Padmāvat by Mīr Mahammad in a highly sanskritised Bengali at the command of Māgan Thākur, a Mahammadan minister of the court of the Chief of Aracan. It should be noted here, that there are many instances where Mahammadans adopted Hindu names and the name Māgan Thākur should not lead us to mistake him for a Mahamaden. Ālāol was also employed by the Moslem chief—Solaman, to translate a Persian work into Bengali. Instances of like nature, where Mahammadan Emperors and Chiefs initiated and patronised translations of Sanskrit and Persian works into Bengali, are numerous, and we are led to believe, that when the powerful Moslem Sovereigns of Bengal granted this recognition to the Vernacular language in their courts, Hindu Rājās naturally followed suit. The Brahmins could not resist the influence of this high patronage; they were therefore compelled to favour the language they had hated so much, and latterly they themselves came forward to write poems and compile works of translation in Bengali. From the account we have found in some of the early Bengali works of translation, we can have a glimpse of the manner in which court patronage was accorded to the Bengali poets. When the shades of twilight settled on the dark green clumps of shrubby trees on the far Sonāmurā ranges, Parāgal Khān the Governor used to call his ministers, attendants and courtiers every evening to his palace at Parāgalpur in Feni, and before this illustrious audience, the translator of the Mahābhārata had to recite portions from his poems—the governor himself giving cheers in admiration of beautiful and interesting passages. The poet flattered his noble patron by calling him an
