III. ] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 139 are conflicting opinions about these dates. But recently there has come to light another document which refers to a date in regard to Vidyapati and which we believe to be of unquestionable authenti- city. The MS. of an annotated copy of Kavya Pra- kaga in Sanskrit lately recovered, shows that it was copied by one Deva Carma by the orders of the poet Vidyapati in November 1398 A.D. The MS. of 1398 4.0. Bhagavata in Vidyapati’s own handwriting is also preserved ; but the date of the copy given on the last page, has not yet been deciphered. The two pundits, deputed by the Asiatic Society of Bengal _for the purpose, disagree in their readings. From the various evidences which we have Beka ive come across, we can declare with certainty that probably a Vidyapati was born towards the end of the 14th টি century and lived to a good old age, probably cover- ing the whole of the 15th century. He was a contemporary of Chandidas and was attracted by his great rival’s fame to undertake a journey to meet him. Many of the later Vaisnava poets have described the interview between these two eminent men, which is said to have taken place on the banks of the Ganges in the spring season. The talk in which the poets are said to have indulged say was appertaining to love and its higher flights. It ase is said that Chandidas made an impression on the Vidyapati. Maithil poet which is distinctly traceable in his later poems, chiefly about Bhaba Sammilana. In the biography of Adwaitacharyya of Cantipur—the vetern saint of the Vaishnava community, written by Ican Nagara in 1560 A.D., it is related that the saint, while touring in Mithila, saw Vidyapati there.
