Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/82

52 The image of Dharma Thākur in the form of a tortoise, and a temp1e dedicated to it by Lāu Sen, may be seen in Maynā-gaḍa. In the list of the most prominent Indian Emperors of the Kali Yuga, furnished by our household almanacs, the name of Lāu Sen occurs along with those of Rājāh Yudhisṭhira, Mahīpāl and Ākbar. Haripāl, against whom Lāu Sen fought, lent his name to his capital in Simuliā on the river Brāhmanī. The ruins of the outer courts of his palace, called the Bāhir-Khanda, are still to be found in this village of Haripāl. The river Brāhmanī, on which it once stood, has, however, been completely silted up. Old Simuliā is now indicated by Simul-gaḍa, which represents the once-fortified portion of the capital of Haripāl.

That the names Lui Chandra, Māhudya, Lohatā, Jāllān-Çekar, Kaneḍā, Kalingā and Samolā are those of historical personages, appears from their very antiquated Prākrita forms. They could not have been invented by any poet within the last seven hundred years. The refined classical taste of the poets of the Renaissance period would not have permitted them to adopt these names in their poems if they had not been historical.

These rustic epics of Dharmamangala were recited and sung by rural folk in early times, and as such can not perhaps claim any high literary merit. But they are full of valuable references to the period before the Mahammadan conquest, and as our knowledge of that period is scanty, they possess an undoubted interest for the student of history.