Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/1049

 Supplementary Notes to Chapter VII. (i) Three early centres of Vernacular writings. (ii) The patronage accorded to Vernacular writers (iii) Peace and her boon. (i) Three early centres of Vernacular writings :— Before the advent of Chaitanya Deva we find three recognized centres of Vernacular composi- tion. The songs of the Vaisnavas had for their principal seat the historic land of Birbhum and its contiguous districts. Jaya Deva hailed from Kenduli in Birbhum ; and a few centuries after him, Chandi- Das sang his celestial lay from the village Nannur in the same district. When Vaisnhavism was at its zenith in Bengal, its chief exponents and song- masters flourished in this part of the country. This Vaishnava movement belonged to the people and required no aristocratic patronage to push it in its forward course; it drew its nutrition straight from the soil and soon, by its own power, attained a most luxuriant growth. In Eastern Bengal where Vaisnavism was yet ~ unknown, the traditions of the Buddhistic age 0 a Ly were the inspiration of the songs of the Mana and Chandi cults. The traditions of Behula’s won- derful devotion and Chand-Sadagar’s stern defi- ance to Manasa Devi,—the story of Dhanapati Sadagara and his adherence to the Caiva faith in the face of great dangers—belong to a period Birbhum, the early Vaisnava centre.