BIDYift'ATI THAKUR AND CHANDIDAS THAKUK. 61

' ) '

deity assumed that coveted name.* Balaram Das, Jnyan
Das, and a host of poets of lesser note, flourished during
that period.

» Their poetry or rather songs have the same charac-
teristic qualities. They are always sweet and often
display a vivi(i fancy and considerable depth of feeling,
and they att relate t» the amours of Radha and Krishna.
We have °?amined in detail the merits of the best poets
of the class, and we think it unnecessary therefore to go
over the entire field. Those who would Drake a cipsc
acquaintance with such poets would find a tolerably good
collection of their works in the Pada Kalpataru, the
Pada Kalpalatika, and similar books ; and we can assure
them it will by no means be a waste of time*to gtf over
these old authors, even from a literary point of view.
The admirer of modern Bengali literature will be surpris-
* ed at the sweetness and beauty that pervade the oldest
works of our country. That they have been preserved
so long and so carefully is owing to the Vaishnavas alone,
and to them, therefore, Bengal owes an immense debt of
gratitude.

Thus closed the 15th century of the Christian era,

and with it closes the first of the three epochs of the

History of Bengali literature,—an epoch which may well

be termed the Period of Lyrical Poetry.
»

* Chandidas means servant of Chandi, and we have seen he was
a follower of Chandi in early years. Bidyapati means master o£
learning, and we have seen he was a learned poet. He alBO got the
title of Eavi Ranjarn.