Page:History of Bengali Literature in the Nineteenth Century.djvu/480

 456 BENGALI LITERATURE has come down exemplifies very fairly the whole upon which we may fully form an estimate. Much of early Bengali prose, like its verse, is lost: much again yet remains to be unearthed. The only specimen of very early prose which probably goes beyond the 16th century is to be found in the few doubtful passages interspersed in the verses Sanya Puran and perhaps in the apoeryphal Difficulties in the way of our study. work attributed to Chandidas: other prose specimens, mostly eryptic and mystical writings of the Sahajiva sect, together with a little good prose-writing of other kinds, may all be taken to be productions of late 18th century, none of them certainly going beyond the 17th. Any attempt to estimate the development attained by old Bengali prose, as shown by these scanty remains, must of necessity. be somewhat superficial. and incomplete, not only in view of the fragmentary nature of much of these writings but also because of the difficulties of chronology. Most of these manuscripts are undated and show considerable differences of readings. Nature of the script and general style of composition are at best unsafe guides, not only in themselves, but also because the one is not vet a matter of systematic study while the characteristic specimens of the other in different periods are not yet available. Even when the manuscripts are dated, the exact elation of the manuscript to the date of composition it.is almost impossible to determine. These difficulties are multiplied again by the presence of divergent readings in different manuscripts of the same work. It is needless to say that unless we can stand upon firm and sure ground in matters of chronology, not to speak of insufficiency of materials to go upon, we can hardly expect to form a correct and critical estimate of our subject of study and all our attempts in this direction are at best nothing more than tentative.