Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/623

 V. ] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 583 thus Manohara Sahi quickly surpassed the rest and caught the popular fancy. The four recognised centres of Manohara Sahi 4zrtana are the villages Kafidrg and Teora, in Burdwan, Manadala in Birbhum, and Tena in Mursidabad. It is believed that a musician named Ganga Narayan Chakravarti, a Vaisnava of Teora, invented the Manohara Sghi by a skilful manipulation of the different tunes in which sirfana songs were sung at his time and that latterly Mangala Thakur, a disciple of Chaitanya Deva’s companion Gadadhara contributed to its development and generally improved it. of Here is a list of some of the celebrated singers Manaharsahi kzrtana (from the 15th century down to our own times). ie 2. 9: 4 x 6 7 8 Ganga Narayan Chakravarti an inhabitant of Teora (Burdwan) Vadana Chand Thakura Chandra Shekhera Thakura . Shamananda Thakura Pulina Chanda Thakura of andes (Budvany . Hari Lala Thakura . Vamshi Das Thakura . Nimai Chakravarti ... of Payer (Birbhum). ms 0 1 of Mereta (Burdwan). i হানি জরা 1 of Mayna Dal (Birbhum). . Vanamali Thakura ... of Kandra (Burdwan). Krishna Kanta Das ... of Panch Thupi (Muridabad). . Damudar Kundu ... of Kandi (Mursidabad). Krishna Hari Hazra Aitaahas Doyal Chandes ] of Panthuli (Mursidabad). . Rama Banerjea টু ১ 72751) 1 of Sinhari (Mursidabad). . Swarupa Lal Thakura ... of Sati (Mursidabad). . Viswarupa Goswami ... of Soanipur (Mursidabad). . Gopal Das—This singer intro - duced the fashion now in vogue of adding easy Bengali verses to explain the deeper meaning of the Vaisnava songs, especially those in Brajabuli which is hard for the people to understand. The additions are called