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History of Bengali Language and Literature c6.s7: 8. Genealogical records

History of Bengali Language and Literature c6.s7

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English

Contents

8. Genealogical records

c6.s7.1

If I am asked as to what is the chief basis of that Paurāṇik Hinduism which triumphed over Buddhism and has since ruled supreme in India, I should say Āchāra. This word, I find difficult to translate into English. It means rules for the guidance of every day-life to which every Hindu should conform; yet this definition does not fully express the idea. The word Āchāra refers only to the details of daily life and must not be confounded with questions of morality. A man may not be very moral, and still his life may be Āchāra-puta, or pure as regards the observance of the rules laid down by the Çastras.

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Raghunandan and his great work.

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The great compiler of these rules in the 16th century in Bengal was Raghunandan Bhaṭṭāchāryya and he is up to the present the greatest authority in the country with the orthodox community. To a superficial observer, the Herculean efforts made by Raghunandan in collating a vast body of ancient Sanskrit works, in order to settle very minor points in the every-day life of a Hindu, will appear like lost labour; but diving deeper into the subject, and applying the principles of historical evolution to it, the reader will find a rational explanation for the popularity of Aṣṭaviṃśati Tattva—the great work of Raghunandan, and have to admit that the age was in eminent need of such a scholar. If the country had not wanted him, why should his book have been accepted by the people of Bengal? He did not possess any arbitrary power to enforce his code upon the multitude. They submitted to his yoke willingly.

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The contents of Astaviṃśati Tattva.

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On particular lunar days, particular foods prove uncongenial to the human system. This is the current belief of Indians. Raghunandan devotes an important chapter of his work to a consideration of this point.[*] The details of methods for performing Śrāddha and other religious ceremonies, for observing fasts and vigils, the restrictions against marriage between the people of the same caste, and against long journeys by sea or land,—such are the subjects which have been treated with patient scholarship in this celebrated work. He quotes chapter and verse from Manu, Yājñavalkya and a host of ancient sages in support of his views with regard to very small matters. A giant's labour was given to the raising of a mole-hill. The point that puzzles an enquirer, is how to account for the iron grip in which these rules, occasionally so puerile, have held the orthodox Hindu community for centuries. A devout Hindu would consult the Çāstras to know if on a particular day he could eat a certain vegetable. If in the month of Māgha a person takes radish, he will be pronounced a non-Hindu. What could be the reason that made people submit to such laws with religious veneration?

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∗ For instance, one should not eat a pumpkin or its gourd (cucurbita pepo) on the 2nd day of a Lunation; Brihati (Solanumhirsatum) on the 3rd; Patal (Trichosanthes dioeca) on the 4th; Radish (Raphanus Sativus) on the 5th; Nimba (Melia Azadirachta) on the 6th; and so on.

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How is it that the book carries so great an authority?

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To answer this question, we must survey our social condition during the decline of Buddhism. The great vice, which undermined the unity and strength of our society in the last days of Buddhism, was that of free-thinking carried to excess. The Buddhists preached:—

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Free-thinking and its result on society.

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"There is no heaven, no hell, no vice, no virtue. None created the world, none has the power to destroy it. No other evidence is to be recognised than what appeals directly to our senses. There is no soul, our body alone is subject to pleasure and pain—the result of good and bad actions. When we see that children are produced by the agency of parents, clay models by potters, and pictures by painters, such evidence is enough to shew how things come into existence. Then why should we ascribe them to an imaginary Creator? Don't give pain to yourself or to others. Not depending upon others, is salvation. Heaven lies in eating food of delicious taste."*

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It is further preached that immorality is no vice, but this particular passage need not be quoted.

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Now let us imagine the effect of such free-thinking on society. The Tāntriks who were dominant all over India in the age of which we are speaking, were known to banquet on things so horrible as, for instance, a putrid corpse. They wanted to shew that in their eyes nothing in creation was unholy. The marriage system had become lax. During the flourishing days of Buddhism, the different races of Asia had been brought into close touch with one another. The monasteries were filled with men and women of alien race, and when standards of morality sank low in Buddhistic society in course of time, a population, consisting of children disowned by the communities of both their parents came into existence, and

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* The above is the translation of a passage from Vidyonmād-Taraṅgiṇī a well-known Sanskrit work by Chirañjiv Bhaṭṭāchāryya. The author gives an interesting description of religious controversies amongst the various sects of Hindus. The above arguments are put in the mouth of a Buddhist. Vidyonmād-Taraṅgiṇī was translated into English by the late Rājā Kāli Kriṣna Dev of Shobhā Vāzār, Calcutta in 1834. The Sanskrit Text of the passage is given below :—

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" न स्वर्गेा नैव जन्मान्यदपि न नरको नाप्यधर्म्मो न धर्मः, कर्त्ता नैवास्तु कश्चिद् प्रभवति जगतो नैव भर्त्ता न हर्त्ता । प्रत्यक्षान्यान मानं न सकलफलभुग्, देहभिन्नोऽस्ति, कश्चिन्मिथ्याभूते समस्ते ह्यनुभवति जनः सर्वमेतद्विमोहः ।' अहिंसा परमो धर्मः पापमात्रप्रपीडनम् । अपराधीनता मुक्तिः स्वर्गेाह्यभिलषिताशनम् ॥ का सृष्टौ परिदेवना यदि पुनः पित्रोरपत्योद्भवः । कुस्ताद्याः प्रभवन्ति संस्तमयी तत्त्वंकुलालादितः ॥"

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the purity of the four original castes of the Hindus was lost. On an examination of skulls, the Mongolian type has been discovered in high-caste Hindus of various places in India. The Buddhists had no strict code of marriage-laws. In the Ambatta Sutta of the Buddhists we find that *pratiloma*—that reversal of ranks in marriage which is so highly condemned by Hindu law-givers—was at one time greatly in vogue in India. In the drama of Mrichchhakatika written by a Buddhist prince, we find Chāru Datta, a good Brāhmin, paying court to Vasanta Sena—a courtesan. In the Daçaratha Jātaka of the Buddhists, Sītā is represented as the sister of Rāma, who at the same time marries her. These and similar tales are told in a plain way without any comment, thus shewing that in Buddhist society, rules of marriage were extremely loose.*

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The revival of Hinduism in Bengal, between the 9th and the 13th century, meant war against these laxities brought by a set of free-thinkers who would submit to no leader, but would wreck the whole fabric of society on the quicksands of their own cynicism. To preserve the purity of the Aryan blood after the admixture and corruption it had already passed through, to counteract the influence of the Tāntrikism with its obnoxious idea of indiscriminate food, in a word, to undo the great evils of that age, strict rules regarding marriage and eating required to be enacted, if society was to be ordered and disciplined and led to accept a pure ideal.

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The propaganda of the revivalists.

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∗ Similarly in the history of Java, we find the Buddhist King Jayālankār marrying his own sister Chāndra-Sura in 675 A.D.

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When the Hindu revivalists began their task of reformation, they found the original caste-system shattered by the indiscriminate union of men and women. Society was in a thoroughly disorganised state. The children born of couples who came from different castes, were not owned by either of the original castes. The new builders of society classified them, and admitted them into the new order, allotting to each a fixed status in society. This accounts for the origin of so many sub-castes in India. They came into existence by the breaking of marriage rules.

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The origin of the sub-castes.

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Hard and fast rules laid down by Raghunandan.

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Hindu society, after admitting this heterogeneous population, shut its portals against newcomers, and no breach of the hard-and fast rules of marriage now enforced, was again to be tolerated. Regarding indiscriminate food, which had been taken in utter disregard of rules of health, minute details were now settled. But the vices to which human nature tends, cannot be checked by codes of law. A high ideal of spiritual life set before the people, keeps them in the right direction in these matters, and our society busied itself only in framing rules for the direction of the details of daily life. These rules hold their sway till now. If a person openly avows Jesus Christ to be the son of God, or Mahomet to be the only prophet of God, Hindu society will not war against him. Our toleration goes so far. But there are hundreds of petty rules in regard to eating--especially cooked foods--the infringement of any one of which will render him liable to be excommunicated from society or make him undergo severe penances. Marriage rules again have been made so severe, that even in the narrow groove of one's own caste, the selection of a bride-groom has grown to be a serious problem with Hindu parents. The reactionary movement, as is natural in such cases, ran to excess, and small points took exaggerated proportions in the eyes of the people. Besides the Tantriks, there were other people near at hand, who disregarded prejudices of all kinds, in using meat as food. Buddhism, as I have said, had brought into India, a vast number of foreigners belonging to different Asiatic races. There were, amongst these, snake and cockroach eaters, not to speak of those whose daily food was ham and beef. The Hindu community had to be guarded against adopting the ways of such alien peoples, and as the Muhammoden conquerers could not be expected to take any interest in these matters, touching the well-being of the people, the leaders of society became their natural guardians and dictated their actions. Raghunandan compiled a treatise which was much needed in an age of vice, resulting from unrestrained conduct.

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I believe I have now explained what I understand by the word Āchāra, which, I said, is the chief basis of our modern Hindu society. Āchāra is a deliberate disavowal of this spirit of free-thinking. It is a reactionary step, taken to bring a loose and disorganised society into order and unity; and however absurd it may appear on a superficial view, it had a mission at the time when its stringent rules were first enacted; and it cannot be declared with certainty that the good results which the revivalists had in view, are fully exhausted even now.

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Achāra, an outcome of reactionery measures.

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The topics discussed above should not be considered as a digression; for upon a knowledge of some of the essential features of the revival of Hinduism, will depend a right appreciation of the ideals set up by the succeeding literature.

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Vallāla Sen who ruled from 1119 to 1169 A.D. conferred Kulinism upon people of various castes in Bengal. The qualities required to entitle one to the status of a Kulīna were nine: viz., (1) āchāra, (2) humility, (3) learning, (4) good repute, (5) the visiting of sacred places, (6) devotion, (7) good conduct, (8) religious austerity and penance, and (9) charity. Āchāra, of which we have spoken already, heads the list of these qualities.

c6.s7.27.1

Vallāla Sen, while bestowing Kaulīnya, or the status of a Kulīna, on a few select people of the higher castes, enacted, that after a fixed period, new men endowed with the above qualifications, would be admitted into the grade of Kulīnas, and that these were to be the recognised heads of the different sections of the Hindu community in all social matters. But his son Lakṣmaṇa Sen afterwards ruled, that the descendants of the Kulīnas were to enherit Kulinism irrespective of their personal qualifications, and thus the Kulīna classes, as they are now found, became stereotyped in society. Many books have been preserved in Sanskrit and Bengali, shewing the genealogy of the higher classes of the Hindu community; and some of these may be traced to Vallāla Sen's time. These give a glimpse at the inside of our social organisation, and indicate the changes which it has undergone during the last one thousand years. The son of a Kulīna became by right a Kulīna. This contravenes the wholesome principle of rewarding the meritorious members of society, on which Vallāla Sen had wanted to base Kulinism. Kulinism thus became an artificial institution, but it had one aspect which still evoked the greatest sacrifices, by developing a peculiar instinct of family-honour. The Kulīnas and the non-Kulīnas of a community were often bound together by marriage-ties. There were, however, many orthodox families in Bengal who would on no account recognise such relationships.

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They were prepared to sacrifice every earthly consideration, even their lives, to guard the purity of their Kaulīnya status or Kulinism. The lay men of different communities on the other hand never lacked patience in their efforts to persuade such orthodox Kulīnas to marry with them, by offering huge sums of money. We find that a scion of the Vaidya Gaṇa family of Tenāi in Faridpur was persuaded to marry a girl of the Dāsarā Dutt family on a dowry of sixty-four villages in the subdivision of Mānikgañja in the District of Dacca. The ancestors of the Naikaṣya Kulīnas amongst Brahmins of the present day passed through tests and sacrifices such as only martyrs in a great cause would be supposed capable of undergoing. We find one of the lay Vaidyas coming to Senhāti to induce a Kulīna of that caste to form a matrimonial alliance with him, and persevering in his attempts, inspite of repeated refusals, till some banyan trees, planted by him on the banks of the river Bhairava on his first landing at the place, grew so large as to give shade to travellers,—when at last the Kulīna agreed to give a daughter of his family in marriage. I find in the preface to a translation of Chandī by Rūpanārāyaṇa Ghoṣa (born, 1579 A. D.) that a lay Kāyastha named Jādavendra Rāya, Zemindār of Āmdālā, in the District of Dacca, took away two young men belonging to a Kulīna family in a boat on the river Padmā; and there he made a proposal of marriage between them and his two daughters.

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If they would not agree to his proposals, they were to be drowned in the river. The elder of the two, Vāṇīnātha, preferred death to the disgrace that would be brought upon his family by such a connection. He was drowned accordingly. But the younger, Rūparāma, succumbed to the fear of death and accepted the alternative. We find in the Kula-Pañjikā by Kavi Kaṇṭhahāra, that a Kulīna Vaidya died broken hearted, from having been obliged to marry a tyrant's daughter.* Such instances are numerous in the genealogical books. This goes to show to what excesses the reactionary movement in regard to marriage rules was carried. The genealogical books also show our keen desire to follow ideals of purity and truth in life, and they record the struggle that Hindu society made to ward off the harm that the overtures of an arbitrary Mahammadan aristocracy, were constantly making upon their quiet life. If any one wants to study the character of the people of this country, and to understand their aims and aspirations instead of summarily dismissing them as mysterious beings, he would do well to study these works carefully.

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∗ “সংগ্রামসাহতন্যাপাণিপীড়নপীড়িতঃ।” Kavi Kaṇṭhahāra.

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Kulinism has often been abused; but the sacrifices and martyrdoms undergone for its sake in our society cannot but evoke feelings of wonder and admiration.

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The object of such sacrifices may be considered trivial but the qualities of self-denial, of utter disregard for earthly prosperity, and of devotion to a cause which distinguished these Kulinas are not to be despised. Just think of a man preferring to wear rags, to depend on a single meal a day, and to live in a hut of reeds, while his brother was made the owner of sixty-four villages and a palace, the same offer coming to him but being refused with indignation. Yet by marriage with a fellow casteman's daughter, of non Kulina rank, he would not be excommunicated from society; only a very slight stain would be left on his family honour. Social prestige has in the past occupied the same place in popular estimation in India as a sense of political right does in western countries; and unless this difference is taken into consideration, the ideals of the Indian people cannot be fully realised.

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I said, that some of the genealogical treatises may be traced to Vallāla Sen's time. The following Bengali lines which occur in a Sanskrit work by Chaturbhuja, a Vaidya, written three hundred seventy-five years ago, were evidently already very old :—

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“ দুহি বিনায়ক ত্রিপুর চাউ। শিয়াল পন্থ খোবে কাউ। টৈ লৈয়া কুলের বাস। রাঢ়ে বঙ্গে সাত আট।”

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There are many such lines to be found in other works of this class, which show in their style, a striking similarity to Dāker vachana and other early compositions.

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Early genealogical books in Bengali are mostly written in prose. The field has not yet been properly explored; yet the Sanskrit works, that have already come to light containing the genealogical records of the three upper classes of our community form a vast literature. It is not however within our scope to refer to Sanskrit works. Of Bengali books on the subject, which are also numerous, we name some below. Though fragments of these writings seem to be ancient, yet their composition as a whole covers a period of not more than four hundred years, closing in the middle of 18th century.

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A few of these Bengali works on our social history are as follows:—

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1. Melabandha by Devivar Ghatak.
2. Prakriti Patal Nirṇaya by the same author.
3. Kulārṇava by Vāchaspati Miçra.
4. Mela-rahasya by Danujāri Miçra.
5. Daçā Tantra Prakāça by Harihar Kavindra.
6. Melaprakriti Nirṇaya.
7. Melamālā.
8. Mela-chandrikā.
9. Mela-prakāça.
10. Daçāvaṭī.
11. Kulatattva Prakāçikā.
12. Kula Sāra.
13. Pirāli Kārikā by Nilkaṇṭha Bhaṭṭa.
14. Goṣṭhikathā and Kārikā by Nula Pañchānana.

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15. Rāḍhīya Samāj-nirṇaya.
16. Kula Pañji by Rāmadeva Āchāryya.
17. Rāḍhīya Graha Vipra Kārikā by Kulānanda.
18. Graha Biprakula Bichāra by the same author.
19. Ḍhākura by Çuka Deva.
20. Kula Pañji by Ghataka Viçārad Kānti Rām.
21. Ḍakuri by Çyāma.
22. Dakṣin Rāḍhīya Kārikā by Mālādhar Ghataka.
23. Kārikā by Ghataka Keçarī.
24. Kārikā by Ghataka Churāmaṇi.
25. Kula Pañjikā by Ghataka Vāchaspati.
26. Ḍhākuri by Sārvabhauma.
27. Ḍhākuri by Vāchaspati.
28. Ḍhākuri by Çambhu Vidyānidhi.
29. Ḍhākuri by Kāçināth Vasu.
30. Ḍhākuri by Mādhava Ghataka.
31. Ḍhākuri by Nandarām Miçra.
32. Ḍhākuri by Rādhāmohan Saraswati.
33. Maulika Vamça Kārikā by Dwija Rāmānanda.
34. Dakṣin Rāḍhīya Kula Sarvasva.
35. Ekjaya Kārikā.
36. Vaṅgaja Kulaji Sāra Saṃgraha.
37. Vaṅgaja Kulaji by Dwija Vāchaspati.
38. Vaṅgaja Ḍhākuri by Dwija Rāmānanda.
39. Maulik Ḍhākuri by Rāmnārāyaṇa Vasu.
40. Ḍhākuri of Vārendra Kāyasthas by Kāçi Rām Dās.
41. Vārendra Ḍhākur by Yadu Nandana.
42. Kulaji of Gandha Vaṇiks by Tilak Rām.
43. Do. by Paraçu Rām.
44. Kulaji of Tāmvula Vaṇiks by Dwija Patra Paraçurām.

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45. Kulaji of the Tantu Bains (weavers) by Mādhava.

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46. Satdharmāchāra Kathā by Kiṅkar Dās.
47. Sadgopa Kulāchāra by Mani Mādhava.
48. Tili Pañjikā by Rāmeçwar Datta.
49. Suvarṇa Vaṇika Kārikā by Maṅgal.
50. Rāja Mālā (completed in 1439 A.D.) by Çukreçwar and Vāṇeçwara.

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This last is a genealogical history of the Rājāhs of Hill Tipperā.

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Important to the student of history.

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These genealogical works preserve the traditions of an ancient race, and though the composition of many of them, as we have said, belongs to comparatively recent times, yet they embody facts regarding our social condition which have been transmitted from distant ages. They are therefore entitled to the consideration of those interested in the history of Bengal. Not only do they give accounts of our social movements, but they are full of incidental references to contemporary events.

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An Example, Nalu Pañchānana on the question of the caste of the Sen-Kings of Bengal.

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I shall here refer in some detail to a genealogical account written by a Brāhmin named Nalu Pañchānana, who is an admitted authority on the subject. The style of writing and the description of the subject clearly show that the author, who lived about one hundred fifty years ago, had embodied facts in it found in older records. The book is called Gosthikathā Kārikā. It is chosen here for reference, because the genealogical accounts will not again be touched upon, and because the matter contained in the Kārikā is important, as giving the solution of a very knotty problem in the history of Bengal. The Sena Kings of Bengal were formerly believed to have belonged to the Vaidya or medical caste. In all the genealogical works written by the Brāhmins, Vaidyas and Kāyasthas, they were described as Vaidyas. In fact Rājā Rajendra Lal Mitra, who was the first to dispute the point of their caste, had to admit. "The universal belief in Bengal is that the Senas were of medical caste and families of Vaidyas are not wanting in the present day who trace their lineage from Vallāla Sen." * But in the copper-plate inscriptions of the Sena Kings, lately discovered in various parts of the country, they have been found to declare themselves as Brāhma-Kṣatriyas. In the face of their own declaration on this subject, the traditions and written accounts, which were formerly considered as perfectly reliable, lost all authority, and the Sena Kings were generally accepted by scholars as having been Kṣatriyas. Now the descendants of those Brāhmins, Kāyasthas and persons of other castes, on whom Vallāla Sen had bestowed Kaulinya, knew him to have belonged to the Vaidya caste, and they were in possession of written records substantiating this point. Yet nothing was now considered more reliable than a declaration on the part of the princes themselves as to the caste to which they belonged, preserved in the lasting impression borne by the copper-plates. The Kārikā, to which we have referred, however, unravels the history of these aspirations and proves them to have been mere pretensions. We quote a part of this interesting record below* :—

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∗ Indo-Aryans, page 265.

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* একদিন রাজা জিজ্ঞাসিল পঞ্চ গোত্রীয়।
মহাবংশ কুলীন আর সিদ্ধ শ্রোত্রিয়ে ॥
কহ সভাসদ আছ যতেক পণ্ডিত।
কি হেতু ত্যজিলে বৈদ্য ছিলে পুরোহিত ॥
উত্তরিল মহেশাদি যতেক সুকৃতি।
নিত যজ্ঞে রত নহি নৈমিত্তিকে ব্রতী ॥
অজ্ঞ হল দশকর্ম্মা শ্রাদ্ধে পিণ্ডভোজী।
দ্বিজের শুচিলে ঋত্বিক, নহি শূদ্র যাজী ॥
আদিশূর রাজা বৈদ্য বৈশ্য তার জাতি।
একচ্ছত্রী রাজা ছিল ক্ষত্রবৎ ভাতি ॥
ইন্দ্রদ্যুম বৌদ্ধ রাজা জগন্নাথে কীর্ত্তি।
সাম্যবাদী তবু বলায় ক্ষত্রিয়বৃত্তি ॥
রাজা হলে রাজন্য সে না ভাবে অন্যথা।
পতিত কাম্বোজাদি গৌড়ে ক্ষত্র যথা ॥
ভূপাল অনঙ্গপাল আর মহীপাল।
জাতি ভ্রষ্ট, ক্ষত্র নহে রাজন্য প্রবল ॥
তারাও বিভা করিত তিন জাতির মেয়ে।
ব্রাহ্মণ পুরোধা সাতশতী দেখ চেয়ে ॥
তাই তারা ক্রিয়াকাণ্ডে বেদ জ্ঞানহীন।
যাজক পিণ্ডভোজী প্রথা ত অপ্রাচীন ॥
বল্লাল লয় যশে পদ্মিনী জাতি হীনা।
লক্ষ্মণ কহে দ্বিজের প্রথা ত দেখিনা ॥
ভাই বল্লাল ত্যজে কুপুত্র বলি সুতে।
লক্ষ্মণ ত্যজে পৈতা বৈদ্যকুল রক্ষিতে ॥
ইথে উভয় পক্ষে বৈদ্য পতিত ব্রাত্য।

c6.s7.47

"One day the King asked the Brāhmins of five Gotras (families), some of whom were great Kulīnas, and other Çuddha Çrotriyas, "O Pandits who adorn my court, tell me why have you deserted the Vaidyas, whereas formerly you used to discharge priestly functions in their families?" Maheça and other learned men said in reply, "We are not prepared to do the daily work of priests in any house. We perform priestly offices for occasional ceremonies only. The Brāhmins, who discharge ten set functions in one house, and eat the rice offered to the dead in the Çrādh-ceremony are generally illiterate. We act as priests in the 'Homā'-ceremonies of the Brāhmins only, and do not act as priests in the houses of Çudras. King Ādiçūra was a Vaidya. He belonged to the Vaiçya caste. He was an emperor paramount, and therefore assumed the status of a Kṣatriya. Indra Dumna was a Buddhist King. He founded the Jagannāth Temple. He did not believe in castes, yet he called himself a Kṣatriya. Whoever becomes a king aspires to the status of a

c6.s7.48

ক্রমশঃ ব্ৰহ্মলে গণ্য অত্রত্য তত্রত্য ॥
* * * *
ভূমিপ হইলে সবার ইচ্ছা হয় ক্ষত্র ।
গৌরব হেতু "রাজনন্য" বলায় যত্র তত্র ॥
সবারি অভিলাষ সে উচ্চ হয় নিজে ।
দেবত্ব পেলেও ইচ্ছা ব্রহ্মত্বে বিরাজে ॥
* * * *
বৈদ্য রাজা আদিশূর ক্ষত্রিয় আচার ।
বেদে ব্রহ্মবৎ, কার্যে মাতু ব্যবহার ॥

c6.s7.49

Sambandha Nirṇaya, by Lālmohan Vidyānidhi (2nd Edition) p p. 584-89.

c6.s7.50

Kṣatriya without considering other points. Similar instances are to be found in the cases of out-castes like the Kambojias in Gauḍa. Bhūpāl, Anaṅgapāl and Mohīpāl were not Kṣatriyas, they were out-castes. But they were great Kings, hence they could marry girls from the three highest classes. Look at the Sāt-Ṣaṭi priests, they discharge priestly functions in all houses, hence they have lost all knowledge of the Vedas. They eat the rice offered to the dead in the Ṣrādh ceremony. When Vallāla Sen tried to pass into society a low-caste woman named Padminī, his son Lakṣmaṇa Sen informed the Brāhmins of his action and cried it down. Vallāla in great rage dismissed Lakṣmaṇa Sen from his court, and Lakṣmaṇa in order to protect the Vaidyas from his father's ire, made them give up the sacred thread. Thus the Vaidyas who belonged to the party of Vallāla Sen and those that belonged to that of his son, became Vrātyas (fallen).

c6.s7.51

Rājā Aḍiṣūra belonged to the Vaidya caste, but he adopted the ways of a Kṣatriya. Whoever becomes a king wants to be called a Kṣatriya, and, for his own glorification, declares himself as a Kṣatriya everywhere. Every one aspires to a higher position than he enjoys. The Devas* want the position of Brahmā the Great God. According to the Ṣāṣtras, Aḍiṣūra is a Brāhmin (since the Vaidyas are traceable to an original Brāhmin father), but by custom he was a Vaiṣya."

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The last lines account for the Sena Kings calling themselves Brāhma-Kṣatriyas in the copper-plate inscriptions.

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∗ Minor Gods or angels.

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These genealogical works give us, then, in terse and epigrammatic prose and poetry, the salient points in the social history of Bengal for the last one thousand years. The Bengali scholar whose indefatigable labour has brought to light hundreds of Mss. of genealogical works in Sanskrit and Bengali, and who has drawn the attention of his fellow-countrymen to an altogether unexplored field of literature, is Babu Nagendra Nath Vasu, the learned editor of the Bengali Encyclopedia, the Viçvakoṣa.

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An indefatigable worker in the field.

Cites (9)