Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/774

 732. BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap. From the time of Chaitanya, yatras have flourished in Bengal, and developed their melodramatic character. The first great yatrawala, of whom we have any information, was Paramananda Adhikari, who lived in Birbhum more than 200 years ago. The subject of his play was Kaliya Damana. The next yatrawala, who earned a reputation in the same subject, was Sudama Suvala Adhikari. Lochana hitters of Adhikari, who flourished after Sudama had left the নি field, had two favourite subjects, in which he pre- eminently excelled. One was the Akrara San- vada or the advent of Akrara at Vrindavana to take away Krisna and Valarama, under orders of the King Kamsa of Mathura. The other subject was Nimai Sannyasa, or Chaitanya’s taking the ascetic’s vow. It is said that Lochana made so great an impression on Raja Nava Kissen of Cobhabazar and Babu Vanamali Sarkar of Kumertuli, by his songs, that these noblemen under a sort of spell, made him gifts of immoderate amounts of money Other noblemen of Calcutta, it is said, did not venture to engage the party fearing lest they also might be led, under infatuation, to pay him rewards beyond their means, as the two other noblemen had done. Govinda Adhikari, an inhabitant of Krisnanagar, (1798 to 1870,) Pitamvara Adhikari of Katwa and Kalachand Pal of Vikrampur, Dacca, were the latter-day luminaries in this field. Premehand Adhikari, Ananda Adhikari and Jay- chandra Adhikari of Pataihat obtained celebrity in the Rama yatfra. Guru Prasada Vallabha of larasdanga and Lausen Badala of Burdwan