পাতা:Vanga Sahitya Parichaya Part 1.djvu/১০৫

INTRODUCTION. - 97 আটার বছর হইল তুমি অধিকারী। “. এ বার বছর হৈল মোরা চারি নারী॥ -। * এ বুলিয়া চারি বধু পুরী প্রবেশিল। - ঘরে গিয়া চারি বধু যুক্তি বিমশিল। অনাঞ বোলে বইনগ পছন। সুন্দর। সাত কাইতের বুঝ আমার ধরের ভিতর॥ 19. Concluding remarks. By far the greater portion of the present compilation has been taken from old MSS. written between the 16th and 18th centuries, though there were printed books available in some cases. I got some help from late Babu Ramanimohan Mullick's editions of the songs of the Vaisnava-masters. The Vaisnava songs, in the old MSS. in my possession, were occasionally revised by me on a comparison with the readings given in Ramani Babu's collections. I had also to consult frequently the excellent and erudite edition of Vidyāpati, edited by Babu Nagendranath Gupta and published at the cost of Babu Săradãcharan Mitra, whose earlier edition of Vidyäpati, (published in 1876) first popularised the poet among the educated people of Bengal. But whether we should altogether do away with the Bengalicised forms of these poems extant in this country, preferring their Maithil originals, is a question which ought seriously to be considered. Some of the padas of Vidyāpati have undoubtedly gained in richness and flow of style in their Bengali form. This is no doubt due to the existence of a devotional flavour lent to them by the followers of Chaitanya. Should these be altogether abandoned because we have found their originals 2 There are numerous editions of Krittivasa's Rāmāyaņa and Käsidāsa's Mahābhārata available in the market. I have not, however, depended upon these. The extracts given in this work from the above-named authors were taken from MSS. two to three hundred years old. It should be noted here that I have not included in my compilation some of the choicest passages to be found in the Rāmāyaņa of Krittivāsa published from Bat-tala, as I believe these to be later interpolations. For instance I find from comparing numerous old MSS. of the Rāmāyana that Krittivāsa's version of the lamentations of Rāma when Sitā was carried away is quite different from the popular reading of the passage to be found in the current editions of Bat-tala. The Räibär or the embassy of Angada, the humour of which was so highly extolled by former generations of the Bengalis, is found in the earlier MSS. with the colophon distinctly mentioning Kavichandra as its author. I have accordingly included it in the extracts from his composition. I had to study about 2000 MSS. for the purpose of making the present selection and most of these, as I have already mentioned, belonged to the 13