KABIWALAS 359 are to be found in other collections and one of these ! is universally attributed in other collections to Rim Basu and one, which is Haru’s, is wrongly attributed to Bhabani Banik.? Again, much uncertainty still remains, in spite of these efforts, as to the question of authorship of many of these songs, for there is absolutely no means for determining with absolute certainty the authorship of many a song, variously attributed to various poets. What is true of Haru Thakur is true of every other Kabiwala ; and this one instance would sufficiently illus- trate the nature and extent of the data one has got to handle in dealing with Kabi-poetry. But a poor collection of 45 songs—all of them not of the best and some of them mere fragments—is but a sadly diminished and dwindled legacy of the extraordi- nary reputation which Haru Thakur has always enjoyed as | one of the greatest of the Kabiwalas. | His versatility. The songs which have come down to | us mostly relate to either of the two themes of diraha and sikhi-sambid; but if we are to rely upon the testimony of Isvar Gupta who wrote only forty years after Haru Thakur’s death, we must admit that the great Kabiwala could write with equal facility and power upon all the other recognised themes such as dgamani, bhabant bisayak, lahar and His lahar and kheud = fend. On the first two of these songs: testimony of Tsvar Gapta. divisions not a single composition of Haru has survived. [Svar Gupta again tells us that Haru could compose best on the themes of
- At p. 808.
| ® At p. 613. The Sarwit-sar-sazagraha and Bangalir Gan etc. give a selecti n of Kabi-songs; but they are later and inferior collections apparently reproducing what is given in other special collections and therefore are not mentioned here,
