BENGALI LITERATURE The earliest Bengali writer is the Vaishnava poet Candi Das, A.D. 1400. His language does not differ much from modern Ben gali. He founded a school of poets who wrote hymns in honour of Krishna, many of whom, in later times, became connected with the 16th-century religious revival instituted by Caitanya. In the 15th century Kasi Ram translated the Mahabhdrata and Krttibas Ojha the Ramayana. The principal figure of the 17th century was Mukunda Ram who left two admirable poems, Candi and. Srimanta Sauddgar. Parts of the former have been translated by Prof. Cowell into English verse. With Bharat Candra and his much admired but artificial Bidya Sundar (i 8th century) , the list of old Bengali authors closes. They wrote in genuine nervous Bengali, and the conspicuous success of many of them disproves the contention that modern literary Bengali needs the help of its imported Sanskrit vocabulary to express anything but simple ideas. Modern literary Bengali arose early in the 19th century, after the revival of Sanskrit learning in Calcutta, under the influence of the English college of Fort William. It became increasingly the slave of Sanskrit, but it had some excellent writers, notably the late Bankim Candra, whose novels have been translated into many languages. Even he, however, sometimes laboured under Sanskrit fetters, and it was only comparatively recently that a partial reaction, largely influenced by Sir Rabindranath Tagore (q.v.), set in in favour of a more natural language. Since then several writers of distinction have arisen.