Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/844

 802 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. | [ Chap. “The poet Chhiddik here tells how he spent his life in vain pursuits, when he should have been serving his Master.”’ Eusuf Jelekba—a Bengali rescension of Per- sian poem of Mahabbat nama by Abdul Hakim. Layeli Majanu—a famous Persian tale rendered into Bengali verse by Daulat Uzir Baharam. Yamin Jelal and Chaitanya Silal—a_ love-story by Mahomed Akbar. (7) Buddhist poems recovered from Chittagong. pactika, Bauddha Ranjika by Nila Kamala Das. This is a translation of the Burmese work Thadu Thang into Bengali metrical verse. The date of composition of this work is not known, but the Ms. is more than too years old. Nila Kamala Das translated it under orders of Rani Kalindi, wife of Raja Dharma Baks of the Chittagong Hill tracts. It gives an account of Buddha's life from his birth to the time of his preaching the doctrine of Nirvana. It is the only book yet found in old Bengali literature in which Buddha's life is described. Nilar Nilar Vara Masa. Who this Nila (Lila) was no Vara Masa. one knows; but the Bengali ladies still observe a fast on a particular day of April in memory of Lilavati. From the poem under notice it appears that Nila’s husband turned a Buddhist monk renouncing his home, and Nila passed through un- heard of hardships to get him back and win him to the sweets of a domestic life. The poem has come down to us as a rustic song; but though woven into crude rhymes. it has a deep pathos