Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/617

 V.j] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 577 Charitamrita by Krisna Das Kaviraja have appended to them scholarly Sanskrit annotations, and Nara- hari Chakravarti in his Bhaktiratnakara quotes Bengali verses from the works of the preceding writers as authority. Bengali was thus raised to the same literary status by the Vaisnavas as the Pali language was by the Buddbists, and no apology is put forward by renowned Sanskrit scholars such as Krisna Das Kaviraja, and Narahari Chakravarti, for adopting Bengali as their vehicle in conveying the loftiest thoughts on Vedanta Philosophy and other serious subjects. Bengal was during this period the scene of The animated disputes between Caktas and Vaisnavas. 2 The Vaishavas would not name the ¥ava flower the Gaktas. and the because it was the favourite of Kali, the goddess Vaisnavas. of the Caktas. They called it od. The word Kali, which also means ink, they would not use as it was the name of the goddess; they coined the word sahai to signify ink. The Caktas, on the other hand, would vilify the Vaisnavas by all means that lay in their power. Narottama Vilas has a passage describing how the Caktas went to the Kali’s temple and prayed that she might kill the followers of Chaitanya Deva that very night. When the great Narottama Das died, a body of Caktas followed his bier clapping and hissing as a sign of their contempt for the illustrious dead. Here is a satirical poem written by a Cakta poet about the followers of Chaitanya Deva. against the these fools of pretenders who call themselves Vaisnavas. কি আপদ করেছেন স্য্টি হবি।
 * « What a set of evil doers has God created in 4 satire
 * গৌব্রাঙ্গ ঠাকুরের ভণ্ড চেঙ্গড়া, IS ASta Fate cavl,