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The Historicity of Gopichandra
All over India are found dramas, ballads, famous paintings and at the present time moving pictures depicting the home-leaving of Gopichandra which is as heart- rending as that of Lord Buddha. In the Cambridge University Library there is a copy of a Bengali drama, written in the Newari language of Nepal, which was composed in the 17th century. The story of the drama is partly similar to the Bengali ballad known as Govindachandrer Git. Grierson collected and published in 1873 Manikchandra Rajar Gan, which relates to the father of Gopichandra, but the story is the same, showing Gopichandra's homeleaving. There is a Hindi version of Gopiclhandra's song by Laksandasa. In the Punjab, Ambala District, this drama is still played and the ballad singers of the Rangpore District in Bengal still earn their living by singing this sad song. The famous painter Ravivarma has put this sad home-leaving on canvas. Several copies of books of dramas on the subject of Gopichandra's renunciation are found in Northern and Eastern Bengal, Orissa, the Punjab, Bhagalpore and Benaras, in the languages of these places.
Who was this widely known Gopichandra? On marrying Maynamati, Manikchandra got Meharkula in Tripura (in the Chittagong District) as a dowry. His ancestral throne and kingdom was at Vikrampore in the Dacca District Thus he ruled over these two places. Their only son was Gopichandra whose capital was at Pattikanagar in Tripura. A range of hillocks in Tripura is still known by the name of Maynamati. An inscription has been found here dated 1219 A. D. in which mention of Pattikkera is made. Gopichandra had also taken on lease a part of Northern Bengal, so the people of the Rangpore district knew of his renunciation. Dr. D. C. Sen collected the above facts from different verses on Gopichandra and he believes that Gopichandra belonged to the Chandra kings and had no connection with the Pala kings of Bengal.
Gopichandra married the two daughters of King Harischandra who probably belonged to Savar in the Dacca district. This Harishchandra belonged to the eleventh century. If we accept the fact that Gopichandra's mother was a disciple
