CHAPTER-V

RESEARCH AND EDITED WORKS

5.1 Introduction :
Those books, whose manuscripts were discovered, edited and published
by Haraprasad Shastri occupy a special position in the history of Bengali language in terms of their significance and honour. Keertilata is one of them.
Though the Maithil Kokil (the Cuckoo of Mithila) poet Vidyapati did not
belong to Bengal and did not write in Bengali, he was a near and dear one of
Bengali literature. Mainly as a poet of Vaishnav pada literature. Vidyapati was
accepted as a Bengali poet, honoured and loved by Bengalees. It was revealed by
the research of Haraprasad that Vidyapati had not been a Bengali poet and he had
not been a Vaishnav. He was an inhabitant of Mithila and this Smarta Brahmin
was a Panchopasak like other Smarta Brahmins of Bengal and other provinces
of India :
xK pkeowbk MgnYwt exZe pl xgbwexZ gwOwxl dd Ggv Awb# gng
xQld dw xZxd xixalwk iwdn Ggv ewewoK owZ gwY exZ pkeowb
bLwd PZdehwxgZ M#ryt gng cwkwk Kwg xgbwexZk RwtMw dt Zwk
lLw kwcwKn ebwgxl ovZ ei Kwgk cwkwt kxPZ -- jw ek gng
gwZwgkY MpyZ Ggv oiwbZ ptQ 1
[But it was established by the research of Haraprasad that Vidyapati had
not been a Bengali and he had not been at all a Vaishnav. He was an inhabitant of
Mithila and a Panchopasak, Smarta Brahmin scholar. Haraprasad showed that
Vidyapatis writings do not fit into the Gaudiya Vaishnav system of poems. The
Radha-Krishna padabali written by him belongs to the system of Sanskrit love
poems, which were later on accepted in Vaishnav environment and were much
adored.]
In fact, though the songs of Vidyapati were written in Maithili language,
people of Mithila only were not enchanted by his songs, but whole of India be

came enchanted. And Bengal became highly enchanted. Haraprasad Shastri Wrote
oi AwjwgZ Zw^pwk Mwd i pBtxQl gxm pBtwxQl gwOlw PZdbg
Zw^pwk Mwd grw hwlwgwxoZd oZkwv PZd oebwtk og lwKB
xgbwexZk Mw^rw xQld PZdk oitk ekk AdK ebKZw
xgbwexZk dKl KxkZd hwgk dKl Zw KxkZdB, AdK hwnwkI dKl
KxkZd 2
[Whole of the Aryavarta (i.e. Northern India) was enchanted by his songs.
More enchanted were Bengal. Chaitanyadeva loved his songs very much. So all
people, who were followers of Chaitanya were ardent admirer of Vidyapati. Many
writers of pada, of the time of Chaitanya and of later periods imitated Vidyapati.
They definitely imitated ideas and some even imitated the language.]

5.2 Keertilata :
Anyway, Vidyapati was not only a scholar and a writer of lyrics, he was
also a writer of history. Haraprasad wrote :
xgbwexZK Awikw ecwdZ xZd ixZZ bxLZ ewB GK ixZZ xZxd
exZ, ovZ owxpZ Lg gue, ... Awk GK ixZZ bxL xZxd Kxg ...
Awxbkok eb xlxLZQd Ggv oit oit hxk DQwo MbMb
pBZQd Zw^pwk Awxbkok Mwdxl, Zw^pwk KyxZeZwKw, I
KyxZlZw Zw^pwK hwkZgnk GKRd ecwd BxZpwo lLK Kxktw
ZxltwQ 3
[We observe Vidyapati mainly in three roles. In one role he is a scholar,
highly proficient in Sanskrit literature. In another role he is a poet writing love
songs and sometimes becoming ecstastic in devotion. His songs describing historical events, his Keertipataka and Keertilata made him a prominent history
writer of India.]
Songs of Vidyapati were famous from long ago. Sanskrit books written by
him were also known to many. But very few knew that he had written two ballads.
When Sir George Grierson was discovering the songs of Vidyapati, he came to
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know that Vidyapati had been supposed to have written two poetry books based
on contemporary events. The title of one of them was Keertilata and that of the
other was Keertipataka. After getting this information, Haraprasad Shastri went
to Nepal in 1898. He spotted the manuscripts of these two books in the library of
Nepals Royal Court and arranged for the copying of these books. Afterwards he
thought that the copying had not been done properly. As a result, he went to Nepal
again in 1922. He then again examined these manuscripts and on permission from
the then king of Nepal, Sir Chandra Samser Jaung, collected manuscript of
Keertilata. Afterwards he edited this book and published it in 1331 Bengali era.
Nihar Ranjan Roy termed the language of Keertilata as Shouraseni Apabhrangsha 4 Haraprased termed the language as Maithili.
Haraprasad had the apprehension that a few mistakes would creep in during copying the Maithili book in Newari script. The manuscript was copied by
astrologer Narayan Singha. Again it was copied from Newari script to Bengali
script. Haraprasad Shastri apprehended that a few more mistakes had occured
again.
While comparing the style of composition of other writings of Vidyapati
with that of Keertilata, Harapaprsad commented that :
jw^pwkw xgbwexZk Mwdxl hwlw Kxktw PPw KxktwQd, Zw^pwkwI G hwnw
hwlw Kxktw gxSZ ewxkgd dw KwkY Mwdxl Awxbkok Awk G Zw^pwk
oitk NUdw lBztw Mwd Awkxg, ewkxo, ZKyk MI dwB, BpwZ AdK
AwQ Mwd kwRdyxZk Kaw dwB, jk KawI dwB, G gBLwxd kwRdyxZ
Awk j lBtwB lLw 5
[Even those who studied the songs of Vidyapati thoroughly will not be
able to understand this language (i.e. the language of Keertilata) properly. Because the songs are love songs. But this (i.e. Keertilata) is based on the events of
his time. In the padas, there is not even any trace of Arabic, Persian or Turkese
language, but here (i.e. in Keertilata) there are plenty of words from those languages. In padas there is no mention of politics and war, but this book is about
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politics and war.]

The subject matter of Keertilata is the historical events describing how
Maharaj Keertisingha liberated his kingdom by defeating his fathers enemy, how
Shivsingha became independent, how Shivsingha after the death of Devsingha,
established his kingdom by overcoming many difficulties and obstacles.
According to Haraprasad, two books Keertilata and Keertipataka made
Vidyapati a prominent history writer of India. It is not true that the history of
India, the social history of India written by Hindus are not available. So, Haraprasad
wrote :
GZxbd lwKk xgmwo xQl, ioliwdkwB Kgl Awiwbk BxZpwo xlxLtwQd
Ggv ioliwdkw jwpwB xlxLtwQd ZwpwB cg oZ; myjgwg jbdwa okKwkk
iZ ioliwd lLKk Dek xgmwo Kxkl Pxlg dw GLd Awikw bxLZ
ewBZxQ j xpbkwI BxZpwo xlxLZ, oZ NUdw lBtw Zwpwk xggkY xlxLZ 6
[Till now people believed that only Muslim writers had written our history
and whatever they had written is the absolute truth; like Shreejukta Babu Jadunath
Sarkar one should not believe only in the writings of Muslim writers. Now we
find that Hindus also wrote history, they wrote descriptions of facts.]
According to Haraprasad, one should neither depend only on the history
written by Muslim writers nor only on that written by Hindu writers. A history
writer should assume himself to be seated on the judges seat and should judge
both the versions (i.e. Muslim version and Hindu version). Because Haraprasad
felt that a persons writing of history gets biased towards his own community. He
wrote :
KwpwKI cg oZ gxltw xgmwo Kxkl Pxlg dw KwkY, j lL Awedwk
RwZk xbK UwxdtwB lL xjxd jawa HxZpwxoK, Zw^pwk KwdxbKB Uwd
awxKg dw; xZxd xgPwkKk Awod gxotw bB xbK bxLtw xgPwk Kxkgd 7
[One should not consider someones statement as absolute truth. Because
a persons writing is biased towards his own community. A real historian should
not have any bias. He should, as if, sit on a judges seat and judge both points of
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view.]
This opinion of Haraprasad should be the objective of modern historians.
In order to develope a complete history of India, documents gathered from the
writers of both systems (viz. Hindu and Muslim) should be unified.
The style of composition of Vidyapatis Keertilata is somewhat like that of
our folklores where the story is told in dialogues -- one person asks the question
and the other replies. This is like the story told by Bengama - Bengami (a pair of
birds in fairy tales of Bengal, who can talk like human beings.) In Keertilata a
Bhringee asks her husband many questions and the husband gives the reply and
thus the story is unfolded. It has a similarity with Har-Parbati Sangbad.
The Bhringee asks husband -- Who is a man? What are the qualities of a
man?
In reply Bhringa says :
exkodd exko, dxp exko Riid
Rlbwdd p RlI, dp Rl I exZ ciw
[ A person having manliness can be called a man. One dose not become a
real man just by birth. Cloud is called Jalada [water-giver] because it donates
water. A col lection of smoke cannot be called jalada]
Bhringee again says :
kwt-Pxk kowl G, dwp d kwLxp^ MwG
Kwgd gvm, Kw kwA, ow xKxxovp Kw pw G8
[Then the character of the king is very juicy [interesting]. oh my dear,
please do not supress any of his stories. Tell me who was Kirtisingha and to
which dynasty he belonged]
Thus the life-story of Keertisingha, his dynasty and his valour were gradually unfolded. In this book the reign of king Ganeswars son Rajgur Keertisingha
and the complex politics of that time were described. On the fifth day of moon of
the first fortnight of the month Madhumas of the 252nd year of king Laxmansen,
king Ganesha by his inteligence and valour defeated Aslan, who had been greed
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ily looking forward to occupy the kingdom of Ganesha. But king Ganesha did not
kill Aslan. Afterwards the croocked Aslan killed king Ganesha by conspiracy and
occupied the kingdom of Tirhut. Then Keertisingha, the son of Ganesha was
advised by many to make friendship with the enemy and regain and enjoy the
kingdom of Tirhut, because Aslan became repentant after killing Ganesha and
wanted to return the kingdom of Tirhut to Keertisingha. But Keertisigha found
the proposal disgraceful. He resolved to liberate his fathers kingdom through
war. Then with the help of emperor of Delhi, Ibrahim Shah, he defeated Aslan in
the war but spared his life and let him go. Thus Keertisingha became the king of
Tirhut and his fame spread far and wide.
There is no doubt that by the discovery of Keertilata by Haraprasad, a new
dimension was added to the indian history and its interpretation.
Haraprasad, in his article Vidyapati complained about Jadunath Sarkar that
he compiled history based only on the information obtained from Muslim writers
and that he did not accept the versions of Hindu writers.9
However, Acharya Jadunath refuted this statement saying :
Awiwk kxPZ BvkwRy AwIkRygk BxZpwok xZyt Lk exkxmU
exrl Awedwkw gxSZ ewxkgd j Awxi c ioliwd lLKMYk
Dxk Dek xdhk Kxk dwB eaiZ: oiowixtK j oi M I xPxV
ggpwk KxktwxQ Zwpw fwkoy hwnwt xlxLZ pBldI Zw^pwk AdKk
lLK xpb 10
[If you read the appendix of the second volume of the History of
Auranjebwritten by me in English, you will be convinced that I did not depend
Solely on the words of Muslim writers. Firstly, though the contemporary book
and letters used by me were written in Persian, the writers of many of these were
Hindus ...]
Anyway, by the inspiration of Haraprasad the proper point of view in the
writing of history was accepted. In this regard, his Keertilata assumes significance for the principle he forwarded for the construction of Indian history.
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5.3 pwRwk gQkk ekwd gwwlw hwnwt g# Mwd I bwpw (Buddhist Songs and Dohas in
Thousand Year old Bengali Language) :
pwRwk gQkk ekwd gwwlw g# Mwd I bwpw (Buddhist Songs and Dohas in Thousand Year old Bengali Language) discovered and edited by Mahamahopadhyay
Haraprasad Shastri is a very important treatise on Bengali lierature. Till nineteenth century and even upto the first decade of twentieth centgury A.D. these
elements of Bengali literature were unknown to scholars. Before the publication
of this work of Haraprasad Shastri, no one could make any definite conclusion
about the time of origin of Bengali language and literature.
In 1858, an article entitled Bangabhashar Utpatti (Origin of Bengali Language) written by Rajendralal Mitra was published in the journal Vividhartha
Sangraha. In this article, the author maintained that, the Bengali language had
originated from Purbi Hindi and the earliest evidence of Bengali language and
literature were the works of Vidyapati.
After that, Mahendra Nath Chattopadhyay in his book Bangabhashar Itihas
(History of Bengali Language) (1871), Ramgati Nyayratna in his book Bangala
Bhasha O Bangala Sahitya Vishayak Prastab (Proposals on Bengali Language
and Literature) in 1872-73, Gangacharan Sarkar in his book Bangasahitya O
Bangabhasha (Bengali Literature and Bengali Language) in 1880, accepted
Rajendralal Mitras hypothesis on the time of origin of Bengali language, though
these authors cited the works of many writers other than those of Vidyapati.
Dinesh Chandra Sen opined that the time of origin of Bengali language
had been much more earlier. He, in his book Bangabhasha O Sahitya (Bengali
Language and Literature), in 1896, claimed that the age of Bengali language would
be more or less one thousand years (at 1896). To substantiate his claim, Dinesh
Chandra Sen pointed out that :
ekdw keKaw WwK I Ldwk gPd, dwaey MweyPbk Mwd, kwiwB
exZk mYekwY - GB og kPdwk Kwd ewPyd exa ewItw dw MlI
G og UwxWmdwl kPdwt iwdnk Rygd jwedk j og BxZ AwQ Zw
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gwvlwbm ioliwd AwMidk AwMKwk Ggv Zw gwvlwbm g# ewl

kwR, Ggv xpb od kwRwbk oiowixtK11
Though no manuscripts of old fairy tales, Dak (Proverbs), Khanas sayings, songs of Gopichandra belongings to Nath sect, Shunyapuran of Ramai
Pandit had been discovered, these compositions depicted the traditional life style
of Bengal prevalent before the coming of Muslims in Bengal. That is, these compositions originated during the reigns of Buddhist Pala Kings and Hindu Sen
Kings. However, because of the want of concrete evidence, this claim of Dinesh
Chandra Sen on the age of bengali language was not accepted by the scholars of
Bengal :
ewPyd exaek Ahwg bydmPbk pwRwk gQkk Z dowu Kkwk
GKUw egYZw xmxqZ oiwRk ic bLw Ml GB Agwk icB pkeowb
mwy dewlk kwRbkgwkk exa ovMpk ic PwkLwxd exa L^ R ewd,
jxl bL Zw^k id pt GxlB pQ bydmPbk pwRwk gQxk Zk
eq PwkLwxd KwR eiwY 12
[At that time, there was tendency among the scholars to reject the theory
of thousand year old Bengali language proposed by Dinesh Chandra, since no
old manuscripts were available to support his theory. At this juncture, Haraprasad
Shastri found out manuscripts of four old books from among many old manuscripts kept at the library of Nepals Royal Court. On studying these manuscripts,
Haraprasad felt that those were the written evidence in favour of the theory of
thousand year old Bengali language proposed by Dinesh Chandra.]
Thus, Haraprasad in this book Hajar Bachharer Purana Bangla Bhashay
Bauddha Gan O Doha. (Buddhist Songs and Dohas in thousand year old Bengali
Language) provided decoumentary evidence to the theory of Dinesh Chandra. He
edited the books discovered by him and gave it a long name so that people of the
then educated class, who were somewhat indifferent or were disrespectful towards Bengali language and literature could be made interested towards the Bengali
language :
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xmxqZ oiwRK PwL AwOl xbt eiwdUw bxLt bItwk RdB GB

gBtk dwi pwRwk gQkk ekwd gwOwlw hwnwt... GZgrw gwKwvm
ggpwk13
[He used a long phrase Buddhist Songs and Dhoas in Thousand year old
Bengali Language to name this book so that he could clearly point out the evidence to the then educated class.]
The discovery of Charyapadas helped to fill up many missing links in the
history of Bengali language. it also made possible the revaluation of many
hupotheses put forward earlier.
In fact, Buddhist scriptures written in Nepal and Tibet drew the attention
of western researchers first, Brian Hodgson, an Englishman, discovered some
Buddhist Tantric scripts from Nepal and published these scripts. After that Eugene Burnouf did extensive research work on these scripts (1848). Daniel Wright
and Cecil Bendall also did valuable works in this field. Among Bengali researchers, Rajendralal Mitra went to Nepal and discovered many Buddhist scriptures
written in Sanskrit. He then published a list entitled Sanskrit Buddhist Literature
in Nepal in 1882. Following Rajendralal, Haraprasad Shastri went to Nepal for
the same purpose. He went to Nepal for the first time in 1897 and for the second
time in 1898. During his visits to Nepal he collected many Sanskrit scriptures.
During his third visit to Nepal in 1907, he discovered some more scriptures. From
among these, he collected Charyacharyavinishchay, Doha by Sarahapad, Tika of
Advay Vajra, Doha by Krishnacharya and a Sanskrit book of Tika (explanatory
notes) named Mekhala written by Acharyapad.
It appeared to Haraprasad that these books were written in old Bengali
language.
Haraprasad Shastri did extensive research for long ten years on Charyapada.
Dohakosh written by Sarahavajra (Sarahapada), Dohakosh written by Kahnapada
(Krishnacharya) and Dakarnava discovered from the library of Nepals Royal
Court in 1907. These four books edited by Haraprasad Shastri were published by
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Bangiya Sahitya Parishad under the title Hajar Bachharer Purana Bangala
Bhashay Bauddha Gan O Doha (Buddhist Songs and Dohas in Thousand year
old Bengali Language) in the year 1916 (i.e. 1323 Bengali Era). His assertion of
Thousand year old Bengali Language caused a lot of arguments and counter
arguments at that time. Even till now no definite conclusion has been reached on
this theory.
Researchers of the language of nieghbouring provinces of Bengal viz, Hindi,
Oriya, Assamese claim that the language of Charyagiti was the earlier form of
their language also.
Later on Sunitikumar Chattopaddhay in his book The Origin and Development of the Bengali language (1926) proved beyond doubt that the language of
Charyagiti was the earliest form of the Bengali language, but the language of
other three books was not early Bengali. The langduage of these three books was
Purbi Apabhrangsha. Thus, the conslusion drawn by Haraprasad Shastri that the
language of all the four books were the early form of Bengali -- was not correct.
Apart from that, Haraprasad thought that the book discovered by him was the
original manuscript of the collection of Charyagitis and the name of this book
was Charyacharya- vinishchay. Accordingly at the time of printing, the book was
named as Charyacharyavinishchay, But,
odyxZKiwk Pwewcwt- AwxgZ Zak o ck W. egwc Pb gwMzPy
PjwMyxZk j xZZyt Adgwb ovMp KkxQld ZwZ bLw jwt j, il
MyxZovMpk dwi xQl PjwMyxZKwngx 14
[Being guided by the informations discovered by Sunitikumar
Chattopaddhay, Dr. Prabodh Chandra Bagchi collected a Tibetan Translation of
Charyagiti, wherein it was found that the name of the original anthology of songs
was Charyagitikoshabritti.]
Haraprasad Shastri marked the songs of Charya as Thousand years old.
He thought that the manuscript of Charyagiti discovered by him was the original manuscript. But his idea was not correct, that we have mentioned above. Later,
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Sunitikumar Chattopaddhay and Prabodh Chandra Bagchi showed by thorough

analysis that the songs of Charya were written between tenth and twelfth century
A.D. On the other hand, Dr, Mohammad Shahidullah concluded that Bhusuku
and Kahnapad were the poets of eighth century A.D.
Luipad, the earliest poet of Charya, was contemporary of Deepankar
Shreejnan. Both of them jointly wrote a book named Abhisamaybibhanga.
Deepankar Shreejnan left for Tibet in 1038, when he was 58 years old. From
these data, Sunitikumar Chattopaddhay concluded that the probable period of
Luipads literary works was the middle of tenth century.
As such this period (middle of tenth century) may be assumed to be the
earliest time of writing of Charya.15 So, on the basis of the theories mentioned
above, the earliest and latest limit of the period of composition of Charya may be
taken as the tenth and the twelfth century A.D. respectively.
The incomplete part of the manuscript of Charyacharyavinishchay, edited
and published by Haraprasad Shastri contains 46 complete songs and half of a
song. In most of the songs, the name of the poet is given in the bhanita (the last
part of the lyric in which the poet mentions his name). Some of the songs do not
have the name of the poet. However, the tikakar (commentator) or the writer of
the manuscript gave the name of the poet of each and every lyric.
The earliest poet of the collection of Charyagiti is Lui. He was also one of
the 34 siddhas (enlighted souls). Apart from his Padas (lyrics) there are padas of
Bhusukupad, Kahnapad, Sarahapad et al.
The language of Charyapada is referred to as Sandhyabhasha (Twilight
language) by many. This because of the fact that, in each case there are two meanings of a statements in the language of Charya. One of the meanings is literal and
obvious, understandable to ordinary poeple whereas the other meaning is mystical and symbolic understandable only to Sadhaks (spiritual seekers). In the Tika
(explanatory note) of Munidatta, mystic meanings of the padas were elaborated.
Munidatta named this form of expression (the expression giving double mean
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ings) as Sandhyabhasha, Sandhyavachan, Sandhyasanket or simply Sandhya

(evening), meaning twilight language. Accordingly, Haraprasad Shastri wrote that
Charyagiti had been written in Sandhyabhasha :
owhwnw iwd Awlw Aw^cwxk hwnw, KZK Awlw, KZK AKwk,
LwxdK gSw jwt, LwxdK gSw jwt dw 16
[Meaning of Sandhyabhasha is twilight language, there is some light and
some darkness, some can be understood but some can not be understood.]
Later on many scholars gave many different meanings and explanations
for the word Sandhya.
The method of religious pursuit hinted in Charyagiti were that of Sahajyana
Buddhist religious practices. These spiritual seekers felt that chanting, penance,
meditation and trance were useless practices. They believed that these methods of
spiritual pursuit had been round about methods. They pursued straight forward
methods. In the very first lyric of Charyagiti Luipada wrote :
oAl oiwxpA Kwxp KxkAB
oLbLZ^ xdxPZ ixkAB
[Nothing can be achieved by meditation and trance. Beacause even on
practising these one has to experience pleasure and pain in life and ultimately
face death, which is a certainty.]
The writers of Charyagiti were the follwers of some secret methods of
spiritual pursuit and the purpose of writing Charyagiti was to give some clue to
these methods of pursuit and the mystic experiences and knowledge gained by
practising these methods to their desciples. Some of the purposes and understandings of Indian philosophy were revealed through these songs :
PjwMyxZk GB bwmxdK eUhxi iwUwixU ipwjwd g#cik xgxh bwmxdK
iZwbmk oigwt MxVZ Ggv Gog iZgwbk ic dwMwRd gwbk mdgwb
gw iwcxiK gwb Ggv it -- Ao, gogk xgwdgwb gw
jwMwPwkgwbk Kaw xgmnhwg DLjwM GB Dht eKwk bwmxdK
iZgwbk xKQ xKQ xow ewaK AwQ, xK gZiwd q bmdZ
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xdQK eUhxik KwR Kkwt GB og xowMZ ewaK og eU pt

IVxd, AdKUw AdxZeU AwgUd xpowg KwawI gw eaKhwg
KwawI gw ekek ovlM hwg xgkwR KkQ 17
[The philosophical background of Charyagiti was formed by the combination of different philosophical doctrines of Mahayana Buddhist sect. Among
these, the Shunyabad or Madhyamikbad of Nagarjunpad and Vijnanbad or
Yogacharbad of Maitreya, Asanga and Vasubandhu deserve special mention. There
is conceptual difference between these two philosophical system. But in these
cases since the philosophical doctrines simply provided the background, the conceptual differences did not become very prominent everywhere .These differences sometimes appeared as misty cover and sometimes remained as intermingled
concepts.]
In short, the philosophy of Chrayagiti gives the impression of co-existence of different philosophical systems.
Apart from explaining the philosophical concepts, Charyagitis also have
simple and obvious meanings. These obvious meanings of Charyagiti give a
vivid and lively picture of the society of the then Bengal. In these padas there are
names and descriptions of different rivers of riverine Bengal and their tributeries.
Also there is mention of many working classes of the then Bengal like fishermen,
weaver, matres maker, carpenter and boatmen. Thus Charyapada gives a glimpse
of ancient Bengal. In one of the songs Bhusukupad wrote, in Pada no. 49 :
gwRdwg ewry e^DAw Lwl^ gxpD
AbA bw^l bm lxrD
AwxR hoK
gw^ly hBly
xdA Nxkdy Pwly lly
[The fleet of the Bajra entered into the course of river Padma. The country
is looted by the robbers. Today Bhusuku became a Bengalee. He married to a
chandal today.]
Discovery of Charyapad provided on one hand documentary information
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on the social condition and life style of ancient Bengal thereby providing historical documents of Bengal, which lacks such documents and on the other hand
provided proof of the antiquity of Bengali literature.
Haraprasad will be remembered for ever as the discoverer of ancient documents of thousand year old Bengali language and literature.

5.4 Mahabharata by Kashiram Das : Adiparba :

Poet Kashiram Das translated the voluminous epic Mahabharata in Bengali
in a manner suitable to Bengalee readers. It was not an easy task to translate this
Sanskrit epic into a provincial language like Bengali. Kashiram succeded in
acomplishing this near impossible task. Haraprasad Shastri found out a manuscript of the translated work of Kashiram Das in Bangiya Sahitya Parishad. This
was the manuscript of Adi Parba (i.e. the Initial Canto of Mahabharata) translated by him. There is difference of opinion among researchers regarding whether
Kashiram Das translated the whole of Mahabharata or not. However, there is no
doubt that he translated the Adi Parba (of Mahabharata). Because the proof of
this is evidence from a verse from Adi Parba itself :
Awxb ohw gd xgkwUk KZbk
Bpw kxP Kwmybwo Mlw Mek
[Kashiram left for heaven after composing the cantoes -- Adi, Sabha, Ban
and some parts of Virat.]
According to researchers, subsequent Parbas (Cantoes) might not have
been composed by Kashiram himself. In this context, Dr. Asit Kumar
Bandopaddhay said :
G xgntB ipwipwewcwt pkeowb mwy, exZ Ail PkY xgbwhnY
ehx Z Kwmykwi xgmnMY yKwk KkQd j, Kwmykwi iw PwkxU
eg kPdw Kk lwKwxkZ pd 18
[In this regard, experts on Kashirams life and works Mahamahopaddhay
Haraprasad Shastri, Pandit Amulya Charan Vidyabhusan et al. agreed that Kashiram
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had passed away after composing only four parbas.]

In view of the reasons stated above, there is no doubt that the Adiparba
was translated by the poet himself. As a result, the manuscript of Adiparba found
in Bangiya Sahitya parishad is of great importance.
In 1335 Bengali Era, Haraprasad Shastri edited and published the manuscript under the title Mahabharat--Adiparba. He wrote a long article as the introduction of this book. In this article, Haraprasad Shastri searched the source of this
Parba of Mahabarata written by Kashiram and showed exactly its conformity
and non-conformity with the above.
In this introducton, Haraprasad left the sign of his extensive research. On
one hand his profound mastery over the Mahabharata written in Sanskrit and on
the other hand his respectful study of the life and works of Kashiram Das led him
to the summit of success in his endeavour.
By the linguistic analysis of this manuscript he established with definiteness its antiquity and a particular regional inclination of the language.
From the search of the dwelling place (of Kashiram Das) undertaken by
Haraprasad, it has been established that the dwelling house of Kashiram was in
Shingigram village under Katoa sub-division. In this village there still exists some
places associated with the sacred memory of the poet. Once Haraprasad himself
went to Shingigram to search the dwelling house of Kashiram. In the introduction
of the book, Haraprasad wrote :
BvkwRy 1880 - 81 owl Awxi GKgwk xmx Mwi bxLZ xMtwxQlwi
... xKQbk xMtw GKUw Z-iwawt e#^xQlwi ... oLwd Kwd Kwl
GKxU KwVw gwxr xQl, gwcpt hwxtw exrtwQ lwK gxll GB
Lwd AdKxbd AwM GKLwxd gr Pwlw Nk Kwmykwi bwo ewVmwlw
KxkZd Ggv GBLwd gxotwB xZxd ipwhwkZ xlxLZd ... GKU
MlB GKxU bw-iplw gwxr bLwBtw lwK gxll, GB Kwmykwik
xhUw 19

129

[In 1880-81 A.D. I once went to see Shingigram. After going some distance I reached a junction of three roads. Sometimes there existed a cottage in
that place. Probably it has broken down. People said that long ago in this place in
a big thatched house Kashiram Das used to run a school and sitting there he used
to write Mahabharata. After proceeding a little distance, people showed me a
double-storied house and told, This is Kashirams dwelling house.]
At that time it was very difficult to get any authentic manuscript of
Kashirams book. That is why Haraprasad decided that he would edit and publish
the manuscript found in Bangiya Sahitya Parishad. The manuscript was quite old.
Its year of writing was written as 985 Bengali Era :
od 985 owl pBl BvkwRy 1578 owl pt id GKU LUKw gw^cl
Kwmykwi AwIkRgk oitk lwK xdtwxQlwi, G j AwKgkk
oit xMtw er ; ewt 100 gQk Zfwu gm Kxktw pwZk lLw
xilwBlwi, AK KtUwI bxLlwi; o xgnt Kwd hl wx id pBl
dw ... exaLwxd Kwmykwik pwZk lLw dt oZkwv ex^ aZ j ZwxkL
AwQ Zw dKlk ZwxkL, kPdwk ZwxkL dt 20
[1985 Bengali Year means 1578 A.D. Some doubt arose in the mind. I
heard that Kashiram was contemporary of Aurangjeb but this time was in Akbars
period. There is a difference of about 100 years. I compared the handwriting with
caution, did a few sums. I could not find any error in this matter... The manuscript
was not in Kashirams handwriting. So, the date mentioned in the manuscript was
the date of copying and not the date of composition.]
In the original (Sanskrit) Mahabharata there are Anukramanika and
Parbasangrahaparba, but these are not there in Bengali Mahabharata :
Kwmykwik GB ipwhwkZ MYm gbdwt Awk pBtwQ ; Zw^pwk ek gwo
gbdw Zwk ek ipwhwkZk emvow 21
[This Mahabharata of Kashi Das begins with a hymn to Lord Ganesha
followed by a homage to Vyas. After that there is praise of Mahabharata.]

130

Haraprasad mentioned some differences between the original Mahabharata

and the Mahabharata of Kashiram Das. In original Mahabharata, Pramadwara
was biten by snake before her marriage with Ruru, but in Kashirams Mahabharata
their marriage was solemnised earlier. As far as the Gotra of Jaratkaru is concerned, the original Mahabharata states that the lineage (gotra) is nomadic Brahmin, where as Kashiram states that the lineage is Yajati.22 The reason of Janmejays
Sarpayajna is slightly different according to the original Mahabharata and the
Bengali Mahabharata. Also, the reason for the narration of Mahabharata by
Vaishampayan is slightly different according to the two books. Apart from that, in
some cases the sequence of episodes are different in the two books, for example
the episode of Shakuntala and the episode of Yajati :
il AwM jRwxZk I ek mKl
wk Me, xK Kwmybwo xVK DUw23
[In the original, the story of Yajati is earlier and that of Shakuntala is later,
but in Kashidas it is just the opposite.]
In original Mahabharata, Satyabhama did not have any role in the abduction of Subhadra but Kashiram made Satyabhama the root of all conspiracies for
the abduction. Moreover, in Sanskrit Mahabharata it is never mentioned that
Duryodhan came to Dwaraka on the invitation of Balaram to marry Subhadra.
Haraprasad felt that Bengali Mahabharata has been composed in meters
used in Pa(n)chali not in meters used in Shlokas as in Sanskrit. As such this
Mahabharata of Kashiram is written in the form of Pala (i.e. songs describing
some mythological episodes).
Having examined the language of this manuscript, Haraprasad concluded
that the language of this manuscript is qoite old and has the influence of regionl
feature of rarhregion :
GBz exaLwxdk hwnw GKU ekwdw Ggv GKULwxd gmy kws bmy GLd Awikw gwvlwt KZwt G
xghx gr GKUw ggpwk Kxk dw ... xK GB exak hwnwt KZwt G xghx Lg gmy jaw kxPld gwo,
m#dKwxb ixdMY,
131

MyZ Qb Zw^pw kxPl Kwmybwo,

ZqK gxll Zxi Agwc gwY - BZwxb24
[The language of this manuscript is a bit old and bit more tilted towards
the dialect of rarhregion. Nowadays we usualy do not use the case ending G
with the subject. But in the language of this manuscript the use of the case ending G with the subject is quite abundant.]
The omission of the end B / C of the words :
eq (= eqy),
xo (= xox),
g (= gx), etc. also shows that the language is old.
Also the use of words in vogue to convey unusual meanings is a proof of
the antiquity of the language .e.g. :
oLwk bvxml Awxo pwok KwkY
Here KwkY = Ql (in pretence of). Whereas the usul meaning of KwkY is
for the reason of.
Moreover, many obsolete words, sentences and phrases, which are no longer
used in Bengali but are prevalent in Hindi and Oriya, are found in this
manuscript.e.g.
ALl

AKeU hwg

in a manner devoid of hypocrisy

AezQk

Aokw

divine dancing girl

Kxa

Kwawt

where

cZ

cunning

hxLtw

LwzBtw

having eaten etc.

Haraprasad edited and critically analysed this manuscript of Kashiram with

sufficient concentration, congenital detachment and impartiality. His research on
the date, year, antiquity and subject matter of the manuscript has been existing as
an illustration to subsequent readers and researchers.
_________
132

NOTES

1. Satyajit Choudhury : Haraprasad Shastri, p.82

2. Rachana Sangraha-2, pp.761-62
3. Ibid, p.769
4. Nihar Ranjan Roy : Bangalir Itihas, Part-1, p.576
5. Rachana Sangraha-2, p. 574
6. Ibid, p.769
7. Ibid, p.770
8. Rachana Sangraha-4, pp.575-76
9. Rachana Sangraha-2, p. 769
10. Proceedings of the History section, Eighth Bangiya Sahitya Sammelan,
Bardwan, 1321 B.E
11. Pabitra Sarkar, Smarak Grantha, p.327
12. Nirmal Das : Duti Boi O Haraprasad, Haraprasad Smarane, p.140
13. Ibid, p.140
14. Nirmal Das : Charya Geeti Parikrama, Preface, p.10
15. ODBL, Part-I, p.120
16. Haraprasad Shastri : Hajar Bacharer Puran Bangala Bhasay Boudhya Gan o
Doha, Preface, p. 8
17. Nirmal Das : Charya Geeti Parikrama, p.58
18. Asit Kumar Bandyopaddhay : Bangla Sahityer Sampurna Itibritta, p.174
19. Rachana Sangraha-4, p.611
20. Ibid, p.613
21. Ibid, p.633
22. Ibid, p. 634
23. Ibid, p.636
24. Ibid, p.639
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133