Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/58

28 In the poems of Dharma-mangal itself, there are frequent references to Buddhist saints, such as Mīnanāth, Gorakṣanāth, Hāḍīpa and Kālupa. The words নিরঞ্জন and শূন্য মূর্ত্তি with which the readers of the poems are so familiar, are words taken from the Buddhistic Çāstras. The doctrine known as the Çunyabād, which explains the origin of the universe from nothing, became a popular theory with the later Buddhistic school; and this doctrine is detailed not only in the Çunya Purāṅa, but also in the poems of Dharma-mangal. The Hāḍīs, Domas and other low caste people are the priests in many of the Dharma temples. The Doma Pandits at one time occupied a prominent position in the Buddhistic temples, and when Buddhism was driven away from this country, all religious functions in many of these Dharma temples, still continued to be discharged by the descendants of the Doma priests, as the Hindus dared not oust a priestly class, revered by the people, from their duties in temples. We noticed, that the poems in honour of Dharma-thākur have been thoroughly recast by the Hindu priests, and Hindu ideas have been largely introduced into them; but even as late as 1640 A.D. the Brahmin priests would not venture to mix too closely with the worshippers of Dharma-thākur for fear of losing caste. In the above year, when Mānik Rām Gānguli, a Brahmin, was inspired by Dharma-thākur, who appeared to him in a dream for encouraging him to write a Dharma-mangal, our poet fell prostrate before him in dismay, and said "জাতি যায় প্রভু যদি ইহা করি গান।"—I shall be an outcast, if I sing a song in your praise). This