Bhanavar

“ The ship ceased not sailing till they came to a narrow strait, where the sea was but a river between fair sloping hills alight with towers and palaces, opening a way to a great city that was in its radiance over the waters of the sea as the aspect of myriad sheeny white doves breasting the wave. ”

“ I am absolutely certain that you will win the war if you fight with your soldiers. Now, when you win the war, why not establish a kingdom in your own name. The soldiers will obey you. You be the King and let Kalyani be your Queen. I shall ever remain a humble servant of yours and thus pass my days in the company of my wife and children. And I shall bless you for having disbanded the Children altogether.'
'Dhiren,' Bhavan said, as he withdrew his sword. 'Fight. I must kill you. I may live as a slave to my senses; but I am not a traitor. You are a traitor and you are enticing me to be a traitor. ”

“ Origin of the tribe. 2. The modern Bhangi is apparently the representative of the Chandâla of Manu,142 who is said to be descended by a Sûdra from a Brâhmani woman. He ordains that they must live without the town, whence the name Antavâsin or Antevâsin, “one who dwells near the boundaries.” Their sole wealth must be dogs and asses; their clothes must consist of the cerecloths of the dead; their dishes must be broken pots, and their ornaments of rusty iron. ”

“ It is not only to the voyager fresh from home that the ascent of the Ganges is novel and interesting. These things are as new to the resident of Madras as are the scenes of Italy to the Englishman. The people of Bengal differ from those of Southern India in language, dress, and looks, as well as in other respects. In frame, they are more slightly built, and less manly; indeed, they have the reputation of being the most effeminate of the Hindu races. ”

“ The neat-herd king, who saw through the whole, brought with him next day a phial with a narrow neck. The Brahman and the ghost-Brahman both appeared at the bar. After a great deal of examination of witnesses and of speech-making, the neat-herd king said—“Well, I have heard enough. I’ll decide the case at once. Here is this phial. Whichever of you will enter into it shall be declared by the court to be the rightful owner of the house the title of which is in dispute. Now, let me see, which of you will enter.” The Brahman said—“You are a neat-herd, and your intellect is that of a neat-herd. ”

“ In the autumn of that year the ashes of Rai-Khizar-Pál were removed from their tomb in the palace, and borne down the river to a new grave. The act came very near to causing a general uprising. Bhavani’s own son pleaded with his father on his knees not to dishonor the great warrior, his grandfather, and thus bring infamy upon himself and the whole line. It was in vain. Oman’s secret idea had taken root in Bhavani’s heart; and a revolution would not have turned him from his object. ”

“ Bhandarkar thinks that the Valabhi princes, and also the Nāgar Brāhmans, belonged to the Maitraka tribe, who, like the Gūjars, were allied to the Huns, and entered India in the fifth or sixth century. Mr. Bhandarkar’s account really agrees quite closely with the traditions of the Sesodia bards themselves, except that he considers Guhadatta to have been a Nāgar Brāhman of Valabhi, and descended from the Maitrakas, a race allied to the Huns, while the bards say that he was a descendant of the Aryan Kshatriyas of Ajodhia, who migrated to Surat and established the Valabhi kingdom. ”

“ At a time when all was change and uncertainty, when the people of Bengal after long years of oppression and unrest had at length time and opportunity for social, moral and educational advancement, the strong and courageous figure of the Nawab Bahadur was a tower of strength to his co-religionists. ”

“ He returned and built a factory here on 10th August 1690. Modern Calcutta stands on the site of Sutanati. In those days Krishnagar was the chief city in Bengal; and the principal seat of learning and civilisation, owing to the power and public spirit of its Rajas. So I proceed to give a short history of this Raj family. Tradition says that in 1077, Adisur, the King of Bengal, invited five pure Brahmans of the highest class, from Kanauj, to offer sacrifices to the gods on his behalf. ”

“ I am not slow in recognising my indebtedness to it but I cannot forget my own individuality. I cannot forget the spirit of Bengal which pervades every thought that I entertain, every hope that I cherish, every fear that I have, and so long as I live, I promise before you to-day that I will devote my life to work out the salvation of the ideal of Bengal. The soul of Bengal had been sleeping for years but directly Self-government is given to us, that soul, while living in an atmosphere of freedom, will make its enormous claim to give the fullest expression to its ideal. ”

“ If a Bhângi comes to anybody as a Bhangi, he would be shunned as the plague; but no sooner does he get a cupful of water poured upon his head with some mutterings of prayers by a Pâdri, and get a coat on his back, no matter how threadbare, and come into the room of the most orthodox Hindu — I don't see the man who then dare refuse him a chair and a hearty shake of the hands! Irony can go no further. ”

“ Having announced himself, the Banjara came up the steps and squatted on his heels; the long male-bamboo staff he carried betokened he was a herdsman.
"What do you want, Lumbani?" Finnerty queried.
"Yes, sahib, I am a Banjara of the Lumbani caste. The sahib who is so strong is also wise in the ways of my people." ”

“ To their infinite surprise next morning they found themselves to be not only alive, but young and vigorous. Their neighbours could scarcely recognise them—they had become so changed. The old Brahman had become handsome and vigorous, no grey hairs, no wrinkles on his cheeks; and as for his wife, she had become as beautiful as any lady in the king’s household. The king, hearing of this wonderful change, sent for the old Brahman, who told him all the circumstances. ”

“ In a single moment the whole nation rose, the whole nation lifted itself out of despair, and it was by this sudden awakening from a dream that Bengal found the way of salvation, and declared to all India that eternal life, immortality, not lasting degradation, was our fate....
“There came a time, after the first outbreak of triumphant hope, when all the material forces that could be brought to bear against Nationalism were gradually brought into play, and the question was asked of Bengal, ‘Can you suffer? Can you survive?’ The young men of Bengal were now called upon to suffer. ”

“ When I am speaking of the Hindus of Bengal, I am at once reminded of the Mahomedans of Bengal. They have also lived in Bengal; they have lived with us, by our side and have been surrounded by the same environments and whatever our religious differences may be, there can hardly be any question that their interests and our interests, in point of education, in point of culture, and in point of nationality are the same. ”

“ The learned author remarks, that as long as the whole of the Jaina scriptures have not been critically edited, many dark pages of the history of the ancient and modern Indian languages and literature will not be illumined. Dr. Barnett says that "neither the political nor the literary nor the religious history of India, can ever be written until an exact study has been made" of the Jaina scriptures composed in this Māgadhi Prākṛta. What has been opined with reference to the history of India in general, is specially and particularly true regarding the history of Bengal in all its aspects. ”

“ From the time of the birth of his son, Bhavani's attitude was changed. It became cruelly difficult for him now to bear his poverty with his old amused equanimity, because he felt that he had a duty towards this new representative of the illustrious house of Saniari, who had such a glorious future before him. That the traditional extravagance could not be maintained on the occasion of the birth of his child gave him the keenest sorrow. ”

“ He dies full of years and honours, being over 88 at the time of his death. It is greatly to be regretted that he has had to pay the penalty of longevity in the shape of many bereavements, the latest being the death a few months ago of his son Rao Bahadur Dr. Prabhakar Bhandarkar, a ripe Marathi scholar who served the Indore State ably and long first as the Maharaja’s physician and subsequently as Minister of Education. ”

“ As a fruit of that meeting, a statue of the first Principal of the Sanskrit College has been set up in the College-building as a tribute of respect to the great man.
But is this sufficient? Who is to answer the question? The natives of Bengal must consider themselves fortunate that they have been able to do so much. Most surely, they have won a very bad name that they are great in words, but small in deeds. How often have they assembled in large gatherings rending the walls of the room with loud vociferations of their thundering eloquence, and how often have they failed in deeds! ”

“ Marsden's H. of Sumatra, 2nd ed. 51.
{249a}
COOLIN, adj. A class of Brāhmans of Bengal Proper, who make extraordinary claims to purity of caste and exclusiveness. Beng. kulīnas, from Skt. kula, 'a caste or family,' kulīna, 'belonging to a noble family.' They are much sought in marriage for the daughters of Brāhmans of less exalted pretensions, and often take many brides for the sake of the presents they receive. The system is one of the greatest abuses in Bengali Hinduism. [Risley, Tribes and Castes of Bengal, i. 146 seqq.] ”

“ No sane man would turn from Orissa to conquer Southern Gujarat or Berar and then return to the East to conquer East Bengal, after which he turns back to the West to defeat Mahīpāla in North Bengal and again rushes to North Gujarat or Berar to conquer it. The more natural explanation is that Rājendra Coḷa defeated Raṇaśūra, the ruler of Southern Rāḍhā, and then passed on through that country to invade Vaṅga. From very early times a part of Bengal has been called Rāḍhā. It occurs in a dated inscription of the Indo-Scythian period as Rārā. ”

“ Every day the king tells him to—“Come to-morrow”; and every day the Brahman goes away from the palace weeping and striking his forehead with the palm of his hand, and saying—“What a wicked world this is! I am driven from my own house, and another fellow has taken possession of my house and of my wife! And what a king this is! He does not do justice.”
“‘How is it that you have returned so soon?’”
Now, it came to pass that as the Brahman went away every day from the court outside the town, he passed a spot at which a great many cowboys used to play. ”

“ Most Brāhmans belong to a sect worshipping especially Siva or Vishnu, or Rāma and Krishna, the incarnations of the latter god, or Sakti, the female principle of energy of Siva. But as a rule Brāhmans, whether of the Sivite or Vishnuite sects, abstain from flesh meat and are averse to the killing of any living thing. The following account of the daily ritual prayers of a Benāres Brāhman may be reproduced from M. André Chevrillon’s Romantic India,18 as, though possibly not altogether accurate in points of detail, it gives an excellent idea of their infinitely complicated nature:
16. ”

“ This grant is still in the possession of Bhangi Nāik’s descendant who lives at Musi, near Hingoli. He is recognised by the Hyderābād Court as the head Nāik of the Banjāra caste, and on his death his successor receives a khillat or dress-of-honour from His Highness the Nizām. After Asaf Khān’s campaign and settlement in the Deccan, a quarrel broke out between the Rāthor clan, headed by Bhangi and Jhangi, and the Jādons under Bhagwān Dās, owing to the fact that Asaf Khān had refused to give Bhagwān Dās a grant like that quoted above. ”

“ After describing the people of Bengal as weak in body and timid in mind, and those below Calcutta as the lowest of our Hindu subjects, both in character and appearance, he continues: 'But from the moment you enter the district of Behar, the Hindu inhabitants are a race of men, generally speaking, not more distinguished by their lofty stature and robust frame than they are for some of the finest qualities of the mind. ”

“ Allowance being made for the loss which an original author cannot but sustain by the transfer of his style and method into another language and system of thought, it will be confessed, I think, that the reputation of "Bankim Babu" is well deserved, and that Bengal has here produced a writer of true genius, whose vivacious invention, dramatic force, and purity of aim, promise well for the new age of Indian vernacular literature. ”

“ His services to the cause of Theism in Western India are unequalled. By his personal example, by his spotless character, by his sermons and lectures, by his writings and speeches, by his Kirtans, he has served the cause of the Samaj as no living man has done. Dr. Bhandarkar was one of the greatest exponents of the Bhakti School, but his Bhakti had the element of reason in it and was therefore free from the tinge of irrationality and morbidity. ”

“ And as we surged through the yellow-brown flood we talked vaguely and airily of old gods and new, of Siva's religion of stern reality, and Krishna's pleasure-loving cult.
“You should read Prem Sâgar, sir,” said Mr. Chuckerbutty, the native assistant-engineer, aside to Bannerman, who had given his vote for the latter; “it is of much merit, containing the loves of Krishna and other cognate matter.”
“It's a mere question of temperament,” went on Bannerman, unheeding the interruption. “Some people are born to one thing, some to another. I was born to enjoy myself—Hullo! ”

“ The characters of the records of those dynasties show that Harivarman cannot be placed in the 12th century A.D. Consequently it must be admitted that his father Jyotirvarmman has to be placed in the earlier decades of the 11th century. The dynasty seems to have continued for three or four generations. We learn from Bhuvaneśvara inscription that Bhavadeva I received the village of Hastinībhiṭṭa from the King of Gauḍa. His son was Rathāṅga, whose son was Atyaṅga, and from him was descended Ādideva, who was the minister of peace and war (Sāndhivigrahika) of the king of Vaṅga. ”