224 BENGALI LITERATURE The last though not the least important work of 1c বশ 7 Day ee Thea . 1 a period is Purus-partksa or the Trial of Man composed by Hara- prasad Ray and published by the Srirampur Press in 1815.* It is a pretty large volume Purus-Pariksa, aie and contains 52 stories? translated from a Sanskrit original said to have been composed by the poet Bidyapati at the command of Raja Sibasithha. Its object is not only to impart ethical instruction® by extolling and Its scope indicated j]]ystrating the virtues of men, but by the author himself. E : also to entertain by clever and amus- ing stories; and this is set forth at the beginning of the
- The title-page says :__শ্রীযুত বিদ্যাপতি পণ্ডিত কর্তৃক সংস্কৃত বাকো
সংগৃহীত। পুরুষ পরাক্ষা ৷ হরপ্রসাদ রায় কর্ভ ক বাঙ্গাল! ভাষাতে রচিত।। শ্রীরামপুরে ছাপ। হইল [১৮১৫ 1 pp. 1-275. It is very remarkable that this book has been published by the Banhgabaési Press (B. S$. 1801) as a work by Mrtyunjay Bidydlankar. I am not aware of the existence of any such work by Mrtyufijay nor does Roebuck, Buchanan, or Long mention it. The Bangabadsi reprint, however, is not very ৪০0৮, Of Haraprasid Ray’s life, little seems to be known. Long (Return of the Names and Writings, etc., 1855) speaks of him as “ Haraprasad Ray ? of Kanchrapara.” The copy in the British Museum Library (Blumhardt, Catalogue, p. 113) of the first edition bears the same title-page, date and place of publication’ as we have quoted above: but there is also another edition in the same Library reprinted at London in 1826. And a _ third revised edition, Calcutta, possibly of 1866. Also in the Catalogue of the Library of the Hon. East India Company, 1845, p. 195, and in the Catalogue of the Library of the East India College; the name of the author is not stated in these Catalogues. An edition dated Calcutta 1818 is entered in the Catalogue of the Library of:the East India College, 1848. There are two editions (apparently of 1834 and 1853 respectively though the title- page is wanting) in the Library of the Sahitya Parisat. 2? Although there are stories in this work which would have better been expurgated. 2 As a book of fable, this work seems to have been very popular.
