Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/638

 The rustic people preserved Bengali Mss, 598 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap. of the Brahmins. In the ¢o/s established by Vaisnavas, pupils from all ranks of society had free access. In an account of the education given to Dhanapati in his boyhood we find that though he belonged to the Bania caste, he had already learned to talk in Sanskrit and was well acquainted with the Devanagri characters. In the descriptions given by Mukundarama who vividly pourtrays every detail of social life in Bengal in the 16th century, ‘we find the women of the lower castes re- ceiving a fair education, not to speak of those who belonged to the higher castes. Khullana read the forged ietter produced by Lahana and expressed her disbelief in its genuineness as it was not in the handwriting of her husband. Bengali in the 16th century, outside the pale of the Vaisnava community, was mainly read by the people of the lower ranks of society. <A large portion of old Bengali manuscripts written in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries were recovered by me from the houses of the people of the lowest castes. The dbhadraloks or the gentlemanly classes were generally interested in Sanskrit manuscripts. But [have found old Bengali manuscripts, preserved with almost religious care by the _ illiterate rustic people,—handed down to them by their ancestors. This proves that their ancestors could read and write Bengali though owing to the deca- dence of Vaishnava influence, one of the aims of which was to enlighten the masses, these people had sunk into ignorance once again. Many of the Mss. brought to light by me were written by people of lower castes. Some of the writers seem to have