Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/324

 288 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap. দিত The next Manasa Mangal that we light upon ji was written by Ksemananda—a Kayastha, who adopted also the name of Ketaka Das. Ketaka occurs 11) the poem, asa name of Manasa Devt, thus Ketaka Das means ‘servant of Manasa Devi.’ In his autobiographical notice the poet refers to Bara Khan, as the ruler of Selimabad in the district of Burdwan. Now, this Bara Khan, as we know from other sources, made a deed of gift of twenty bighas of land to one Civaram Bhatta- charyya in the year 1640 A.D. Ksemananda regrets the circumstance that the Khan has been killed in battle. Hence his Manasa Mangal must have been written at some date later than 1640. Ksemananda was born in the village of Kanthra in the district of Burdwan and held lands in the Taluk of one Oskarna Ray. Ksemananda’s Manasar Bhasana contains 5,000 lines, and forms rather a brief version of the story as compared with other poems on the same sub- ject. But it happens to-day to be the most popular poem on Manasa Devi. Its poetical merits, no The reason f : : z of his less than its brevity, account for this extensive popularity. na popularity. I give here an extract from it :—* নিছনি নগরে লোক কেহ চিনে নাই । বেহুলা নখাই দৌহে যোগী আর যোগিণী। ঘরে ঘরে মাগে ভিক্ষা হইয়া মায়াবিনী | সবাকার বাড়ী গিয়া শিঙ্গার ধ্বনি sea | শিব শিব বলিয়া তাদের নিশ্বরে । CASA ANS FSR মাগে বাড়ী বাড়ী। থালের উপরে কেউ দেয় চাউল কড়ি।
 * মায়রূপে ভিক্ষ। মাগে বেহুলা! AME 1