1892.] Haraprasad Shastri — Notes on the Banks of the Etigli. 



Baruipur was a whirlpool sacred to Kali. There the Goddess of serpents 

 tried to put the merchant into difficulty by raising a storm and sending an 

 army of serpents of various size, colour and ferocity. But the merchant 



('hand overcame all difficulties and continued his downward v<- 

 Thru ln> entered into the river Hunia and reached Chhatrabhog, a place 

 mentioned in other ancient Bengali works. He performed all the sa 

 duties enjoined in the Shtistras for performance at a place of pilgrin 

 He took a large quantity of fresh water in his vessel from a pool named 

 Badarika Kunda. Passing it he entered the Purgana of Hatiagarh, 

 so -well known in the history of Pir Gorachand and in Musalmani 

 Bengali literature. It was here that the Pir received a mortal wound 

 from his Hindu opponents — A'kananda and Bakananda. From Hatia- 

 garh the fleet entered S'atamukhi, i. e., the hundred streams, and thenca 

 Chanmukhi, — the four streams. Before entering the great ocean he 

 worshipped S'ankar Madkav and performed his religious duties on the 

 sea shore. 



Some question may arise as to the authenticity of the information 

 given in Bipradas's work. Those who are disposed to consider Bipra- 

 das's work as authentic may yet contend that though his information is 

 meagre at the commencement of the voyage, as also at the end, he is very 

 elaborate between Satgaon and Kalighat and this is an indication that 

 some verses may have been interpolated. But there is an explan 

 for this. Bipradas belonged to Baduriya Batagram in the Basirhat Sub- 

 division, and if he ever came to bathe in the Ganges, he came to this 

 part of the country and so he knew it better. It is also to be noted that 

 the Pippalais i. e., the family to which he belonged had a settlement 

 at Mahes and Akna where one of them held the high position of a 

 priest to the local Jagannath. The absence of any mention of pi 

 noted in the history of Chaitanya's religion and for European commerce. 

 puts the authenticity of the information given in the book beyond 

 questiou. 



