Page:History of Bengali Literature in the Nineteenth Century.djvu/419

 ৪ LOVE-LYRICS $95 and various anthologies were published in later times but the two editions mentioned are the most authentic sources of Nidhu Babu’s songs. But even in G7/aratna, songs are given of which the authorship is uncertain; and it cannot be, at least, in any way taken as a complete and exhaustive collection of the songs of Nidhu Babu.' Some songs, for iustance, which are given here are also to be found in Taracharau Dias’s Manmatha Kabya (1247 B.S.) Banwari Lal’s Yojana-gandha or munsi Eradot’s Kuratigabhinu (1252 B.S.), although it cannot be definitely determined whether it is a case of unacknowledged appropriation by subsequent authors. On the other hand, the famous song sf{aatfaca বলে ভালবাদিলে। আমার স্বভাব এই তোমা বই আর জানিনেঃ 15 attributed successively to Sridhar Kathak, Ram Basu and Nidhu Babu and is not included in Gifaratna. Such celebrated songs as the following নয়নেরে দোষ কেন। আখি কি মজাতে পারে না হলে মন-মিলন ॥ ৪ ০” তোমারি তুলন! তুমি প্রাণ এ মহীমগ্ুলে। ০" তবে প্রেমে কি স্থখ হত। আমিযারে ভালবাসি সে যদি ভালবাদিত ॥+ always attributed by tradition and by different editors to Nidhu Babu are omitted in Gitaratna.® from Nidhu Babu’s songs are given in the numerous anthologies of Bengali songs and poems such as Savgit-sar-samgraha ( Bahgabasi edition 1306) vol. ii; Rasabhandar edited by Chandra Sekhar Mukhopadhyay (Basumati office, 1366) ; Baigalir Gan (Bangabisi) ; Pritigiti, edited by AbinéS Chandra Ghos; Banga Sahitya Parichay, edited by Dinesh Chandra Sen, etc. But the songs in these anthologies are often indiscriminately selected from various sources (besides Gitaratna) and are very unreliable from the standpoint of critical scholarship, ‘ This question has been discussed in some detail in my paper in Sahitya Parigat Patrika (1324, pp. 103-107). 2 Saigitsar Samgraha, p. 875; Pritigiti, pp, 153-154. others, it was composed by Sridhar Kathak. the third edition of Gitaratna (p. 148), the curious song beginning
 * Ibid, p. 851, ibid, p. 127; Rasabhandar, p. 107.
 * Pritigiti, p. 376; Nidhu Babur Gitabali, p. 172, According to
 * In Satgit-rag-kalpadrim and among the additional songs in