486 BENGALI LITERATURE positive achievement should not blind us to its immense formal importance or to the fact that all this indicated a movement towards better and better prose-writing and the gradual evolution of an indigenous prose style. But in the years which followed, during days of political and social instability and general decay of culture consequent upon revolutionary changes of government, the develop- ment of Bengali prose met with a Its arrested develop- রত great check, and it was not until nearly a century had elapsed, with the establishment of peace and prosperity, business and leisure, congenial to its cultivation, that we have again the serene exercise of elaborate prose. But for this arrested develop-- ment and its rebirth under entirely different conditions, Bengal prose would have developed along the lines indicated, entirely self-made and home-grown!'. ‘Since writing the above essay on Old Bengali Prose, I have seen the text of Golak Samhita of Brndaban Das as published in the Patrika 1309, pp. 55-59. It purports to be a brief treatise on cosmology. The MS. is undated but it has been supposed to be not older than the latter part of the 18th century. The beginning is in prose while the latter part is in verse. Here is an illustrative extract: সর্ববাদৌ মহাশুন্য । তদুপরি অন্ধকার। তদুপরি ধূদ্ধুকার। তদুপরি স্থির পবন। তদুপরি কুম্মরাজ | তছুপরি এরাবত। Barwa wey St | আর মহাফণ! । তার পরে সপ্ত পাতাল। কি কী। অতল ১ বিতল ২ স্ুতল ৩ তলাতল ৪ রসাতল ৫ মহাতল ৬ পাতাল ৭ এই সপ্তপাতাল। তছুপরি পৃথিবি। পৃথিবি বেষ্টিত সপ্ত সাগর ॥ কি কী। লবণ ১ ইক্ষু সুর! ৩ সর্পিস্৪ দধি ৫ হছুপ্ধ৬ জলান্তকা ৭। সপ্তদ্ধিপ বেষ্টিত সপ্ত সাগর। সপ্ত facta ata fei safaris ted কুসদ্বিপ কাঞ্চনদ্বিপ সাকরদিপ পৃক্করদ্ধিপ অনন্তদ্ধিপ ৭,
