Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/547

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Vv. | BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. গা Accounts of the lives of (1) Gadadhara (1486— 1514 A. D.), son of Madhava Micra, (2) of Uddharana Datta born in 1481 A.D., (3) of Lokanatha Das Gosvami (4) and of Gopal Bhatta one of the six দন Vaisnava Gosvamis, son of Benkata Bhatta, are to উল 2 _ be found amongst others in many of these biogra- phical works. We here give a short note on several important -works of biography written by the Vaisnavas in the latter part of the 16th and in the earlier part of the 17th century. By far the greatest of the biographical works, next to that of Chaitanya’s life by Krisna Das Kaviraj is the Bhaktiratnakar by Narahari Chakra- Bhakti Ratnakar. varti. He was a disciple of the celebrated Vigva Nath Chakravarti, whose commentary on _ the Bhagavata is authoritative amongst Vaisnavas in the interpretation of their sacred scriptures. Bhakti- ratnakar is one of the most voluminous works _ that we have in old Bengali literature. It is divided 4) index of into 15 chapters. I give here an index of its contents. contents. Chap. I.—An account of the ancestors of Jiva ' Gosvami; a description of the works written by the great Vaishnava masters; an account of | Crinivasa Acharyya. Chap. IIl.—An account of Chaitanya Das, father of Crinivasa. | Chaps. III and [V.—Accounts of the travels of | Crinivasa to Puri and to Vrindavana. | Chap. V.—On rhetoric interpreted in the light of Vaisnava Theology.