Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/700

 660 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap. elaborate annotations of such words 9.5 “চন্দনসময়,'
 * GOA,’ 'মুগমদ)' ‘Gq,’ etc., and even by such notes

the affinity of the passages in point of language could not be fully conveyed to readers unacquaint- ed with the niceties of our tongue. Rama But Rama Prasada was a great poet, greater in Prasada. any respects than Bharata Chandra. His other works, to which we shall have to refer hereafter, have made landmarks in the history of our literary and spiritual thought. He was a seer and a saint, and though he was beaten in his juvenile attempts to compose a love poem, he shortly after achieved fame by his songs, which have immortalised him in Bengal and made him dear to the heart of every Bengali. We need not regret that he failed in his attempt to say an artificial thing, for his soul was artless. It is well that he was defeated in his effort to win precedence in a court where scurrility reigned ;—the pity is that he soiled his hands by such an attempt to pander to the vitiated taste of the age. He wasa scholar, but it is only when he forgets vain-glorious erudition, that he displays him- self in his best and most favourable aspects. He was a finished literature and the language he had at his command was rich and varied, though he was not happy in his attempts to mingle Sanskrit and Bengali. It is when he appears as a child and uses the child’s language, singing songs that welled up « বজ1 বলে কাট চোরে মশানে |" চাহে কাটিতে কোটাল, চাহে বাধাই । কাটিতে কোটাল। আখি ঠেরে আর বার করে নয়ন ঠারিয়া মানা করে নিবারণ ॥"' মহীপাল ॥” Rama Prasada. Bharata Chandra.