Page:History of Bengali Literature in the Nineteenth Century.djvu/186

 162 BENGALI LITERATURE the first piece of original prose work we have briefly discussed. As an_ historical work, too, its place is very high. In the description of it given in Buchanan’s College of Fort William (1805), it is said. to have been “composed from authentic documents” and Ram Basu himself at (019 19910101119: 01 1018 179০001৯৪৮৪ : সংপ্রতি সব্বারস্তে এ দেশে প্রতাপাদিত্য নামে এক রাজা হইয়াছিলেন তাহার বিবরণ কিঞ্চিত পারস্য ভাষায় গ্রন্থিত আছে As the first histori- cal work in Bengali সাঙ্গপাঙ্গরূপে সামুদাইক নাহি আমি peas. তাহারদিগের স্বশ্রেণী একেই জাতি ইহাতে তাহার আপনার পিতৃপিতামহের স্থানে শুনা আছে অতএব আমরা অধিক জ্ঞাত এবং আর আর অনেকে মহারাজার উপাখ্যান আন্মপুর্বধক জানিতে আকিঞ্চন করিলেন এ জন্য যেমত আমার শ্রত আছে তদন্ুযায়ি লেখা যাইতেছে ।! 1 seems therefore that this work—one of the very few treatises on a little-known period of history—is based upon both authentic history and tradition ; but the learned pundit seems to have taken every precaution. to ছাপ! হইল। ১৮০১ | The History of Raja Pritapadityu By Ram Ram Boshoo one of Pundits in the College of Fort William. Serampore. Printed at the Mission Press. 1802. pp. 1-156. Entered with identical date, place of publication and name of the author in the Catalogue of the Library of the Hon, East India Company 1845, p. 195. An excellent edition of this work, which had been out of print since the first edition in 1801, has been brought out by Nikhilnath Ray under the auspices of the Sahitya Parisat. It is needless to say that [am much indebted for some _ biographical and _ other informations to this edition; but with regard to the extracts quoted, I have carefully compared the text given here with that in the first edition, as I find it in the copy of the work lent to me by the Library of the Board of Examiners, The references are given to both the original as well as to N. Ray’s edition as the latter is more easily procurable. The page-reference given here in the text is, in the first place, to the Ist edition (Library of Board of Examiners) and then to N. Ray’s edition. , রাজ! প্রতাপা দিত্যচরিত্র, pp. 3-4; p. 1,