religious ordinances to be celebrated in Sanscrit, the pretended language of the gods, not unlike Romanism which enjoins its services to be performed in Latin, the ecclesiastical language of the western fathers. In Adisur’s reign, however, scarcely one Brahmin could read or understand the common services of their religion—to say nothing of the more solemn rites and ceremonies of the Vedas. Of Sagnic Brahmins, Bengal was wholly destitute. These priests were held in the highest veneration, because of their preserving, by daily offerings of fuel and clarified butter, the sacrificial fire lighted by their parents on the day of their nativity, and kept unextinguished for use in their funeral solemnities. Adisur was led to entertain a desire of celebrating a sacrificial feast, in order to avert the threatened consequences of a long and oppressive drought. This none but Sagnic Brahmins knew how to perform. The pious king felt not a little humbled to find that such characters were not procurable in his own dominions. In order to supply the deficiency, his eyes were naturally turned towards Upper India, the great theatre sanctified by the legendary acts of Krishna, and Rama,—where Vyas and Valmiki had tuned their poetic lyres—and which bore the same relation in point of learning and theological reputation to Bengal, that the continent did to England at and before the time of the Norman conquest. The king of Kanouj, the celebrated capital of Hindustan of classical fame, was applied to for a supply of Sagnic priests, who might perform the contemplated sacrifice, and by reviving the study of Sanscrit, restore the knowledge of Hinduism among their unlettered brethren of Bengal.
When the ambassadors from the court of Gour presented themselves before the king of Kanouj, five Sagnic Brahmins happened to be in attendance, who were induced, by the hope of improving their fortunes, to emigrate into Bengal. They were priests of a superior order, tracing their parentage to Rishis, of great reputation, and esteemed as members of the Sándilya, Káshyapa, Bharadwáj, Sávarna and Bátsya Gotras or tribes. The utmost respect and attention were paid to them on their arrival at Gour with their families, servants, and followers. According to the king’s wishes, they commenced without delay the solemn ceremony for which they had been invited. Vedgarva, Sriharsa, and Chhander chanted the Rich, Yajus, and Saman Vedas, while Dakska and Narayan officiated at the sacrifice. The innumerable princes and nobles that had been invited to witness the ceremony and partake of the banquet, wondered at the learning and ritual tactics of these Brahmins, whose reputation was hereby still more widely circulated.
