhauma, a

learned and venerable manand a devout Va ishnava who

rece ived Chai tanya wi th openarms and many and longwere the re l ig ious controversies which they held together.

From Jagannath, Cha i tanya resol ved to travel southwards .

N ityananda and others offered to accompany him,but

he wished to go a lone,

and was at last persuaded to take

one Krishna Das, a s imple-minded Brahman,as his

sole companion. Southwards,then, went C ha i tanya wi th

Krishna Das, proc la im ing the name of Kri shna wherever

he went . People flocked round him and were struck

wi th his sanc t i ty and enthusiasm,and numbers became

c onverts. They returned to the ir v i l lages, and told the

wonderful tale and converted others. Thus, says the

b iographer of Cha i tanya, the name of Krishna deluged

the land as by an inundat ion.

At J iar,Cha i tanya rested a few days in the house of

Ramananda Ra i, a venerable and learned man,whom

b e instructed in the truths of his rel ig ion and soonfired

wi th fai th inKrishna. Thence he passed through numer

7: L ITERATURE or BENGAL.

ous v i l lages, everywhere mak ing converts. Atheists,

Phi losophers of d i fferent schoo ls, Buddhists, and Sai vas,all y ie lded the pa lm to the new reformer

,and many were

the converts he made. At last he reached the banks of

the Cavery and rested fourmonths at Sriranga ( Seringa

patam) . He v is i ted the southernMathura (Madura ), and

thenRameswar, Chai tanya also v i si ted Kanya Kumari

(Cape Comorin) and the Malaya.

or the N ilgiri H i l ls.

Thence he travel led northwards,crossed the Tapti and

the Nurhudda, and vis i ted Dandakaranya, Pampa,Panchahati and o ther places noted inthe Ramayana.

Near the sources of the Godaveri he was jo ined by his

o ld friend Ramananda Rai who had come here to meet

him. They travel led hack to Orissa,and at Jagannath,

Chai tanya was met by most of his friends. H is vows

forbade him to return to his nat i ve place, but KrishnaDas the companion of all his travels was sent to

Nabadwi p wi th the joyful t id ings of his return. I t was

wi th great joy that his fol lowers came and met him

once more inN ilachala.

Cha itanya and his fo l lowers rema ined at Jagannat h

during the Rath fest i va l, and grea t were the ir rejo ic ings

on the occasion. Prataparudra the k ing of Orissa

expressed a des ire to see the Vaishnava leader, but the

Sanyas i’s vow he had taken, forbade him to see a k ing .

A sort of compromise was effected, the k ing’s sonv i s i ted

the reformer, and Cha i tanya blessed the father in the

son,and they embraced his rel ig ion.

After a res idence of a few months at Jagannath,

C hai tanya resol ved on v is it ing northern Ind ia. The

cas tras va AND ms RE LIG IOUS asroau. 73

k ing was d istressed at th is news, and Sarhabhauma,Ramananda and N ityananda, all tried to d issuade himfrom the undertak ing . The ir persuat ion however was

frui tless, and at the c lose of the rainy seasonChai tanyaleft Jagannath . He went northwards through Bhubaneswar, Katak, Remuna and Panihat i, and came once

more to Sant i pur. Afl'

ec ting indeed was his meet ing wi th

hi s motherwho had come to Sant i pur from Nabadwi p,and who embraced her sonwi th tears of joy.Cha i tanya once more took leave of his friends, sent

back his mother to Nabadwi p, and left Santipur.

Among his companions Were the brothers Rup and

Sanatan, m inisters of the Muhammadanruler of Behar.They were of royal blood. and of h i gh rank and muchwea l th, but despised all these th ings for the ir love

of the reformer. Cha i tanya’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 travel ler, and Sanatan right ly

adv ised him to part wi th all his companions if he wanted

to proceed onhis journey . The year however was far

advanced, the ra iny season had already commenced,Chai tanya therefore was compe l led to rema in a few

months inN ilachala, to the great joy of king Prataprudra .

At the c lose of the ra ins,he set out forVrindavan wi th

Balabhadra Bhattacharja as his so le companion.

To avo id not ice Cha i tanya left the bea tenpath, and

went through a forest . H is poet ic biographer waxes

eloquent, and descri bes how inthe presence of the great

master the t iger embraced the deer and danced wi th

1 0

76 LITERATURE or BENGAL.

vai l in its integri ty. Inth is respect Vaishnav ism re

sembles Buddhism wh ich has its monks and i ts lay

d isc i ples and indeed scholars are aware that Va ishnav ism

itself is a modernsurv iva l of Buddh ismunder a H indu

guise. Buddh ism in an idolatrous form preva i led

during many centuries after the Christ ianera in Orissa,and the worsh i p of Buddha

,recognized by H indus as

one of the incarnat ions of V ishnu, now surv ives ina

H induguise inthe worsh ip of Jagannath .

CHAPTER VII .

Tm: rouowmt s or Cuammvs .

We have inthe preced ing chapter gi ven a sketch of

the life and work of Cha i tanya. In the present chapter

we shal l very briefly rev iew the work of some of the

companions of the reformer,—the Apost les of Vaishnavism inBengal )

Among the fo l lowers of Cha i tanya, Adyaita and Nitya

nanda stand foremost . Indeed, the Vai shnavas of Bengal

regard them as part ial incarnat ions of V ishnu, as part

and parcel of the spiri t wh ich had its ful l manifestat ion

inChaitanfi .

Inthe preced ing chapter we have had frequent occa

sionto not ice the acts of these leaders,nor is there much

to add . M yaita was a weal thy and respected inhabi tant

of Santipur, and is said to have pmphesied the birth

of Chai tanya, and sent his wife to Nabadwip when the

great reformerwas born. After Chai tanya had left his

home as a Sanyasi, ne ver to return, the house of M yaita

at Samipur was more than once the meet ing place

where the Va ishnavas of Benga l flocked to see the ir

master, returned from hi s travels . Al l through his l ife;

Adyaita, though h imself a weal thy man,he ld the poor

For much of the informat ion conta ined inthis chapterwe are

indehtcd to Ram Das Sen’

s paper onthe works of the Vaishmwa

Leaders of Bengal .

78 LITERATURE or BENGAL .

wandering reformer indeep venerat ion. The descendants

of Adyaita st i l l l i ve in Sant ipur, and are held by all

Va ishnavas in the highest regard .

N ityananda was perhaps the most esteemed compa

nion of Chai tanya. He was a wea l thy inhabi tant of

Nabadwip,and is sa id to have been by no means

ind ifferent to the go od things of this l ife. Yet Chai tanya

held him inhigh respec t and bestowed onhim the t i tle

of P rob/la . H is descendants are yet l iv ing. The

Goswamis of Khardaha are descended from him by the

male l ine, and those of Balagor by the female l ine.

Chai tanya, Adyaita and N ityananda are spokenof by the

Va ishnavas of Bengal as the three PraMur. They were

all Brahmans by birth, and none of them seems to have

wri ttenany books ei ther inSanskri t or inBengal i .

Next to these come the six great wri ters who are

known as the Vaishnavacharjas of Bengal . They are

Rup Goswami, SanatanGoswami , J i va Goswami, Gopa l

Bhatta, Raghunath Bhatta and Raghunath Das. I t

is much to be regret ted that they have all wri tten

inSanskri t,— the h ighest efforts of the ir genius appear

feeble and common- place because they are misd irected .

H igh indeed, inthe rol ls of the early Bengal i authors,had the names of Runand Sanatan stood, if they had

wri ttenintheirnat ive tongue. As it is, the irnames are

general ly knownonly among Va ishnavas, and the proud

posi t ionwh ich they might have occupied is ceded to

Mukunda Ram and otherwri ters who composed inthe

language of the people. I t is a lesson which has a

spec ial appl icat ion inthe present day.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

80 LITERATURE or BENGAL.

his brother. H is Gr’

favali descri bes the Do ljatra, Ram,

and other fest iv i t ies he ld inhonor of Krishna.

J iva Goswatni was the sonof Ballabh, the brother

of Rap and Sanatan. H is great work is S/za t Standard/m

wh ich, as its name s ignifies, is d iv ided into six parts,

and descri bes rel ig ious and devot iona l feel ings.

GOpal Bha tta was the sonof Bankata Bhatta of the

v i l lage Bhattamari . During his travel s Cha i tanya stop

ped for a period of four months in his house, and

the rel igious fervour and instruct ions o f the reformer

left an impress ion on the mind of the young Bhatta.

Soonafter the departure of Cha i tanya, Gopal left home

and fami ly and turned a wanderer l ike his mas ter.

H e stopped for a t ime at Benares wi th a learned

teacher, and turning a regular Sanyasi went to Vrindavan,where he jo ined Rup, Sahalan and other Vaishnava

luminaries. He wro te several works, of which H art'

blmkli-m’

lusa is the best known. I t treats of the duties

of Vaishnavas.

Raghunath Das was a Kaya stha by birth , and the son

of a wealthv man. The Bl mktamala states that he left

property worth nine lacs and a young wife of exceed ing

beauty and lovel iness for his love of Chai tanya . H e

met the reformerat Jagannath, and Chai tanya he ld him

ingreat esteem and love. Afterwards he went to Vrinda

van and l ived wi th the celebrated Va ishnavas of that

place. Though a Kayas tha by b irth, he rece ived from

C ha i tanya the t i t le of Acharja, and l ived wi th the

five otherAcharjas. These last were all Brahmans by

birth, but ne i therChai tanya nor his fo l lowers recognized

rm: rOLLowERs or CHAITANYA. sr

caste inequal i ties . His Vilapnkummanj c li Sla/m is the

prayer of a devout Vaishnava perplexed wi th the troubles

of th is world, and his Manorr'

krfmtreats of the training

of the mind to the love of K rishna.

Krishna Das and VrindavanDas and Lochan Das,the biographers of C ha i tanya, though not stric tly speaking his companions, may come in for a not ice here .

They have wri tteninBengal i, and the irworks are very

popular wi th Va ishnavas.

VrindavanDas was the son of Narayani who from

her g irlhood was devoted ly attached to the fa i th of

Chai tanya. Pand i t Ramgati has erroneously supposedher to be the daugh ter of Srivas a fo l lowerof Cha i tanya.

The author h imse lf informs us that his mother was the

daugh ter of a brotherofSrivas.

’ And it was inthe house

of Srivas that the l i ttle girl, thenfour years old, first saw

the reformer, and ever after loved him and his rel igion.

I t would appear therefore, that VrindavanDas wrote hisbook about the midd le of the 16th century, and after

the death of Chai tanya.

We confess we cannot d iscovermuch beauty orpoet icexcel lence inhis book Cl milany a Bugevar, and if it isa papular book wi th Va ishnavas we canonly ascri be the

fact to its be ing the first book descri bing the l ife and

acts of Chai tanya. Krishna Das is lav ish in his pra ise

of Vrindavan'

s work, and indeed compares Vrindavan

to the great Vyasa of anc ient Ind ia. But we confess

we turnwi th a sort of rel ief from Vrindavan's sfl

'

ected

Vitle pp. 123 of (“M i lan’s Bi ag’rwal .

I !

8 : U rsaarv ae or BENGAL.

sty le and dreary Sanscri t quotat ions to the s impler‘

narrat ive of Krishna l9as himse lf.

Krishna Das was born at Shama tpur near Katwa

inthe d istric t of Burdwan, a nd was a Va idya by caste.

H e was a devout Va ishnava and trave l led to Vrindavan,in which place he probably composed °his (Ma i/mom

Cfian'

lnmriln. The date of the book is not known.

Very probably it was writ ten some twenty years after

Vrindavan Das had wri tten his book . It is,we th ink,

in every respect superior to the work of Vrindavan

Das ; the sty le is s imple, and the wri ter apparent ly

wri tes with feel ing. The descri pt ion of the rejo ic ings

in Nabadwi p at the birth of C ha i tanya, the account

of Sach i’s part ing with her beloved son, and the des

Cription'of the Rathajatra ceremony at Jagannath, are all

inst inc t wi th feel ing .

The th ird biography of Cha i tanya ‘is C/mitanya

Mange ! of LochanDas. I t is not cons idered a book

of high authori ty by the Va ishnavas.

O ther voluminous Va ishnava works l ike Narahari’s

Blmktira lmrkar and Madhava’s B/mgrzz

ta lmm , we l l

knownworks inthe ir days, are now wel l nigh forgotten.

Madhava is said to have a lso wri t tena work onClam/11

wh ich has beenreplaced by the more meri torious work

composed by Mukendaram.

CHAPTER VI I I .

Raonus arn AND ms scnom. or Los tc:

Stir/em”: century .

H tsroav repeat s i tself. The num h mind oftenmoves

forward in the same d irec tion, and by the same path,when inspired wi th fresh v igour and fresh l igh t. There

can be li ttle incommonbetweenthe age of rat ional ism“and reform its anc ient Ind ia—the si xth century beforeChrist

,and the age of renaissance in modern Ind ia,

the s i xteenth century afterChrist. The Hinde natien

was free and the R indu mind was untrammelled inthe anc ient the nationwas sub ject to a foreign

rule and im energiw and though ts were crihbfi and

confined in the age. But neverthelm it is

impossi ble not to recognize in the nee of the

si xteenth a: Wafter Christ 3 We refl . ionof the

movement which was in the 3m}, H

before Christ.

Buddhism had almost died out in Beny l, bruitwas Buddhimm tic inst itutiom and mirit prin

ciples of m r equality and brothert which were

renovated in a H inds guise inm Vaishmv’mfis

And Chaitanya therefore is the modem coanta panof

C antata : 1 « if Ancient Hinduphilosophy andWe

were and , firms" : in Beng al before the six teenth

cent-t ry at m in that l ied: that the philowpbicsl school

84 ureaaruaa or BENGAL.

of Nabadwi p wa s started, and Raghunath is the modern

counterpart of Kapi la. And last ly, H induorthodoxy was

alarmed at the spread of heterodox and phi losoph ica l

Speculat ions in anc ient Ind ia as in modern Bengal,

sacred laws and rules of orthodox ri tes were careful ly

compi led and insisted upon,and Raghunandan of

modern Bengal is the counterpart of Vasishtha and

Gautama and other anc ient compi lers of sacred laws .

We are afra id to proceed further wi th th is paral le l ;it would be misleat ding to suggest a very c lose resem

b lance be tween Ind ia inthe si x th century, B . C . and

Ind ia in the s i xteenth century A. D. A l l that we wish

to ind icate is that the H indumind inthe modernage

has, under the influence of new l ight and progress,

trave l led once more in the same d irec t ion, though

wi th feeble effort,as it did in the days of its anc ient

.vigour.

Mithila orNorth Beharwas one of the most ad vanced

k ingdoms in Ind ia from the t ime of Janaka in the epic

age, and took a prominent part in the progress of

ph i losophy and thought wh ich marked the seventh and

sixth centuries before Christ. I t is poss i ble that Gau~

tama the founder of logic flourished inBehar it is

certainthat logica l stud ies were kept up in the schoo ls

of M ithila by an uninterrupted succession of scho lars

and teachers. Pakshadhara Misra was the last of these

eminent scholars, and had his crowded to! of logic in

Mithila in the fifteenth century ; and Vasudeb of

Nabadwi p was one of the scho lars who learnt logic in

his school .

RAGHUNATH AND ms scnoor. or LOG IC . 85

Vasudeh returned to Nabadwi p with the t i tle of

Sarhabhauma, and se t himsel fup as a teacher, and the

three great men whose deeds have shed a bright l ight

on the s i xteenth century,—Chai tanya, Raghunath and

Raghunandan, -all rece ived the ir instruct ion in their

early days from this prince of teachers.

Raghunath was a poor orphan and was bl ind of

one eye from his b irth. In school he often puzzled

the venerable Vasudeb by his quest ions, and his eager

and inquis i t ive mind was not sat isfied wi th the tradi

t ional solut ions of d i fficul t problems . I t is said'

that

young Chai tanya and young Raghuna th were int imate

friends,and that the doub ts and anxious enquiries of

Raghunath were often solved for him by the future

reformerwi th his c lear intel lect and his strong natural

good sense. Raghunath thanked his friend for suchass is tance, and hoped to pursue ph i losoph ical stud ies

wi th him through l ife. But their paths lay in. d ifferent

directions ; Chai tanya went infor religious refo rm, and

Raghunath, at the early age of twenty, left his home and

repa ired to M ithila to complete his study of logic in

that renowned “universi ty- town.

”

O ld Pakshadhara M isra was st i l l al ive, and welcomed

his pupi l’s pupi l to his school . Ina short t ime however

be perce ived that the mind of the young man was cast

ina d ifferent mould from that of ord inary students, and

that trad i t iona l learning d id no t sat isfy him. Many

were the enquiries wi th wh ich the young student puzzled

his venerable teacher, and the fame of Raghunath spread

far and wide.

86 uranaruas or BENGAL.

I t was necessary for a student onthe complet ion of

his educat ionto s ignal ize h imse l f in a trial, and to win

his t i tle. Young Raghunath fearless ly entered into a d iscussionwi th his teacher, and did not hesitate to demol ish

his arguments. But it was not possi ble for the vener

able Professor of logic to confess a defeat in the very

place where generat ions of student s had looked up to

him as infal l i ble . Wi th a pardonable weakness, Paksha

dhara concea led his defeat ina c loud of soph istry, and

humi l iated his ardent opponent with bi tter taunt s and

rid icule. Young Raghunath left the school hum i l iated,

and to all appearance bea tenin the d iscuss ion.

A story is then told for the accuracy of wh ich it isimpossi ble to vouch, but wh ich is worth repeat ing.

Smart ing under d isgrace and undeserved humi l iat ion,the

young student is sa id to have sough t the house of his

teacher by night, on vengeful thoughts intent . The

object of his ambi t ionwas lost, and his prospect in l ife was

ruined for it would be impossi ble to conv ince the

H induworld' that the great Pakshadhara was wrong and

the unknown young student was righ t. H is apparent

defeat and humi l iat ion had ruined his prospects ; he

could winno t i t le now and could open no school, no

students would gather round him and no one would cred it'

his acquirements and learning . A blow had beenstruck,’

such as only the heavy hand of a man, great inrank and

reputat ion, can stri ke on an unknown but aspiring

youth . The blowhad fallen wi th fata l effect and i t was

imposs i ble to recover from it ; and the career for wh ich

young Raghunath had laboured for years, and wh ich was

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

88 ureaaruas or BENGAL.

schoo l of logic in Ind ia during these three centuries.

The story narrated ab ove probably only ‘ gi ves

a concrete shape the fact that, s ince the s i xteenth

century, the schoo l of logic at Mithila has dec l ined, and

the schoo l of logic at Nabadwi p has prospered. An

uninterrupted l ine of renowned logic ians have flourished

in that town from the town of Raghunath to the

present day.

’

Raghunath was st i l l a poor man, but learning has

always beenhonoured inth is country by h igh and low

al ike, and it is said that a substant ial cowherd of the

name of Hari Ghosh hel ped the young professer to build

his 101. S tudents from all parts of Ind ia‘

came to the

scholar who had beaten Pakshadhara in logic, and

Raghunath l ived to be a great and a famous man.

H is great work inlogic is Ckr'

nfamani D idkiti . Any

attempt to e x pla in the contents of th is book would

be beyond the scope of the present vo lume.

I pa id a visit to a (of o f log ic inNabadwip in 1876, and metstudents there from all parts o f Ind ia. Onmy ask ing them the reasono f their coming to Benga l for educa t ion, they to ld me that whi le theVedas were taught at Benares, and o ther b ranches nf lca rning ino ther

places. Log ic was nowhere taught as thoroughly as at Nahat lwip.

CHAPTER IX .

RAGHUNANDAN AND H IS INST ITUTES .

Si x teenth century .

We have remarked inthe preced ing chapter that M ithila

or North Beharwas one of the most cul tured kingdoms

inanc ient Ind ia. Among all the nat ions of the Epic Age,the V idehas of Mithila were cons idered the most cul

tared . And whenthe nat ions of the Epic Age dec l ined

inpower, the Magadhas of South Behar took the lead,

and were for centuries the most powerful and the most

enl igh tened nat ionin Ind ia . There can be l i tt le doubt

that Bengal was first colonized by Aryans from Behar,from the sister kingdoms of Mithila and Magadha,

and that for two thousand years Bengal received cul tureand knowledge from her western s isters . And when

the l igh t of modern l i terature and ph i losophy and rel i

gious reform dawned onBengal inthe fourteenth, fifteenth

and sixteenth centuries, we st i ll mark that the l ight pro

ceeded from the west . Chand idas’s poetry was inspired

by Bidyapati and other poets of Mithila ; Chai tanya’s

reform was a surv i val and a rev ival of the monast ic

Buddh ism of Magadha ; Raghunath’s schoo l of logic

was an offshoot of the schools of Mithila ; and last ly

Raghunandan’

s compi lat ionof sacred laws was in imi ta

t ionof such compi lat ions made inMithila.

Since the si x teenth century, however, Bengal has

takenthe lead. Chandidas has been fol lowed by a host

1 2

90 M TGRATURE fa? 5BEN6A‘L.

of poets and wri ters inBengal, downto the present cen

tury, whose equals Beharhas not produced. Vaishnav ism

st i l l flourishes inBengal, and has beensucceeded by the

more enl ightened Brahmo ism, based onthe same princi

ples of humanequal i ty and brotherhood,whi le Magadba

has wi tnessed no rel igious reforms inmodernt imes . And

last ly the ph i losoph ical school of Raghunath, founded

inNabadwi p, is at the present day the most renowned

schoo l of H indu logic in Ind ia, wh i le ph i losophy and

logic have dec l ined inMithi la.

The compi lat ionof sacred laws for the regulat ion of

the conduct of Aryan H indus beganin Ind ia before the

t ime of Buddha and inthose days each Sut ra-Charam

or d ist inct Sutra schoo l had its separate body of laws

for the use of the fo l lowers of that particular school.

The Charanyavyuha names «five d ist inct Charanas or

schools of the R i g Veda, twenty-seven of the B lack

Yajur Veda, fifteenof theWh i te Yajur Veda, twelve of

the Sama Veda, and nine of the Atharva Veda.

The spread of Buddh ism somewhat d islocated the old

arrangements. and the d ist inct ions beween the separate

Sutra schoo ls were lost. The inst itutes of Mann, wh ich

inthe ir ex ist ing form belong approx imately to the time

of Christ, do not connect themsel ves wi th any part icular

Sutra schoo l, but profess to be the rules for all Aryan

H indus. In other respects, however, Mann’s insti tutes

are sti l l archa ic ; they recognize Ved ic gods and Ved ic

sacrifices, and ignore the modern HinduTrini ty, and

condemn the worsh i p of images.

In later t imes, after the dec line of the old H indu

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

9 : arr-s aunas or saunas .

Bengal . Colebrnoke has translated both M itakshara and

Dayabhaga into Engl ish .

But it was left to Raghunandan to compile a com~

plete code of rules for rel igious ri tes and Ob servances,as they obtainin Bengal in the modern age. Raghunandanwas also of Nabadwi p, and was by about twenty

years junior to Cha i tanya and Raghunath ; and he is

sa id to have also rece ived his early tra ining from the

venerable Vasudeb Sarbabhauma . No other schoo l

master in the world has perhaps turned out suc h three

bri l l iant and great men as Chai tanya, Raghunath and

Raghunandan

Whi le Chai tanya devoted h imse l f to rel igious

reform,wh i le Raghunath spent his l ife in ph i losophical

and logica l stud ies, Raghunandan made his mark byan authori tat i ve and ex haust ive compi lat ion of the

rules of orthodox ri tes and Observances for the people

of Bengal . He d iv ided th is great work into twenty

ei ght chapters, each devoted to a separate subject,” and

be based his rules on a profusion of quotat ions from

the h ighest authorit ies . He laboured for twenty-five

H e himse l f specifies the twenty -eight subjects thus

sfas‘psm mmm ofwfi im I

surfe rs froms finsi m anare t

M a t s m s tmmmfwfi in i

sent g amm asurami m 363 ua ffsmtt si r-rm: cunfisuarom a: lm : mfg-wm ycum gam ma: rm amwarmsm nfi sms lterm WWW we : r

aacuvm rmsn AND ms msrrrvrss. 93

years over th is great work, and it remains a monument,not only of his industry and learning, but also of his

commehensive genius.

I t is need less to state that Raghunandan’s inst itutes,

though st i l l considered the authori tat i ve work in the

matter of rites and Observances inBengal, is los ing its

importance wi th the progress of the t imes. Anorthodox

work wh ich insists wi th theutmost rigouron d istinct ions

betweenBrahmans and non-Brahmans (misca l led Sudras )must lose its we igh t in an age whenthe nonoBrahmans

also claim to be true born Aryan H indus, enti tled to

the learning and the privi leges of AryanH indus. A work

wh ich multiplies and insists on purile rites and hurtful

Of progrw and nationa l well -being . A work wh ich lays

dowa the duties of H induwidows with cruel severity.and reeommends the burning of widows on the pyre,

must fall into disrepute when widowm rdage has beeo

legalized and the burning of widows has beenstamped

out as anofl’

ence and a crime agaimt hum nity. A more

advanced and health ier compi lation of rules for the

social and religiom use of modern HinM MM on

theirancient scriptures, has beoome a desideratum.

These remarks should not be wmida ed as a reflec'

tion again“ Raglmnandan ; it h w huk of lhat

grea t compiles that the times have d amped, and that

the rules compiled by him are no loaga otm ed .

The scholar and the student can reopen the laws

of “w or d Mand amw dm hn hne

94 m a na g e or BENGAL.

become obsolete among modern H indus and' modern

Romans.

The schoo l of Smrr'

lr'

started by Raghunandanst il l

cont inues inNabadwi p. Em inent teachers have handed

downthe trad i t ional learning from generat ion to genera

t ion, and students st i ll at tend the Sw ift? to]: of that

c lassic town, the Ox ford of Bengal .

BesidesM aya, and Smritr’

other branches of Sanscri t

learning have a lso beenstud ied inBengal . In Pfyakamna

or grammar, Bopadeva of Bengal is the greatest wri ter

that modern. Ind ia has . produced . And Krishnananda

of Nabadwi p, who was a contemporary of Cha i tanya,was a great compi ler»of Tantra l i terature, a l iteraturewhich flourishes inBengal only among all the prov inces

of Ind ia. We do not bel ieve however that the other pro

vinces lose much by the absence of th is c lass of l i tera~

t i tre, as it only reproduces Buddh ist superst i t ious ri tes

and pract ices ina H induguise, wi th»much that is dark,cruel and reprehensi ble. Simi lar Tantra works and

Tantra pract ices are knowninTh i bet and other. Bud~

dhist countries to th is . day.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

96 LITERATURE or saunas.

t ionof quot ing the whole of the account left by Mukunda

Ram ina note.

’ We give the substance of it inEngl ish.

in31 Ev i l? ! Qfl ‘l t

£4! t m u

Ufefl sfimwm t

sa fafiwma m m m

mms tew sfir rtfimm sis-6th

fism'fl 'rnm r

w m mfin ham m erWar saw-raf ts .

rm fl ifl f’ftm sum m mt’tsmfi hmsw afi rt r

sfas t tmm vm outfi tsm cmm m w t fi t

m qm s fm rsi w armestm omm m rfin

m fl t h tm frnqfi mt'tmfWWmm fifh t

m o rt ars! rm wmt wmnwt nmm fis afe r

m cm cwu t fisfimfl fi mat! one a s atfam an

arewhimsnah nms emma t: fi

r: mfiWmr

infirm! exi ts an: atommm wesawsrfrmm «ona

min wit h! carsm s {strawtum so cm H wish

BURUNDA RAM AND ms CHANDL 97

The ancestors of Mukunda Ram to the si xth or

s eventh generat ionl ived inthe pet ty v i l lage of Daminya,engaged inagricultural pursui ts. I t appears that when

m flm flh sa vannal fv m i firs f ts nm t

rtfimt t rfismin? not arms o f?not se

'

t firmram r

( s tats tuf t-s as an! firs t fileWWW2mmsini

firs t“MW1 1 fi lms In a

fins fe tal finfew“i t t wt! nth art?art s fitflt

N ews! ( inGrim r

rim saof!

WWwe“

Cw fro r

mm mm asti amo mssaws asst: was»

wasfirst h ean! riffs: SWrmfire new arm on: r

mmmmwe! h amany: fi rst”I?"m 3mam t

1m affirm firs tms of? «for

set amfirm W r

m Hi stw ai t wtufiram sf!

am SWfarm I f“ Imorem : 33 si ft ntfira rmas

W firmwfirfirst firs t iW?! 507m m i fromm mi

wtmfirms aft-te asks a

as?! W e at? firs t an in?“s tasis {i s swim

98 Lr'

rm arunn or BENGAL.

Man Sinha became the ruler of Bengal, MuhammadShari f, anoppress ive man, was invested wi th powerand in

fluencc,and as a consequence the people were grievous ly

oppressed . Brahmans and Va ishnavas, traders and

agricul turists, were subjec ted to equal tyranny ; fal low

lands were entered as arable 1 5 katas of land were

reckoned as a bigah by a v ic ious system of measurement.

Every Rupee was short by z ' annas. The agricul turistsbeganto sel l 05 their catt le and grain, of wh ich there

was a glut in the market, so that th ings of the value of

a rupee so ld for t o annas. Gopinath Nand i , the Talulrdar

under whom the poet held his lands, and who is des

cribed as a pious man, got into a scrape and was im

prisoned .

W arm qf’

a m am! ‘i i‘n“WW W l

"561 1a m fwmfisitsWmfltf’t firnm I

are h i man e tfira mmm

as them as amamWe

i ll film 3 mm I

an m t! an: emfi lmy

fi t fi nuan“m r

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

100 LITERATURE OF BENGAL.

v i l lage of Bainan. The descendants of Raghunath , the

pupi l and protector of the poet, l ive in Senapat a

v i l lage about four mi les from Anra ; their estates have

all beentaken overby the Raja of Burdwan.

Mukunda Ram has left us two poems . The first is the

tale of Kalalt etu, a hunter, and his wi fe Fullara ; and the

other one is the celebrated story of Srimanta Sadagar.

We wi ll briefly narrate the plot of each poem.

The book begins, as usua l, with prayers to several

gods and goddesses, and wi th anaccount of Chandi, her

prev ious ex istence as the daughterof Daksha, the destruot ionof his celebrated sacrifice by Siva, Chand i

's second

birth as the daughter of the H imalayas, the des truct ion

of Kama, the grief and re l ig ious penances of Chandi,

and her final unionwi th S iva .

° Thenfollows the story of

Kalaketu.

Kalaketu the hero of the poem is a hunter of

low birth, and proves to be the strongest among the

strong. H e frequents the wood every day wi th his bow

and arrows, and ki l ls wi ld beasts, often fight ing numbers

of them single hannded . H is fame as a brave younghunter increases day by day, and incourse of time he is

married to Fullara. The married l ife of Kalaketuand

Forwant of s cc we are unable to make any ex tract s, butthe reader wi l l fin ma

y passages inthis part of the work ful l ofthe cho icest humour. e would refer him to the disputes betweenHam and Parm ti , as wel l as to the regrets of Womenat their ownevi l fate, when they see the handsome face and form o f the bride

groom, Siva. Most o f ourreaders know the ce lebrated passages of

Bharat Chandra onsimi lar suh'

ec ts, but most of them do not knowthat these pas sages o f Bharat andra are only imitations from the

origina l of Mukunda Ram.

M UN DA RA“ AND;CGRANDL

Fullara has been well depicted by the’

poet, and the

strongest impression that one receives from}:a perusal

of the poem is its intense real ity . The hutiwf, strong

and robust, but somewhat rude tn his habi ts, frequents

the forests and l ives onthe proceeds of his spo i l . Kri ll?the poor but fa i thful Fnllara takes the meat to the m atey

-

g."

cooks food forher husband, and administers to his wanta'

n

like a careful housewife that she is .

But Chand i wi l l not al lowher favourite Kalaltetutopine in poverty . She appears in his but during his

absence as a womanof superb beauty, and gives Pul lara

to understand that she is des irous of sharing with

her the affec t ions of Kalalt etu. Poor, s imple-m inded

Fullara ! She is in a great fri gh t at see ing a rival of

such beauty, and wi th ill-concealed jea lousy she ad

v ises her to returnto her husband, and never to leave

the paths of virtue. A long conversat ion ensues, and

the whole is one of the most interest ing passages inthe

work . The fair intruder however is immovable, and we

almost th ink we see the smi le of rid icule wh ich curls her

swee t l ips as she l istens to her ri val . Pul lara then

d iscourses on her own sorrows,and tries to d issuade

the fa ir v is i tant from sharing them,and the eloquence

wi th wh ich she dwel ls on her poverty and troubles

all the twe lve months inthe year, would a lmost affect

any l istener. But the d isguised goddess says, truly

enough, that she has weal th of her own wi th whic h

she wi l l make Kalaketuhappy . Throughout the pas

sage the repl ies of the goddess have a double meaning .

Mos t of our Bengal i readers are fami l iar wi th the

roz um aruar: or BENGAL.

o

account inBho

alnet Chandra 5 poetry, wh ich C hand i gi ves

of herselCw war the ferrymanwhenhe takes her acrossthe

.

river} : The goddess, whi le v irtual ly g iv ing a true

aco

co

'

nq t of hersel f,makes the ferrymanbel ieve that she is

agihorwomanwho has left her husband’s home in grief.

most of our readers are not aware that the passage

only a copy of a simi lar passage inMukunda Ram’s

poetry, and in some places it is a copy word forword .

“

We give a few ex tracts here from the remarkahle conversationbetweenPul lara and Chand i, but prudent ly refrain from venturingto trans late them into Eng l ish .

not {artwri t“{Tamm t

atam vkm am at: w

’

tfit i

{M E ma one: am w i th larts wfimam am firms! nm amfs arms armnWm t

m mW!“m swamlt enet -

“

s in! cats s tf‘st 'sm i l t

firearm( i ts wi th afi t swtfvi t r

Wwas fsfs amt 1mm came! lfi ts 3131 i ts stirfi lmarm! I

era cmgm sfircmWre n

a?arcs 3 3? fire vra at wafe r«5m in? ! b i? ! afwwarts ti cs 1

Wms tfimwasmm‘

( Ce l

m fin{ca“femurtrashF a s amWm w r

armmg m aw’mm um 1m m misfitm r

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

roa LITERATURE or BENGAL.

Poor Fullara, when she finds all herentreaties and

tears are of no avai l, leaves the hut and goes to meether husband in the agony of her heart. She returns

sem inars W WWrltsmwtfi t 'ttrsm ’t i

m m : mmamm afit fwennt

mnh a a sfis WW Wm aratfi m a nm

a ma mwit W mm mfitwe satinor! isn't t

ins via i t‘

s efir mmmm mfir

W anna WWWmfs tm m m r

murmurs m m1

wam mfit m t

m fiw fin m nw fis finas fi m n s cn

Fullara says

csmwrfi t fit sm summersfl am m wss t

es m qrrfs rfit rts fim‘tfis

m qy u“ WNW «mam as;

WW1 fimwhi m s? w h e n “

( fl sfi fl cw m u

MURUNDA RAM AND H IS C HAND I . 105

wi th Kalaketuwho is equal ly struck at the remarkable

beauty of the fa ir v is i tant, but po l i tely rebukes her for

coming alone into his house. C hand i makes no reply,on which Kalaketu, wi th his accustomed boorishness,wants to send her out somewhat unceremoniously, andeventakes to his bow and arrows. But lo his strength

fa i ls him,and he stands l i ke a pic tured warrior

,un

ab le to shoot. Chand i then d iscovers hersel f, and to

make a long story short, po ints out the spot where

gold and treasures are buried, and Kalaketu be

comes a rich man. By order of C hand i he hews down

a forest, and founds a new town ded icated to the

goddess.

Inhis account of the found ing of the new town the

poet gives us a graph ic picture of the manners of the

t imes inwh ich the work was wri tten. The way inwh ich

raiyats were induced to sett le ina new v i l lage, the righ ts

and immuni t ies promised to them,the loanof cat t le and

grainand money giventhem, the d ifferent customs of the

people of d i fferent fai ths and cas tes,- Muhammadans,

Brahmans, Vaidyas, Kayasthas, Goa las, Tel is, Kamats,Kumars, &c .

,-all th is has been depicted wi th a fide l i ty

and photograph ic minuteness unequa l led inthe whole

range of Bengal i l i terature.

Among the menwho come to dwel l inthe new town,Gujrat

,is one BharuDatta anastute Kayastha and an

impudent impostor. The poet has d isplayed a remark

able power indel inea t ing this character. H is vani ty is

unbounded, and the coo lest impudence suppl ies the

p lace of rea l worth . We subjo in a passage in wh ich

1 4

zoo m eaaruae or BENGAL.

Bharu Datta at his first meeting wi th Kalaketugi vesa boastful account of h imsel f. There is a vein of the

richest humour pervad ing the passage.

’

0 65 1331Q m mj 'flfll

wts é rwwt sa vma immwrtm n fi sl cmmd mim

all “ l lmmt finm m

kfirm m

m m mfiufimm afit 1? !m

W WQCN émsm s mm ah fi stwm t

t l3at a wtfit wwits rs

www wm m m csm i

”313WW fl fi m m l

« W m fi fi stfi fl l

war-m imp : Infant I

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

108 m saaw ae or? BENGAL.

face and demeanourof the young g irl . H is wife 18 a

cous inof Khullana, and as merry repartees are allowed

between such re lat i ves, Khullana repl ies to him merri lyand wi t t i ly . Proposa ls fol low

,and Khullana’s father con

sents to the match . But his wi fe Rambhabat i natura l ly

hes i ta tes to give her only girl to a manwho has a lread ya wife, and administers a sound curtain lecture to her

ma te, spiced wi th such mi ld epi thets as m l i t“

”a”

,with wh ich many a careful house-wi fe in modern

as we l l as in anc ient t imes has expressed her k ind re

gards for her husband . The bridegroom Dhanapa ti

too has the benefit of a simi lar lecture from his wi fe

Lahana, cousin of Khullana, for wishing to marry

aga in at th is mature age ; but a k ind word turneth

away wrath, and Dhanapa t i knows the truth of the say ing .

He accosts Lahana in the politest of terms, says thatthe new bride is only to rel ieve Le hana of hermenial

work, and gi ves her go ld for ornaments wh ich have

a lways a magic d i ed in comfort ing and compos ing

the fema le m ind . The marriage fol lows, but the happypa ir are no t al lowed to taste its sweets . The k ing

wishes to have a golden cage for a pet bird, and

Dhanapati is ordered to go to Eastern Bengal where

such art ic les were manufactured . Dhanapati leaves his

v i llage in the D istrict of Burdwan, leav ing his new

wi fe Khullana to the tender merc ies of her fel low-wife

Lahana.

For some t ime the two wives l ive in peace, but as

often happens in H indu fami l ies, a female servant

foments the ir jea lousies and arouses the ir hatred towards

MUKUNDA RAM AND H ls CHAND I . 109

each other. Durbala, a character very powerful ly drawn,repa irs to the elderwife Lahana

,d iscourses onthe beauty

of Khnllana, and impresses on Lahana that Dhana

pat i wil l neglect her on his return. Such insinuat ions

arouse . Lahana’s jealousy, and after some subterfuges

she has a letter forged,purport ing to come from

Dhanapati, and d irect ing that Khullana should be

employed in tending goats. Khullana is no pat ient

Griselda, forMukunda Ramneverpaints characters wi th

superhuman v irtues or v ices. Khullana, though the

hero ine of the poem,is l ike any ord inary womanof flesh

and blood, and it is no part of the poet’s scheme to

represent her‘

as possessed of extraord inary pat ience or

v irtue. She falls out with her fel low-wife, and evenreturns

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 . Wi th a heavy heart and bi tter tears she goes

through th is unaccustomed and humi l iat ing task, and

the account of her long sufferings and sorrows and

of herwanderings in fie lds and jungles, her so l i loquies

and addresses to birds, her sleep and her dream of

hermother, —these are among the most affect ing passages

in the work.‘

We make a fewex tracts here.

{em 1mmairs vim tart arm I“If?!WWma; sfinm I

sums vifs-

s ai l T4 w as as lcafe! mm am“if? at! N I

" 0 LITERATURE O? BENGAL.

Chand i at last comes to the rescue of Khullana. She

appears to Lahana - in a v isionand upbraids her, and

Lahana repeats, embraces Khullana as her sistenarmd

matnt fium fiusfi t

t iss sfm 'm si 'mmfl r

m wnem sam nwi

W t fi m tm m szm vituem m ctfi l fi mwmi

wafhaafirrsrlmm atu

mm smm m m i

fiwfi s mfimm mm m uzmsram m vrmm i

wtf‘rrs wifat fi aswfiimsm r

m m i

v tfiv smminimi s es?”uWfi m sfi fufl fi m i

{am t its are stirs cart-tn

wri‘

fl m atzase e 'm i

W firzev lit? aah

-t 6 1Wli

safari exam WNW! m i

w sm m m w m i

It was for a Saleb ird that her husband went to Bengal toprocure a go ldencage, and Khullana bursts forth into anex c lamationof grief onseeing a pair of Sub b irds onthe tree

mi sat qfi fm amv m at i

wtffl stmfawms fam mfwsmm tffi t wfm tm l

damnation crfim fwut mflfiwmfimfifsm t

nfs i tw i s tar

{flfl l as ‘l ‘i flfi u

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

" 2 LITERATURE OF BENGAL.

as the young and beauteous Khullana, the

her husband ?

m acaw m mwave f orm .

h wfr s tri m -msfl’

te mflhs fl muW fim mfl tvfwm

fmnam af’u

Wfim mtwtm

fm fm t fi il

si e rra-

ems mama“mes fm st'i

’

t t

{g ram are sti f’tm

M i lWi lli: fif‘lu

m um sfsm 'twavfi m m t

Khullana’s address to the Koki l also deserves to be quoted

a rtfw ct we s it W at l

firmW carts at it

ai r? “at ?m an:nmWtm y arm m twfs l

w ca lms s tat em fem “fats armas twat mm {mu

m x unna RAM AND ms CRANDI . 1 13

We shal l not dwell onthe joy of the young wi fe on

t he returnofher husband noronthe schemes of Durbala

who, true to her character, goes first to congratulate

Khullana wi th msmar cm “Inawa it s mt” &c. , and

t hen to Lahana to foment her‘

anger and jealousy wi th“WW W“1m Eli

'

s”8m. Thenfol lows a graph ic

account of Durbala’s bringing th ings from the market and

the young wife cooks them wi th sk i l l of a c/ré/ dc mamat o please herhusband . Lahana attempts to conceal‘her

cruelty towards Khullana by many specious excuses,

«i ts « firs ts ate m ust them am mfl i i

M um s

ammsm ntw ii

w att s ate miir-tfitWt i tsm mfl fl fimssh

was am: an a nstit are s inszm m m q l l

M m mm WWWafisfi mmfiimn

m m a rs m mfi firfl alm

W m mmm rmmm armw ith so: cwafs u

SUNi f“was $ 5 5”sfim fawitW ”instrfiWW

fi rst film was in

r1 4 ursasw s s or BENGAL.

and vainly tries to d issuade Khullana from go ing to her

lord . Need less it is to dwel l on the raptures of the meet~

ing be tween Dhanapat i and Khullana who appears in

superb dress and beauty, recounts her sufl'

eriugs, but

forgets them all in the embraces of her lord .

But there is no res t for the merchant . The k ing is

inwant of some spices, and Dhanapa ti must again leave

his home and h is young wife, then wi th ch ild, and

sa i l to Cey lon for the spices. Go ing down the Ajay

river, the vesse l comes to the modern Hugl i R iver, and

successively passes by Nabadwi p, Sant i pur, Tri beni, and

thencomes into the boi sterous 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 descri bed in very uncompl imentary language.

After th is themerchant must come out into the opensea,and the poet’s not ions of geography become somewhat

hazy, for he makes his hero pass first through a sea of

prawns and lobsters,then through a sea of crabs, then

through one of snakes, thenof al l igators, thenof cowries,thenof couches 1 Any how the merchant at last manages

to come to Setubandha and thence to Gelyun. Inthe

adjacent seas Dhanapati sees, through the decept ion of

C hand i, a marve l lous sigh t, 01'

s , that of a damsel of

superb beauty s i tt ing ona lotus and swal lowing an ele

phant H e narrates th is story to the King ofCeylonwho

takes him to be a l iar and an impostor and imprisons

him, and so ends his adventure.

A t Ujjaini, Khullana has a sonwhom she names

Sri pat i or Srimanta. Incourse of t ime the infant grows

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

r16 LITERATURE or as sent.

gives a true account of h imse lf to the young Srimanta,

li tt le knowing that it is his own sonhe is speflcing to

Srimanta st i l l rema ins incogni to, and hands over the last

wi lland testament which his father had left wi th Khullanabefore leaving home. Afl

'

ec ting is the passage in wh ich

the old man, on see ing the letter, suddenly recollects

his d istant home and cries out inbi tter grief. The son

d iscovers h imse lf, and they both return home to the

bosom of their fami ly .

Such are the plots of Mukunda Ram’s poems with

regard to the meri ts of his poetry we have said muchalready . I ts most remarkable feature is its intensereal i ty . Many of the inc idents are Stiperhumanand miraculous, but the though ts and fee l ings and sayings of

his menand womenare perfect ly natural, recorded with

a fidel i ty wh ich has no parallel inthe who le range qfBengal i li terature.

The characters of Mukunda Ram, too,

are not

princes and princesses, but men and women in the

ord inary ranks of l ife, a hunter of low caste and his

wife, a trader and his~two wives. The poet has noord inary powers of character-pa inting. All the picturesbe has drawnare from l ife and often, wi thout almost

intending it,he h its 05 in a few lines a character,

c learand d istinguishable from all others. Kalaketuis aboorish, strong, brave and s imple-minded hunter, Fullaraa poor dut iful wi fe, Murari Si l an astute shop keeper,BharuDatta an impudent and pretend ing impostor,Dhanapati anease-lov ing easy-going, elderly, well-to—do

trader, Lahana and Khullana are rival wives, with all

MUKUNDA RAM AND H IS CHANDB. I I I

the faul ts and angry passions of rival wives, and Durbala

is a scheming old servant, wi th all the misch ievousness.

and self- importance of old servants inH induhouseho lds .

Pathos is a strong po int inMukunda Ram’s wri t ings.

A sufi'

erer h imself,he has a ready sympathy for all

sufferers ; and poor Fullara and poor Khullana are not

ord inary sufferers. Mukunda Ram’s language is flowing,

perspicuous and musical, and a quiet humour pervades

his poetry.

CHAPTER XI

RAM Pas san AND ms SONGS.

E iglmmflr century .

Ir is possi ble to be a true poet wi thout being a great

poet, and Ram Prasad Senis a true poet, every inch of

him. Inhis l ife and ac ts, no less thaninhis songs, the

poet predominates over the man.

Raja Krishna Chandra Rai of Nad iya wi l l always

figure inthe annals of Bengali l i terature as a l i beral and

enl igh tened patron of learning . The court of Krishna

C handra was anassemblage of poets and learned Brah

mans . Of these, two have left their names and works

to posteri ty. Ram Prasad Senand Bharat Chandra Rai

are the two great poets of the e ighteenth century .

Ram Prasad Sen, a Va idya hy caste, was born in

Kumarhatta inHal isahar in the d ist rict of Nad iya, pro

bably about 1 720. He was the son of Ram Ram Sen,

and the grandsonof Rameswara Sen and he had a son

named Ram Dulal, and a daughternamed Jagad iswari.

In early l ife he went to Calcutta as a Sarkar or

agent of a wel l- to-do c itizen; but l ike Frank Osbaldi

stone, he filled his ledger books wi th poetry, and

composed songs whenhe should have cast up accounts.

The Head Sarkar took offence at th is gross breach of

all rules and precedents, and took the trembl ingyoung poet and his account books to his master.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 20 M I RATURB OF BENGAL.

l ived in his faith in Kati . Kali or Sakt i, Drugs or

C hand i,is not anunapproachable deity ; she is the

idea l of a» H indu mother, tender and loving beyond

expression, ministering to every want and helpful in

every di fficul ty . In her inimi table love she must putup even wi th the reproaches of her wayward sons ;

and the songs to Ka li are oftener compla ints of hercruel tyt han thanksgiv ings for hermercy. Most of the songs of

Ram Prasad relate to Kal i, and it is imposs i ble to com

vey to t he Engl ish reader any th ing of the pa thos and

the tenderness wi th which the poet appeals to his dei ty,

or rather the chi ld appea ls to his mother. In this con

sists the beauty, the simpl ic ity, the sweetness of Ram

Pra sad’s songs, a sweetness so overpowering, that everr

to the paesent day the l istener is afl'

ected by them as

the very beggars of our towns s ing the strains of RamPrasad from street to s treet .

The fame of Ram Prasad Senspread from day to day,t ilt at last Raja Krishna C handra Rai of Nad iya heard

of him,and welcomed him,

and l istened to his songs. To

know the poet was to admire him, to know the manwas

to l ike him, and Ram Prasad soon rose in the Raja’s

favour. He rewarded him wi th the t itle of Kab iranjan,and wi th the more substant ial gi ft of a 100 bigahs of

rent-free land . Inreturn,Ram Prasad wrote a poem on

the wel l -known story of B idya Sundar, and ded icated

it to the Raja . We must admi t, this work is d isappo intingto the readert I t was not inRam Prasad’s l ine to wri te

long narrat ive poems, and his attempt was a fai lure. Pro~

bably too his anx iety to make the present commensurate

RAM PRASAD AND HIS SONGS . 1 2!

wi th the k indness of the Raja hampered him inhis com

posi t ion. We may therefore di smiss th is subject wi th the“remark, tha t the Bidy a Sandor of Ram Prasad is general ly

s tifl'

and art ific ial, but shews a thorough mastery e f an~al l it erat ive though somewhat art ificial sty le.

!

Seveml Stories are told about Ram Prasad .

'I t

i s sa id he went to Mursh idabad wi th Raja K rishna

C handra, and sang to the Raja ina boat onthe Hugl i .The boat of Nawab Surajuddawla passed that way,

and the Suhahdar was pleased wi th Ram Prasad’s songs,

got him into his ownboat, and commanded him to s ing.

Ram Prasad sang inH ind i, but the Subahdarwould have

none of it , and ordered Ram Prasad to sing the same

s ongs he had sung just before. The poet d id so, and it

i s said, the Subahdarwas charmed wi th the performance.

Bidya’: lament antire apprelxmu

’

onof Sumter.

mm«am assmics fl m fi

finfinarms sacs lw e at om m a a smm

inmi WI?! am a

The Queen’s lament on the detect ionof kt ?

m aneach fi sh: afmirmwas? was « awasfi rs t

.Tbe Queen'

s address toMe Kings

fins arfa riffs fl it are inPMas a?W2mfl e w?a .

M 2 “JFKERATURE OF EBENGAL.

A curious story is told of Ram Prasad’s death . On'the last day of the Ka l i Puja, whenthe Hugl i was covered

wi th boats carry ing the images of Kal i, Ram Prasad

became unusual ly exc i ted . H e sang of Kal i t i l l, by one

«account, he jumped from his boat into the ri ver and was

drowned, or by anotheraccount, be fel l downi t a swoon

and d ied .

We quote below a fewof the most popular songs ofRam Prasad.

’

at i ts sfitm can! and“29111 m W‘W m m mfiusm'

wm wtema stm m nm mt

ma w m x ewh ersm m nm mw m wmuw ezm m mt

afi mfl musfl wnm nnm a fl i

30? ment ram N ewcafe -Wars awswat msfi mmsmmfinmm w m m i

firsts ma fia affi m m m ‘nm m.

amam:WWIWWIM :

a cafinfi uaamfiwm m meataah sfnnwe am ananam aw eum stvi

’tm wmmm

eat anhea v iest! mw h im amestimate 9um am mm at anfi mcammfit ems firms as can: emits anI

atmmWare I

was ( SWmmwa s T6 i

d o: fm a nmi as awfines arm :

w ars {tnorat 66m cafs ca ts am as .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

CH APTER XI I .

BHARAT C H ANDRA RAIL.

E 1371: leeti t/z fen/u( y.

Conrmrroaaneousuv wi th Ram Prasad Sen, and equallyfavoured by Raja Kri shna Chandra Rai, l ived a more

sk i lful poet, the talented Bharat Chandra Rai,—a“mine

of talent” or Gunnkar, - as the Raja ca l led him.

Bharat Chand ra Rai was the fourth sonof Raja

Narendra Nara inRai, a Z e mindarof Burdwan. The seat

of his zemindari was at Pandua in the Pargana of Bhur

ant, and his residence was surrounded on all sides by

a moat, traces of wh ich are v isible to the present day.

Narendra Narainhad d isputes wi th Kirt i Chandra Rai,

Raja of Burdwan, and made insul t ing al lusions wi th t e

ference to K irt i Chandra’s mo ther. The queenmother

was incensed, and sent an army wh ich attacked and ‘

took. the forts of Bhabani pur and Pandua, and desolated

the states of Narendra Nara in, Narendra Narain was ,

reduced to penury, and his young sonBharat Chandra .

fled for shel ter to the house of his maternal unc le at

Nawapara, near Gazipurr inthe Pargana of Maudalghat.

There he stud ied grammar and dict ionary,. and at the age

of fourteenreturned to his nat i ve v i l lage, and married a girl

of the v i llage Sarada. The match was considered dis

honorable, and Bharat Chandra’s elder brothers reproved

him for it . The future poet left his home ind isgust, and .

HRH /VI"

CHANDRA RAF. 1 25

took shel ter wi th one Ram Chandra Munsh i , a Kayastha

inhabi tant of Debanandpur near Bansbarta in the

d istrict of Hugh,and there commenced the stud y of

Pers ian.

The first poems that B harat Chandra publ ished to

the world were composed under curious c ircums tances .

Bharat Chandra was asked to read hymns to Satya

Nara in on a certainoccas ion by the people with whom

he l ived . The fest ive day came, and how great was

the surprise of the peop le when, instead of read ing the

verses usua l ly read onsuch occas ions, be read out {Mverses spec ially composed by him for the occas ion.

How much greater was the ir astonishment when on

being asked to chant verses aga in a few days after on

a similar occas ion, he read out a new set of ( despa ir?

verses which he had composed afresh on the same

subjec t. The poet was thenonly fifteen.

At the age of twenty Bharat re turned home, and as

he was wel l versed in the Persian languag e, he went

over to the court of the Raja of Burdwan, as a Muktear

oragent for his brothers for the ir joint estate.

Bharat’s brothers however fai led to remi t rent induet ime , and the Raja, ac tuat ed probably by his o ld grudge

against the fami ly, confiscated the estate and took it

over as his kbar lands. Bharat was inaprudent enough

to protest,

and he was imprisoned Poor Bharat

Chandra was now in utterm isery, but he did not lose

heart. He bribed the ja i lor and escaped , and at once

fled to Cuttack, where he l ived under patronage of Siva

Bhatta the Mahmtta Subahdar of the place. Cuttack,

no L inaarvaa or BENGAL .

as our readers know,has always beena great stronghold

of the Vaishnavas, and in the ir company Bharat turneda Va ishnava and assumed the dress . and demeanour of

the sec t. Short ly after, wh i le onhis journey to Brinda

ban, he was surprised by some of his d i stant relatives

at Khanakul Krishnagar. As rig id H indus, they were

shocked. at the -convers ionof the poet . They prevented

him from go ing to Brindaban, and aftermuch persuas ionmade him forsake his Vaishnava dress, and Bharat was a

H induhouseholder once more. The readers of Aa aada

Mange ! know that indescribing the double conversion

of Vyasa, who firs t became a Vaishnava and thena

Sakta or Saiva, the poet has part ly'

explained and partly

apologized for his owneonduct .

After a short res idence at hi s father- in- law’s house

at Sarada, Bharat Chandra went oven to Chandranagar,where Indra Narain Pal Chaudhuri, Dewan of the

French Government, rece ived: him with honor. This

Pal Chaudhuri was a friend of Raja Krishna Chandra of

Nad iya, and used to lend him. money. On one occa

s ion,when Raja Krishna Chandra came to Chandra

nagar, I'

ndra Nara in introduced the poet ro~h im. The

Raja was pleased wi th the young poet, took him over

to Krishnaghar, and appo inted him. as a Pand i t of his

court ona month ly pay 06 40 Rs. He was pleased

wi th the- short pieces wh ich the poet now and thencom

posed, and asked him to compose a long poem, Armada

Mangaz’, after the sty le of Mukunda Ram’

s (Mandi .

Bharat composed the poem, and a Brahman of the

name of N ilmani Samadar set it to mus ic, and sang it

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

ureaaruaa or BENGAL.

wh ich Mukunda Ram’

s works are replete. Mukunda

Ram draws from nature, Bharat Chandra daubs his

pic tures wi th gorgeous colours. B harat Chandra is

the more po l ished and arti fic ial poet, Mukunda Ram

is the truerpa interand the greater poet .

That Bharat Chandra has his beaut ies, none will

deny . His three works Armada Mange], Bidy a Sunder,and Mansinl ot form one cont inuous story, and are

in rea l i ty but one work . L i ke Mukunda Ram, Bharat

Chandra intends to glorify the name and deeds of the

goddess Uma or Chand i, and instead of narrat ing

the story of an imaginary hero, he has takenup the story

of the l ife of Bhahanand Mazumdar, the renowned ah

coster of his patron and benefactor, Raja Krishna

Chandra Rai of Nad iya. The poet begins with an

account of the birth of Uma, the great feast g i ven

by Daksha to wh ich Siva was not inv i ted, the self~

immo lationof Urna in consequence, her second birth

as daugh ter of the H imalayas, her marriage wi th

S iva, and other my thological stories with wh ich every

H indu is fami l iar. The poet’s rare power of gracefulversificat ion enables him to te l l these stories wi th

e ffec t, the reader peruses page after page wi th the

same sense of pleasure, and at t imes he is struck wi th

passages in which the poet shews a keen sense of

humour. Such, for instance, is the descri pt ionof Siva's

marriage, and such aga in is the account of his d isputes

wi th his young wife. We need scarcely remind our

readers, however, that in all these descri pt ions Bharat

is a c lose imi ta tor o f Mukunda Ram.

BHARAT CHANDRA s ax . i zg

We need not stop to narrate how the great poet

and saint, Vyasa, quarrel led wi th Siva, and made an

abortive attempt to bui ld up a new Benares to ri val

the townof Benares where Siva is worshi pped by all.

We pass over all th is, and at last find Uma onherway

to the house of Bhabanand Mazumdar. She has to

cross a stream,and the account she gives of herse lf to the

ferrymanis justly regarded as remarkable spec imen of

art ist ic poetry. The whole passage may be interpreted

intwo different ways, and whi le the ferryman under

stands her to be the neglected wife of a Kul inBrahman

71m « Fm new” ii i

m i rrit ant?! riFm i wfa I

fat-ms afam affi rmmfi: Ian: wi nat: Rift « it as l

cam s am fem ‘R‘Wh‘

b l

w WamI ‘m'R'lm l

foetal firmmm 3mmam lW ‘ifis ci t sif t am: at: i

curfew “fife rm fi ’t'l I

m mM =ttf’

t si swas was llmm: new m m fit! I

a mmm m w wi fe?“Wh it: ame ta e ms afit i

shimw enca ems fitmt fl i

{6 3161331nf‘s m m m uat a narm amfit ?! canm i

wfmma aware ain’t first s ti iat mm awnem eta« s ati n

130 u'

rrzaaruas or annex e

who has many other wives, the goddess obscurelygi ves a true account of herself. Ou

‘

r readers wi l l perceive

that th is passage is only an imi tat ion of a s imilaro

ingenious passage inMukunda Ram’s work but we con

fess the imi tat ion is superior‘

to the orig inal both in

grace and inart, for Bharat is superior to Mukunda

Ram in art . Uma at last reaches the house of

Bhahanand Mazumdar, and from that day the house

ri ses inglory and importance . P ratap Ad itya Rai, a

refractory Z emindarof Jessore'l swaripur, defies the power

of the EmperorAurungzeb, and the renowned ManSinha

i s sent to quel l the ch ief. That warrior finds some d iffi»

cul ty incarry ing his forces over the swamps and marshes

of SouthernBengal , and Bhabanand renders him signal

assistance. At last a bat t le is fought of which we have a

spiri ted though somewhat grotesque descript ion, and

Pratap Ad i tya is k i l led . I t is whenBhabarrand is aecom

pany ing ManSinha inhis marches that he narrates to the

Raj put chief the story of Bidya Srmdar ; so that that

story is not a port ionof the mainplot inany way.

In the story of B idya Snndar the poet has tried to

cast a stainonthe Raj fami ly of Burdwan, and his early

d isputes wi th that fami ly must have impelled him to the

task . The Germanpoet Heine s ings

Afi'

ront the living poets not ,With weapons and flames they are furnished .

And Bharat Chandra has certainly revenged h imself

on the house of Burdwan wi th his d irest weapons in

his story of Bidya Sundar. The story’

is that of a

princess of the Burdwanhouse, who fal ls in love wi th

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 32 LITERATURE or BENGAL .

Other inc idents follow, and the prince Sundar at

last finds admiss ion into the appartments of the

languish ing princess B idya. The descri ptions which

fo l low are repugnant to modern taste, and have left

11: 11W! mamma lv ifir mm arm arm{31 {fat T51 31 (w i th

cm : cm {fir t fimmmfi vfila ma m mfinwrit s wfim firm unfi t

flat. 1 ! «a W m i

in in an aura m um err on atq mfit iw wai ts wtfit csmfi i

fist s W1 i tt amt :caratswas fi t arm (F il l !

affair o th er {331 turnin nfiim W arman: N w: W an"

fume fi rm i t ?! P M

we cam an”! Gin emufi vnm cwfi fi

‘

fl m i

a h yfi mt m a man

qaz ft cnufvfami‘m

M m ti fi 'tmm "

M m fisfiaw’

tflt i flfl i

cw m m firfim

BHARAT CHANDRA RA) . 1 33

a stainon Bharat Chandra’s poetry and famca Bidya’s

frai lty is soon d iscovered, and the anger of the queenmother at her daughter’s misconduct is powerful ly descri bed .

’ At last the young prince is detected and ordered

m fi ‘t flm i s mmfi m q mfimmfl m( Te s t? wt m ummenwi th !m f't

'

i'lfe ztfira i t!“

wtflm vfsw mu

W fi wm sfimfiwnm cfirt wm i

as Q? {m {h r

W rfit M W !

m nfiswtm tm fimnm

,at Wm m i.

WW M WM

a ttr i t‘ftmm m utantsm m “mi n

Si v aram W fi mm m m :

m m we afar-mM m m firnm sm

m i f“ as (P M

134 museum or sw ear.

to be executed. But the god dess : Kal i interferes rand

saves the offender from his wel l-meri ted punishment,evenas Mukunda Ram’

s Chand i saves Srimanta Sadagt r

whenthe K ing of Ceylonorders his ex ecut ion,Bharat Chandra’s sty le is always rich, graceful and

flowing. Nowhere perhaps inthe .ent ire range of Benga li

l i terature do we find the language of poetry so rich, so

graceful, so overpowering inart istic~beauty as inBidya

Sandor. He is a complete master of the art of versifica

t ion, and his appropriate phrases and rich descri ptions

emi t?! i f! fi l l WWIfir t ftam t ts .m W at!

s tress as as mm ,

m fm m mtw-t fim tmfirrw « firm 0 3cm“

W h a cfi fiwm t tm m

“m (WWW Iv

W fi 'finm‘mswx fsmrmme tre n m i :

W m m v fwfl flfiwm« 1m m W cha i r

mum m m m mfirmr

some emit mmm

q rfirtam t ats sumit

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

CHAPTER X I I I .

RAM MonanRu AND ms RELIG IOUS Reroast .

1774 9833.

We nowenter upon the brightest period inthe annals

of Bengal i l iterature The Bri tish Conquest of Bengal

was not merely a political revo lution, but brought ina greater revo lut ion in

'

thought and ideas, in religion

and social progress. The Hinduintellect came in cork

tact wi th all that is noblest and most healthy inEuropeanh istory and literature, and profited by it. The H indu

mind was to some ex tent trained under the influence of

Europeanthough ts and ideas, and benefited by it.

Towards the close of the last century, WarrenHast ings compi led H indu and Muhammadan laws forthe use of courts, and associated Pand its and Mattlavis

wi th EuropeanJudges for the administration of just ice.

Th is was the first intel lectual contac t betweenEuropeans

and the bes t educated nat ives of Bengal . In 1 799 Carey,

Ward and Marshman began their missionary work in

Serampore and establ ished a Bengal i press they printed

the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and other Bengali

works ; and they even started a Bengal i newspaper:

In 1800 Lord Wel lesley establ ished the Fort Will iamCo l lege for the tra ining of young c iv i l ians in the lan

guages of Ind ia,secured the serv ices of the most learned

Pand its, and encouraged the compi lat ion of vernacular

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

r38 ursRAr'URe or BENGAL.

wh ich he engaged, first wi th his countrymen and then

wi th Christ ian miss ionaries, mark the awakening of a

new l ife inInd ia. The pure and mono’

the is ti'

c H indufa i th wh ich he preached, and

.

the church wh ich he

establ ished, flourish to the present day. And the numero

ous works wh ich he published, inEngl ish and ‘inBengal i ,

have now been compi led and placed ina colleCted‘

form

before his admiring countrymen. The venera'

ble RafiNarayanBasu, h imself a writer of meri t and d ist inct ion,has done a signa l serv ice to the cause ofBengal i l iterature

by publ ish ing the Bengal i works of Raja Ram Mohan

Rai. And later st i l l, the Engl ish works of the great

reformer have b eened i ted and pub l ished in two stout

oc tavo volumes by Jogendra Chandra Ghosh and Isan

Chandra Basu. Our countrymenare grateful to them

for th is patriot ic task but a proper b iography of the

great reformerhas yet to be wri tten. We can, wi th inour limi ts, only narrate a fewlead ing facts relat ing to

his l ife and works.

Ram Mohun’s father was Ram Kanta Rai, a petty

Z emindar, who had served under the Nawabs of Murshidabad, and had witnessed their fal l . And Ram

Mohan’s mo ther was Tarini Debi, a womanof great

p iety and remarkable firmness of character, -v irtues

which descended from mother to son.

H indu boys, ambi t ious of ob ta ining employment,used to learnBengal i and Pers ian inthose days and

Ram Mohanacquired a knowledge of both the languages

inhis nat ive v i l lage . and was then sent to Patna inhis

ninth year to learnArabic . Wi th his remarkable intelli

Ran: sacrum aar. 1 39

gence, young Ram Mb han mastered the Persian and

Arabic languages inthree years, and thenproceeded to

Benares to study Sanscri t. Th is was the turning po int

of Ram Mb han’s l ife It was inBenares that the young

man not only ' mastered the Sanscrit language, butalso . acquired a knowledge of the noble tenets of the

mom'

s/tad: and the Vedanta; wh ich he made it his l ife’

s

work to preach and proc la im to-his countrymen.

After completing his educat ionRam Mohanreturned

to his nat i ve village, and at the early age of si xteen, in the .

year 1 790, he -wrote his famous work on the Idolatrous

Rel igion of' the Hindus (WWW Cm ?! fi‘ffi ‘tlfil )

wh ich is the first l i terary-work inBenga l i prose that we

know of; Forwh i le Bengal i Poetry had flourished in the

prev ious centuries, there was no such thing as a prose

l i terature in Bengal. Raja Ram Mb han Rai is the

flztfirf o/pmse Immature inBengoi .Ram Mohan’s fatherwas grieved and offended at the

publ icat ion of the young reformer’s early wonk,

’and

RamMohanhad to leave his pa ternal : home; and spent

his t ime intravel s ? I t is said he penetra ted‘

into Th i bet

and rema ined there for three years, studying Buddh ism.

We regret we do not find ‘

this first work of Ram Mohan Rai

inthe co l lect iono f his works pub lishcd‘

by Raj Narayan-Basm

i Ram MohanRai himself wrote of this inanautobiographicalsketch, addressed tna friend during his stay inEng land

“When about the age of. si x teen I’

composed a manuscriptl l ing in uest inno the val id ity of the ido latrous system o f the

Hindus. ghis, together with my known sentiments on that

subject v hav ing pro duced a coolness betweenme and my immed iate

kindred , I proceeded on my trave ls, and passed through d ifferentmountries, chiefly within, but some hed the bounds o f Hindustan. ”

x 44 ursaaruas or saunas.

The inv inc i ble combatant next turned -his arms

aga inst the Christ ianmissionaries of Serampore. There

is a h istory connect ed wi th his Precept: af fi rm and his

three Appeal ; wh ich is worth record ing . These essays

were publ ished between 18 20 and 1823, and occupy

over five hundred closely printed octavo pages of Ram

Mohan’s Engl ishworks. From early youth, Ram Mohan

preached monotheism and a pure system of mora l ity,

and he was attracted by the teach ings of Christ when

he came in contact wi th Christ ians. In 1 8 20, he

publ ished inSanskrit and inBengal i the Precept: q asas,

separat ing them “from the abstruse doc trines and

miraculous relat ions of the New Testament .” This

gave offence to the Serampore missionaries, and a reply

appeared inthe Fnknd of lndr'

a, the editorDr. Marshman

add ing his own observat ion, and cal ling Ram Mohan

a“heathen.

”

Ram Mohanpubl ished his first and second Appea ls,indefence of his P recepts, and printed them at the

Bapt ist M issionPress, and Dr. Marshman success ively

repl ied to them. But whenRam Mohan came forward

wi th his th ird and Final Appeal, the Bapt ist M iss ionPress

refused to print it. Ram Mohanwas not to be baffled

he establ ished a press of his own, and publ ished his

End /Appeal wi th its formidable array of Hebrew and

Greek quotat ions. Dr. Marshmanrepubl ished his repl ies

in London, and the Uni tarian Soc iety there published

Ram Mohan’s Appeal: in 1824, and they were repub

lished inAmerica,in 1828 .

The remarkable abi l i ty and learning d isplayed by

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

146 LITERaw are: or BENGAL.

Vidyahag is was the minister of the C hurch from the

commencement . I t was th is minister who kept Up the

church after Ram Mohan's death, unt i l Dwarka Nath’s

sonBevendra nath Tagore accepted t he rel ig ionof the

{Brahma Sam }and became its stay and support .We have so long spokenof Ram Moban

’s labours in

tthe cause of rel ig ion, for his fame rests mainly onhis

re l ig ious reform. But his keen intel lect and encyclo

pred ic mind grasped every question wh ich at tracted

publ ic attent ion, and inevery quest ionh is vast energ ies

were enl isted in the cause of reform. Ram MohanRai

and Dav id Hare and Sir Edward Hyde East were theprime movers in the found ing of the H induCol legein r8 1 7. In 1823 Ram Mohan addressed a letter to

Lord Amherst nthen Governor General, wh ich almost

foreshadows Lord Macaulay’s famous minute on the

meri ts of Sanscri t and Engl i sh educat ion.

" And in the

same year we find him,a long with Dwarka Nath Tagore

‘We quo te the concluding passages of Ram Mohan’s letter here.

“The Sanscri t system of educat ion would he the best ca lculated t o

keep this country in darkness, if such had been the po l icy of the

Brit ish legis la ture . But as the improvement o f the nat ive popula t ionis the object of the Government, it wi l l c onsequent ly promote a morel ibera l and enl ightene dsystem of instruct ion, embracing Mathemat ics,N atura l Phi losophy, Chemistry, Anatomy, with otheruseful sciences,wh ich may be accompl ished wi th the sums proposed by employing a

few gent lemenof talent and learning educated inEurope, and prov idina a Co l lege furnished with necessary books, instruments , ando ther apparatus.

Inpresent i this subj ect to your Lordship, I conce ivemysel fdischarging a so emnduty which I owe to my countrymen, and a l soto tha t enl ightened sovereign and legis lature which have ex tendedtheir benevo lent care to this distant lanrl, actuated by a desire to

improve the inhab itants, and therefo re humb ly trust youwi l l ex cusethe l iberty l ha ve taken inthus ex press ing my sent iments to yourLordship.

”

Raw norm»am . 147

and Pr‘azsauna l KumarTagore, appeal ing to the Supreme

Court and ‘

thento the throne of England for the l i berty

of the Press, and thus start ing that system mP constitu

t ional agi ta t ionfor po l i t ica l rights wh ich his countrymen~

have learned to value so much in' the present day.

RamMohanalso wrote on the rights of H indufemales

inanc ient t imes, and onother legal quest ions, but it washis pro longed endeavours to abol ish the ri te ofSe l f wh ich

brought him to prominent'

onotice wi th the rulers of the

country . We have seen that he began the controversyin 18 18, and after twelve years-of pers is tent ag i tat ionhehad the sat isfact ionof wi tnessing the triumph of the holy

and righteous cause s

“

I t was thus that Ram MohanR’

ai ardentlyand enthu

‘Raja Radha Kama Deb , as the leader of the orthodo x commanity, opposed the abo l it iono f Self. Ram hfohanRai and his party.supported Gok rnment on this memorab le occasion, and presentedanaddress to LordWi l l iam Bent inck after he had an ressed thecruel rite. The reply of the Governor General to th address isworth quoting .

“I t is very satisfac tory f or me to find that, accord ing to'

theopinions of so many

‘

respectable and intel l igent Hindus, the praet ice which has recent ly beenprohib ited, not only was not requiredby the rules of their rel igion, b ut was at variance with those writings which they db emt to be of the greates t force and authoritNothing but a reluctance to inflict punishment for acts which mightbe conscient iously be l ieved to be enjoined by rel igious precepts,could have induced the British Government at any time to permit,within territories under its protect ion, anusage so vio lent ly opposedto the 'ha t fee l ings o f humannature. Those who present this addressare right in suppos ing that by every nat ion

'

inthe world , e x ceptthe Hindus themsel ves, this part of their customs has a lways bebnmade a reproach agains t them, and nothing so strange ly contras tedwith the bet ter fea tures of tbeir own national character, so inconsis-t ent with the afl

'

ect ions which unite fami l ies, so des truct ive o fthe mora l princ iples onwhich society is founde d, has ever subsisted '

amongs t a people in o ther respec ts so civil ized . I trus t that thewproach is removed (or ever and I feel a sincere pleasure ia~

148 mras x rv aa or BENGAL.

siastically supported every movement towards reform and

towards the regenerat ionof his country . Never s ince

the days of Chai tanya has Bengal wi tnessed such intense

agi tat ion as during the first quarter of th is century .

Never has one man attempted and ach ieved more

for his country thanRam MohanRai.

The Emperor of Delh i wished to send anagent to

England to represent some of his grievances, and he

chose Ram Mohanas his agent,and bes towed onhim the

t i tle of Raja. Raja Ram Mohan had always eagerly

wished to v isi t the westernworld and glad ly seized th is

Opportuni ty, and he left for Europe in1 830.

H is stay inEng land brought him no rest. His fame

had preceded him, and Ram MohanRai was requested

to g ive his ev idence before the Select Commi ttee of the

House o f Commons onthe Jud ic ial and Revenue Systems

of Ind ia . The masterly essay wh ich he wrote on this

subjec t occup ies over a hundered pages of his co l lec ted

Engl ish works . He was a lso examined onthe cond i t ion

of the nat ive inhabi tants of Ind ia, and he wrote onthe

subject of EuropeanCo lonizat ionof Ind ia.

One of his great objec ts inproceed ing to Europe

howeverwas to support the abol i t ionof the ri te of Sufi

inthe House of Commons. He presented the pet i t ions

which he had brough t wi th him to the House of

Commons and the House of Lords in person, and had

the sat isfact ion o f being present when the appea l

think ing tha t the H indus wi l l thereby be ex a l ted inthe est imat iono f mank ind to ane x tent insome degree proportioned to the repugnance which was fe l t for the usage which has now ceased.

”

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

r50. t ra um as or swam .

full'

otl tenderness, p iety and genuine feel ing ; and ' his ;

songs ex c i te the nob lest emotions ot’

t he human soul .A tter a lapse of seventy the songs of Ram Mohan.

Ba i l still sung in. every M e inBmgad.

a?am new «final fl aw t

finwfntmm eta =ns traw a s It

fi e st as“? a m fiww m i

am nwm fafi w mcw

m w m ca firstm m

W ! mayi t ?! fit ! qfitmanm as amfirst we fut um.»s taras m wwm Wuuat ; m: {W'

flW’ 51'c wasWmgematslw

‘tsfes arm“ n

nus arm s are we v iew: 0

2mmwarmas ma lts fafi a it

CHAPTER XIV .

E wan CHANDRA GUPTA AND ms SA'

I’

IRES .

”

IswaR C HANDRA GUPTA was born in the v i l lage of

Kanehrapara in 1 809, and is the earliest Bengal i

poe t of t he present century . H is poetry forms a

c onnec ting l ink between the old schoo l of Mukunda

.Ram and Bharat Chandra and t he new schoo l of

Madhu Sudan and Hem Chandra. Born when the

H indusoc iety was ina trans i t ions tate, and natural ly

endowed wi th a keen humour, he freely rid iculed

much that was false and hol low,

and also muchttha t was earnest and true, in the movements of hisftime. As a poet I swar Chandra does not rank very

h igh, as a satirist he stands first among the wri ters of

Benga l .

Iswar Chandra’s poems have late ly beenpubl ished

in a col lec ted form w it h a memo ir of the poet’s life

b y the late Bank im Chandra Chat terjea. Th is work

w il l be our guide inthe present chapter.

Iswar '

Ohandra’s fa ther was o f humble means, and

was employed on a pay of e ight Rupees a month ina

motory c lose to his nat ive v il lage . Iswar somet imestlived in his v i l lage

,and somet imes in Calcutta in the

h ouse of his materna l unc le. He Just h is mother at

t s: ursaaruas or BENGAL.

an e t rly age, and his father mt rried again, much

to . the d isgust of young Iswar. After th is event Iswar

l ived most ly inCalcut ta, inthe house of his maternal

unc le .

The educat ion of the future poet was neglected ;he acquired a know ledge of Bengal i in Patshalas,

and a lso learnt a l i t t le Engl ish . He frequented the

house of the Tagore fami ly in Pathuriaghata, and

gradual ly rose to d i st inc t ion under the patronage oftha t fami ly . He was married at the age of 1 5, aga inst

his w ishes as we are informed, and domes t ic bl iss

was not instore for the young pair.

Under the patronage and w i th the hel p of the

Tagore fami ly, Iswar Chandra started a journal cal led

Sambad Pra b/iakar in 1 830, and the talent and

genius of the young ed i tor soon attrac ted the at ten

t ion of the l i terary world to the journal . Among

the wri ters in th is journal we see the names of the

most d ist inguished men of the t imes,l i ke Raja

Radha Kanta Deb, Ram Kamal Sen, Hara Kumar

Tagore, Prasanna Kumar Tagore,°Pand i t Jay GOpal

Tarkalankar, Pand i t Prem Chand Tarkabagish and

o thers.

IswarChandra ’s product ions appeared in prose and’

verse in th is journal . He was an imi tator of Bharat

Chandra’s sty le, but was not a mere imi ta tor. H is keen

powers of sat ire are his own, and his verses onsoc ie ty

and l i fe and onthe events wh ich were transpiring around

him,wri tten ina free and easy sty le, are among the

happiest p ieces inthe irway inthe who le range of Bengali

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 54 LI TERATURE or BENGAL.

and his vivid descri pt ions were leamt by rote by a

large c ircle of readers, and were the theme of

anm 53amdra ft ?! t he l

mi te fWTfi i ts: m mem in

amamo neare arm m m:

t tflsm ms at?am?ne witmanner-

arm s mum .

as s tart ani f! wtfit at“?cm n

mam mfi m fmnfa fi t

M i l?anang ula r

ammmm vats atfi Tlf'l i nnwe wra i th sta t em ent

amt i nsmumm areu« 3m wfwmt am s

‘

w n

M fl wv s w w mv n

m tmfi vfifi mfl fi m»

m w m fw s fwwfim t

WB afi mWfiQEfl t u« gra

te fi sts-rerun

arm! Ulfimm fl t l fl i fl n

fi lm a n(mam {films a! I

{h amq acam nuarm armas a mas tha tinfi rm mitts °rt stfi meanI

“fi lm y fl fa am am t

m annafitnfim wmstu( rm fi t? a?Wa

'

tfitrtft a re»

Wt are afs an. a la rm arcs ?

lSWAR CHANDRA GUPTA. AND H IS SATIRES. I ss

ending admirat ion. No renowned poet appeared in

Bengal inthe first half of the present century, and Iswar

fwfiafirea s cancanmumy ?“film?rimsare as: at!"at! n91mm are as afmtri cana t?! stilt ca

'

mfen(fi nif?cann

Wfireman

{f ats m are «ain't « a Ims at?ag ate calmas: 7ml n

{from remnantw as s innwas was Ceca Irma fi lm it

fawncamsW151Wt

warm: 9m emm ani a nfriars gears fi ft was Te a

fi r; atfiz{fi t as am was it”

Enaffix awl ? an! s tats I

assWt as arms {rats nmm Wants areas cars t

{ms {at fists fife-

earany na ffaa

‘

ta 65171 1130asas an: ia, camerasw arm i tsmufimma Earwfafimafa as Ifi tfi wlfi are as fi rms t an

dri l l

arre st sans st int atria ucalm s lamwtfa staffs atria t

1 56 L ITERATURE or BENGAL.

Chandra was the re igning k ing of the l i terary world in

his day. But the king had his opponents One Gsuri

Sankar Bhattacharja started a rival paper, and a battle of

verse was waged for some t ime, marked more by abuse

thanby w i t

1 4WW9161asstmats t

sacs camsWWwas s i s n

g fa s is cart:We cat mamauatsali aisqfawits amauirr i tant s “

a s cams ‘

s s ata firmswimwas main age fimn6m1 m5M aifis aimat? ci ts »

as mm5 151 sma rts can: am 11

fl assfazas warms I

mm 4161 I sms wasfi atfai fss is

{lan. at. aimCW?! 10a wa s s tasis cat

’

s i fsm t

firsts as s tss sw awnam amfssns sat all 651 ant

7hasftss as aka aim fat?! as first

camstart at m as am assara i

f irst?! fsstss ts? 311mmant i?statssm cm 1mm « 1

(mmwas i t! 0man5 13m mmma cam

fans stats amm was {it s stats star

s cafa as s oats at u

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

158 m anuvaa or sw eat.

verse were much appreciated. Inhis last days he turnedto more serious works, mos t ly translat ions from the

Sanscri t l ike his PrabodAa Prabkakar and BOd/lfl ldll

Bibs“. The ex trac t which we give below’ from

BodkmduBikas is a fair spec imen of Iswar Chandra’s

" ( m an s at m m wfim mis s fssi fim m wan“Ir—W aim wri sts a s “ 4 v was afimss‘l i ts—m a v isa fi ts ss-l sat—innailsafswss, fasttas

art’

s fssta ms. ass? fiat-t ( i ts,w as ss « is es ?ass ist

atsa sin—imamWe f i st awasta ass ist s si sfiss

I s at.m cmas cafin se asras fm t i st caa s traw

cacss cm at attaincams m il si s-

5 cs iss s s teamsass: a sst f

‘s't fins s s t'f srfsrs tt l—st s team. at

arm s, «at at m mats ss w wts csrsaati u- sfivasmm sum mfsmfiw s s 't mats fss sno «a m .

m wi sts avfwa mm art i s t—m a im s? fits firs t?

Wis s isters, asfamutss ass-ass as ;

mas s mm «i s sat—ft fstataansts-

srs fsmfws(WU fu s i m w mm mfi wwists an arts

Wam am i s an fs f‘

s an was assumes; seats

s tint e cs stress as : saws ax es as: as swash ssz'fl

at vé cs as s ssstnit sti rs“

ant , sw ig an srfss i am s

s fm c mats sstvl m asrs t i cs am an at fi fszs

m m fi srfs s sum sig ast srfi asfiz fs mca tatw fssacs aah wists s its ? cm mas s tsm i sfits

was! misfi t -2st : ass sass a mi ss?“W sts at.Was m as arm -it as: was mm anmi firsi m ,

was i sm a ss was wa s wins , a al as. arias] atss

magnumcssa sass ass as. amai ls as: atas st ir sis

ISWAR CHANDRA GUPTA AND ms SATIRES . i 59

prose sty le. Our readers w i l l observe that Bengal i prose

was not yet perfect . Iswar Chandra’s prose is not as

happy and natural as his poe try, but is art ific ial and

al l i terat ive, and somewhat grotesque.

M INOR Poms.

Among the minor poe ts who flourished in the first

hal f of this century, one at least deserves ment ion.

MadanMohanTarkalankarwas a contemporary of Iswar

Chandra. He was bornin 18 1 5, and was for some t ime

Professor in the Sanscri t Col lege, and subsequent ly

became a Judge Pandit and thena Deputy Col lec tor. He

d ied in 1858, z'

. e. inthe same yearw i th Iswar Chandra

Gupta. H is Ra m Tarang im'

is a translat ion into ornate‘

and musica l Bengal i verse of some Sanscri t verses on

love and his Vamvudal la is a Bengal i adaptat ionof the

wel l -knownSanscri t nove l of that name by Subandhu.

v isas firssai as : cs atas i fist-rs arms was atstats aunt s am asafis atss w arms as : as “ fansas was was sasa s ammas s ists afss sass fatalat

am ati i

Some of Iswar Chandra’s compound words are virtua l! Sanskritcompounds. The following passage from Bodk mla war willillustrate this.

cars at sfii am as as asasqs sas “ sum s

as as am ass asffst a'tzswaszt 'wf

‘

e s as as Wtfim fss

w as am fasrsefas catfsaf a snafu s ai ls i s

st rata sham {swish {as ifaa'

t {as s aatss 0(mas fi sts

am still {i ts 3951 sis l

CHAPTER XV .

ARRAY KUMAR DAN A.

ARRAY KUMAR DATTA and Iswar Chandra V idyasagar

were the true successors of Raja Ram MohanRa i. They

inheri ted his strong enthus iasm for soc ial reform and

devoted the ir l ives to the good of the ir country. And

they also perfected the l i terary prose st y le of Benga l

which was first rude ly shaped by Raja Ram Mohan

Rai .

Both Akbay Kumarand IswarChandra were born in

1 8 20, Akhay Kumar be ing senior by two months. Bo t h

s et before th emse lves the same lofty purpose, viz. the

moral instruc t ionof the people and the reform of soc ia l

abuses. Both contri buted to the format ion of a chaste

and d i gnified l i terary prose sty le inBengal i . And both

l ived to a ri pe old age, and have late ly been taken away

from us, honored and lamented by the nat ion. A

meri torious biography of Akbay Kumar has been

compi led by Mahendra Nath Vidyanidhi, and anequa l ly

meri torious l i fe of V idyasagar has been compi led by

C hand i Charan Banerjea. We cord ial ly acknow ledge

our indebtedness to both these industrious wri ters.

Akbay Kumarwas born in Chupi,near Nabadw i p,

and was the son of P i tambar Da t ta. H is motherwas

Dayamayi, a womanwho was d ist inguished al i ke by her

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

162 e saaruaa or BENGAL.

But poor Akhay Kumar’s d ifficul t ies were not yet

at an end . He could pay no schoo l ing fees for the

period of one year. and the penni less liny came to the

prOprietor, Gaur MohanAdhya, w it h tears in his eyes,and asked permi ssion to leave the school

, as he couldnot afford to pay. Gnur Mohanhad marked the intelliv

genc e and the uprightness of the boy, he took pi ty on

him, and permi t ted him to pursue his sttrd ies wit hout

payment of fees

But a long course of imt ruct iorr in th is inst ituti onwas not instore for Akb ay Kumar. On the death of

his fa ther at Benares, he had to leave the schoo l after

rema ining there for less t hen three years. H is keen

desire for knowledge however cont inued unabated,the study of Natural Sc ience had special attract ion

for him, and he continued the study after leavingschoo l . And at the agc of twenty he began to learn

Sanscri t, the kno wledge of which befi t ted him for the

great task of his l i fe, the deve lopment of Bengali prose

lit erature.

Iswar Chandra Gupta was then the hing of the

li terary world inBengal, and Akhay Kumar became ao

quainted w i th him. On one occasion, IswarChandra

asked Akhay to translate anart ic le which had appeared

inanEngl ish da ily paper. “But I have never composed

any thing in Bengal i prose,”

sa id young Akbay,“how

can 1 translate th is” ? M th his usua l k indness for

ta lented young men, the veteran Iswar Chandra en

couraged him inthe task, and admired his performance

whenit was done . Such was Akbay Rumar’s ini tiat ion

sa v KUMAR part s : i 63

into the status of a Bengal i wri ter, and henceforth he

b eganto compose art icles for the Prat /taker.

But such composi t ions d id not pay, and Akbay

Kumar had now to seek for means of l ive l ihood .

Various friends gave him various adv ices. One adv ised

him to be a Daroga, and Akbay Kumar seriously began

s tud ies to qual i fy himse lf for such a post. Soonhow

ever he turned away from those stud ies in d isgust ; the

Po l ice Department los t an honest Daroga, and Benga l

gained th e most talented author and enthusiast ic re

former of his day 1 Ano ther friend adv ised the young

manto study law ; but Akbay Kumar inst inc tively fe l t, i twas not the voca tion for him.

“Laws change from

day to day,” he said, “what is the good of study ing them?

I des ire to learnthe immutable and unchangeable laws

of nature which rule the universe.” Thus t ime rol led

on, and eventua l ly, Akbay Kumar d iscovered his truevocation in life.

The venerable Debendra Nath Tagore had taken

up the task of re l ig ious reform which Raja Ram Mohan

bad ini t iated , and tenyears after Ram Mohan’s dea th

inEngland,started the Tam boa

'

kini Patrika, a month ly

journal , in 1843. Young Akbay Kumar, then ouly a

youth of 23, became the ed i tor of the paper wh ich soon

became a power inthe land . I t is scarcely possi ble in

the present day, whenjournals have mul t i p l ied all over

the country, to adequaw descri be how eagerly the

moral instruct ions and earnest teac hings of Akbay

Kutnar, conveyed in tha t famous paper, were perused

by a large c irc le of think ing and enl ightened renders.

164 “renam e or m os s,

People, all over Bengal, awaited every issue of that paperw i th eagerness , and the s i lent and s ickly but tndefat ig :

ab le worker at his desk swayed for a number o f

vears the thoughts and opinions of the th ink ingport ionof the people of Bengal . Sc ientific art icles, moral

instruc t ions, accounts of d i fferent nat ions and tribes,

stories of the animate and inanimate crea tion, all that

could enl ightenthe ex pand ing inte l lect of Bengal and

d ispe l darkness and pejudices, found a convenient veh ic le

inthe Tafwaémi/n'

m'

f a lrika . The great Prob/arbor, con

duc ted w i th all the abi lity and w i t of the veteran Iswar

Chandra Gupta, cont inued to be a favouri te w i th orthodos H indus of the o ld school . But the Pa lrika was

conducted in a newer style, and struck a deeper cord

inthe heart of the y oung H indu. I t created a th irst

for know ledge and for mora l e levat ion, i t awakened

inrising generat ions a mora l enthusiasm and a re l igious

fervour, and it Spread that spiri t of reform and of

progress of wh ich Ra ja Ram Mohan Ra i was the firs t

great apost le in this century . The pro found thought

and the earnes t tone of Akbay Kumar’s wri t ings struck

even those who were intense ly partial to Engl ish

educat ion in those days. I t is said that the ta lented

Ram Gopal Ghnsh, one of the most bri ll iant students

of the H induCo l lege, read one of Akhay Kumar’s

art icles, and turning to his friend, the d ist inguished Ram

TanuLahiri, remarked “Have youeverseenprofound

and thoughtful compos i t ion in the Bengal i language ?

I t is here .

For twe lve years, Akhay Kumar worked indefat iga bly

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 66 m eg aw att or m os t.

Rs . zoo a mont h. Akbay Kumar wished to decl ine thiso ffer also, and it was only at V idyasagar

’s strong and

pers istent request that he was compelled to accept it.

The annals of l iterature are reple te wi th stories of mutualjea lousies between riva l aut hors ; i t is wit h sincere

grat ifica tion, therefore, that we record this ev idence of

c ord ia l good fee l ings be tween Vidyasagar and Akbay

Kumar,—fee l ings wh ich reflect equal honour onbot h

the great wri ters.

It was in1855 , tha t he w i thdrew himself from the work

inconnect ionw i t h the Pat/7260, and became Head teacher

of the Ca lcut ta Norma l Schoo l. But his d isease became

worse, and he had to resi gnthe appo intment after two

or three years. T he year wh ich marked the death of

Iswar Chandra Gupta w i tnessed the prac tica l ret irement

of Akbay Kumar from all work .

He l ived fornearly th irty years in enforced privacy

and ret irement . One great work issued from hi s re

t irement ; i t is anaccount of the H indusec ts, adapted

from H . H .Wi lson’s English work, and prefaced by a

long di ssertation on the H induAryans wh ich is a

masterpiece of learning and erud i t ion, conveyed in

forc i ble and graceful style.

After nearly thirty years of an inact ive life,the

talented Akbay Kumar passed away fromus in 18 86.

He l ived to see the fruits of his labour ; and the genera

t ionwhich had grownup around him inhis c los ing days

had ht en educa ted on his works, imbued with t hat

hea l thy know ledge wh ich he laboured to spread, and wi th

that earnes t spiri t of progress wh ich ‘he endeavoured to

“ an x uuu ear n. 167

infuse. He l ived also to see the Bengal i style, wh ich he

and Vidyasagar had dignified, made richer day by dayby varied and meri torious works.

The great meri t of Akhay Kumar’s style is its earnest

ness, its surpassing v igour and force . We quote a few

passages be low,’ and the reader w i ll be able to judge

for h imself The sty le is the man, and Akhay Kumar’s

t ha n t en : mum ( a we a: was m m( Vf'lt

‘

e ali ens «M t E ‘F li lt'lman! w e (t hanGraft s m l

m m fet i d aim « fit. “ s ofam afia fifi lH

1m atrial -sci; fi st s v fi tem i 6mm Wi ts ! art-amt.

w W at ? eat emus wi t h“) WW“mm““ firm ehfs at! affi rm s 1mm at momma; as?“a nw e ath w wm fi t mm m m i cm( i n,m wtwmfs smfin3mmamwhen(WCM I wife

WM: {inWt am fm ans hi t s whim , thatm a s t

t i t“ , mm am w fitment infraum“W cm.

vw t nml m inaffirm . at: « it warm whrm fi mart -n il! sth a t a?“tanfi lm “WW0 fi rm w ho

at: w .mi ss m are . t im e an: win, w as at: infi rm.

t ime an: trai t. Emmi am ? fire fit! MW stat s-l

th an 151mm 1mW fune t‘

i m or win Q‘ilfl '

Gmmm ? from ! ntfi fm r s mi tt ena?rinse witn« m e trtfwfl i m m s m mfi n i ‘gfii s i m merm t fm 'fih fims m ’im n i

W m m minstain Wm matt er

t hanwe rmwi feWWW-f in i‘

m sm ash , t im er

1?!Q cvf't. or?an stars -cafes m m win aimalt stft i—[str’tmem em—Fm rfarn as v ia 0]

1mmwarm s 77mmW C“! a t m t ea-s! s w m” wa t t -iW»mom -triti um; war-ii arm, swim a

m is s an, tat -aims tfli fi ' fltm sweat mm ‘

l t il tt a,

168 Lt'

rsut'uas or BENGAL.

st y le reflec ts the true pa triot and the earnest, entht h

siast ic reformer. Vidyasagar’s sty le appears to us to

be more finished and refined,Akbay Kumar’s is more

forc i ble and earnest . InVidyasagar’s s tyle we admire

the plac id sti lless and soft beauty of a quiet lake,re

flee t ing on its bosom the gorgeous t ints of the sky

and the surround ing objec ts. InAkbay Kumar’s style

we admire the vehemence and force of the mounta in

inwas a foul m , f? w'rfm‘

s mam ? fun? 365 1 as ,fi rm“ a im -st at s uranium“ wine -st m uchsums armmfvt at : asfiss m esammWe . s toma:

en‘

s canare! signs“ t hanWife a mi?sai nts h esaw

fvwa unit s -as : am t his : « an a im ems s liw1mmmfs fr N ews status mm«m afats fu swims

ratiosWNW! 1mm s i ts waists -emt he fares team! as

me wet-s ins masts a? t hat m mmm emb lott eTil ! smawa '

fi sw. me lm—wint ers mas ts em a

s trum an: a im uni star as at amer cifulnew wtfieta{a at. a f un: s tem rials

-i fun“wh enm a s ti c

amt fag s tarsW e ms was .a firm m umW e?!

am t -am new i t , some fauna i fs.m a ss

t en sfss fr i t fitfs am as firm earnaltsF mussto t -rim (stra its 1mm, «new view a inf-is mm74: 1 5h“ m amm ,

15mm? “ trut h f fiw fw t

m fas t eal else is m?"

isfa a ffl ict s,at 31m”! ssh Wt

{as amt -mum s lf'

crii’

t e catfish s fmnfro m fat ? o f“tea, cut i t s in-n an ar ts t ram e fas rs s t raw {inmet-e ta

,

th'i Wi lt s . s team fil i ’fl’

s t fitcml . w Wawfrtr 1mm?m m m am am : fame a rrfim s

marlfass was scuffl e a wafe r ssh , wa rm a foot-it

fmt s m s an Font t hrusts ,sma rt fummm fs 'm'

fine arias {al l {9s fit at [firm film l

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

t 7o LITERATURE or m os t.

revere them as ho ly and venerable works, nobly fit ted

for our instruc t ionand guidance. Th is was one of the

most noted changes in the h istory of the Brahma Samaj,and i t was due to Akbay Kumar, more than to any one

e lse.

We are indebted also to Pand i t Mahendra Nath

V idyanidhi for many passages from the wri t ings and

speeches of Akbay Kumar, wh ich have never ye t been

publ ished ina co l lected form, but wh ich are inst inc t w i th

e loquence and beauty. A complete ed i tion of Akbay

Kumar’s l i terary works has yet to be publ ished, and we

look to the Brahma Samaj for the performance of th is

pa triot ic task .

01mmRsuclousWatrsas.A host of talented wri ters cont inued the work when

Akbay Kumar retired from the fie ld . The venerable

Debendra Nath Tagore cont inued to pres ide over the

Brahma Samaj, and issued a series of rel ig ious workswh ich have great ly benefited and d ignified Bengal i prose.

Raj Narayan Basu, the companionand col laborator of

Akhay Kumar, has enriched the language by a series of

lec tures and discourses most ly onre l igious subjects. The

sons of Debendra Nath have d ist inguished themse lves in

l i terature and song,and the Bengal i language w i l l bear

on i t the impress of the work of this talented and cultured family . Keshab Chandra Senand his sect ion o f

the Brahma Samaj have fo l lowed in the foo tsteps of

Debendra Na th, and have enriched Bengal i l i terature by

“ may KUMAR DATTA . l 7x

sermons and lectures. And Pand i t Siva Nath Sastri,who heads the third section of the Samaj, is also the

wri ter of meri torious works. Thus modern Benga li.

li terature owes much to the re l ig ious movement ini t iated

by Ram MohanRai.

CHAPTER XV I.

l swm Cannons t vasacaa.

Amtav KUMAR and Iswar Chandra were tw in workers

in the field of soc ia l reform and l i terary cul ture . Iswar

Chandra began a l i t t le later than Akbay Kumar, but

his endeavours were more arduous and more prolonge d,and the scene of his struggles against soc ial abuses

lay no t only inthe arena of let ters, but a lso inthe arena

of actual l i fe .

Iswar Chandra was born in 18 20 inthe village orf

Birsinha, which was w i thin the l imi ts of Hooghly Distric t

at one t ime, but is now w i th inthe l imi ts of M idnapur.

He was the e ldest son of his father Thakurdas

Banerjea, who he ld a humble post in Ca lcutta on

Rs. toa month . Li ke Akhay Kumar, he received his

early training in his v il lage Patshala, but was removed

by his father to Ca lcutta at the age of nine, and

was admit ted in the Sanscrit Col lege. Iswar Chandra

sufi'

ered all the privat ions of poverty be lodged inpoor

quarters, l i ved on poor food, cooked his own meals,

and wore ragged c lothes, wh i le he was prosecut ing his

stud ies. And not unoftenhe suffered from the pangs of

hunger, and went w i thout a meal . Few of the thousands

of students who prosecute the ir stud ies in our schools

in the present day have any idea of the priva t ions

which poor Iswarhad to go through, si xty years ago

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

tswaa CH ANDRA novassesn. 173

Inthe midst of such privat ions, young IswarChandrad ist inguished himself by his remarkable intel l igence, and

general ly he ld the firs t place in his c lass . He stud ied

Sanscri t Grammar, Li terature, Astronomy, Sacred Law,

and Phi losophy, dist inguished h imse l f by his composi t ionsinSanscri t prose and verse, and also picked up a slight

knowledge of English. In 1 839 he finished his educa t ion

by pass ing anexaminat ion inH induLaw, and obtained

the ti tle of V idyasagar and in 184 1 he was appo inted

Head Pand it of Fort Wi l l iam Co l lege, on a pay of

Rs. 50. I t was then that young V idyasagar began to

improve his know ledge of Engl ish .

Five years la ter, whenAkbay Kumarwas sway ing theideas and Opinions of thoughtful and earnest men in

Benga l by his art ic les in the Takvabodlu'

m'

Fom'

ka, Iswar

Chandra was appo inted Ass is tant Secretary to the Sanscrit

Co l lege . The fol lowing year, 1 847, w i tnessed the publ ica,tionof his first l i terary work, Baal-Pandzabimati . The

work marked anepoch inthe history of Bengal i prose,and the beauty and richness ofV idyasagar

‘

s sty le d isc losed

resources of the Bengal i language which no one had

suspec ted before. Neverthe less,li ke all first at tempts,

Beta! had its faul ts the sty le was too ornate, and a l i tt le

too art ific ial .

Iswar Chandra was a manof great independence of

character. H is suggest ions insome matters were not

accepted by Rasamay Dut t,! then Secre tary to the

The proper spelling is Dat ta . But

‘

wewrite the name as it

is writtenby t e members of this cultured family .

0

1 74 m ammal or m ost .

Sanscri t Col lege and a leading . man of his time,'

and

Iswar Chandra res igned his appo intment as Assistatit

Secretary .

He entered the FortWi l l iam College once more as aHead C lerk, and soonassociated h imse lf w i th the great

and good-hearted Drinkwa ter Be thune in the cause offemale educa t ioninBengal. And in 1 850 the manage

ment of the girls’ schoo l, called after Bethune, was

entrusted ent ire ly to the enthusiast ic Pand i t . In the

same year he re-entered the Sanscri t Col lege as Professor

of Li terature, in the post vacated by MedanMohan

Tarkalankar, of whom we have spokenbefore. But a

h igher honour was in store for him. Rasamay Duttresigned his post about th is t ime, the posts of Secre tary

and Ass istant Secretary were amalgamated into that of

Princ i pal, and Iswar Chandra V idyasagarwas appo inted

the first Princ i pal of the Sanscri t Col lege.

V idyasagar had now ample Opportuni t ies to reform

the method of teach ing intha t inst i tut ion,and hismodern

and easy method is apprec iated by thousands of young

Bengal is who have stud ied Sanscri t s ince. I t became

poss i ble, under this me thod, to acquire a know ledge of

Sanscri t w i thout shutting ones self out from all other

learning and know ledge inthe universe.Educat ional work of all k inds crowded onVidyasagar

t h ick and fast. H is friend Bethune d ied in 185 r, and

the Lieutenant Governor, Sir Frederick Ha ll iday, placed

the Bethune School underthe management of Vidyasagar.

The great scheme of establ ishing aided schools all over

Bengal was inaugurated in 1854, and Vidyasagar sub

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

178 LITE RATUR E or BENGAL.

were read by the young and the old . Vidyasagar was

scarce ly be tter known as an author thanas a reformer

and a ph i lanthropist .

One more lofty aim at trac ted h is attent ion in his

later days. The system of po lygamy, Spec ial ly preva lent

among the Kul in c lasses o f Bengal, is degrad ing to

men, and causes unto ld suffering to women, and t h e

ve teran reformer girded up his lo ins once more in the

cause of reform. He publ ished works prov ing that t h e

anc ient H indu Sastras do no t sanc t ion po lygamy

w i thout restric t ion, and are not as merc iless to women

as modern H inducustom has come to be. Once more,orthodox H indusoc ie ty fel t the blow from the gaunt le ted

hand of the Pand i t . Repl ies were a t tempted, and abuse

was showered onthe reformer in va in,for V idyasagar

stood unmoved . I t was not possi ble however for the

Government to proh ib i t po lygamy by law, and the

triumph of V idyasagar in th is ins tance remained only

a l i terary triumph .

Th is was V idyasagar’s last great endeavour. The

last fifteenyears of his l i fe were spent in we l l -earned re

pose, and the Government created him a Companion of

the Ind ian Empire in 1877. His zea l for progress

rema ined unabated, and he never hesi tated to extend

helping hand to those who needed his hel p .

! H is

My readers wi ll pardon my citing a characteris t ic ins tanccwhich concerns myself. When I commenced a transla t ionof the

Rigveda Sanhita into the vernacularof Bengal in1885 , my endeavourto popularize the anci ent scriptures me t wi th a perfect storm o f

opposit ion from my orthodo x countrymen. Among the few Pand itswho encouraged me in the task. was the venerab le IswarChandraV idyasagar.

iswaa CHANDRA vmvasacaa . 179

chari t ies too cont inued unabated. and thus passed the

c losing years of the great author, reformer and ph i lan

thropist, unt il he d ied inr89 r, lamented all over Bengal

as no manhas everbeenlamented w i th inour recol lect ion.

Monuments of marble and bronze l ie scat tered all over

our metropo l is in memory of men cons idered great,because they he ld h igh posts in the ir day. The monu

ment of V idyasagar is in the hearts of his countrymen,and w i l l remain for ever enshrined in the ir gra teful

reco llec t ions. !

OTHER [ moss -Warren .

A t the c lose of an account of V idyasagar’s l i fe,

some ment ion should be made of Bhudeb Mukerj i,who succeeded V idyasagar as an educa t ionis t, and has

The following is a fa ir specimenof Vidyasagar’s style

ammo s lim mto tfws cwfam.tha t af fi rm , as

?” ca b i nwarms far ? of: a s art ists as was fi t“ s fl fss t’t

t ram ? csnmacts areatwast ai m awn ( ca fil lf ‘l’

, wrfir

mummwr « as thm a fa irs fan a? ans‘at t his, a s

m acs cams as sets an are ; Q5! fsmf t re l Qfirm ums fainwitness? ! mats am emi t-t i m , was :s arms s fafl fwaw m a mm $ filfi t sarcn‘tat WWairs

-1m mats QQC

’

S 2: t affirm, swim 6m ma ms talwafiats fawn arfwri « a t commm a t wsfim fir urfa fsnzfs sn fastenarm age Qfl fiflm fli i

‘

;

am t: mats ca aw n-t shat, s tarts a tffl s:he i fe r fire

a? v fss . ma ”

anus o fafl‘

iaffl 5 9 ! at 9m“ mammm;film s srs m ani a t imer w as am 6mm c‘nv faqfis

r80 LITERATUR E or BENGAL.

a lso -wri tten some works in Bengal i prose. He was

borninCa lcutta, and was junior to V idyasagar by five

years and he was educated firs t in the Sanscri t Co l lege,

a , or fun: re tainfemurs He s w arfare s im i a n«riv

me . mm m ar an: firm-i 63mm m tfww zfna wtfirams m m 75m mm? m m m {h is e car

-itemt ri m! 31s mi l

a? sfem. arm s ma ts W mwfim. firstWm v fi mshims . arm 1mm mm e am am ,wtt i gwis ts warm sweat when, a sfnfl amc a? 1m e m,

91m in 3mm e m f'n v fast calms a ims-13 5m m filmufi sfns sacs fi sh'

s“! 35l afztmr i G’wi W i ts)

em'

latfla was am mm: ai m w em sent i me n t

farm in faw nsac: maf ia ffl‘

tfl affirm,warm t fste

“

( fi rs aw a rteries airfare-m w afers arse affairs as mcvfscs s tern1m, am wfafu sacs i

‘ww fai l“ m e

a lfmaa,a‘

i s ie f'umm or? am g3m vfiisiWa r as

anm ( are?1331 . W was. anfirs t“ vim were ?)

mfm. new 0 fi rst t ame t h at aim “

shiremfitm i

films,as fl amers W573 {imam {vfi afw 1m; am.

stem sm 16s We affirm i

A more eloquent passage on the cruel custom of enforcedwidowhood is quo ted he low

at one“ : ri ft : it: seem ! qfa m mWe swam

interes ts when a ffirm mm nfsfss m tfiim fn ( e lminfirm M im i mamas mm m am wfsui came: m m

WWaf firmqfamwmsmmfm mfm similar: mfw0 15 m i it a

m firaf fi rms fun: a camWas tfes innmi . as are,

7m! 6 mm fi sts mi , fi nit e (star313, sim ian3133 05 111 !(Rift ? Wis w s VFWfi mts cv mm'tm mmamtfs war-i at arts I

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

18 : LtTERA‘

l‘

URE or BENGAL.

the cause of Bengal i l i terature and modernprogress by his

meri torious translat ionof the Sanscri t Malina/lama: into

Bengal i prose. The work had beentranslated into Bengali

by the Pand i ts of the Maharaja of Burdwan some

years before, but Kal i Prasanna Sinha

’s translat ion is

simpler and more l i teral, and is more acceptable to the

publ ic. He employed a number of Pand i ts to make th is

translat ion, and w ide ly d istri buted t he work, free of cost,among those who took an interest in the anc ient epic.

The example o f Kal i Prasanna Sinha was not lost,and the Ramayana was pub l ished inoriginal Sanscrit,w i th a meri torious prose translat ion into Bengal i, by

Pand i t Hem Chandra V idyaratna, in 1 868 to 1885 .

Kal i Prasanna S inha’s Mabab/mm la and Hem

Chandra V idyaratna’s Ramayana are the best prose

translat ions of those epics inthe Bengal i language .

CHAPTER XVII .

DRAMATIC WR ITERS . D INA BANDHU M ITRA.

1 829 1 873.

KULINA - KULA—SARVASVA is sa id to be the first ori ginal

dramat ic work inBengal i. I t was composed in 1 854, and

ind icates the spiri t of the t imes. The veteransat irist, Iswar

Chandra Gupta, was st i l l hurl ing his sarcasms onall soc ia lreforms, but the shafts of his w i t fe l l . pointless among

the earnest workers of the day. The H indu Co l lege

was y ie ld ing its annual crop of young men w i th Engl isheducat ion and western not ions ; Akhay Kumar had

educated his countrymen in advanced ideas ; and the

great V idyasagar had espoused the cause of female

educat ion, and was even thenmed i tat ing his memorable

at tack on the crue l custom of enforced w idowhood .

I t was at suc h a t ime, in 1854, that the first ori g inal

drama t ic composi t ion, Kulr'

na -Kul a f vama h e ld upthe custom of Kulinism and polygamy to d eserved

rid icule and contempt .

The author, Ram NaravanTarkaratna, was junior to

V idyas agar by three years, being born in 1 8 23 and was

educated inthe Sanscri t Co l lege . He then became a

teacher in the Col lege, ret ired onpension inhis old age,

and d ied in 1 88 5 .

The h isto ry of the stage in Benga l deserves a brief

narrat ion. j atra and other theatrical performances

1 84 Ltmnarus s or BBNGAL.

o f the o ld sty le were] the past ime of our fathers, and

Kabr'

,P arka/i and II aIf-Akmr

'

were thenin fashion. But

t he Sam oSoaa'

theatre was establ ished inChowringhee

early in the century, and men l i ke H . H . Wi lson, th eorienta l scholar, and Hume, Mag istrate of Calcut ta, too kpart in the performances. Nat ive Ind ian gentlemen

witnessed these performances, and occas ional ly got upthea trica l performances among themse lves and Shakes

peare’s plays were ac ted inEngl ish, or Sanscrit dramas

were acted in Bengal i translat ions. A t the spec ia l

reques t of Jo t indra Mohan Tagore, (now Maharaja S ir

Jo tindra MohanT.igore,) Ram Narayan’s orig inal drama

Ka lt’

au-Kul a- Sarvama was acted in 1 856 tn the premises

of the Oriental Sem inary. In the fo l low ing year the

eminent Kali Prasanna S inha, trans lator of the Maha

bharata,had his own transla t ion of Vikramorvasi ac ted

in his house w i th great pomp and magnificence, the

translator h imse l f tak ing a part on the stage. The

performance exc i ted a grea t deal of interes t inthe town.

I t was thendec ided betweenJo tindra MohanTagore

and Rajas Pratap Chandra and Iswar Chandra of the

Paikpara Raj family to get up a permanent theatrica l

house ona grand scale for the encouragement of the

Bengal i drama. The scheme was matured, and Ram

Narayan the author of A'

u/ina -Kula-Sarvawa was to

compose a new drama. The magnificent gardenhouse

o f Be lgachia, be long ing to the Pai kpara Rajas,was to

he the scene of the new theatre. No expense would

be spared to make the scenic decorat ion and t he per

formance a success.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

i 86 ursaaruas or BENGAL.

MadhuSudanwho almost despised the Bengal i language,“ was impe l led by his “

vaul t ing amb i t ion” to be a‘

Bengal i author ! H is friends laughed at the idea ; t he y

d id not know what is poss i ble for true genius to attempt,‘

and to achieve .

Madhu Sudan was thus the first student of the

H induCol lege,properly educat ed in Engl ish, who’

turned to Bengal i l i terature. All the renowned authorswho had h i therto served the ir mother- tongue, Iswar

Chandra Gupta,Akbay Kumar Datta, Iswar Chandra

V idyasagar and others, were men who had acquiredan imperfec t know ledge of Engl ish

,most ly by their

own endeavours . The alumm'

i of the H induCol legehad h i therto looked wi th contempt onBengal i l i terature

,

had wri t ten prose and verse in Engli sh, had hoped

to d istinguish themselves in Engl ish l i terature. The

truth came l ike a flash of inspirat ion -to MadhuSudan Dat ta that true genius mistakes ‘

its vocat ion

when i t struggles ina foreign tongue. Madhu Sudan’

lived to correct his mistake and to be the most

eminent poe t in his own language. And since Madhu’

Sudan’s t ime the a lumm'

i of our sc hoo ls and col leges,those who have sough t literary fame and were worthy of

i t,—have won their laure ls in the irmot her tongue.

The success of Ratmwal i inspired Madhu Sudanw i th the idea of wri t ing a Benga l i drama. He went to

the Asiat ic Soc iety’s rooms, took away some Sanscri t

dramas and Bengal i works, read them, and pondered

onthem. He then put his hand‘to the task he had

imposed onh imse l f, and his genius carried him through:

naauanc wa nans—mm sannnuarmor. 187

The resul t was Sammy/m,

“

one of the bes t and

most beauti ful p lays in Bengal i . The produc tionwassubmi tted to Prem Chand Tarkavag ish a learned

Pand i t of the day, but Prem Chand returned i t w i ththe remark that i t had sinned aga inst all the rules of the

Sanscri t drama ! MadhuSudanwas then advised to

accept the sugges t ions of Ram Narayan the successful

author of Ramavali ; but he would have none of i t,and only adopted some of his verba l correct ions. He

t ruly e te t o a friend ‘

on th is occasion, -“You know

that a man’s sty le is the reflec tionof his mind,and I am

afra id there is l i t tle congenial i ty be tween our friend and

my poor se lf. However, I shall adopt some of his

correc tions. "

The drama was ac ted at Belgach ia theatre with great

success, Jo tind ra Mohan Tagore h imse lf composing

some songs for the piece. ‘

Both Ram Narayan and MadhuSudan l ived to

compose some more dramas. Ram Narayan’s N alm

J V'

atak is a clever hit on his countrymen who seek to

indulge inthe joys of wedded life at an advanced age,

and marry girlwvives. MadhuSudan’s Padwavati and

Kri s/innKumari are meri torious works, the lat ter be ingb ased onthe story of the princess of Udaypur whosetragic fate threw a gloom overRajasthanearly in th is

c entury. MadhuSudanthenturned to blank verse and

t o epic poetry and the story of his success in tha t l ine

and of his l i fe w i l l be told inanot her chapter.

°Scc Jogendra Nath Bean’

s life of Michael MadhuSudanDatta

I 88 uran ium or QENG'AL.

As MadhuSudan re tired from the field of Bengali

drama, his place was fi l led by a wri ter who has won a

h igher d ist inct ioninth is department of l i terature. The

newwri ter was Dina BandhuM i tra. A l l the first three

dramat ists of Benga l were of nearly the same age Ram

Narayan was bo rn in 18 23, MadhuSudanin 18 24, and

D ina Bandhuin 18 29 . Li ke MadhuSudanDatta, DinaBandhuwas educated inthe H induCol lege ; he d ist ino

gnished h imse lf in gov ernment serv ice in the postal

department ; but be devo ted his ta lents to the improve

ment of his mother tongue. He d ied in 1873.

The oppress ionof the Indigo planters of Nad iya and

Jessore was the subjec t of compla int for many years ;and our readers w i l l find an extrac t wh ich we have given

from IswarChandra Gupta’s poetry,inwh ich the poet has

indul ged ina fee l ing appea l to the Queen of Englandaga inst this oppression. The Oppress ion however

continued unchecked, and Dina Bandhu, who was born in

C hauberia vi l lage inNad iya District, had ainple oppon‘tunit ies to note the do ings of the planters and the ir

subord inates. A t last in 1 860, he publ ished his first

dramat ic work, Nil D arprm,anonymously, bring ing

together facts and inc idents which had come und er his

observat ion, and weav ing them into the mainplo t wi th

the skil l of a true artist.

The l i terary beaut ies of the work are by no means

insignificant . Anhonest fami ly and its most amiable

inmates enlist the sympa thy of the reader from the

beginning, and at last wake inhim the keenes t sorrow

for the ir misfortunes. All the members of the fam i ly

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

190 LITERATU RE or em u.

not to grow indigo, and they submi t ted to every outragerather thanyield to the planters. Fac tory after factory

fai led in consequence of this combination, and the

oppressionof indigo planters is a th ing ol the past in

the Nad iya D istric t.

No thing afterwards wri tten by D ina Bandhucan

compare w i th N r'

la M an from a litemry point of

View. In his N abr'

n-Tapamini and Lilrwati there are

undoubted ly fine passages, be t st i l l th ere is noth ing to

equal the pathos wh ich pervad es the M 1. DW’L

'In fac t the most popular and the best knownof Dina

Bandbu’s later product ions li ke Sadka bar Ekudau’

and

j amai Bank are popular and successful farces, and DinaBandhuis known to his countrymenmore as a humourist

and sat irist t han as a serious drama t ic wri ter. But

there is a d ifference betweenDina Bandbu’s sat ires and

Iswar Chandra’s sat ires . Iswar Chandra is opposed

to all social progress, and he pours forth his wi thering

scorn in his ownmatch less verse onnew-fangled ways..Dina Band huis not Opposed to any sec t ion, he is too

good -natured and good-hearted to at tack any part icular:communi ty, he only rid icules fol ly and v ice. The

lash of IswarChandra’s sa tire cuts deep, Dina Bandhu’

a

mi lder and gentler admonitimi s infl ict no wound,but ho ld up vice only in its na tural and hedicms

co lours . Iswar Chandra is the more powerful sat irist,D ina Bandhu is the pleasanter humourist. I swatr

Chandra’s ready and w i t ty verse was the war cry of

h is party, and the barbed and po inted shafts of his

vigorous i f coarse sarcasms were the wapons of their!

DRAMATlO'Wm &—DINA Barman MITRA . 19 1

war. D ina Bandhuwaged no party stri fe ; his good

natured humour spread a sunsh ine of gladness around

him, and his rid icule of v ice and fol ly was apprec iated

by all.

D ina Bandhu also wrote.some poems, wh ich are

d ist inguished by a' harmonious flow“ of verse. One

instance w i l l suflice.

’

Rm! m “wins «N ,

m anwt tfim mmwfism ,

filmart .rm an. futw e.

at fin? Eifm cwfit ( an: an l

fiwlfs m canawnalfi vats,calm?wafersift newstats lHiramg m, s li t i lam mfg ,“starfish.

” “M lfi ‘h” “m are s?!

Wfil Elf?Wm}Ti l?“Q‘Wfi ’

affirm m : {cat as mmufs,mm minas seaWC‘I,sist i mm SWso fi lm .

W NW ammam-1,i 157?! mac? v iaanwet-m,w et cvlfimm s infi rmmm

swatchm mshat-“

l s lim.

3 m ! umm m rtf‘m a

sham ste in: farm'

s mm.

Wamwe ctr aims am I

calm {film are in! 2m ,

“i t? « om! can: winsm

l 92 LITERATU RE O F easies t“

TH E Bc AL t STAGE.

Dina Bandhu l i ved to see the .Bengali s tage basedon a permanent bas is, - the patronage of the

.

play‘

going ' publ ic. The Bengal Theatre was s tarted short ly

before the dea th of the dramatist, and it has been,

succeeded by a number of thea trica l houses, some of

which leave l i t t le to be desired in orderly management,scenic decorat ions, and r meri torious act ing . The ins t i

tution, wh ich the Rajas of Paikpara w ished to create and

to foster in1 856 and insubsequent years from the irown

resources, became -

a permanent insti tut ion of the land

before twenty years had passed and i t now looks up, not

to Rajas and ch iefs, but to an enl igh tened -publ ic for

support . The Kalli, the Par/tall, the H aff-Akra i are

th ings of the past ; [ a ims too do not at tract crowds in

the metropo l is as they d id before the educated publ ic

at mm{amam frafra as.truthW W “hm mu" m t

at as {slim " ta “ta fi at,

affinmt W311! « tent fflfm l

fi t a fi fv‘

r i tsWmF its,t hi s mmW! m We.

was was flat titcufirstwarm 5“ v tattiafnm m cm I

m mm {ora nanti n ,

more: waf er-it firstfi fe as.was 31th !“nanit swit ( a,

wi fe: {inas anassa y

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

CHAPTER XV I I I .

MaoauSUDAN DATTA AND ms EPIC POETRY.

MADHU SUDAN Dana is the greatest l i terary genius of

th is century, ;and the ful l record of his l i fe, compi led

by Jogendra Chandra Basu, is the most ; meritorious

biographical work yet wri t ten in the Bengal i languag e .

Thi s work wi l l he our guide in the present chaptersMadhuSudanwas born in 1 824 in the v i l lage of

Sagandari in the D istric t of Jessore. H is father RajNarayanDat ta had four w ives, MadhuSudan be ing the

child of the e ldest. Raj Narayanwas a manof property

and substance, and a pleader of the Sadar Dewani

Ada lat . MadhuSudanrema ined w i th him inCa lcut ta,and was admi t ted in the H indu Co l lege at the age of

thirteen.

The H indu Col lege, wh ich was es tabl ished in

1 8 1 7, efi’

eC ted a revo lut ion in the ideas of the young

H indus of the day. They imbibed in that College a

warm apprec iation of western l i terature and wes tern

c iv i l izat ion, and brooked w i th impat ience the unreasoning

re strict ions which modernH inducustoms had imposed

on them. Tra ined under teachers l i ke Derozio and.

D . L. R ichardson, the firs t young menwho came out

from the H induCo l lege were fired w i th anambi t ion

to reform all that was unheal thy, and to rejec t all that

was hurtful, inH inducustoms and rules. The react ion

Litera ture of Bengal. p . 194

MadhuSudanDat ta.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

r96 m in-was or re treat.

MadhuSudanternained in the HinduC allege'

for

Six ‘

years, frommy to t 84 2, and d istinguished himselfamong a band bf young men who were remarka b l y

inte l l igent . Pyttri Charan Sarkar, Prasanna Kumar

Sarbadhileari, Gobind Chandra Dun, Shas b i C handra

Durt, Jagad ish Nath Rai, Kisorl Chand M i tra, GanendraMohan Tagore

,Bhudeb Mulrerj i, Raj Narayan

'

li asu,and Bhoia Nath

'

Chard ra were students of the H induCol lege at the same t ime w i th MadhuSudan and one

of his fel low student s wri tes that MadhuSudanwas the

Jupi ter among t hese stars of the HinduCollege.

Li ke many young student s of the HinduCome

MadhuSudan began to wri te Engli sh verse, Some d"

wh ich has beenpreserved by his b iographer. Love and

misanthrophy were the favourite themes in those frimes

whenByron’s po

‘

etry st i l l he ld the world in thral l, bet

some patriot ic poems, like that onk ing Po ms,ind icat e

t ha t MadhuSudanfel t for his country l i ke t he other

young menof his day. Permeat ed wit h western ideas,‘

the young poet longed to v i si t Europe eyeh in those‘early days, 'and was fi l led wi th an amb i t ion for glory

‘

ora name less grave inA lbion’s d is tant shore.

" I sigh forAlb ions distant shore.

I ts valleys green, its mounta ins highThough friends, relations I have noneInthat far clime l Yet Oh I sighTo cross the vas t At lant ic waveFor glory, ornnameless grave

l t was during his co llege days that Madhu Sudan’s

father des ired to g ive the young man in marria ge, and

a sui table ht tde was se lec ted . Madhu Sudan ohjm d :

m om] SUDAN 0mm AND ms EPIC poerav . 39g

but his j ather insi sted'

ont he marriage. Th is was the

turning point ia'

MadhuSudan‘s l i fe. He ranaway to

Chris tianmissionaries; “in doa for four days inFortWfilhm, and inFebruary, 1843, was bapt ised and toolc

the name of M ichae l Mad huSudan.Th is inc ident is only one more i l lus trat ion of the

ma x im'

that sense less coerc ion leads to'

vio lent react irm’.

MadhuSudan’s father'

an'

d mother werie nodoubt worthypeople but young MadhuSudanmust have

'

contemplated

w ith grie f a<nd humi l ia t ion the domestic arrangementunder wh ich his

'

mo ther shared her husband’s affec tion

with t hree o ther fellow -w i ves . And when his father

de termined tom arry him aga inst his wifi i es and entrea ties,

the young man took the first st epwhich offered i tse l fto him to e scape, and became a Christian The history

of social reforms in the present century il lus trates the

truth that great abuses lead to reform, sense less coerc ion

leads to reac tion.

MadhuS edannow stud ied in the B ishop’s Col lege

for fouryears, h is fond‘fa ther s ti l l paying the expenses of

hi s education. MadhuSudanhad leam ed Engl i sh and

Pers ian in the H induCo l lege he now learned Greek;Latinand Sanscri t inthe B ishop’s C o llege. Later in l i fe

he stud ied and learnt Telegu and Tam i l in Madras,

be picked up French, German and I tal ianinEurope,

and he had a lso some knowledge of Heb rew. Madhu.

Su’

dan‘

was thus one of the most distinguished languists

among our count rymen.

The re lat ions betweenMadhuSudan and : his father

gradually became stra iaed, and Mad hu Sudan fel t

198 m agnum or BENGAL.

h imsel f lonely and w i thout a friend in the world . Some

Madras students at tended the Bishop’s Col lege, and

Madhu Sudan secretly reso lved to leave his province

and to try his chances at Madras. He secretly comple ted

all arrangements, and in 1848, sai led forMadras.

H is first days in Madras were days of poverty,

wretchedness and d istress. Poverty impel led him to

wri te to the local papers, and his e legant composit ion

soonat tracted attent ion. He once more launched into

compos i t ions in Engl ish vers e

,and the story of Prithu

Rai, the last H induK ing of Delhi, and his bride Sanjuta,formed the subjec t of his meri torious poem ent i t led the

Captive Lad ie, wh ich was publ ished in ( 849 .

The publ icat ion exc i ted the utmost interes t in

Madras,and anEngl ish rev iewer wrote in the Athenaum

that it conta ined passages wh ich “ne i ther Scot t nor

Byron would have been ashamed to own. But if

Madhu Sudan aspired to wina last ing l i terary fame by

his Engl ish poetry,he found out his mis take before long.

Even the grea t and good-hearted Drinkwa ter Bethune,to whom a copy of the poem was presented, wrote, and

wrote truly“H e could render a far grea ter service to his country and have

a better chance of achieving a last ing reputat ion for himself if hewould emplo y the taste and talents which he has cult ivated by thestudy of Eng lish inimproving the standard and add ing to the stockof the poems of his ownlanguage.

”

A few days before the publ icat ion of his Captia

Ladle, MadhuSudan had married the daughter of a

European indigo-planter inMadras. Sweet indeed are

some of the l ines wh ich the poet wrote onth is occasion

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

zoo unnam ne O F BENGAL.

farces, unique in his t ime, one rid icul ing the v ices and

fo l l ies of “young Bengal,”

and the o ther rid icul ingthe more d angerous hypocri sy and profligacy of

“o ld

Bengal.”

H is successes fired him w i th a new ambi t ion.

He had fo rmed h igh concept ions of poe try from his

deep apprec iat iono f Valmi k i and Homer, and he fe l t

w i thinhimself a cal l to imi ta te the lofty subl imi ty of

those poets. But the j ingl ing of the Bengal i rhyme

was i l l sui ted to such at tempts, and he remarked to his

friend and adv iser Jo tindra MohanTagore, that there

was no great future for Benga l i poetry unt i l the cha insof rhyme were rent asunder. Jo tindra Mohan repl ied

tha t blank verse was scarce ly sui ted to the Bengali

language, and that even in the French languageblank verse was not a success. But, replied MadhuSudan,Bengal i is the daugh terof Sanscri t, and nothing

is imposs i ble for the chi ld o f such a mother ! In his

enthusiasm Madhu Sudan promised to make the a n

deavour, and to prove that blank verse in Bengali

wvas possible . Jo t indra Mohan l istened to the

proposa l incredulpusly, but promised to pay for the

publ icat ion of Madhu Sudan’s proposed work, i f it

was a success . Madhu Sudan set to work wi th his

accustomed impe tuos i ty and zeal, and the Tilvttanm,

publ ished . in r86c , was the resul t of th is h ist oric'

conversa t ion.

When this work inblank verse appeared, i t took the

- l i terary world by surprise . Theqpower of d ic t ion, the

ssuhlimity of concept ion, and the beauty of descript ifincould not be denied ; but nevertheless the reading

MADHU SUDAN DATTA AND m s EP IC POETRY . 20 !

world wondered at the audac i ty of the wri ter and could

not bel ieve his work to be a success. Rid iculewas hurled

on the ambi tious wri ter from all s ides, contemp tuous

parod ies were publ ished, and wri ters of Iswar Chandra

Gupta’s school, as wel l of the modern school of Akbay

Kumar and V idyasagar, pronounced the attempt to be a

fa i lure I The eminent V idyasagar h imself, ever ready to

apprec iate and encourage meri t, could not pronounceTz

’

loltama a success wri ters and cri tics of humblermeri tand less candour rid iculed the wri ter and condemned

the work .

Amidst th is storm of opposi t ion and rid icule MadhuSudan stood unmoved . Never was the greatness of

his genius, the loft iness of his purpose, the indomi tablestrength of his w ill, more manifest . He was resolved to

prove by a h igher endeavour and a loft ier ach ievementthat he was righ t, and that the world was wrong. I t was a

repet i t ionof the story of Lord Byronwhose earl ier poems

were condemned, and who retal iated w i th the migh t of

a giant in his Engl ish Bards and Scotch Rev iewers.Only MadhuSudanretal iated in a nobler manner ; he

did not abuse his cri tics, be convinced and s ilenced them

by his success ina higer endeavour.Among the few who pronounced MadhuSudan’s

I l'

lottama to be a success was Jotindra Mohan Tagore

h imse lf. He acknowledged the beauty of the work,owned his defea t, and publ ished the work at his ownex

pense. The eminent Rajendra Lala M i tra, who was issuingthe BrZu

’

dfiart/m -Sangm/m from 1 8 5 ! for spreading cul

ture and general informat ionamong his countrymen, was

26

202 L ITERATURE OF BENGAL.

another cri t ic who recognized the success of Tilotlam

And Raj Narayan Basu, the venerable collaborator of

Akhay Kumar Datta, was charmed w i th the noble per

formance.

“If Indra,”he wrote,

“had spokenBenga l i, he

would have spokeninthe sty le of the poem. The author’s

extraord inary loft iness and bri l l iancy of imag inat ion, his

minute observat ionofnature, his del icate sense of beauty,the uncommon splendour of his dict ion, and the rich

music of his vers ificationcharm us inevery page.

”

But a scept ical world had to be conv inced, and the

world was convinced by MadhuSudan’s grander poem,

Meg/zanad-bad lr, publ ished in t 86r. Th is t ime the

cri tics were fairly conv inced ! The great V idyasagar

admi t ted his m istake w ith his accustomed candour, and

acknow ledged MadhuSudan’s genius and the success of

his great endeavour. The vo ice of rid icule, though not

completely si lenced, fa i led to have any effect . A l l Bengalfel t that a new l ight had dawned onthe horizonof the

nat ion’s l i terature, that a genius of the first magni

tude had appeared. The munificent Kal i Prasanna

Sinha, translator of the Makab/zam la,was one of the

stronges t admirers of MadhuSudan, and he convened a

meet ing of the l i terary soc iety wh ich he had established

to honour the great poet . Rajas ' Pratap Chandra and

IswarChandra, the cul tured Jotindra Mohan Tagore,

the talented Rama Prasad Rai and D igambarM i tra and

many others were present on th is occas ion. Madhu

Sudanwas duly honoured, and the first ed i t ion of his

Megbanad-Badfzwas exhausted w i th inone year.

I t was inth is year, 1861, that MadhuSudanpubl ished

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

204 m anaruaa or BENGAL.

Mayakanazr, tinged wi thjthe trag ic sadness which marked

the close'

of his l ife.

Jay Krishna Makery of Ut tarpara gave MadhuSudan

a home in t hat place, but the poet never recovered from

the infirmities that were prey ing on him. He returned

to Calcutta, and wi thout a home to cal l his own,he took

shel ter in the chari table hospi tal of A l ipur. Three

days before the poet’s death, his faithful and much.

suffering wi fe Henrietta brea thed her last. MadhuSudan

heard of th is and w i th tears inhis eyes repeated the sad

lines from Macbeth

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrowCree inthis pet ty pace from day to dayTo 1 last sy l lab le of recorded time. are.

He died onthe 29th June, 1873.

I t is not poss i ble w i th in our l imi ts to review thed ifferent works of the great

'

poet indeta il, and i t would

be useless to rev iew them cursori ly. We wil l thereforeconfine our remarks to one of his works, M g

r/rancid

Bad/z, wh ich is the greatest l i terary product ion of th is

century .

M cgbamrd BadkKavya is a story from the Ramayana,

and relates to the death of Meghanad or Indraj it, the

most renowned and powerful of the sons of Ravana x

Ravana stole the w ife of Rama in hi s absence,and

Rama w i th his brother Lakshmana crossed w i th a large

army to Ceylon, and invaded Lanka the capi ta l of

Ravana. That great k ing sent army after army againstthe besiegers, but the adamant ine chainwas not broken»

MADHU SUDAN DATTA AND H IS EPI C POETRY . 205

and every army and every general sent against the

bes ieging force perished.

The first book opens w i th a descri pt ion of Ravana’s

court, Ravana be ing sunk insorrow at the news of the

death of his son Birbahuand the destruct ion of the

force sent w i th him against Rama. Ravana laments the

death of all the great warriors who have fal lenfi gh tingaga inst the foe, and compares his great ci ty to a fest ivehouse inwh ich the l ights are one by one ext inguished

,

and the merry sound of harp and flute hushed

into si lence. At his request the wounded sold ier,who had re turned from the ba ttle, recounts the deeds

of his son in a spiri ted descrip t ionwh ich rouses

Ravana from his grief. He mounts on the wal ls of

Lanka, reproaches the great oceanfor wearing a fetter of

stone to cross overRama’s army, and bursts into grief

at the sigh t of Birbahu’s corpse stre tched onthe field

of batt le. H e returns to his palace wh ich is suddenl y

fil led wi th the voice of woe Ch itrangada the bereaved

mother of Birbahu enters. She had beenblessed, she

says, w i th one priceless treasure, and had deposi tedi t w i th the k ing

, evenas a dove depos i ts her young in

the dark hol low of trees . The king is the protector of

poormen’s property, whereo

is poorChitrangada’s treasure

now Ravana is stung wi th the reproach of his queen

and determines on instant war. At his command the

ci ty resounds w i th the sound of war, and horses and

elephants and cars and ranks of warriors fi l l the streets.

Indraj it orMeghanad, the sole survi v ing sonof Ravana,hears that his fatherhas resolved to go to war in person.

206 murmur“; or BENGAL .

H e hastens to Lanka from his country seat, and is

permi tted by his father to lead the army.

“

The second book is a description of the heavens.

Indra is informed of Meghanad’s resoluti on to figh t

Rama the nex t day. Meghanad is inv inci ble in war,

and Indra therefore repairs w i th his w i fe to tlw grea t

and benignUma to pray for the safety of Rama. The

conversat ion that ensues breathes softness, and is worthy.

of the ce les t ial speakers. Indra pleads the cause of the

e 38 ! 3M m m anG i lfb tmm —“cv tlwW at m s

.

em s an: en « 11 am this

a s as mm an: arm I

h e cana s. aw,m inanas

m enorsimmerfirm m u.WW

.came “

R , am. scat ! amam ?a v iew0mmsits-s.

m erra ta ;Wcsi fwct

w e aimas am waft: l

swift Hum safeW{a as l e s f i flf’lw’fi wit-t

mm m.‘i l'l, firm s cat,

warmW armmats 1"

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

308 ureaaruas or BENGAL.

when the mountain-stream leaves her .home for the

ocean, who canobstruct her course” At her command

her ma ids and attendants, all val iant warriors, conceal

or heightenthe ir charms by donning armour and grasping the mart ia l spear, and mart ial music proclaims the

march of the beautious Amazons. Ram—a wi l l not figh t

w i th women, he w i l l ingly and evenrespectful ly lends a

passage,and the radiant fi le of valour and beauty passes

by,i l lumining the darkness of the nigh t . Rama, struck

w ith the s igh t, can scarcely bel ieve that i t was no t a

gorgeous dream.

In fine contrast to the sp iri ted descri pt ions of

the th ird book, the fourth is ful l of pathos and

tenderness, and dwel ls on the woes of poor S i ta,

now a cap tive of Ravana. One lady alone of

Ravana’s fami l y, Sarama, the w ife of Bibhisan, sympa

thises w i th her, and repa irs to her, and l istens to her

ta les of former days. S i ta narrates how after leav ing

Ayodhya w i th Rama and Lakshmana, she dwelt in the

forest of Panchabati and enjoyed the forest l ife, how

aifam 1m aft fai rGore-t.

wtsm mp mmamm sfis r

wtss “ s it ter.

m i N ! as ,cam wit,

wi f‘

a farare, t rit iumm 1

« fits vim wife fimg in-Wtcrffl (w e aims firms sat

-i

m ono sum s BAT‘

I A AND fi ts m e m arav . aog

wi ld flowers bloomed round her cottage and the sweet

and joyous ch irp, of forest birds waked her every

morning,‘

how peacocks danced [36w he? and wild

deer came inherds as hergues ts. and howshe. hospi ta li ty

entertained these innocent dwel lers of the, forest. She

adorned herse lf by the margin of the lake wi th fresh

flowers, and her dear lord, pleased w ith her new dress,would address her as the fairy of the woods ! Wi l lpoor Si ta meet her lord again and serve him w i th her

afl'

ec t ion?’ The narrator can proceed no further, she

A

Wee stfir«m. M ama.

1 9W? ash 1mm amfrm r fi twfih fiwnmwfimw’t ! ”(fi rst efimrs sfwi 1 1m ,

wfrmfwma ‘nfint i

W WnM N Wwritsfi fs flrm m affl mnm .

m ama.“ fl o t samm fl w m i

If“ w om en“

: anm .

fi m m m rmmfl mfifiww tflmmfid’l zmW fl fl i fi t fimn

ant i am a? 1m form{hm stfi fuv v s a m

2 10 L ITERATURE OF BENGAL.

weeps bi tter tears inwoe. Sarama entreats hernot to

proceed further if those recol lect ions give her pa in;

but poor S i ta would fain proceed. The river fi l led

by the rains pours forth its water on both sides,and the heart that is ful l of grief finds rel ief in

impart ing its grief to others. Sarama cannot choose

m s fim f nw f ua rm ?

humus;

qm m ma fl fi am

M am! a nsrh fl wfi x fi .

mm firmMirna f-tf'ri'

t arm

m “firs firmno “ i t,its

-fi e . film . v m ,

m m , an fsftrs.

anaim «aWWWa li en! inw l miners m ,

wmfi m mwffiwam i

m vnmma ytzfiim

wnfi am w’

ifi am mcwffmror saith—mm 51amaim ;W ? a m afiftr,firmm9 M a rm(ENG v im

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

fl ! MM ATURE OF fi N‘

GAL.

do bat tle with the tem'

ble fat in the heart of Lanka,

but at last oonaents. [ ;alrshmana, dressed mod emarmour, and act-w anted by Bibhiu», repairs to tantram ealed hy May

-a h'om rhe eyea d all . Meghanad

suddenly sees his foe inthe house of worsh i p, and mi:takes him for a god in disguise, hut fa kshmaha soon

M esh es h im. He will not evenallow Meghanad to

dm his m our or M M h imself with avma butMeghanad mikes M ahmm on the forehead was a

cup, and Eabshmm falls ih to a woon. Maya M m

him, Meghanad is bewildered wi th strange sigh ts by

Maya, and Inkshmana k i lls h im.

i t nis this port ion of

wrfamfi mfimwfli m m

ta r-ram mirawfimmcuffs-5 th m fi fi fimam ,

affimh finfiri j wvm ts

W1”f i at firs t fil fim meta l,m m m i

am t ! m sfi m rm :

wais t s ;W innfarm t rimfans wh it? I

mam msum ac DATTA AND ms w e POETRY. 3 13

fire work which we regmt the rnost. The death of

MW is not wmhy of him. In his amnety w

h kd imm h imself is also a m rior. In the (MM !

R im “ Lakshmana kills Meghanad infairfight. Our

poet am s Lalmhmaua wit h eelestial m u, oondoohs h im

wi th mot her warriorBihhifi nto meetW ad w ho is

pd fecdyunprepami a vd eventha t, Lmltshmana is struck

deem . The ipoet forgas mas the prowos s o f a m aior is

set of best hym cntimg h is M an as worthy ol'

his

fl eck not hy remesentiang h imas a b bild . Homer, from

M four poet frequent ly b orrows his ideas has not

m eme-s teel Hw oras a uhi ld fin fonder to a dequate lydescribe the prowess of whales.

W seventh fheok is inmany respeots M sehlhnest

in the worlt . S iva, who i s aM ys timlinod in frvor

of Ram is aflected at rhe death of m m,

and sends a messenger to fill Ravana wi th M om

prowess to give h im a day in revenge. The minor

gods descend ina may to assist Rama, nor is

he unworthy ho? celestial swim “. M m gazes on

Rama as on a ri val k ing ”of the heavens, and

Kart i keya sees his own image in the young and bold

Lakshmana Ravana’s fewdignified yet afiecting words

to the bereaved mo ther of Meghanad, hi s address to

his army, the spiri ted c onduct and from of his troops,

and the st irring description of t he battle that ensues,

find no paral lel in the literature of Bery l . Nowhere,

except inthe pages of Homer, ihas batt le 'betweenmore

than mortal combatants been so v iv idly, so powerful ly

z 14 LITERATURE or BENGAL.

descri bed . Ravana is intent on k i lling Lakshmana,

the slayer of his son, and vain are the attempts to

res ist his course. Indra, the king of the heavens, cannot

hurl his thunder, for a h igher power cheeks him ;

and Kart ikeya ret ires wounded and smi l ing when it

is wh ispered to him that Siva has fi l led Ravana wi th

his own prowess. Rama comes forward,but Ravana

wants his brother Lakshmana and w i l l not figh t w i th

the elder brother. Hanuman, Sugriva, and the other

leaders of Rama’s forces qua i l before Ravana, t i ll

the latter at last finds out Lakshmana fight ing l ike a

young l ion, and they b oth eagerl y mingle in a dubious

combat. Gods and -men gaze w i th wonder on the

furious battle, and Ravana h imself in the midst of the

combat pauses inadmirat ionof the valour and prowess

of his young and undaunted foe. But none can opposeRavana tod ay, and Lakshmana fal ls as a fal ling star,

the celest ial arms sound ing at his fal l .°

my , ( as « 1m mwhi chmums ) arm ,mums m .

Wensass. 13ms is si swri t -nsfsmWW !WitW: a li enmm

sifwvii mifx fm( afi st amam! anmamm fil amm «a: «i t st ufimcam: l“em s atwas” arti st 3mmam “

a aim s thi s fit certs ,

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

x t 6 urn /trons or m ean

in the sky. the bat tle field is lighted h’

y fint herefand

there, and Rama bemoan: the death of [A kshmamg ‘

the companion of all his toils, the affectionate brother

who had left his home, his wife, and his k ingdomto attend on him. Uma is affected, and wi th the

permission of her lord Siva, she sends Maya to take

Rama to the realm of shades, where Rama’s father wi ll

tel l him the means of reviving Lakshntana to l ife. The

poet borrows from Homeras wel l fromH indumy thology

in his descri pt ion of hell . Maya takes Rama through

reg ions where sinners are punished after death . He

then passes over to those happy regions where the good

and v irtuous l i ve after death . There he meets his father

who tel ls him of a medic ine by wh ich Lakshmana is

eventual ly brough t back to l ife.

The las t book describes the funeral of Meghanad.

A truce of seven days is granted by Rama at Ravana’srequest Pramila mounts the pyre w i th the corpse of her

lord after tak ing anaffec t ing farewel l of her maids and

companions, and Ravana bursts into an exclamation

of bi tter, heart-fel t grief, at the loss of the bravest of

his warriors and the dearest of his sons.

’

i t “fi ’tfl lf

‘l i l infirmama n, as g imam « fen{s tatam m Wt s ift ?!Wfa

m a s. smarts mm? am

snafuw arn wis t s ;“fi at arr-narm . 1h! 11v

MADHU SUDAN DATTA AND ms EP lC POETRY . Qt ?

Om an Pom s .

Ranga Lal Banerj i was a contemporary of Madhu

Sudan, and his first work, Padmim'

r Upak/tyancame

out inthe same year w i th Madhu Sudan’s first work,

Sa mar/rim,in 1 858 . I t is a spirited poemona well

knownepisode of Rajput h istory,and was much admired .

I t was fol lowed by his Karmadew'

and Summndari ;

4: am ! wtfirmm mmflfs arm .

visa,(s tats, t his

sm ith 3fire firfir. {first armm alts“?m inim i

samm t

finarm am at: finest?

Ww’

rfir,w r, crfh lmm ,

was m etmmm eritmW1 !WW !

‘W’WWcafircs tst cm with am st rata ;

“ Profit s-fi fth ! mam ;

mfis flmmmfirww vfi ,

afew fi rai w t m mfi firs

am , cwm cattsfi tfi a camt firmwm“WW ,

mst 'm,m tm s i afmm mhm fi tr ft m mm”

rife (mam mww fe r

fwwmm em,m ft m r

stats ! swims? ! fair-ti t anat m zstfl flf‘u! Fr an-rma dietWM fi fr

star of MadhuSudan’s genius. Ranga Lal d ied in 1 88 7.

Among the many poets who are s ti ll spared tous, andwho cont inue to enrich the Bengal i language, we mus tsingle out three who stand pree minent. Hem Chandra

Banerji is the Nestor among the li ving poets, and was

born in 1838 . His spiri ted verse, ful l of fire and

of feeling, won the admiration of the reading publ ic

evenwhenthe fame of MadhuSudanwas in the aseen

dant his patriot ic Lyric on Ind ia is knownby heart

to a large c ircle of readers, and his more ambi t ious

ep ic, Bri lm Sankar,is inst inct w i th beauty . But

perhaps Nabin Chandra Sen has struck a st ill deeper

chord inthe hearts of his countrymen. H is first grea t

work, Pulan'

r [ add/la ,came l ike a surprise and a joy

to his countrymen, and pleased the reading publ ic by

its freshness and vigour and its vo luptuous swee tness .

H is great ep ic on Krishna is st i l l inprogress and his

last work Amr’

tabba on the l ife and teach ings of Buddha,somewhat after

'

the style of Arnold's Liglzt of Asia,

susta ins and enhances the reputat ion of the grea t poe t

of the Pl indu revival of the present day. And las tly,Rahindra Nath Tagore, youngest sonof the venerableDebendra Nath Tagore, has d ist inguished h imself inpoetry, drama and fiction, and his match less songs are

sung inevery cul tured home inBengal. Some other poets

have also d ist inguished themselves by their talent and

genius. Pand i t S i va Nath Sa st ri’s M

'

rbasik r Bilap is a

work of great meri t, feel ing and pathos. Ananda Chandra

M i tra is aneccentric genius, and his H elena K trbya and

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

0 220 L IT ERATURE O F BENGAL.

cord in every feel ing heart, and display a de pth of

despair and aneloquent simpl ic i ty of real sorrow, which

our greates t poets canscarcel y excel .Thus the firs t emo tion wh ich has inspired our

poetesses, and to wh ich they have given eloquent

express ion, is one of suffering, of sorrow for the dead ,of duty towards the l iving . These are sacred fee l ingswh ich most forcibly to the female mind

, and na tura l ly

enough our poetesses have rece i ved their first inspira t ionfrom these feel ings. We welcome them in the field of

l i terature and poetry, and we hope tha t as years rol l by,and as they take an increasing share of l i terary work on

themselves, they w i l l also take a larger and more com»

prehensive view of l ife w i th all its varied feel ings and

hopes, joys and sorrows. For real l ife in its w idest

manifestat ion and its deepest meaning is the truestpoetry,—real l ife, painted in those co lours wh ich gleamfrom the heavenof the poet’s imag inat i on, and turn the

veriest dew draps into pearls l

all?its as i ts m cm canfuna film?Wfl lfi ; avfi Uf'fi lm .

Wmmm at?csm amwstft l M i s fi t m n

sfirs aw! "Wtfil am: as warm

mm <5 as as a fsdl‘fwarm,

fas terfla ts sfir. cots onat?in?mm vs a t?rs n s agsman: can a

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 22 L ITERATUR E OF BENGAL.

formany years as Deputy Col lector, and thenret ired on

pens ion. Bank im Chandra was educa ted inthe Hoog h l y

Col lege and thenin the Presidency Col lege of Calcutta .

The Calcut ta Universi ty was now founded, and Bank im

Chandra obtained his degree, and was the first B. A. in

Ind ia.

Inhis early years, be w i th D ina BandhuM i tra served

apprenticesh ip in the PraM a/lar journal under the

veteranIswar Chandra Gupta, and Bank im Chandra no

doubt acquired much of his ease and fac i l i ty of wri t ingfrom th is early exerc ise. Shortly after he had passed his

B. A Examina tion, he was appointed a Deputy Col lector,and he served indifferent d istricts. But l i terary amb i tion

was his rul ing passion, and he laboured to ach ieve

someth ing new and great inprose as MadhuSudanhad

done inverse. Both were insp ired by European models

but were sustained by their own genius, and both of

them thorough ly ass imilated new ideas w i th the spirit

of their country’s thought and l i terature. MadhuSudan

wrote a thorough ly H induepic, though insp ired by

Homer, and Bank im Chandra wrote novels of H indul ife,though his imaginat ionwas fired by the wonderful crea

t ions of the prince ofmodernnovel ists, SirWal ter Scott .

In 1 864, appeared his first h istorical novel Duma s

N amiim’

,and the l i terary world inBenga l was taken by

surpri se, as i t had been three years before, on the

publ ica t ionofMeglmnad. The boldness of the conception,the sk i l l and grace of the execut ion, and the variety andrichness and surpass ing freshness of the figures wh ich l ive

and move and ac t in this wonderful work, ind icated

BANKIM CH ANDRA CHAT'

I ERJEA.

a creative genius of the h ighest order. N othing so bold

and original had been at tempted in Bengal i prose,not h ing so powerful and so l ife- l i ke had been executedin Bengali fiction. The venerable Vidyasagar had

published his greatest work, Sita r Bandhu, only two

years before, and the work was an adapta t ion of a

Sanscri t drama into Bengal i prose. Wi th in two yearsa new epoch seemed to have dawned onthe horizonof

Bengal i prose l i terature, —an epoch of original works

of the imag inat i on, the l ike of wh ich Bengal had not

knownbefore.

Bankim Chandra did not escape the rid icule wh ichgreets every new endeavour. Cri t ics and d isappo inted

wri ters poured forth the ir rage on the devoted headof the young author

, his style, his concep ti ons, his

story, were all condemned,and he was put down as a

denat ional ized writer, an imita tor of European models .

But censure and invecta'

ves pass off, and a work of real

genius stands unmoved l ike a rock ri sing above the

waves . And afterth irty years, the read ing public of Benga lacknow ledge Burger-Hand im

'

to be one of the greatest

works inBenga li literture.

The nineteenth '

century has indeed beena brightcentury for Bengali l i tera ture. But if we were called upon

to po int out the brigh test decade w i th in th is century, weshould unhesi tat ingly po int to the tenyears '

from 1 85 4

to r864 . More orig inal work, more substant ia l and last ingwork. was done wi th in that decade thane i ther before or

ai ter. The eminent V idyasagar inaugurated the great

widowmarriage movement, and also publ ish ed his

224'

Ltrsaaruaa or BENGAL.

greatest work, Sc‘

ruf Barnabas, w i th in th is decade. Rairr

Narayan Tarkaratna began and Dina BandhuM i tracompleted the inaugurat ion of the modern Bengali

drama w i th in these years. MadhuSudan erected his

monumental ep ic in blank verse, and Bank im Chandrafounded his new school of fict ion

,wi th inth is memorable

decade. I t seems as if the l i terary act iv i ty of the centuryreached its culminat ing po int in the decade closing in

1 864. A l l the best works of the best wri ters,V idyasagar,

D ina Bandhu, MadhuSudanand Bank im Chandra werecrowded w i th inthose tenyears.

Hav ing wonhis spurs by his first endeavour,Bank im

Chandra d id let the grass grow under his feet. The

weird and wi ld story of Kapala Kundala is perhaps a

more wonderful creat ionof the wri ter’s fancy thaneven

his first great work . And Mrinalr'

m’

wh ich fol lowed,al though less sustained than its predecessors, is enl ivened by some characters wh ich only a true poet can

conceive.

Eigh t years had now elapsed since the publ icat ion

of Durga -M mdim’

,and in 1 872, Bank im Chandra

formed the idea of issuing a first class l i terary magazine

in Bengal i . The Banger D ari-

rm was accordingly

started, and under the e d i torsh i p of Bankim Chandra,th is new magazine rapid ly rose in populari ty and

infame.

The l i terary act i v i ty of Bankim knew no bounds.

Turning as ide from his favori te h istorical romances,

Bank im Chandra beganto publ ish inthe Banga D amn:

-a social t ale wh ich soonattracted thousands of readers.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

328 t rreaaruu or BENGAL.

subjects. His grw t work onKri shna is wri tten on the

same l ines as the thoughtful Engl ish work E d e H ome,

um! fi at m m W's {fiutfiraw l (mmsfamr-t.

mi fina g cm (m it t airfare srifa an as? 1rte ,smut

i t: amtWfil’l umt,my mm t enant cwfimmfas =nu"

Bank im Chandra’s opinion on the quest ion of the remarriage

o f l l induwidows is thus e x plained in his essays on Sam ar

Equa l i ty.

m msfiw, famf‘m i ems armame nts ; am fi nal

fears t estm s amam. am famm‘taWe fame wfw rs

« me ta l « 17 am.meafm wlcflw em mfarrf‘

m . at

w asWm rims am m at ; a utism a mflutfimawafersm ,

at m t ries a we ”fat! WW .

(M a l,mat te firm ( i ts “ ifs: ma film « a an in

afarcam firm. in?t ea, am a: swim sew,

riffs?! came!an: sta t-chm ta rsal awn, s o: fsfa m ar s tains wiv

t tfssl l

ma 41631 3 e was . straw not new, m ftatsmW ,

M ah atma! ntfes ‘

sram 115W. at mmmm t hanw t

farm a t ufies, alums arm . ora? a: summ t notmman as s tat es, was ! fefir suits 8 153 was s tews} : a?

M am ca irn fireman: a? car? faint : mess : m : as

wtt’

wn w rit an arm ? =nas aims t rams : mmt it. a t! farm « 3 1mamcw 1' fauna fsatamrafvm mW ! a . us N ew; items fsst fvl fls

‘

é l him a s at ma y

gr: arm . cams a h summ i ts: awncam atW(minim ; 0:2t mm i t shim, comm wasafis st ar

sh aft ,as : fans as,

ongfae surfac e s raw-nah ( i ts ; emwr-vm

‘

es ,mi x as firs t siw fi rs t firs cams can0!

fan am? at can ? ca nmat rmmuca firm cars ? as a

i zam fi amfwnam nt h commas sums m fi fe!”

“ i sm w (more? WNW“at“ fi rtm l flew

asNKIM CHANDRA m am a13A. 2 1 9

and created a profound sensat ioninBengal . Krishna,not as a dei ty but as a man

, as the great Yadava ch ief

who tried to avert war by his w ise counsels and ever

hel ped the cause of v irtue,—th is was the theme of his

work . And he proved to the perplexity of his orthodox

countrymenthat the story of the amours of Krishna finds‘

no ment ion inthe earl iest works in Sanscri t l i terature,and is the misch ievous fabricat ion of later poets . He

fin s?wai t i t. fim tfm fa‘fl {in t hat fir“

out firs t”m fis v ist as ,

91mi n c hm am em 91l can: in!$ 5 75 t W! was t i as at !” was a s aet

‘wfi 2mt han i t : atwtfit mus man« 6 3 135

‘

s si ts fl l—ats tmt

afar?! 61m fl am mfw a 1116minnew « fes tive: or

few mam t i cs ? struts aft arti st. fa faw‘

lfm wtsim

V im ears ! elm stats mama ,

“

at new; arms cafe”

‘lfflfll Waferm m an arm v im ,

"e ta6mm 1

"

s tems tfw s a tfatam cam is st airs art

‘

s at cv fl flt cv‘fiWWrttn’ftsam amt imam affirm Waist? (alt .

{amt a?fi s tsnfs mm mm Wt emirates ,

erstfvawmatfwt'ta

wi th Wt femm s i tte r st arts o fa. wai t i t fun: “

d ive

t eat? factor, swa mmm stalw art“ em ; it s at?

Wt? 1m a nfi sts {i ts e ta as at. at ne ts or? ! want cs‘Ifl Wi t fe s W mm wt emanate fim tfw tnt an

( i t s ? firm: also aim es w ri st f llfl‘ilw as‘

t armSte—mi a s w ith m am new art ist s are =nma y

Wai tfi firwmimm; We? sign fan wasram—arne ts. at cent. wfw mfi’t. atwetsui t, atm . at

W ? h as rum, are at cam ; (n owai t h as ruinm a i nt a in311 sfir t i ara, o nw as te it ? innit!v it a. e ta cunts fi t ? a?W131 awful first ten“sit ! outs um , e tamum arm s ?

t ra um a: or sexton.

a lso took up the study of the Vedas, and felt himselfinst inct ively drawnto the Hindurevi val of the present

generat ion, not to the no i sy rev ival of ceremonials and

forms and hurtful rules , but to the rev i val of the purer

deeper and more catho l ic monothe ism of the H induswh ich alone canuni te and streng thenthe nat ion.

Bankim Chandra was made a Rai Bahadur, and a

Compani on o f the Indian Emp ire by the Government,and d ied in 1 894, lamented by his countrymen. Whyis i t that so few of our l i terary men l ive to the age

o f three score and ten Ram MohanRai d ied at 59 ;

Ish tar Chandra Gupta at 49 ; D ina BandhuM i tra at

4 4 ; Madhu Sudan Dat ta at 49 and Bank im Chandraa t 56. The fathers of Bengal i prose l i terature, AkbayKumar Datta and Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar l i ved ap

prox imately to the ful l period of human l ife,probably

because they ret ired from labours early, and passed theirold age in repose. Akhay Kumar d ied at 66 and

V idyasagar at 71 .

These were the kings of our l i terary world inthe

present century, and the curious readercanmark the

peri ods of their reign as prec isel y as the re igns of

pol i t ical sovereigns . I . Ram Mohan Rai re igned from

1 8 1 5 to t 83o, Raja Radha Kanta sharing his re ignand

rul ing over the orthodox sect ion. I I . IswarChandra

Gupta then reigned from 1 830 to 1 855, Akbay Kumar

sharing his rule during the last twelve years . I I I . The

venerable Vidyasagar then ascended the throne w i th

his memorable movement for the re-rnarriage of H induw i dows, and his rule lasted t i l l 1872, MadhuSudan

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

233 ureaarune or

NOVELS. The same lady is the author of D ip N'

trban

and a number of o ther meri torious novels, and i t is asignof the t imes that lad ies have taken to wri t ing worksof fict ionas wel l as of poe try. Sanj ib Chandra Chatterjea,brother of the g i fted Bank im Chandra

,has wri t ten

M adkab ila fa, Kant/tumult: and other interes t ing novels,and Chandra Selt har Mult erji

’s Udblm mta Prem is also

a wel l-knownwork . One of the best of modernnovelsis Swarm /am by the late Taralt Chandra Gangul i,a s imple and pathet ic tale of soc ial l i fe inwh ich thecharacters are powerful ly del ineated . Indra Na th

Banerjea’s Kalpatam is a humorous but real ist ic novel

of Bengal v i l lage l ife. DamodarV idyananda has wri tten

M rinmay i and a number of other stories, Chandi Charan

Banerjea has composed Monomma’r Gri/m and other

moral domest ic tales, and Chandi Charan Sen has

publ ishedWanda Kumar and other h i storical novels of

orthodox proport ions . Pand i t S i va Nath Sastri,who has

d ist ingui shed h imsel f by his poetry and his rel ig iousworks

,has also composed .Mej o Bar: and othermeri

torious works of fict ion; and Rahindra Nath Tagore, one

of the foremost poets of the day, has composed short

tales wh ich bear the stamp of his genius. Deb iPrasanna Rai Chowdhuri has wri tten a number of

interest ing tales ; and the veteran dramat ist Mano

MohanBasuhas wri ttena meri torious tale about Ranji t

S inha, cal led Dalia . To complete the l ist,ment ion

may be made of Banga Bryan: and threeother tales erInd ianHistory by the present wri ter, as wel l as his soc ial

novels, Samar and Santa}.

BANKIM CHANDRA CHATTERJ EA. 233

Essavs. Bank im Chandra’s t houghtful essays in

the Banga D orm}: on l i terary, soc ial and sc ient i fic

subjects were largely read by his countrymenal l over

Bengal, and the example he set has been largely

fol lowed . Foremost among the essay ists of the present

day is Kal i Prasanna Ghosh of Dacca, whose Pmb/lat

C/u'

nta and M'

b/zrita C/u'

nta and other thoughtful

essays are w idely read and apprec iated . Raj KrishnaMukerjea and Chandra Nath Basu were among the

mos t eminent of Bank im Chandra’s col laborators, andhave wri ttenmuch that is valuable and thoughtful . RajKrishna was a manof accurate scholarsh i p and learning,and his Praliand/mr are marked hy a sp iri t of honest

research . Chandra Nath Basuhas d i st inguished h imselfmore by his cri t ica l and soc ial essays, l ike his Sakzmta/aTa twa and his fl ied/d iva . Dwijendra Nath Tagore, son

of the venerable Debendra Nath Tagore,has wri tten

much that is ph i losoph ica l and though tful inhis TatwaPmkas and other essays. Other wri ters of lesser note

are add ing to the stock of our current prose l i terature.

Rauc ton AND An'

rroum ss. The As iat ic Soc iety

continues to publ i sh meri torious edi t ions of anc ientSanscri t works, and many private Pund its and Ed i torsare engaged in the same patrio t ic task . Our concernhowever is w i th Bengal i translat ions and comp i lat ions,as they enrich the l i terature of Benga l

,at the same t ime

that they add to the store of our ant iquarian knowledge.

Pandi t Satyavrata Samasrami is the profoundest Vedic

scholar inBengal, and has done much for the spread

of knowledge by his ed i t ions and translat ions of

234 LITERATUR E OF BENGAL:

Ynj mw a'

a and Same Veda and his researches inh is

journals . Ment ion may also be here made of the

ed i t ionand translat ionof the Rig Veda by the present

wri ter wh ich caused a sensat ion among his ort hodox

countrymen in 3885 . An abridged comp i lat ion and

translat ionof the ent ire body of H indusacred l i teratureby the same wri ter is now in course of publ icati onunder the t i t le of H indu Sastm . The late Dr. Ra in

Das Sen publ ished a number of va luable essays

on Ind ian antiqui t ies, and Praful la Chandra Banerjea

has wri ttenon the Hindus and the Greeks. Mabesh

Chandra Pal and S i ta Nath Datta have ed i ted and

translated the Upum'

s/mds, and Ka i las Chandra S inhais a laborious worker in the field of anti qui t ies.

Excel lent ed i t ions and translat ions o f the Blmgavatg iia

have been publ ished by several wri ters, and the

Bangabas i press has presented the read ing publ ic wit h

a translat ion of the D /zarma Sastras, and is now

publ ish ing the Puranas. The etbusiastic SisirKumar

Ghosh is engaged in wri t ing a l ife of Chai tanya w it h

all the fervour of a true bel iever, and other ed i torsand translators, whose name is legion, are engaged

in ed i t ing, translat ing and elucidat ing anc ient works .

Much o f th is work is perhaps superfic ial and evennarrow in its scope and object, and is not therefore

l ikely to last . But in sp i te of all that is sectarian

and hollow, the increased attent ion now bestowed on

anc ient Hinduscriptures is l ikel y to be attended w i th

the best resul ts. and w i l l have the ul t imate effect of

draw ing the people closer to the nourish ing and l ife

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

236 LITERATURE or BENGAL.

POETRY AND DRAMA . Ment ion has been made of

the l i v ing dramat ists and poets at the close of the last

two chapters, and i t is needless therefore to enumera te

them here.

CHAPTER XX.

GENERAL INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS.

M'

neteent/i ( eatery .

IN the last seven chapters we have traced the progress

of Bengal i l i terature in the nineteenth century ; i t is a

in L iterprogress wh ich we cancontemplate

s tare in the rgth cen wi th pleasure and w i th leg i t imatepride. Not a decade has passed

but has brough t . forth new wri ters and a marked

development . In the early tens and twent ies, the

great Raja Ram Mohan Rai carried on the work of

progress, and the conservat ive sect ion, headed by the

learned Raja Radha Kanta Deb, stood up for anc ientri tes and customs and the resul t was the format ionof a

heal thy and v igorous prose l i terature. In the th irties, thepoe t Iswar Chandra Gupta came on the s tage, and

enriched Bengal i poetry wi th his flow ing and w i tty and

interminable verse, display ing a copious power of the

language unsuspected before . In the fort ies, more

earnest workers came on the field ; Akbay Kumar’s

d ignified instruct ions, l i terary, sc ient ific and moral, werel istened to by the advanced schoo l of readers inBengal,and Iswar Chandra V idyasagar beganhis manly work inthe cause o f educat ional, soc ial and l i terary reforms.

In the fift ies, Ram Narayan Tarkaratna founded the

school of modern Bengal i drama, and the great Madhu

238 LITERATUR E or BENGAL.

Sudan Dat ta erected his monumental ep ic in blankverse . In the sixt ies, 1

°

) ina BandhuM i tra deveb ped

drama t ic l i terature, and Bank im Chandra beganhis newschoo l of fict ionand his long and bri l l iant rule in the

world of letters wh ich has terminated only wi th his

dea th . In the sevent ies and e ight ies, new wri ters rose

to d ist inct ion, and the genius of Hem Chandra, Nabin

Chandra and Rab iudra Nath sheds a lus tre on the

clos ing years of th is eventful -century.

But when we have spokenof the Bengal i wri ters ofthe century, we have g i venonly a part ia l and imperfect

account of our country’s progress. Eng l ishmenare now

the rulers of Ind ia, the work of administrat ionand of

the courts of just ice is carried on in Engl ish, h ighereducat ion is imparted inEngl ish, and the Engl ish is the

one language inwh ich the people of the different pro

vinces in Ind ia cancommunicate w i th each o ther. Muchof the li terary work of our countrymenmust therefore

be done, and has been done, in Engl ish . Our most

influential journals mus t be conducted inEngl ish, our

best legal works must be composed in Engl ish, forensiceloquence candevelop i tself only in Engl ish, const itu

tional agi ta t ionand pol i t ica l work must be carried on in

Engl ish, and even sc ient ific and h istorica l researches,meant forall the races of Ind ia and for Europeanreaders,must also be inEngl ish . I t is necessary therefore to takea cursory v iew of the work done inEngl ish inorder to

grasp ful ly the progress made inthe present century.

Raja Ram Mohan Rai was the fi rst worker of the

century in Engl ish as he was in Bengali ; and his

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

9 40 LITERATURE or BENGAL.

compl iment of a favourable review in England in

Blackwoorl’s Magazine. Shash i Chandra l i ved to com

p i le h istorical and other works wh ich have beenpubl ishedin ten volumes, and Govind Chandra w i th some of

his brothers and nephews publ ished the Duff Rural?Album in England . H is talented daughterTarnDuttthenwrote a smal l col lect ion of Lays and Ballad: ofIndia wh ich Edmund Gosse brought to the favourablenot ice of the Bri t ish publ ic. H . C . Dutt has writ tenhis Lotus Leaves and G . C . Dntt his cm Blossoms .

O . C . Dutt st i l l del ights us w i th his s onnets and transi tst ions from the Germanand the French, and J . C . Dutthas publ ished the IndianP ilgrim inSpenserianverse.

But the dream of earning a fame by contri but ionsto Engl ish Poetry has now passed away

, and YoungBengal has succeeded better in

more pract ical subjects of study.

Not long after the t ime of Raja Ram Mohan Ra i,Dr. K . M . Banerjea began his researches into Sanscri t

learning . He embraced the Christ ian rel igion, and his

perfect knowledge of Sanscri t and his command of a

graceful Engl ish style made him an effect ive and

powerful wri ter inthe field of Indian ant iqui t ies. His

Dialogues rm H indu P/ziloso/Uiy is a profound work,

shew ing a know ledge of the d i fferent systems of Hindu

ph i losophy wh ich very few scholars thenpossessed. But

ph i losoph ical and sc ient ific researches fai l of their

mark whenthey are made w i th the object of supporting

mmcnlar creed or fa i th, and Dr. Banerjea’s work

“NuItom th is reason, and has never beenas acceptable

IndianAntiqui ties.

GENERAL INTELLECTUAL PROGRES$ m

to scholars as i t o therw ise might . have ‘

bee'

ri .'

In'

his.

later days . D.r. .Banerjea wrote another work, Aryan

"fib res , as profound as his first work, but marked by

the same part isansh i p which takes away from its“

value.

Dr. Rajendralal M itra succeeded him - ia antiquariahand scholas tic researches, and soon acquired a Europeanreputa t ionby his learning. He started a clihapmagazinecalled BM W/Ira Sangra lza in 185 1 , .

in Bengal i, for

spreading useful informa ti on among his counte aen,

but never succeeded wel l as a Bengal i wri ter. On the

other hand his researches into Ind ianant iqui ties were

apprec iat ed, and the Government of Bengal employedhim, first in examining the ancient temples of Orissa,

and then in examining t he temple of Buddha Gaya.

{I‘wo magnificent works, rich inphotograph ic illustrati ons,and replete with informationabout the arts, manners and

life of the anc ient H indus, were the resul t . In‘

tbe

meant ime the scattered contributi ons of the scholar in

learned journals were col lected and publ ished in two

yolumes, enti t led [ ado-Amm, wh ich w i l l remain a

monument of his learning.

!

‘

Less ambi t ious thanthe eminent Doctors,Were wri ters

l ike Bhola Nath Chandra and Lal Bihari De who have

we“, of’

informu.embod ied much useful informa

PM” t ion about their country in their

excellent works. Bhola Nath’s Tram of o a H induc ontinues to be a most interest ing book of informat ion

I take this opportuni ty of acknow ledg ing my great indebtedhess to these vo lumes, in writ ing my work on Cim lizahbn in

a“ e snarv az or m ean.

about India, and Lal Bihari’s Peasant L ifeWW I

descri bes the li fe of the Bengal agricul turis t inthe guiseof a pleas ing novel .

In journal ism, Harish Chandra Multerjea took the

l ead about the middle of t his century, and the abi l i ty,honesty and devo t ion wi th whichhe advocated the cla ims of his

countrymen in the columns of the HM Patriot,

wh ich he founded, rece ived deserved pra ise and recognition. Kristo Das Pal succeeded Harish Chandra

worth i ly, and laboured for his country w i th rea l talent

and sound judgment as the ed itor of the H tihduPatriot

unti l the day of his death .

Journal ism and publ ic-speak ing have gone ’hand in

hand, and the people of Benga l ha ve cont inued to

represent theirwishes, and ex press

their v iews and Opinions, in the

English language wi th marked abi l i ty . Ram Gopal

Ghosh was the first great publ ic speaker in Bengaa,

and be d ist inguished h imself in the middle of this

century by his e loquence and patriotism as the great

tri bune of the people. Surendra Nath Banerjea is a

worthy successor of Ram Gapal Ghosh in the art of

publ ic Speak ing, and in the great work of .the polit ical

advancement of his country. H e has laboured steadily in

t hi s cause during the last quarter of the century, he has

earned for his countrymen an increas ing measure of

self-government and of representat ive inst i tut ions, and

his name w i l l be assoc iated by the future h istorianof

Bengal w i th the pol i t ica l advancement of the people.

Journalism.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

a“ m easure s or m oan:

'S iva Nath Sastri and his colleagues are worthily carrying

onthe work of this advanced sectionof the Samaj.

The progress of the Brahma Samaj is .

ao auspic ious

sign, because the Brahma Samaj really is'

an‘

advancedsect ion of the Hindu Samaj.

’

One section of the

Brahmas st i ll cal l themselves Hindus, and all sect ions

have adopted Hindusoc ial and rel igious ri tes wi th some

mod ifications, l ive Hindul ives, and derive their instruc=

t ion from Hindusacred works. The soc ial progress

of the Brahmas leavens the ent ire Hindusocie ty, the

two . communit ies are draw ing clm r year after year;

and when the young soc iety wi l l have counted its

first hundred years of ex istence, i ts members wi ll be

neckoned as a sect i on of advanced H indus, as the

founder of the Samaj meant them to be.

Among the H indus, outside the pale of the Brahma

Samaj, there has been a be tter understanding amongthe different sect ions in recent

years. There is a des ire on thepart of all sect ions, orthodox and heterodox, to draw

c loser together, and work for nat ional ptogress and

genera l good. The dominat ionof the priest ly caste wh ich

impeded the nat ion’s progress is becoming feebler, t iieendeavour to bolster up prie st ly privileges is becbmlng

‘

fainter, the hurtful restrict ions of caste are becomingweaker, among advanced H indus in Bengal . There

is a des ire to sink‘

soc ia l d isunion, to ignore modernres trictions, and to turn towards the unpollut

‘

edJ

r e l ig ion and mora l i ty of the anc ient scriptures to '

wh ich modern Hindus are now turning for guidance .

HinduReform.

GENE RAL W ELLECTUAL PR OGR ESS . 24 5

(t here is hope‘

lo os ll th is, as irell as sign of progress.

Inscience,’

Young Bengal has no t succeeded as we ll

as he should have done. Excellent physicians have beenturned out from the Med ical Col

Science “ d{Indusa lege, and students d ist inguished

for h igh profic iency in Chemistry

and Physics, Ma thematics and Astronomy, have comeout

of ourcolleges. But they have as yet gi venno ind icationof a capacity for orig ina l research. The want of costlyinstruments inthis country may be one reason of th isfai lure, the absence of a c lass of scient ific workers is

ano ther. Dr. Mahendra Lal Sarltar’s Science Associat ion

languishes for want of zealous workers, and the Indus trialAssociat ion lately started has not yet percep tibly fosteredindustria l pursuits. Feeble nt tempts aré made now and

then'

in start ing new industries, or renovat ing old ones'

under new methods. The spinning and weaving of

cotton and jute, wh ich grow so plent ifully‘

in th is’

country, .are done for us in England, and Benga l has

not taken any appreciable share inclhth manufactureinwh ich Bombay has set an example . Bengal

'has ho t

yet d istinguished herse lf in any : way in science and

industries under the influence of Engl ish educa tion.

Lavr is‘

am o

'

re congenia l subject“

oi”

study'

for the

people o c ngal, a nd i t has beenremarked by so h igh

an authorit y as Sir Henry Ma ine,

that in th is subject the nat ion has

shewn something l ike true meri t and genius. The

abi li ty, of wh ich Prasanna Kumar Tagore and Rama

Prasad Rai and other pleadcns of the irgenerat ion gave

Law .

246 mw am e or m en.

ev idence, attracted attention, and the h ighest judieialposts under Her Majesty‘s Government in India were

soon won by the talented practioners . Rama Prasad

Rai, son of Raja Ram Mohan Rai

,was appo inted

a judge o f the High Court of Calcutta, but he d id

not l i ve to take his seat on the Bench . Sambhu

na th Pand i t fol lowed, and later on, the talented Dwarka

Nath Mi tra distinguished himself by his eloquence,learning and zeal at the Bar, and eventually made

one of the soundest and bes t judges of the H igh

Court. Other able men have succeeded him, and S ir

Ramesh Chandra M i tra acted as Chief Justice of

Bengal for a period. Among the Bengal. Mahomme’dans,Sayad AmirAl i bas won a sea t on the Bench of the

H igh Court, and has also dist inguished h imself by

his learned works on the Lzfi of Al abama! and on

MohammedanLaw. But Sayad AmirAl i’s works are notthe only meri torious lega l works compwed b y nat ives

of Bengal inmodern t imes. The munificent Prasanna

KumarTagore has founded a chair for lectures on law ;and the lec tures, annuall y del ivered, mostly by na t ivesof Ind ia

,form a series of meri torious works on Indian

Law.

In the work of general administrati on, the people

of the country have beenadmi tted to take a share with

H i‘

stration.

greater caution, their efforts havebeenmore arduous and prolonged,

and the ir success therefore is a matter of greater congratulation. The administrat ionof India is unconsc iouslyefiected by party triumphs in England, and i t was

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

248 e saarv anor BENGAL.

in count ies and boroughs: Was passed in England in1 885 . The wave of l iberal ' react ion reached, as on

prev ious occasions, as far as Ind ia, t he Local Se lf

Government Act and the Munici pa l Act of'Inrd R i ponwere passed between 1 884 and 1 886, and the people

were thus admi tted to’

a larger share in the adminisn‘ar

tiono f local afl’

airs.

The training of our young men inEngland has been

at tended wi th benefic ial resul ts. Menwho have enteredthe h

'

her rank of ;Appo intment t o

1g 8 serv ices by

higher “m eg s m y passing examinati ons in EnglandW 0” “1 5 08 “ have taken, as C ivilians oc tors

or Eng ineers, a responsible share

in the work of administrat ion to wh ich theircountry~

men general ly are not admi tted . Bengal i C i vi l ianshave held the posts of District Officers

, District Judges

and D ivisional Commiss ioners, Bengal i Medical men

have he ld the post of C iv i l Surgeons, and Eng ineers have

risento the rank of Execut ive Engineers. Th is d irect

enlargement of the share takenby the people of Bengal

inthe administrat ionof their cot mtry benefits the people,and makes Bri t ish rule stronger and more popular 111India.

No less signal is the serv ice rendered by those who

have came out as members of the Bar. Mano Mohan

C hose, who went to England

w i th Satyendra Nath Tagore, came

out .as the first Bengal i Barrister. The poet MadhuSudan Datta came out about the same t ime, and

“m esh Chandra Bonnerjea came . out short ly after, in

GENERAL INTELLECTUAL Paocasss . 249

1 868 . MadhuSudan is dead but Ghosh and Bonnerjea

are among the Nestors of the Bar at the present t ime.

‘

The service they have rendered to the country by hel p ingthe cause of jus t ice and thus improv ing adm inistrat ionis great . But the serv ice wh ich they’

have rendered as

workers for the pol i t ical advancement of the ir country~men is sti l l more valuable. Younger Barristers are

.walking' in their

‘

foot-steps, and our country owes andw i l l cont inue to owe much to her talented and patriot ic

sons who have'

takento the legal profession.

For the rest the great rush of our young men.

to

Europe is si lently causing a reform inour soc ia l rules.

These young menask no sanct ion from the leaders of the

ca8te organiza t ionwhen they cross the seas and proceed

to Europe, or when they return

visit toW and l ive among their friends and

relat ions, and occas ional ly marryout of caste. Orthodox H indu soc iety is gradual lybecoming fami l iarized w i th such departures from old and

cast- iron rules, and si lent ly accepts the fact that a l i v ingsoc iety must be progress ive. The best way to do a

th ing is to do i t, says the proverb, and Young Bengal,educated in Europe, knows the truth of th is proverb .

Soc ial reforms for wh ich menl ike the venerable V idyasagar spent the best port ions of the ir l ives are being

effected unostentat iously, w i thout discussion in pam

phlets and journals, and w i thout the sanct ionof learned

conclaves of Pand i ts. A deed done is worth more than

years of idle discussion H indusoc iety fee ls i t, and is

gradual l y accept ing the inev i table.

32

25° urea /none or BENGAL.

Young Bengal has his faul ts,and is not in'

wa'nt bf

“cand id friends” to point them out to him. But hiscri t ics, who are so severe .on his

fai l ings, know l i tt le o f h is difi culti

ies and his struggles. Wi th inthe present i century, YoungBengal has

‘

endeavoured to form a heal thy nat ional

l i tera ture,’

has stri ven for. social and rel igious reformsinthe l ight of the anc ient H induscriptures; has d is

tinguished i tself in law and administrat ion, and works

hopeful ly and manful ly for the good of the country .

There is reasonfor hOpe inall th is, but there is more

reason.

for earnes t work‘

in the future ; land i t rests

entire l y w i th ourselves to work out the resul ts alread y

foreshadowed . There is not a nat ionin Europe wh ich

has not’

shaped its owndest iny by centuries of hard and

arduous toil inpast ages; We l i ve ini

ha'

i

pp’

ier t imes, and

under the influence of a -heath ier l i beral Opinion, and i t

rests with ourselves whether under these influences,and under the generous guidance ‘

of England, we sha ll

inove onward in the path of nat ional progress, as all

English‘ colonies are do ing inthis age of progress.

Conclusion.