Dutt, Romesh Chunder: The literature of Bengal: being an attempt to trace the progress of the national mind in its various aspects, as reflected in the nation’s literature from the earliest times to the present day ; with copious extracts from the best writers (Calcutta, 1877)

.JAYADEVA GOSWAMI. i7

Krishna. ' He had a few pupils and followers, and it is
asserted that he attempted to establish a distinct religion
like what Chaitanya did four centuries later. All this
^however we must accept with caution. Much of what
little we know of Jayadeva is from Vaishnava writers,

■ and they wer* nati*rally anxious to discover and establish,
a resemblance between so great a poet and their great
Master That Jayadeva's faith in Krishna was ardent
and deep, is amply.shewn in his great work; that the
same fervour and feeling was shared not only4?y a few
friends of his, but by a large portion of the people at
large, is also highly probable;—-but that he began
preaching the faith of Krishna as a neiv religion is per-

. haps the unfounded supposition of later Vaishnava
writers. ,

After passing a few years in detotion and study,

' * Jayadeva married and settled down in*his native village.
The daily routine of home life was however ill adapted
to the feelings of the ardent poet, and he left home once
more and travelled through northern India as far as Vrin-

I davan and Jayapur, to which latter place he seems to
have'beeh invited by the king. Nothing more is known
of the poet than that he survived his wife Padmavati,
and that he passed his last days in devotions in his native
village where his tomb is yet to be seen surrounded by
beautiful groves and trees.

The little that is known of the life of the poet is so
mixed up with fables, that it is impossible at this dis-
tance of time to glean the truth from the falsehood.

Such fables, however, in many cases are constructed out

>

l