History of Bengali Language and Literature c7.s2.1

c7.s2.1

Vidyāpati is not, strictly speaking, a Bengali poet. He belonged to Mithilā (Dwārbhāṅgā) and composed his songs in the Vernacular of those districts. Yet we include his name in a history of Bengali literature. This will appear anomalous, but our people have established their claims upon this Maithil poet in a manner that leaves no room for disputing our action. Vidyāpati's songs have found a prominent place in all the compilations of the Vaiṣṇavas current in Bengal, and they are sung here by the Vaisnub singers on all occasions. In fact a quarter of a century ago, it was believed by Bengali readers that Vidyāpati was a Bengali poet. Recently, however, when a true account of his life was unearthed by the researches of scholars like Bābu Rāj Kṛiṣṇa Mukherjee and Dr. Grierson, we began to question the propriety of our claim. Vidyāpati's songs, as known to Bengalis, are in many respects different from the versions found in the Maithil language. The days of Vidyāpati were the days of the glory of the Mithila university and at that time there was a great interchange of thought between Mithila and Bengal. Hence Bengali poems dealing with the love of Rādhā and Kriṣṇa found entrance into Mithila and the versions of those poems current there are full of Maithil idioms and expressions. The poems of Govinda Dās, the great Bengali poet, are still known in Behār, although the people there have changed their language by introducing many Maithil words and idioms which sound strange to the Bengali ear. In the same manner, Vidyāpati's poems have passed through changes in the hands of the Bengali poets who recast them. The reader may compare the recensions current in the two countries from a collection of Vidyāpati's poems made by Dr. Grierson. One looks very much like a translation of the other, yet the Bengali recension is sometimes marked by as much genius as the original itself. It not only retains the sweetness but occasionally improves upon it by introducing new sparkling thoughts. Some of the best songs attributed to Vidyāpati—as "জনম অবধি হাম রূপ নেহারিনু" are found only in the Bengali recension and the people of Mithilā have not preserved them in their collection, nor even heard of them. It is the popular belief that Vasanta Rāi, uncle of Rājā Pratāpāditya of Jessore prepared the Bengali recension of Vidyāpati in the 16th century. Vidyāpati's songs in Bengali glow with poetry, colour, and wealth of expression, and, as we have said, are quite equal to their Maithil originals. Under these circumstances Vidyāpati must be counted as Bengali poet, at least in this version, and it would be impossible now to expunge his poems from the compilations current in Bengal, where they have for the last three centuries found a prominent place.