VI.] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 653 The Raja sent the ambassador to the execution- ground to identify the thief if he was really the prince. Gangabhata came back forthwith and de- clared that the thief was the prince, to whom he had, while at Kanchi, delivered the letter of challenge. The Raja himself went to the execution-ground. There he saw his army mysteriously bound with chains and unable to speak, and the prince in an attitude of prayer looking up to heaven. He seemed so completely resigned that he looked like a beautiful statue placed there to dispel the horror of the execution-ground. The Raja went and embraced him as his son-in-law, and by the grace of Kali the royal army was released from the chains and was once more set free. The marriage of Vidya and Sundara had already taken place according to the Gandharva system,— the ritual of which consisted only in the exchange of flower-garlands between the couple as a sign of their mutual selection of each other, and the public ceremony was now performed with great ecéat. Sundara after having stayed at Burdwan for some time went to Kanchi with his wife Vidya and lived many long years in happiness. Nor must we omit to say that during the marriage festivities Hira the flowerwoman was released and rewarded by Raja Vira Sinha.
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(d) Early poets of the Vidya Sundara-poems. The oldest Vidya Sundara that we have been able to secure, was written by Govinda Das in Sundara identified. Marriage and public festivities. The flower: woman rewarded.
