Third
Part
In
Bengal, during the medieval period, both Persian and Hindi were
studied. Dvija Pashupati is Chandravat, while
referring to the early educational qualification of the hero, mentioned that
“Kumar or prince was a scholar of Persian and Hindi (Farsi
Nagripadi hoilo bisharad).
There is no doubt about the fact that ‘Sufi’ literature of
both Persia and India had great influence on medieval Bengali
philosophical thought and poetry. On the other hand, Persian or
Hindi epic verses had great
appeal to common masses, who loved to hear heroic stories of
love and passion.
Bengali
poets found delight in composing Bengali love-poems under the
influence of Hindi-Abadhi love verse like Padumabat, Mainasat,
Mrigabati, and Madhumalati. The most interesting
aspect of there love tales were also blended with heroic
adventure. The pattern of stories were also to some extant
identical. The story-began with the description of the native city or
Kingdom of the prince. Then came the
astrologer who forecast that the prince at certain age would go
out in search of the heroine, whom he would meet or would see
her picture in dream. And after a long troublesome adventurous
journey the prince returned with the coveted herine (sometimes
with two or more).
Daulat
Quazi (17th century) was the first Bengali poet who
introduced the tradition of Hindi-Abadhi tales in medieval
Bengali literature. Heroic adventure of the lover in Mollah
Dawood’s Chandayana (1370-71) and the dignity of
the chastity in Sadhans Mainasat (16th century)
inspired Doulat Quazi (1635-38) to write a composite version of the
two. Though the poet followed both the ‘Chandayan’
and ‘Mainasat’, surprisingly he mentioned only
Sadhani's name-
Kona
Mate hoila maina patibrata/ Sati Thetta chopaiya doha kohila
Sadhane/ Na bujhe gohare basha kona kona jane/ Deshi bhashe kaha
taka panchali chande/ Sakale shuniya jeno bujhaye sanande
.
(Tr.)
In that Hindi chowpai, sadhan showed how Maina remained devoted
and ‘Sati’. But as no body understands the Gohari language,
I was requested to write the story in Bengali in Panchali rhyme
for the pleasure of the readers.
Unfortunately
due to his sudden death Dowlat Quazi could not finish his epic
which was subsequently completed by the greatest poet of the 17th
century, Alaol. Daowlat Quazi almost completed the story and
Aloal had very little to add to show his talent. So, he added a
new fable of
Anandabramha in the second part of Sati-Maina-lora-Chandrani.
Alaol’s
masterpiece was Padmavati, the Bengali Version of
Malik Muhammad Jais's Padumavat. It is almost a
translated version with some variations. Alaol began his
narrative verse translating verbatim:
Jaisi
( Hindi)- Sabaru adi ek Karatar/ Jei jiu deenha keenha Samsar/
Keenhesi pratham jyoti pargasu/ Keenhesi tehi parbat Kabilasu .
Keenhesi Agini pavan jal Keeha / Keenhesi bahutai rang ureha./
Alaol
(Bengali) : Prathame pranam Kanu ek karatar jei prabhu jeebdane
srijila samsar/ Karila pratham adi jyotir prakash/Tar pare prakat
karila kabilas/Srijilenta agun pavan jal kshiti Nanarange
srijlinta kari nana bhati.
Alaol,
later, decided to translate Padumavati in abridged
form. He translated only those stanzas which were relevant to
the sequence of the story. Alaol was a great scholar of
different subjects and naturally he could not resist the
temptation of exposing his learning and wisdom. In doing so
he added almost new episodes and elements in his narrative verse.
We can refer, in this context, to the description of Kakunus
bird, compiled from Fariduddin attars Manteyut-tayer.
This description was totally absent in Malik Muhammad Jaisi's Padumabat.
Alaol’s
narrative poems Padmavati differred from Jaisi’s epic
verse Padumavat in spirit. In Jaisi, it is the
story of love between Ratnasen and Padumavat
who were identified in his book as
a symbol of union between the soul and God. Whereas, Alaol’s poem
depicted the earthly tale of love between a man and a
woman. The story come down to the earth with the emotions and
aspirations of the hero and the heroine was placed in a
particular social setting.
The
story of Padumavai was very popular in Hindi and
Urdu literature. But, surprisingly enough, in medieval Bengali
literature, except Alaol, no other poet ventured to render this
epic in Bengali
more in next
issue.....
