Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/650

 610 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [Chap. Lime ae: .... 4 Cowri (less than a pie) Khuna (a cotton sadi for the bride) ... 44 cowries (a little more than 2 0165) Total ... 13 cowries (a little more than half an anna). This list we find in Chandikavya by Madhav- acharyya, written in 1579 A.D. Of course the value of articles in our present day has greatly increased, | but yet the items mentioned in this list would not ০০০ als cost more than Rs. 5 even now, and comparing this with the lavish expenditure now-a-days incurred even by rustic-folk in marriage, we must admit that the economical Hindu of yore has imbibed extra- vagant ideas about living, with which they were once perfectly unfamiliar, and, from the standpoint of the Hindus, expensive living is no indication of civilisation. At the marriage of Chaitanya a second time, Buddhimanta Khan, who managed the ceremony, said* ‘“ Brothers, hear me, in this affair there will be none of that stinginess which charac- terises most of the ceremonies of the Brahmins. We shall do things in such a manner that people may say it is the marriage of a prince.’’ Yet the matter was one of the simplest kind. Sandal _per- fumes and betels, with garlands of flowers, were freely distributed. There was no dinner: no বামুনিয়া মত কিছু এ বিবাহে নাই॥ এ বিবাহ পণ্ডিতের করাইব হেন। রাজকুমারের মত লোকে বলে যেন॥ Chaitanya Bhagavata,
 * “' বুদ্ধিমন্ত খান্‌ বলে শুন সব্ব ভাই।