222 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap significance even in apparently realistic descriptions, | —all these combine to make the Biagavata one of |, the most remarkable poems of the world. But as it is written in very academic Sanskrit, it is likely to lose its main charm by translation into non- Sanskritic languages. Maladhar Maladhar Vasu, the first translator of the Bhaga- Vasu, the P . Stee vata in Bengali and a Kayastha by caste, was a slator, courtier of the Emperor Husen Saha at whose 1473 A.D. : orders he commenced translating the tenth and the eleventh cantos of the Bhagavata in 1473 A. D. and completed the work in 1480 A.D. The work is | named Crikrisna Vijaya. Husen Saha conferred on the poet the title of Gunaraja Khan as a reward for his literary services. Maladhar Vasu was a native of Kulingrama and belonged to the Vasu family of that place, who at the time wielded great influence and power. The village was fortified and the pilgrims to Puri were required to take a Duri or a kind of pass- port from the Vasus of Kulinagrama, without which no one was allowed to visit the shrine. Magladhar Vasu wrote his work with a facile pen. The easy and graceful flow of his style is very marked throughout the book. I quote here a passage*™ :— ০৩০৯ তি
- প্রভাতে ভোজন করি শিঙ্গা বাঙ্গাইয়া ।
পিছে পিছে চলে যত বাছুর চালাইয়া ॥ একত্র হইল সবে যম্নার তীবে । নান। মত তাড়া করে দেব দাযোদরে ॥ কথাতে কোকিল পক্ষীগণে নাদ করে । তার সঙ্গে নার করে দেব গদাধরে ॥ কথাতে মর্কট শিশু লাফ দেহি রঙ্গে । সেই মতে যায় কৃষ্ণ বালকের সঙ্গে ॥
