Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/984

 938 RENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [Chap. sounds the trumpet of battle ; and though he appa- rently applied to himself the word ‘deluded’, it is really meant for those who held views in religion other than his own. Throughout all his writings this combativeness is obvious. He probably felt it necessary for the times, believing that people had begun to accept the image as God Himself and forget that it was a mere emblem. As a combatant he was superior to most who came in contact with him, not only by the strong and forcible manner in which he marshalled his arguments, based on a learning which was most extraordinary, but in the equanimity of temper that he preserved throughout all controversy. Seldom or never did he resort to the language of abuse so freely indulged in against him by his opponents. He was master of many languages,—-Hebrew, Greek, Persian, English, Sanskrit, Arabic Hindusthani and Bengali, and knew something of French besides. The missionaries found in him a scholar who could point out flaws in their translations of the Bible and refer them to the original text in Hebrew, or Greek.* His antagonists were generally brought to their knees by the solid learning of the Raja who, with or all respect for the scriptures of different religions, European assailed his opponents with ample quotations from admirers. the books held sacred by them, and beat them on their own ground in the most effective way. In and fluency the passages of both Old and New Testaments ex- plaining some maltranslations of Hebrew which Trinitarians some- times urged in their favour,” Monthly Repository, 1822. Page, 754.
 * “He argues the matter very fairly and quotes with great ease