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JULY, 1885.]
VIDYAPATI AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES.
189
calls Siva Simha, the Pancha-Gaudeávars, girathi is the child of the faithful, and that or lord of the five Gaudas. r'rom this it may
there was no reason why it should not come be imagined that Siva Simha was a Bangli to him, instead of his going to it. As he thus monarch; but it is impossible to imagine that, thought, he there and then sat down, and under the Muhammadan rule, any Hindi king immediately the Bhagirathi, dividing itself into could conquer the whole of Bengal; hence the three streams, spread out its waves up to the epithet must not be taken literally, but only very spot where the poet was sitting. Joyfully as signifying the extreme power and excellence gazing on the sacred waters, Vidyâpati laid of this king over other kings.
himself down and died. A Siva-Linga sprang Nothing more is certainly known about op where his funeral pyre had been. That Vidyâpati; there are some legends about him, Linga and the marks of the river are seen but they are hardly deserving of confidence. To to this day, and for all these reasons the place satisfy the curiosity of our readers we give has become famons. It is in the northern two of them.
part of the town of Bâzitpur, on the north (1.) “The emperor of Dehli carried off side of the river Bhagirathi (Ganges) about king Siva Simha to his capital in order to five kós from the town of Barh." punish him for some offence. Vidyapati hear. That Vidyapati was a devout follower of ing this hastened to Dehli to release him, and the Bhagavata Purana there can be no doubt. entering into the presence of the emperor In the year of Lakshmana Sena 349 ( A.D. declared his ability to see things hidden from 1456) he copied out the whole of this work him, as well as if they were before his eyes with his own hand, and this copy is still in Hearing this, and in order to test him, the possession of his descendants. In fact, in the emperor ordered him to be tightly fastened ap 12th and 13th centuries after Christ, the in a wooden box. In the meantime he made a Vishnu-Purána, the Brahma-Vaivarta-Purána, number of women of the town bathe in the the Bhagavad-Gitá, and Bhagavata-Purána river and afterwards go home, and then send had greatly altered the Hindå religion. In ing for the poet told him to describe what had Bengal the Sakta and Tantrik forms of wor. bappened on the banks of the Yamani.
ship had been powerful, but on the publication Vidyapati by the favour of the lotus feet of of these few books the number of their folhis guardian deity, although he had not seen lowers began to decline. Men who lived in what had occurred, described it exactly as if he the reign of Lakshmaņa Séna, had probably had seen it."
began to worship Vishņu under the form of The legend goes on to say, that the emperor, Rådhå and Krishna, and their chief guides Beeing Vidyâpati's superhuman power re- were the works of the Jayadova and Murari. leased king Siva Simha, and gave the poet the Shortly afterwards Birbhům and Mithild provillage called Bisapi. Bat king Siva Simha duced Chapdi Dasa, and Vidyâ pati, and they, himself gave this village to the poet, and the being devoted to the praise of the sports of deed of endowment has already been quoted. 1.Radh and Krishna, had recourse to the com
(2.) “Vidyâpati, feeling that his end was mon vernaculars, and thereby relieved the near, determined to visit the Ganges. On the
pent up aspirations of their souls. Not long way he began to consider that the holy Bha
afterwards, the moon of Navadvipa, the
King Siva Sitha Rapa Nárkymo, and Prapavati his necklace. (5.) (Vid. 61.) भनहि विद्यापति सुनु परमान |
बुधु चिप राघव नव पचोबान || Vidyapati says, "Hear, and take it for granted, king Raghava understands young love. (6.) (Vid. 75.) राजा सिब सिघ मन दय सबनी
मोदवती देव कन्त
O Friend, king Siva Simnha, the beloved of queen Módavati pays attention,
(7.) (Pid. 76.) मोदवती पति राघव सिंघ गति
कवि विद्यापति गाई Vidy&pati singa, "Raghava Simha, the lord of Modevatt, is my refuge."-G. A. G.)
(By reciting a song descriptive of a woman return. ing from her bath, in the Maithilt dialect, which is ertant to this day. It is the first in my edition of his songs.-G. A. G.]
