Obscure Religious Cults as Background of Bengali Literature c28.2

c28.2

In giving an idea of the literature belonging to the Dharma cult we should first of all mention the two liturgical works available on the cult, the *Śūnya-purāṇa*¹ ascribed to Rāmāi Paṇḍit, who is traditionally supposed to be the founder of the cult in the age of Kali, and the other, the *Dharma-pūjā-vidhāna* which is also ascribed to Rāmāi Paṇḍit, as well as to Raghu-nandana. These liturgical texts represent popular literature of a composite nature in a very loosely versified diction, which embody topics on cosmogony, liturgy, legends about Dharma-worship, building of temples, rituals, ceremonies and indigenous practices, all centering round the godhead of Dharma. There is a great deal of controversy over the authenticity of these texts and the time of their composition and their authorship. As our present study is not primarily historical, we do not propose to enter into the details of these controversies; for our purpose it is necessary to state briefly the conclusions, which we have arrived at by a minute study of the data available on the points at issue.