Vidyasagar may be said to have been rather more fortunate in this respect. The Vetala-Panchavingsati was soon appreciated by all classes of people. Even at the present day, many readers of Bengali read the book with great gusto.
We should notice here, in passing, that Babu Jogendra Nath Vidyabhushan, M. A., son-in-law of Madan Mohan Tarkalankar (now deceased), has written a biography of his father-in-law. In this book, the author says:—
'Into Vidyasagar's Vetala-Panchavingsati, many new ideas and sweet sentences were introduced by Tarkalankar. It was so far corrected and revised by him, that it might be said to be the joint production of the two friends, like the works of Beaumont and Fletcher.'
Vidyasagar does not admit this. He says that the original manuscript of the Vetala-Panchavingsati was merely read out to Madan Mohan Tarkalankar and Giris Chandra Vidyaratna, and that a few words only were altered at their suggestion. The truth of Vidyasagar's statement will be evident from the two letters that passed between Vidyasagar and Giris Chandra Vidyaratna. The purport of the two letters are given below:—
' From
'Isvar Chandra Sarma (Vidyasagar)
' To
'Giris Chandra Vidyaratna.
I do not know whether you are aware that
