Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/995

VII. ] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 949 oration of the native inhabitants; and I enjoyed the confidence of several of them even in their public capacity. My continued controversies with the Brahmins on the subject of their idolatry and superstition, and my interference with their custom of burning widows, and other pernicious practices, revived and increased their animosity against me ; and through their influence with my family, my father was again obliged to withdraw his counte- nance openly, though his limited pecuniary support was still continued to me. ‘After my father’s death I opposed the advo- cates of idolatry with still greater boldness. Availing myself of the art of printing, now estab- lished in India, I published various works and pamphlets against their errors in the native and foreign languages. This raised such a feeling against me, that I was at last deserted by every person except two or three Scotch friends, to whom, and the nation to which they belong, I will always feel grateful. ‘The ground which I took in all controversies was, not that of opposition to Brahminism, but to a perversion of it; and I endeavoured to show that the idolatry of the Brahminism was contrary to the practice of their ancestors, and the principles of the ancient books and authorities which they profess to revere and obey. Notwithstanding the violence of the opposition and resistance to my opinions, several highly respectable persons, both among my own relations and others began to adopt the same sentiments. ‘‘T now felt a strong wish to visit Europe and obtain, by personal observation, a more thorough