বঙ্গ ভাষা ও সাহিত্য ܬ ܘ bz Vaisnava revival of Chaitanya, not only filled their poems with Vaisnava doctrine and with theories about bhakti, but even transferred legends COICerning Chaitanya to pseudo-prototypes in the war before Lanka. Space will 1)Ot permit me to mention all Kirttivasa's successors. Each had his own excelle cies and his own defects. I therefore confine myself to calling attention to the incomplete Ramayana of the Mymensingh poetess Candravati. In one of her poems she tells her own beautiful and pathetic story, and there can be doubt but that her private griefs, nobly borne, inspired the pathos with which her tale of Sita’s woes is distinguished. It is interesting that, like one or two other authors, she ascribes Sita's banishment to Rama’s groundless jealousy, A treacherous sister-in-law, daughter of Kaikeyi, named Kukua, persuaded Sita, much against her will, to draw for her a portrait of Ravana. She then showed this to Rama as a proof that his wife loved, and still longed for, her cruel abductor. This story was not invented by the poetess. It must have been one of those long orally current, but not recorded by Valmiki or by the writer of the seventh book of the Sanskrit poein, for it reappears in the Kashmiri Ramayana to which I have previously alluded. A few words may also be devoted to another curious version of the (ld tradition. Under various Orthodox names Buddhism has survived in Orissa to the present day, and, in the Seventeenth century, one Ramananda openly declared himself to be an incarnation of the Buddha and, to prove it, Composed - -and r ܒܫܘ ܗ ܒܕ خطےF ۔۔یعنی سہی ۔ qSSTTTkSSSLTLSS SLLLSSSLSSSMSSSLLLLSLSLLLSLJS S SqLqTTTTTS The Bengali version of the conversion of the hunter Valmiki is worth nothing for the light it throws on the connexion of l8engali with Magadhi Prakrit. Narada tried to teach him to pronounce Ram's name, but he could not do so owing to sin having paralysed his tongue. Narada succeeded in getting him to say mada (pronounced mar, meaning "dead.” This is the Magadhi Prakrit mada (Vr. xi 15) It ss pecular to the Bengali language, the more western word being mara. Narada next got him to use this western pronunciation, and to repeat the word rapidly several times-thus, muramarar mara. It will be seen that in this way Valmiki without his paralysed tongue knowing it, uttered the word Rama, and thus became sufficientlv holy to become converted, Apr of the bhakti influence, on page 127 there is a story about Nizamu'd din Aulia and * robber, which recalls the finale of the Tannhauser. The robber is told he cannot hope for forgiveness till a certain dead tree bears leaves. In process of time he does feel ಗ repentance, and the dead trunk becomes at once covered with green leaves from top () bottom.
