________________
OCTOBER, 1875.)
ON THE AGE AND COUNTRY OF BIDYÅPATI.
301
ment 46 years before his death is hardly prob- It also appears that Rûpanarayana, whose name able.
so constantly occurs immediately following that This date, moreover, would give Bid yâ pati of Sib Singha, is not an independent personage, himself a very long life. Two productions of but that the kings of that family took the title his are still extant, besides his lyrical poems. of Narayana with some prefix. Thus we find One is a prose work in Sanskpit, the Purusha Maharajas Nara Singha Darpanarayana, Ratna Pariksha, which was translated into Bengali by Singha Jivananarayana, Raghu Singha Bijayaone of the pandits of Fort William College, and narayana, and others. is still remembered by Bengal civilians as one The patron of our poet was thus called in of those instruments of torture known as text- full Maharaja Sib Singh Rûpanarayana. Flo had books which we used to plol wearily over in three wives-the three Ranis mentioned aboveour college days. Now in the introduction to who, according to the Panji, reigned in succesthis tedious work it is said to have been written sion, and after them reigned Nara Singha, Sib at the request of Raja Sib Singha then reigning, Singha's cousin. or 46 years after the granic land, when Bidya- | Mithila was always closely allied to Bengal, pati conld not well have been less than 66 or 70 and was subject to it at the time of the introyears old.
duction of the L. S. era. This accounts for our The second work is in Sanskrit verse, and is poet's salutation to the "pincha Gausescalled the Durgübhakti Tarangini; it is .said vara," princes of Mithila being regarded as to have been written in the reign of Raja Nara also princes of Gaur or Bengal. The five Singha, who did not ascend the throne till 20 princes are probably Sib Singha and his four years later: so at his accession the poet must cousins, Nara, Ratna, Raghu, and Bhanu, the have been at least 92 years old, even supposing first of whom came eventually to be the ruling him to have been quite a young man when he prince. got the grant.
The Lochhimâ Debi whom the poet so freThe descendants of Bidyâ pati at Bipasi quently celebrates is the second of the three are stated to have in their possession a copy of the wives of Sib Singha, and her name-a corruption Bhagavat Purana in the handwriting of the poet, of Lakshmi-is also written Lakhmi, in conwritten in L. S. 349 = Saka 1379 or A.D. 1456. sonance with Hindi Lonesis.
The writer in the Bangi Darsana is not at We must then regaru Bidyâ pati as a poet all surprised at the great age attained by the of Mithila, where he is still remembered and poet; he merely remarks that a contemplative has left descendants. His language, though no life is conducive to longevity, and that there are longer to be regarded as old Bengali, is very many instances of Brâhmans devoted to literar closely akin to it, and represents a link between ture reaching a great age. I would suggest the fifteenth century Bengali and Hindi. With one possibility of there having been more than one hand he touches Sûr Das, with the other Chandi Bid yâ pati, and that the word is not a proper Dås. name, but a title, like Rai Gunâkar or Kabi He is said to have died at Bajitpur, a village Kankan. There is perhaps some weight in the near Dalsingha Sarai, about ten miles north-east Bengali tradition that the poet's real name was
of Bårh. He was on his way to the Ganges, to Basanta Rai.
end his days there, when death overtook him on The Pánji states that Raja Deva Singha the road. reigned 91 years, and the dates of the various If the writer of the article I have been disreigns of this period may be thus given :- cussing would give us some more information
Deva Singha... A.D. 1355, reigned 91 years. as to this Maithila Panji, it would be welcome, Sib Singha ... 1446 31 and it would also be interesting to know wheRani Padmavati Debi. 1450 1 ther Raja Sib Singha Rûpanarayana was in Rani Lakhimâ Debi... 1452 ,
any way connected with the family whose preRani Biswas Debi ... 1461
sent representative is still the nominal ruler of Nara Singha............ 1473
Nepal.
