KABIWALAS 303 declined in the hands of their less gifted followers. We shall have therefore to distinguish three different periods of Kabi-literature—(1) Before 1760. (2) Between 1760 and 1830. (3) After 1830. The Kabi-poetry, however, has been subjected to an amount of harsh and even contemptuous eriticism which it hardly ever deserved. The Reforming Young Bengal of the forties considered all forms of popular amusements —Kali, Yatra, or Painchili—to be contemptible. We shall see that there had gradually come into _ Unfavourable recep- Kabi-songs elements which were tion of these songs in রা later times. really contemptible ; but what strikes one in the study of these popular forms of literature is that throughout the 19th century, with the exception of Isvar Gupta and a few isolated appreciators of things ancient, the so-called educated men of that century hardly ever cared to make a sympathetic study, much less to realise their literary or historical importance. Even to-day they do not seem to have received their due amount of attention or appreciation, although none but the most opinionative or the most obtuse would seriously consider them to be wholly worthless or wholly contemptible. Inspite of the apparent uncertainty of critical determinations, the historical importance of these songs, apart from all question of artistic valuation, cannot surely be denied. ‘The old Kabi-literature does not require an apologist to-day but it stands upon its own inherent claims to be treated in an historical survey of Bengali literature of this century. But the materials and means for a critical study of this literature are extremely aunt enter scanty ; and at the same time it is doubtful whether even much of it can bear very well a thorough critical examination, We
