Twilight of the Sultanate c16.s6.13

c16.s6.13

Muslim sovereigns of Bengal rendered great service to Bengali language and literature by granting recognition to Bengali in their courts. Following their example, the Hindu Rajas of Bengal also began to patronise the language of the people. But still greater service to the cause of the language was done by the Vaishnava philosophers and Bhakti poets of Bihar and Bengal. In the twelfth century Jayadeva had written “his masterpiece”¹¹⁶, the *Gīta Govind*. This lyrical epic was full of the passionate but divine love of Rādha and Krishna. Chaṇḍī Das (A. D. 1417-78) and Vidyāpati (A. D. 1433-81) wrote equally beautiful lyrical poetry in Bengali and Maithili. Besides devotional songs, Vidyāpati wrote historical poems also. His historical poem *Kīrtilatā* describes an episode in the life of his patron Hindu Raja. Incidentally it gives a very vivid picture of the life of Jaunpur city of his day. Chaitanya also himself contributed much to Bengali lyrical poetry.¹¹⁷ In the opinion of D. C. Sen, the author of the monumental work entitled the *History of the Bengali Language and Literature*, Bengali was raised to the status of a literary language by the Vaishnava hymn writers just as Pali was by the Buddhists.¹¹⁸