Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/215

 wT IV.] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 18s Numerous writers affer Krittivasa translated the Ramayana into Bengali, but none of them could ever rival his popularity or throw his great work into the shade, though some of the subsequent translations display a highly finished style of com- position. The reasons which have determined this preference for Krittivasa are two-fold. (1) Kritti- vasa, of all the translators of the Ramayana, has made the nearest approach to reproducing that pathos which is admittedly the strength of Valmiki’s great epic. (2) The unmatched simplicity of Kritti- vasa’s translation commends it to the masses more than any other literary quality. This simplicity of the Bengali recension is also on the lines of Valmiki. Of the other translators of the Ramayana, we must first name Sastivara Sen who was born at Jhinardwipa, the modern Jhinerdi in Vikrampur in the district of Dacca. He belonged to the Vaidya or physician caste and lived more than three hun- dred years ago. Sastivara and his son Gangadas were voluminous writers. The son completed what the father had left unfinished. They tran- slated not only the Ramayana, but also the Maha- bharata, and wrote poems besides in honour of Manasa Devi. Sastivara is precise and _ short. Gangadas is rather elaborate and more poetic in his descriptions. Here are a few lines from Gangadas. Sita prays to be taken to the bosom of her mother, EKearth, when her sufferings grow unbearable. as she addressed Ram, her husband, in a tone that রামে সম্বোধিয়! বলে গদগদ বাণী ॥ 24 Other transla- tions of the Rama- yana, Sastivara and Gangadas. Sita’s last prayer,
 * “Tear-drops finer than pearls fell from her eyes
 * যুক্তা জিনি বিন্দু বিন্দু চক্ষে পড়ে পানি।