Page:History of Bengali Literature in the Nineteenth Century.djvu/219

 PUNDITS AND MUNSIS 195 Buchanan,! Rajib-lochan is said to have been “ descended from the family of the Raja.” The ae. Se tae. book is supposed to be an authentic account of the Raja, dead not many years. before this book was published, and his corres- pondence with the English in the early period of their intercourse with Bengal: but it seems that the memo:r ae sg is more of a tissue of fables and Its historical value. চা traditionary tales ; and much of the narrative, especially at the beginning, is mere fiction such as tradition or the fancy of the writer might have sug- gested. Wedo not go so far as to suggest that these tales were invented, as Dr. Yates? remarks, “in order to মহারাজ ক্ষ্ণচন্ত্র রায়স্য চরিত্রং। শ্রীযুত রাজীবলোচন মুখোপাধ্যায়ের রচিতং। কৃষ্ণচন্দ্র মহারাজ ধরণীর মাজ যাহার অধিকারে নবদ্বীপ সমাজ | পূর্বববত্রান্ত যত করিয়া! প্রচার কৃষ্ণচন্দ্র চরিত্র পরে করিব বিস্তার॥ শ্রীরামপুরে ছাপা হইল। ১৮০৫ | pp. 1-120. Long says that it was reprinted in London 1830 but the second reprint at Srirampur bears the date of 1857 (Sahitya- Parigat Library). There is a copy in the Library of the Board of Exa- miners which is reprinted at Srirampur bearing the date of 1834; and two copies in the British Museum Library (Blumhardt, Catalogue, p. 89) printed in London in 1811. Also mentioned in the Catalogue of the Library of the East India College (1843) and Catalogue of the Library of the Hon'ble East India Company (1845) p. 196. There are copies of the first edition of this work in the Library of the Board of Examiners and also in the Bengal Asiatic Society Library. In the paper on Bengali Literature (Cal. Rev. xiii. 1850) Long gives this work the absurd date of 1801: and following him, Ram-gati Nydyaratna repeats the error. See, however, Roebuck, op. cit App. II. p. 29: so Buchanan, op cit. p. 228. Besides this work of Rajib-lochan’s contains a reference at p. 9 to Rim Ram Basu’s Pratapaditya-charitra and must therefore have been published after 1801. » Op. cit. p. 228, The full description is this: “an original work in the Bengali language containing the correspondence between the Raja and the English in the early period of their intercourse with Bengal by Rajeeblochan Moonshee descended from the family of the Raja.” work (Cal. Rev. 1849, p. 601), following Yates, seems to be unwarranted.
 * Intro. to Beng. Lang vol. ii p. 124. Seton-Karr's severity on his