Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/637

 Vv. BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 597 As I have said before, a story like that of Dhara and Drona ordinarily takes five hours in narrating ; I have given only the gist of it. It is impossible for me to give any idea of the effect produced by working it up into detail as the Zathakas do. The kathakas invariably begin with a prelimi- nary invocation of Krishna. The text from the Bhagavata on which they base this is poetical. They begin thus :—‘ Where Krisna’s name is uttered the place becomes sacred. All the shrines of the world,—the Naimisaranya, Prayaga, Benares, and : Gaya meet at that place ; the sacred streams of the নি Ganges, the Kaveri, the Krisia, the Tapti, and the Portion. Godavari flow at that place where Krisha’s name is recited.’ This is a poetical way of expressing the idea of the Vaisnavas that a simple prayer is more efficacious than visiting all shrines, and that if God is worshipped in the soul, the sacredness of all earthly shrines attends it in the act. The influence of Vaisnavism materially helped the spread of education amongst the masses. We _ The mass= often find people of the lower ranks of society re- ¢4¥cation. puted for scholarship. Gyamananda belonged to the Satgopa or farming caste. But he was a great scholar In Sanskrit Grammar. The social life depicted in the old Bengali poems of this period shows that learning was no longer confined to the Brahmins. Mukundaram’s account of the merchan’ Cripati who is said to have taken a delight in Sanskrit poetry and drama and his description of the — education given to his son €rimanta who in his early years read Bharavi, Magha, Kumar Sambhava and other masterpieces of Sanskrit poetry show that Sanskrit learning was no longer the monopoly