APPENDIX I 457 The earliest specimen of Bengali prose is supposed to be the short passages in Ramai (cr Ramai) Pandit’s Sanya Purin,the manuscript of which is placed by its editor (Sahitya Parisat edision) in the [7th century, although the so-called prose passages, if not the verse, reveal a 2 রি ০ much earlier and more antique form of diction. Jf the language of the recently published Sri Krsna Kirtana belongs to the early part of the [4th century,! we can safely assume that the prose of Sanya Puran must have had its origin in a somewhat earlier age ; and the supposition is not unlikely that the passages, as we have them, may contain traces of the original writings of Ramai Pandit, going back to at least 13th century A.D,,? varied and modified, it may be, by later scribal and other interferences. It would be interest- ing to examine these ancient specimens critically but such examination is beset with difficulties not only on account of the frankly unintelligible vocabulary and crabbed syntax, considerable corruption of the text rightly commented upon by many acritic, but also because of the exclusive and esoterie doctrines they embody, which seem to create a language of their own whose meaning is all but lost to us. Here is a portion of the celebrated passage on বারমাসি, কোন মাসে কোন রাসি। চৈত্র মাসে মীনরাসি। হে কালিন্দি- জল বাঁর ভাই বার আনিত্ত। হুথ পাতি লহ সেবকর অর্থ পুপ্লপানি। সেবক হব স্থুখি আমনি Anis efx) গুরু পগুত দেউলা! দানপতি। ংস্থুর ভোক্ত! আমনি সন্যাসী গতি জাইতি গ।এন ব।এন ছুআরি ছুয়ার পাল ভাগ্ারী ভাগারীপাল রাজদূত কোমি কোটাল পরে স্থখ মুকতি aft otra পড়িব জঅ জঅকার । দাতার দানপতির বিদ্ধ জাব নাস। Passage or. Baramasi. ‘ Preface to Krgniakirtanya, H. P. Shastri in Calcutta Review, pp. 392-93, ? H. P, Shastri, op. cit., p. 394. 58
