Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/993

 VII. ] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 947 it from his body.”’* Though attacking the idola- trous practices of the Hindus, the Raja boldly de- clared his profound respect for the Hindu philo- sophy before his European friends. An English writer writes, “he (the Raja) asserts that he has Yh. ; R found nothing in European books equal to the ee scholastic philosophy of the Hindus.”’t Philosophy. He combined in himself the best elements of European and Asiatic ideals. In spirituality he -was a Vedantist and in morality he was a follower of Christ. This extraordinary man, with his noble efforts in all works of reformation, did a great service to the cause of Bengali literature to which we shall refer hereafter. We here briefly give a sketch of his life as narrated by himself. ‘““My ancestors were Brahmins of a high order An auto- = গু ক s hi: and, from time immemorial, were devoted to পি the religious duties of their race, down to my count. fifth progenitor who, about one hundred and forty years ago, gave up spiritual exercises for worldly pursuits and aggrandisements. His descendants ever since have followed his example and, accord- ing to the usual fate of courtiers, with various suc- cess, sometimes rising to honour and sometimes falling ; sometimes rich and sometimes poor ; some- times excelling in success, sometimes miserable through disappointment. But my maternal ances- tors, being of the sacerdotal order by profession as well as by birth, and of a family than which none holds a higher rank in that profession, have _¥ Monthly Repository 1818, Vol. XV, pp. 2-4.
 * History of Cri Ramapur Mission Vol. I, page 238.