Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/456

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420 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap. Ridicules The people of Navadwipa loved the young East কন ০ mien. affectionate of disposition, yet withal so wild. scholar. He was so handsome, so brilliant, and so The people of Western Bengal have always felt a delight in ridiculing the peculiar accents of the men of Eastern Bengal. Among the youths of Navadwipa, Chaitanya Deva was the foremost in ridiculing these people for this defect. The people of Sylhet were specially marked out by Nimai for his jokes. He teased them till they became enraged. One of them with angry looks asked him,—“ You sir, can you say to which country you belong? Is it nota fact that your father and mother were born in Sylhet ?’—This was quite true, for his parents had come from Sylhet, a remote place in Eastern Bengal, and settled at Navadwipa, But fair argument was not the object of Nimai bent on provoking them to anger; and angry they became till one pursued him with a club, and another went to the Kaji to lodge a complaint against him. Nimai set up a Tol or Sanskrit School himself Sets upa ‘ : Tol. at the age of twenty. His reputation as a_ scholar was already well-established and pupils flocked from all quarters to receive instruction from him. His mode of teaching and his treatment of scholars soon made him very popular amongst them. About this time, there came to Navadwipa, a Kecava ৮ : নু renowned scholar named Kecava Kag¢miri. In the Ka¢miri visits

middle ages when learning was the chie ;

Navadwipa. 5 5 e chief object of admiration with the middle classes, and hundreds of scholars were taught in various centres of Sanskrit learning all over India, any one who ac- quired special proficiency in a particular subject