Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/804

 762 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap. which it was the joy and pride of young Icvara Chandra to execute to the best of his ability. But an illiterate man by sheer dint of inborn genius could not be expected to attain more than a rustic fame and the applause of his personal Receives friends. An opportunity however soon presented education. itself which paved the path to his receiving some education and bringing his remarkable talents to the notice of the enlightened public. His maternal uncles lived at Jorasanko, where the Tagore family were at the time, as now, pioneers in education and in all progressive movements in Bengal. Icvara Chandra’s singular poetic powers attracted the attention of Babu Jogendra Mohan Tagore, and the poet became a friend and companion of that enlightened nobleman. He received a good edu- cation here, and conjointly with his noble friend and patron started the weekly Sanvad Prabhakara in March, 1830. This journal soon reached the 0 highest popularity in Bengal, and I¢vara Chandra’s genius supplied the public, through its columns, with an unceasing fountain of satirical and serio-comic pieces in prose and poetry for many years. It was in this journal that the juvenile writings of some of the greatest writers of Bengal such as Bankima Chandra and Dinabandhu Mitra were accorded a place by him, for he was never slow in appreciating talent in young writers and in giving them the encouragement they deserved. I¢vara Chandra’s noble friend and patron died in the year 1832. Disheartened by this blow of fortune, the poet stopped Prabhakara for some time, but it re- appeated as a bi-weekly in 1836, and in 1839 he