FEBRUARY, 1873.]

WAISHNAVA POETS OF BENGAL.

In rare cases, however, the modern Bengali ke occurs:

Kānuke bujhāī— “Having explained to Kánh.” The genitive is most usually left unmarked, the word which governs it being placed after it, in the manner of a Sanskrit Tatpurusha com pound. This practice is universal with the early Hindi poets, as taila bindu—“a drop of oil;” rasa gåna—“song of delight,” and the like. Bidyāpati's favourite method of forming the genitive is, however, by the addition of the syllable ka; thus— Sujanaka piriti pāshāna sama rehā— “The love of a good man is firm as stone.”

Maramaka dukha kahite hay lája— “To tell the grief of (my) heart is shame(to me).” Premaka guna kahaba sab koi— “Every one will say (it is) the effect of love.” This form, in which the final a is not always pronounced, is a shortening of the fuller form kara or kar, which is found—(1) in Bidyāpati's pronouns, as tákara bachana lobhái, “having longed for his voice;” (2) in the pronouns of the modern Bhojpúri dialect, as ikará, okará; (3) in a few Bengali words, as ājkar kālikar, “belonging to, or of, to-day, to-morrow,” &c.; (4) in the plural genitive of Oriya, both in nouns and pronouns, as räjänkar, “of kings,” ambhan kar, “of us,” where the rejection of the final r is also common, so that they say and write rajánka,

ambhanka; (5) in Marăthi surnames, as Chiplun kar–of or from Chiplun. There are several pas sages in Chand in which the genitive seems to be thus expressed by the addition of k only ; the context is, however, so obscure, that I fear

to quote them in support of the form itself. In the passage quoted above, ropiyá premer bija, we have the modern Bengali genitive in er; but this is, I think, an intentional modernization of the copyist. The line would run just as well if we read premak, and this would be more in keeping with Bidyāpati's usual style. It is very unusual in his poems to find the genitive in er. The instrumental and locative cases are both

indicated by e.

Jo preme kulabati kulatá hoi— “That a virtuous woman should become un

chaste through love.” Mane kichhu nāgamalu o rase bhola—

“In (my) mind I nothing considered, being foolish through that love.”

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Supurukha" parihare dukha bichári— “On account of the absence of the lover, having experienced grief.” Ambare badana chhāpāī— “Hiding (her) face in (her) garment.” Dipaka lobhe Šalabhajanu dhāyala— “From desire of the lamp as a moth has run” (i.e., flown). Occasionally the Hindise, “with,’ occurs, but rarely, as it is liable to be mistaken for the Bengalise, “he.” E sakhi kāhe kahasi anuyoge,

Kānu se abhi karabi premabhoge— “Ah, dearest! why dost thou question (me)? Even now thou shalt enjoy love with Kānh.” Here again the e is added to the objective : kahasi anuyoge, “thou dost speak a question ;” karabi prema bhoge, “thou shalt make an enjoy ing of love.”

Kole leyaba tuhunka priyā– “Thy love shall take (thee) in his arms.” Other postpositions are used with the genitive in ka, as mājh, “in,’ sang, “with,’ thus: Hatha sañe paithaye Šrabanaka mäjh— “Suddenly it penetrates into the ear.” Phutala bándhuli kamalaka sang— “The bandhuli has flowered with the lotus.”

Sometimes we have the old Hindi form in hi,

which is there used for all cases of the oblique, though properly a dative, as in the line quoted in a former article (I. A., Vol I. p. 324). Jämini bańchasi ānahi sãta—

“Thou passest the night with another.” There is no distinctive form for the plural. When it is necessary to express the idea of plu rality very distinctly, words like sab, “all,” anek, ‘many,’ and the like, are used. Occasionally also we find gana, ‘crowd, as a first faint indication

of what was subsequently to become the regular sign of the plural in Bengali. We may now draw out our noun thus— Prem a , love. (emphatic) preme. N. A. D.

id. id.

Instr. preme, by love. Gen. premaka, of love. Abl. prem a ka mäjh, sang, &c., with, by love.

Loc. preme, in love. Crude form. prem a hi. In the case of nouns ending in short i or u, no special inflections have yet been observed. The

• I.e., supurusha, “good man,' used for Krishna, the lover of Rādhā; kh for sh as usual in Hindi, though not in Bengali.