________________
JULY, 1885.]
Nawabs continued the old Hindû kings on their former thrones, and in others they appointed new Hindûs to be kings, but, in either case, once that was done, they never interfered as long as the tribute was paid. All these princes were warm encouragers of learning, and desiring to emulate the fame of Vikramâditya, Lakshmana Sêna, and Bhôja Raja, showed no niggard hand in encouraging preeminence in the knowledge of the Sastras. Their courts were the asylums of Sanskrit belles lettres and philosophy, and about this time many works, celebrated to the present day, were composed. They also gradually began to turn their attention to Bangali, and in a very short time poems in that language began to be composed. These vernacular poets were specially honoured by the princes, and the names of several of the most famous have come down to us. Vidyapati, Kavi Kankana, Râya Gunâkara, all these wrote their songs for the delight of these petty courts. The Emperor of Dehli's Viceroys at Gauda, Dhaka, and Murshidâbâd, surrounded by wanton dancing girls, and now and then taking a glance at the state of their treasury, lived like animals, engrossed in the enjoyment of sensual pleasures. They encouraged no kind of learning, either Persian, Sanskrit or Bangâli, while the subordinate Hindû princes were giving free grants of land to learned Brâhmans, were promoting their religion by erecting new temples and new images of their
19 [Bangalis to the present day maintain that Vidyapati wrote in old Bangali. It is hardly necessary to point out that this is not the fact. Maithili is as different from Bangall as Gujarati is from Hindi.-G.A.G.]
so Ayodhya Prasida has given this line in his history of Darbhanga as follows:
1. Bhava Simha (alias Bhavêsvara Simha) came to the throne A. D.
1348 1385 1446
1449 1458
1470 ......... 1471
1506 1520
1532
2. Dêva Simha
3. Siva Simha
VIDYAPATI AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES.
Lakhimâ Devi..
4.
5. Viśvisa Dêvi
6. Drabya Narayana (alias Nara Simha Dêva).
7. Hridaya Narayana (alias Dhira Simha) 8. Hari Narayana (alias Bhairava Simha) 9. Rúpa Narayana (alias Rama Bhadra)..... 10. Kamsa Narayana (alias Lakshminitha)..
...........................................................................................
[Ayodhya Prasida's history is in Urdu, and the names have been incorrectly read and given in the original. I give the correct names as found in the pañj of this family. I may add that Bhava Simha was third of the dynasty, and not the first. Cf. Appendix V. p. 196, post.-G.A.G.]
21 The Pañj is a book giving particulars concerning the kings and Brahmans of Mithila, and much useful information can be gathered from it.-[The Pañj is one of the most extraordinary series of records in
187
gods, and were living in the enjoyment of a pure happiness, immersed in the study of their sacred books and poems. Through their efforts and generosity, in two hundred years, the Bangali language made astonishing progress.
20
In this way Mithila (or Darbhanga), while nominally under the sway of the Muhammadans, was really governed by a race of Hindû kings. They were in every way similar to the feudatory kings of the present day. They acknowledged their subordination to the Emperor of Dehli, and paid him a yearly tribute, but in every other respect they were independent of him. From the year A.D. 1348 to 1549 Mithila was under a race of Brahman kings, 30 and the third [or rather sixth.-G.A.G.] of this race was king Śiva Simha, who came to the throne in A.D. 1446, and reigned for three years and nine months. According to the Páñj" Dêva Simha was his father, and Lakhimâ and Viśvâsadêvî his two wives. He was extremely celebrated, not only from the fact that Vidyapati mentions him in his poems, for his name is famous to the present day, and the people of Mithila have nowadays a proverb that he alone was entitled to be called a king."" Vidyapati attended the court of this famous king, and therefore we may consider that his poems appeared in the former half of the 15th century.
Vidyapati's father was Ganapati, the son of Jaya Datta, the son of Dhireśvara, the
existence. It is composed of an immense number of palm-leaf MSS. containing an entry for the birth and marriage of every pure Brahman in Mithila: they go back for many hundred years, the Pânjiars say for more than a thousand. These Punjiars, or hereditary genealogists, go on regular annual tours, entering the names of the Brahmans born in each village during the past year, as they go along. The names are all entered, as no Brahman can marry any woman who has not been entered in the pañj and vice versa. At certain conjunctions of the heavenly bodies large marriage fairs are held at Sauráth, Mahesi and other places, which are attended by the parents of marriageable. children, and these Piñjiars, after ascertaining from the pañj that the parties are not within the forbidden bounds of consanguinity, and that there is no other lawful impediment, the marriage contract takes places.G.A.G.]
पोखरि रजोखरी और सभ पोखरा
राजा सब सिंघ और सभ छोकड़ा
"The tank at Rajokhari is indeed a tank, all others are mere ponds: king Siva-Simha was indeed a king, all others are mere princelets."-[The translation given in the original is incorrect. I have accordingly corrected it. Rajökhart is the name of a village where there is a very large tank, said to have been dug by Siva-Simba.-G.A.G.]
