Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/1056

 Remunera- tion to the poets and copyists. 1010 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [Chap poets alone did not care for such patronage, but all others considered it a great privilege and honour to dedicate their poems to their rich patrons, extoll- ing their qualities in terms of high sounding pane- gyric and poetry. We find Kavi Kanikana patronised by Bankura Roy, Raja of Arrah Brahman Bhumi at a very criti- cal moment of his life, when 8 maunds of rice offer- ed by the Raja to the famished members of the poet’s. family elicited his grateful acknowledgements which have found a place in the immortal poem of Chandi. But gradually the Rajas became more bountiful to the vernacular poets and towards the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century, we find vernacular writings of merit very considerably rewarded. We have seen that Raja Jaya Naray- ana of Bhu-kailasa made considerable sacrifices of time and money to bring his translation of the Kaci Khanda to a satisfactory completion. He travelled in different parts of the country for a period of six months in quest of Mss. cf the Sanskrit poem. This journey in those days, made in a style befitting the rank of a Raja of his high status, meant a very considerable expenditure. Besides this, he had to maintain a long time nearly a dozen Pundits forthe purpose. Raja Krisaa Chandra’s bounty towards classical learning was well-known. His liberal gifts to Bharata Chandra and Rama Prasada,. two gifted Vernacular poets of his time, is also not less worthy of note. Bharata Chandra was appointed his Court-poet on Rs. 40 a month. This amount about the time of the battle of Plassey was not at all insignificant or small, when we see that Warren Hastings at a