1'2G H. P. Shastri — A Bengali Bnihinana ivho obtained a high position [Feb. 



Ceylon where a reforming Baddhist king appreciated him, raised him to 

 a high place in the Buddhist hierarchy and conferred on him the 

 title of Bauddhagama Chakravartti. 



I purpose in this paper to give some account of the author. 



In the 107th verse he says that he is a good Buddhist, and his title 

 is Kavihlidrati, that he is a Kshitisura or Brahmana, and that his name is 

 Ramachandra. In the colophon, which generally has some authority, 

 he is described as a devoted woi-shipper of S'akya Muni the Lord, a 

 Bauddhagama Chakravartti, i. e., master of the whole range of Buddhist 

 scriptures, si.bhiisiira, i. e., a brahmana, an achdryya, a teacher, and a 

 great pandit, and as a native of Gaur. 



Sumangala, the disciple of Rahula, who explains this work by 

 means of a x'unning commentary in the Singhalese Sadhubhasha, com- 

 menting upon the word Gauradesiya, says that Gaur is a place of great 

 learning where Kavya, Vyakarana, Tarka and other branches of know- 

 ledge are extensively cultivated. There is a Rarha mandala in Gaur and 

 in that mandala there is a Janapada, or locality, named Varendra where 

 the author was born. From this one may be led to conclude that Rama- 

 chandra was a Varendra Brahmana. But no. The Rarhi and Varendra 

 Brahmanas have only five gotras, viz., Sandilya, Bharadvaja, Kasyapa, 

 Vatsya and Savarna, while Ramachandra is said to be a Brahmana of 

 the Katyayana gotra. Where can we get a Br.ihmana of that gotra in 

 Bengal ? This is a question not to be answered easily. The Rarhiya 

 and Varendia Brabmans are certainly the most influential in Bengal. 

 But there are two other classes of Brabmans here, viz., the Paschatyas 

 and the Dakshinatyas. The Chief Justice of Lakshana Sena in his 

 well known work the Brahmana Sarvasva recognizes these two classes also, 

 but names them Paschatya and Utkala. And so these classes are as an- 

 cient as the Sena Rajas of Bengal. I will not speak of the Utkalas because 

 they have no Katyayana gotra among them. The Paschatyas are settlers 

 from the west either before or after the settlement of the five brah- 

 mans whose descendants the Rarhiyas and Varendras claim to be. The 

 Paschatyas are not a homogenous community like the Rarhiyas, having 

 settled at and from different parts of the country at different times and 

 from a variety of motives. They do not intci'marry with each other, 

 and there are brahmans of almost all the gotras among them. I have 

 asked many Pcischatyas whether they have the Katyayana gotra among 

 them. In this part of the country they have not. Some informed me 

 that brahmans of this gotra will be found in North Bengal, {. e., Varendra 

 Janapada. This appeal's to be very probable, because the Maithils have 

 this gotra among them. Many Maithils have become incorporated with 

 the Paschatyas. Riimachandra may have been one of these Maithil 



