Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/170

 {40 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap, Adwait The poet is described as a person of handsome মি appearance, and an excellent singer. This meet- 1458 A.D. 128 between Adwaita and Vidyapati took place about the year 1458 or 27 years before Chaitanya Deva was born. Vidyapati refers to Giasuddin His patron. Toolak in one of of his songs and in another to Nasir Saha. But with very few exceptions his songs as a whole are dedicated to Rajah Civa Simha —his great patron and friend. রা Vidyapati was a scion of a distinguished family of scholars. His father, Ganapati Thakur dedica- ted his celebrated Sanskrit work ‘Ganga Bhakti Tarangini’ tothe memory of his deceased illustrious patron Maharaj Ganecwara of Mithila. Ganapati’s father, Jaya Datta was not only a great Sanskrit scholar, but was distinguished also for his piety and saintliness of character. He obtained the title of ‘Yogecwara’ for these qualities. The father of Jaya Datta and the great grandfather of Vidyapati was the illustrious Viregwara who com- piled a code of rules for the guidance of every day-life of the Maithil Brahmins. The Viregwara Paddhati, as his great work ts called, is almost as much revered in Mithila as the Astavimeati Tattva of Raghunandan in Bengal. Another point show- ing the social rank of our poet is that for several generations, his ancestors had discharged minis- terial functions in the court of the Maithil sovereigns. 8 Vidyapati was a voluminous writer. Besides his krit ballads in the Vernacular, of which nearly 800 are works. ৫ now recovered, he wrote the following Sanskrit works :—
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