Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/168

 138 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap, long years held possession of the village. The tradition prevalent in the country also supports the grant. The probable causes of the anomalies found in the copper-plate inscription may be thus explained. The copper-plate would be naturally in the custody of the eldest member of the family, and the other descendants interested in the endow- ment would, according to custom, be permitted to retain copies of it. Supposing that the original copper-plate was lost, the descendants were no doubt reduced to the necessity of preparing an- other from the copies they had with them, in order to satisfy Rajah Todar Mall who surveyed the lands during Akbar’s time. If this supposition is correct, it accounts for the introduction of the Hijra era into it, and also for the comparatively modern style of the characters used in the inscription. তি কিঃ The court-register, or Raj Panji of Mithila, of Raj- 16001-05 the year of Rajah Civa Simha’s ascent to Panji not রী রর reliable. the throne as 1446 A.D. This, however, is also open to objection, as ina poem of Vidyapati we have a mention of the date of Rajah Civa Simha’s coronation as 1400 A.D. There are also other reasons which make the dates given by the court- register of Mithila of doubtful authenticity. There বিস্ফি গ্রাম, দান করল মঝে, রহতহি বাজ-সন্গিধান। লছিম! চরণ ধ্যানে, কবিতা নিকসয়ে বিদ্যাপতি ইহভাণ ॥"' My father’s name is Ganapati Thakur, and we are natives of Mithi!a. Civa Simha, the Lord of ‘five Indies’ took me to his court through kindness. He made a gift of the village Visfi to me, and my poetry flows at the contemplation of the feet of Lacchima Devi (the Queen),