Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/931

 VII.] BENGALI LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 887 usually regarded as the Beeotia of the country, was a colossus of literature. He bore a strong resem- blance to our great Jexicographer not only by his stupendous acquirements and the soundness of his -critical judgments but also in his rough features and unweildy figure. His knowledge of the Sanskrit classics was unrivalled, and his Bengali composition has never been surpassed for ease, simplicity and vigour. Mr. Carey sat under his instruction two or three hours daily while in Calcutta, and the effect of this intercourse was speedily visible in the superior accuracy and purity of his translations. In the English preface to the Probhoda Chandrika, Marshman says of Mrityunjayaas “‘ one of the most profound scholars of the age.” Of the Bengali works written by Mrityunjaya, his Prabodha Chandrika is a monument of learn- ing; it contains dissertations on Hindu Astronomy, Rhetoric, Law, Logic, Philosophy and other branch- es of learning of which the author was a_ perfect master. He makes a curious hotch-potch of the whole by combining the serious with the comic. The metaphysical subjects are huddled up with colloguies of artizans and rustics, and the whole is treated without much care for arrangement or system. The book was written in 1813. An edition of it appeared in 1833 after the author’s death. Marshman further says in the preface, “the book is written in the purest Bengali of which indeed it may be considered one of the most beautiful 55017016755 18187 person who can comprehend the present work and enter into the spirit of its beauties may justly consider himself