1850.] Analysis of the Bengali Poem Raj Mala. 533 



Folly, disputes and sinful pride, 



Lust and anger, made the world corrupt. 



Wealth ! money ! all cried out for wealth ! 



The very world became its slave ! 



The wealthy alone were worship' d, 



Gold was the Idol men revered. 

 Mankind ceased to venerate the God, they harboured animosities, 

 and pursued Folly and Strife with avidity : they were dead to every 

 thing but wickedness. 



Thus I conclude the 2nd Chapter, which contains the history of my 

 race. 



(To be continued.) 



Analysis of the Bengali Poem Raj Mala, or Chronicles of Tripura. 

 By the Rev. James Long. 



Dr. Wise of Dacca having presented to the Asiatic Society the Raj 

 Mala, an ancient Historical poem in Bengali verse, I was requested by 

 the Society to report on it, and also to furnish them with an analysis of 

 the original for the Journal, in order to enable the members to judge of 

 the subject of the poem itself. I hope one day to see the Bengali 

 printed, as though interspersed with a variety of legends and myths, it 

 gives us a picture of the state of Hindu society and customs in a 

 country little known to Europeans, — Tripura, the Highlands of Ben^ 

 gal, the last country that yielded to the tide of Moslem invasion, 

 and which in its mountain fastnesses retained for so long a period the 

 Hindu traditions unmixed with views that might stream in from other 

 countries. It had been long the chosen abode of $ivism, the aboriginal 

 religion having been supplanted by the latter system, as is indicated 

 by the myth which represents Siva destroying the Asura Tripura, and 

 Tripura as being the favourite residence of *Siva, a pithasthdn — the right 

 leg of Sati having fallen there. The Brahmans exercised as arbitrary 

 sway over the minds of the hill chieftains as ever did Druid on the 

 customs of our Celtic ancestors. 



" The embroidery of imagination does not entirely conceal the ground- 

 work of truth." The remark made by Richardson, the compiler of the 

 Persian Dictionary, is fully applicable to such works as the Raj Mala, the 



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