Sáhitya means all those [literary] manifestations of the human minds that always move along the path of welfare [hita], that are associated with [with = sa] welfare. Hitena saha ityarthe sáhitya, that is, sáhitya is a reflection of social movement on the mirror of welfare. The basic idea of sáhitya is not simply to give joy to people, since crude enjoyment can sometimes be presented through [popular] songs and folk-rhymes, but such compositions are not of the category of sáhitya. [And] there are some [popular] songs, folk-rhymes and other verbal expressions that fail to lead one along the path of hita [welfare], but at the same time do not add to the burden of ahita [troubles]. Such compositions may be accepted as folk tales and folk songs, but they can never be accepted as classical sáhitya.

It cannot be said emphatically that there can be no literature in the absence of civilization. But the diamond splendour of literature bursts out in all its radiance and captures people’s attention only when it is associated with civilization. No doubt the radiant literature of Ráŕh came only after civilization had dawned. When on that long-ago morning in the remote past the golden light of civilization fell on the bosom of Ráŕh and diffused in all directions, the simple, open faces of the young men of Ráŕh in that bright dawn broke out in smiles; the flower-bedecked hair buns of the young women of Ráŕh tossed to the rhythm of a dance; and the rhythm of that dance spread amid the intoxicating fragrance of the mahul-tree groves; and the radiant literature of Ráŕh was born.

The ancient folk tales and folk songs of Ráŕh are now extinct, as that language is now extinct. But perhaps that oldest of compositions, the Sáḿkhya philosophy of Kapil (from Jhalda) can be included within the classical literature. Presumably the language of Ráŕh at that time was the earliest form of Mágadhii Prákrta. Rather than writing in that language, Kapil wrote in the classical language of that time, Sanskrit. And much later, Maharshi Patanjali (of Patun village of Burdwan) also wrote his Yoga Sútram, or Seshvarsáḿkhya, in the classical language, Sanskrit, and not in the then-prevalent Púrvii Ardha-Mágadhii. In a still later age (the Sen dynasty), Jaydev, a poet of Ráŕh, composed his Giitagovindam in Sanskrit, and not in the spoken language of that time (an ancient form of modern Bengali). But as one age gave way to the next, the spoken language gradually came to attain the status of a classical language. For this reason, Jaydev’s Sanskrit is not classical Sanskrit in the true sense of the term, but rather Bengali with the Sanskrit anusvára and visarga endings [aḿ and ah].

It is to be noted that what both Kapil and Patanjali composed was philosophical literature. The joys and sorrows and hopes and desires of the common people have not been reflected in their works. Jaydev’s Giitagovindam is a devotional scripture. It is not a mirror of the common people either. Thus it is not difficult to understand that the literature of Ráŕh which was concerned with the life of the common people was handed down verbally, and did not attain the status of book form. Of the ancient books that first began to sparkle like rubies and emeralds with the joy and sorrow and tears and smile of the populace, Shriikrśńakiirtana, by Barhu Chandidas (of Chatna of Bankura) deserves special mention.⁽¹⁾

People’s tastes go on changing in accordance with changes in time, place and person. There is no good reason to think that people’s judgement will become subtler and more introversial simply with the onward march of time. Just as we find instances of subtler feelings in ancient literature, so we find a profusion of crude taste and extroversial mentality in ultra-modern literature. In the Shriikrśńakiirtana we find an assortment of the various tastes of that age. So some parts of this book can be considered classical literature, some parts can be considered folk songs, and some parts, if tested on the touchstone of literature, are merely fool’s gold. In the compositions of Dwija Chandidas (from Nanur village of Birbhum), characteristic human psychology, with its sometimes inward, sometimes outward, perspective, has been given more importance than the joys and sorrows of the common people.

Footnotes

(1) It was discovered in a heap of dry bel leaves on the shelf of the old Shiva temple in the house of a Sadgope farmer of Beliatorh village under Barhajorha Police Station, Bankura District, by Shrii Basantaranjan Ray Vidvadvallabh of that same village.