Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/176

Rh readable books in Bengali prose for the use of the students of the College, who were European would-be civilians, as the reader has already been told. In compliance with this request, he wrote the "Vasudeva Charita." It was compiled from the Srimadbhagabata, a religious book of the Hindus in Sanskrit. It was not exactly a verbatim translation throughout. Some portions of the original were left out altogether, here and there the sense only was taken, and only a portion of the original text was literally translated. Considering the nice style, choice diction, and beautiful, easy, flowing language of the "Vasudeva-Charita", it must be said, that it very nearly approaches an original composition. It may be taken as a good model of Bengali prose. Unfortunately for the Hindu readers of Bengal, the "Basudeva Charita" was not approved of by the authorities of the Fort William College, and was, therefore, not published. The book treats of Sri-Krishna, trying to demonstrate him to be a bodily incarnation of the Supreme Deity.

In the Vasudeva-Charita, the lilas (sports) of Sri Krishna have been fully described. Every page, nay every line, of the book has been devoted to divine manifestation. Vidyasagar of course thought, that though the book treated of Sri Krishna as an incarnation of God, the authorities would not hesitate to accept it as a text book for the Civilians, on the consideration that it was only a translation, and not an original composition. To say the truth,