Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/208

 178 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap. a fountain of inspiration to millions of people, whereas ‘The Canterbury Tales’ lies on the shelf amongst the classics, and is approached by the learned only. Historically of course such a state of things does not commend itself. What the ort- ginal poem of Krittivasa was like, can now be only dimly guessed under the mass of later interpola- tions and alterations. By the efforts of the Vangiya Shahitiya Parisada, a number of very old Mss. of the Ramayana have been secured with a view to the recovery of the genuine poem of Krittivasa. Their different readings, however, are a puzzle to our scholars. But when we consider the vast influence that this poem in its modernised form is still exerting, after the lapse of 500 years, on the education of the masses in Bengal, we do not really know how far we should regret the loss of the original poem, the quaint and antiquated form of which could afford only a philological interest. It must be stated here that the poetry of the original work has not suffered at all by these changes. The country people, true to their strong poetical instincts, have preserved the really beautiful and interesting passages while they simplified and modernised the style. Interpolations and changes have been made chiefly with the object of introducing into the poem leading thoughts of the succeeding ages. Vaishnava poets, particularly, have enhanced the charm of the book by adding a devotional element, which, in the present shape of the poem, forms one of its chief features. The changes wrought in the poem have been great, We can now trace in it the interpolating