Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 1.pdf/171

 BHAVADI(TI.

MAY 3, 1872.]

143

OUDH FOLKLORE–A. LEGEND OF BALRAMPUR. BY W. C. BENETT, B.C.S., GONDA.

Not many generations ago there was a great Pahlwān in Balrämpur named Bhawan Misr. He was passing the Sembar tree” to the north of the town, and broke off a twig. Immediately Mirchi Dâno, whose home the tree was, attacked him. For a day and a night they wrestled, and the demon was finally beaten. He promised his con queror a män of wheat every day if he would let him go, on the condition that he would tell

no one whom it came from.

On the next day

vided by his uncle, with the same condition as to secrecy. For several days the flour was left at the wrestler's house, and he lived in great plenty. But he had a foolish wife who plagued him till he told her how he had got it. From that time he could neither get his flour again, nor induce Dâno or his sister's son to

fight. As the Sembar tree is still standing, he

does not seem to have taken his revenge by

Now Dāno had a sister's

destroying that. Such is the story, reminding one strongly of Grimm's Hausmärchen, which was told me by a

son bigger and stronger than himself, and was persuaded by him to leave off the disgraceful

Kurini of Balrämpur, a town on the Râpti in Gondā district, as we passed the fabled cotton tree. Dāno

Dâno left a big bag with a mán of wheat at the wrestler's house.

The wrestler, missing his grain, went

Baitál is a personification of the ignis fatuus. His

to the Sembar tree, and began to break it down, challenging the perfidious goblin to interfere. On this the goblin's sister's son came out, and

st h fins are found in many places along the crest of the lower range of hills which divides Gondā from Nepāl, and he is appeased by offerings

tribute.

offered to fight for his uncle.

For two days

and two nights they fought, and the sister's son was beaten. He bought his liberty by promising to grind the man of corn pro

of

milk

and

rice.

This

terrible

demon feeds

chiefly on dung beetles, and sallying forth at dusk with a fire between his lips, tempts un wary travellers from their path, and destroys their reasoil.

BHAVABHöTI IN ENGLISH GARB. BY THE REV. K. M. BANERJEA, HON. M. R. A. S.

BHA v AB H U TI is deservedly reckoned among the great poets. This is a title which the Sanskrit Ars poetica (for such in reality is the Alan k fir a S. à stra) would not allow to be conferred on any writer as a mere compliment : it must be won, like an academical honour or diploma, by literary merits which satisfy certain definite rules. But though universally allowed to be a great poet, but little is known of B h a v a b h fi ti's per sonal history. We have no biographical tradition or anecdotes about him such as we have in the case of

Kālid a sa, Bhart rih a ri, &c. In the preludes to his two dramatic works, his lineage and parent age are given, and that is almost all we know of his personal history. The prelude to the Mahd Vira Charita informs us “that in the south there is a

city named Padma-pur a ; in it dwell certain followers of the Black Yajur-Veda, descendants of Kasyap a, chiefs of their school, making holy the company, keeping the five fires, holding vows, drink ing the soma, most excellent, repeating the Veda. From their illustrious descendant who is highly esteemed, and makes the V a jpey a sacrifice, and is a great poet, the fifth in order, the grandson of one whose well selected name is Bhatta g o p a la, and the son of the pure in fame Nilakānth a, is the poet whose appellation is Bhavabh (, ti,

surnamed Sri k a n th a (whose voice is eloquent) and whose mother is J at flk a r n i, a friend of ours.” The prelude of the Uttara Rama Charita gives, the poet's lineage to the same effect but more briefly. “There is truly a poet of the name of B h a v a b h (, ti, of the race of K as y a pa, having as surname, the word Sri kanth a . The Uttara Rāma Charita will now be represented, composed by him, on whom being a Brahman this goddess Speech attends like an obedient wife.” B h a va bh a ti's reputation is founded on his works.

The Sanskrit drama, like everything else in that language, is regulated by prescribed rules. The first ceremony is the devotional invocation of the gods for the successful issue of the play about to be acted. This is performed by the manager in the theatre itself, before the assembled audience, and is called N a n di. It is something like the prayers which precede the business of Parliament, and testi fies to the sentiment of piety animating the nation and the age, even though the ceremony itself may be perfunctorily gone through or indifferently listen ed to.

The sentiment is observed in all branches

of the Sanskrit literature, there being scarcely a single author who commences his work without a salutation to some god or supernatural power. And


 * In Marathi, Sãmvar or Sămvari, Sans. Salmali, the Bombaz

heptaphyllium or ceiba,

ED.