BENGALI MANUSCRIPTS AT EVORA
(Reprinted from the Acharyya Sir P. C. Ray Commemoration Volume.)
The little town of Evora lies on a low hill in the midst of a fertile valley seventy-five miles from Lisbon. In size and population it hardly bears any comparison even with our small countrytowns but it occupies a deservedly high place in the history of Portugal. The ruins of a Roman temple, popularly associated with the goddess Diana, testify to its great antiquity, and eighty years before the birth of Christ this obscure place formed the headquarters of Sertorious. In 712 Ebora, as it was then called, passed into the hands of the Moorish conquerors to witness four hundred and seventy years later a glorious triumph of the Christian arms. Here the great dramatist Gil Vicente, the greatest of his land, breathed his last and some of his “autos” or religious pieces were staged at Evora to divert his royal patron. In the 16th century Evora became the seat of an Archbishop and a University was founded in 1550. To-day Evora has hardly anything to boast of. The University is a thing of the past, the small museum attracts but few visitors, the cathedral is no more attended by the proud nobility, but the Public Library is rich in rare manuscripts and inquisitive students, though their number is necessarily limited, still make their pilgrimage to the capital of Alemtejo. Among its jealously guarded treasures are three Bengali manuscripts, two of which are unfortunately incomplete.
That Bengali manuscripts should find their way to this far-off Portuguese town is no wonder, for Frei Manoel da Assumpção was a native of Evora, and we are indebted to him for a Bengali grammar
