452 BENGALI LITERATURE Such is the history of the yvafra up to the beginning of the 19th century. After these professional ya/ras, come varieties of modern y@/ras, chiefly eee ot রা amateur parties (4451 dal); in century. which, inspite of their profusion of instrumental and vocal music, drama- | tic ideas and methods were slowly evolving themselves. Beltala Emcedar Yatra or the Yatra of Gopal Ude may be cited as instances. In imitation of prologues in Sanserit drama, we have, in these, farcical introduction as well as interlude in which laughable, though often vulgar, charac- ters like Kalua Bhulua, methar and methrani began to figure. Again, we have here for the general theme not Krena-li7/G as in Kaliya-daman yatra or even Chandi- | lila, Rim-/ila ov Mansiv Kathi but essentially secular themes of mythology or fiction such as Nala-damayanti or Bidya-sundar began to be prominent; and later on with the degeneration of the ya@fra@ in tone, temper and style, Bidya-sundar alone became the prevalent theme. The existing specimens of the y@/ras all belong to this late period in its history. Although the ya/ra@ had been extensively popular from the earliest times or even from the Baisnab era down to the middle of the 19th century, the earlier specimens have not been preserved. We know nothing of these earlier Yatrawalas and their productions, excepting some general accounts which No earlier specimens we jncidentally get here and there. preserved, ae Even all the best known Yatrawalas of the 19th century, whose productions have, in a more or less complete form, come down to us, belong to a comparatively recent time, to the period between 1825 and 1850. The Yatrawalas, flourishing between 1800 and 1825, some of whom haye been already mentioned, are however known
