Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/621

 V.] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 581 In a work called Chaitanya Chandrodaya Kaumudi written by Prema Das about the year 1715 A.D., itis related that king Pratapa Rudra of Orissa was very much moved by the &zrtana_ songs sung by the sankirtana party of Chaitanya Deva. In reply to a question put by that monarch, Gopi Nath Acharyya told him that 47r¢ana songs origin- ated with Chaitanya Deva. We are not, however, prepared to accept this statement as true. Long before Chaitanya Deva, in the Court of King Laksmana Sen, some favourite tunes of Bengali £zrtana were adopted for singing the songs of the poet Jaya Deva, and latterly the songs of Chandi Das and Vidyapati began to be sung in some of the best modes of Manohara Sghi kirtana. These poets had preceded Chaitanya Deva by nearly a hundred years. But the Bengali £7r¢ana songs and some of the popular tunes in which they are sung, were, we believe, of an yetearlier origin. They were started by the singers of the glories of king Mahipal in the 1oth century and contributed to by the Buddhist Mahayanists who had already developed the Bhakti-cult. Mahamahopadhyaya Hara Prasada Castri says on this head “The songs of Mahipal have already been spoken of. Buddhist songs in Bengal became the fashion of the day. This was, I believe, the begining of £zrtana songs. Krisnacharyya or Kahna wrote his celebrated Dohas, his songs and commentaries about this period. There were several writers of Dohas and Sahajiya sect of Buddhism used to sing Buddhist songs in Bengali throughout the country. Lui, Kukkuri, Birna, Gandari, Caitela, Bhisukru, Kahna, Dombi, Mohinta, The Origin of the kirtana songs—a brief history.