A short history of the kathakas. 588 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap. 1. A city. 2. Noon day. 3. Morning. 4. Night. 5. A cloudy day. 6. Woman's beauty. 7. The sage Narada. 8. Vishnu. 9. Rama 10 Laksmana. 11. Civa. 12. Kall. 13. Sarasvati. 14. Laksmi. 15. A forest. 16. War. 17. Bhagavatt. Curiously enough these set passages though written in a highly artistic and poetic style are in prose and they are sung as if they were songs. The effect 1s not at all marred by the prose-forms in which they are couched. Being set to a chant, they sound highly poetic and do not at all jar on the ear. | shall here attempt at giving a short history of some of the most illustrious kathakas. We have not been able to gather much infor- mation on this head. We, however, know that Rama Dhana Ciromaai was one of those princes amongst kathakas who could move the audience as they liked, so much so that occasionally enormous amounts of money were paid as gifts to him by rich parties who became spell-bound, as it were, by the power of his brilliant oration. He was an in- habitant of the village Sonamukhi in the district of Burdwan. He lived about 150 years ago. Gada- dhar Ciromani was his worthy contemporary and was an inbabitant of Govardafga. Dharani Kathaka, a nephew of Rama Dhana Ciromani, wielded an extraordinary influence over the masses, and especially over the women-folk of Bengal, halfa century ago. It is said that he was so extraordinarily gifted, that from tragic 19193 which drew forth profuse tears from the audience, he could suddenly pass on to satire and comic
