Page:History of Bengali Literature in the Nineteenth Century.djvu/382

 358 BENGALI LITERATURE always seemed averse to earning money by such a pros- titution of his talents. Henceforth Kabi-song became his profession and his fame spread far and wide. He died at the age of 74 in 1812.* It is to be regretted that neither the songs of Haru Thakur nor that of his great rival Rim Basu have been collected or critically edited. Isvar Gupta gave us (1854) for the first time the largest collection of 45 songs of Haru Thakur (though some of them are mere fragments) on the themes of sakhi-sarnbad and eaten songs = Saingraha (1862) merely reproduces 27 of these with the single addition of new piece.2 The Gupta-ratnoddhar (1894) again, the other anthology of Kabi-songs, gives us only 80 pieces all taken from Isvar Gupta’s collections. In Prachin Kahi-saingraha (1877), the number of Haru Thakur’s songs is very limited, only 13 being given under his name; but of these 13 songs, five or six at least have been unanimously attributed in other collec- tions to Ram Basu and one, so attributed to Rasu and Nrsirnha,* is rightly or wrongly placed under Haru Thakur’s name. In Pritzgzt7, the most extensive modern anthology of Bengali love-poems, there are 30 songs attributed to Haru Thakur but all of them (except two* which are apparently new but which are however mere fragments and do not add much. to Haru’s reputation) 1 Nabyabharat, 1311, p. 605. But, according to Kabioyaladiger Git, p. 66 and Sahitya Parigat Patrika, 1302, p. 384, following Igvar Gupta (Prabhakar, Pous, 1261) ut the age of 75. S At p. 87-79.
 * pentelPra a cae biraha. The Katioyalaidiger Git
 * At p. 184. But it is sometimes attributed to Rim Basu,
 * At p. 119 and p. 397.