io. King Gopichandra of Rangpur. 



By Bisvesvar Bhattachabya. 



In the district of Rangpur, about 8 miles off the railway 

 station of Domar, far from the bustle of civilized life, is the 

 small hamlet of Patkapara, — literally, the hamlet of bricks. 

 Much of the place is now uninhabited waste land which the 

 plough cares not to till on account of its high level and want of 

 moisture. There are mounds here and there which are claimed 

 by tradition to be the sites of stately mansions of old, while old 

 people tell the pathetic story of its rich store of classic bricks 

 having been laid under requisition by sacrilegious contract- 

 ors for the Northern Bengal Railway. About 1£ miles to 

 the north-east lie the ramparts of what once was the fortified 

 capita] of king Dharmapal or his deputy, and about 2 miles 

 to the north-west are the ramparts of what tradition still 

 declares to have been the residence of king Gopichandra \s 

 mighty mother MayanamatL 



To anyone acquainted with the ballad published by 

 Dr. Grierson in the Asiatic Society's Journal under the title of 

 1 Manikchandra rajar Gan ? (vol. xlvii, 1878) Mayanamati* and 

 Gopichandra are familiar names. There is, however, no mention 

 in the ballad of the capital of king Gopichandra or his father 

 Manikchandra, while the ballad itself, as published, gives an 

 inadequate idea of the great epic with its numerous episodes 

 which the author of this paper has found to be still extant 

 amongst some old Jugis of the neighbouring tract and has 

 collected for publication. These Jugis are a class of indigenous 

 bards, mostly illiterate, who supplement their earnings by 

 singing the epic and dancing to the accompaniment of vocal 

 and instrumental music. They are believed to be the degraded 

 descendants of a class of Buddhist ascetics — followers of Go- 

 rakhnath; and many of their local customs — their divergence 

 from Brahmanical rites, their adoption of priests from their 

 own caste, their worship of the Buddhist deity Dharma — con- 

 firm this view. The ballad published by Dr. Grierson may be said 

 to be an abridged version of the epic as still sung by old Jugis 

 credited with the possession of a richer lore than their com- 

 patriots. Another abridged version deviating in some respects 

 from the story as told by the Jugis made its appearance quite 

 unexpectedly some years ago from Western Bengal. It is the 

 production of one Durlav Mallik, a village bard of some anti- 

 quity, though hitherto unknown to fame. From Durlav Mal- 

 lik's work — the publication of which we owe to Babu Sib 



