MISCELLANEOUS WRITERS 437 of this reactionary literature, helped probably by the re- printing of Bidyasundar in 1836 and 1847. The miscellaneous poetry of this period is so unmanage- ably seattered and so diversified that it presents a difficult problem of selection and of satisfactory Miscellaneous poets treatment. Besides the varieties of and songsters. poems and songs already mentioned, we have multifarious types of rural productions, mostly musical, like Jar? gan, Gajir gin, Habu git, Nale git, Kirtan gin, Dhap saigit, Ghetu gan, Sart gan, Baul sargit, tarja gan, specimens of which have survived in the mouths of the people, although not always accessible in print. Much of this rural literature, composed by inglorious and unknown poets, display, as all rural literature does, a touching quality and a natural poetic sensibility whieh is interesting to note' ; but, generally pee Paiichals spneaking, much of it is not literature at all and must be rigidly excluded. Among these purveyors of ephemeral stuff, the authors of Painehali and Yatra must be mentioned, not because they are always worth mention but because their literary preten- sions have, rightly or wrongly, always received recognition, as a peculiar form of indigenous literature which at one time had obtained great popularity. The origin of Paincha/t-songs of the modern type . cannot be definitely traced. Dinesh woe of Pamchali Chandra Sen, in his two works on | Bengali Literature? puts forward the brilliant but hardly eonvineing conjecture that the D>
- Acconnts of rural poets and their songs have from time to time
appeared in various Bengali journals. For an interesting appreciation of rural literature in general, see Rabindra Nath Thakur, Gramya Sahitya published in his volume on Lok- Sahitya.
- Bangabhaga O Sahitya, 2nd Ed. p. 221; History of Bengali
Language and Literature, p. 385.
