444 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap. do not give credence to Govinda Karmakar’s — accounts, whereas for these very reasons his work has an historical value and deserves the highest esteem. The But whether an incarnation or not,—whether greatest he did or did not cure leprosy and blindness ascri- সি bed to him by the later biographers, we verily eee believe that he was a god-man vouchsafed to Bengal in order to raise her out of the stupor of ignorance into which she had sunk for ages. He embodied in himself the perfection of that spirit of faith and love which this country aspired to reach, rising out of the extremely sceptial opinions of latter-day Buddhism. In him we find the faith that belongs to the age of the Pauranic Renaissance 11) fully developed from and in this respect he may be said to have been its greatest exponent. But he was far removed from the all pervading spirit of Pauranic Renaissance in disowning the Brahmin, as the unquestionable head of society, electing in his place those endowed with spirituality and high character as naturally fit to rule irrespective of their birth. Ill, Vaisnava biographies. Before the advent of Chaitanya Deva, there had been no biographical literature in Bengal. The songs in praise of the Pal Kings are monos- trous fables and are as remote from — history — as any fiction; the facts gleaned from them are —
the result of the scrutinizing researches 01
scholars by which fables are interpreted 11] 006
light of history. During the Pauranik Revival, —
following the Buddhistic period, people liked to |
