Vijay Gupta (poet)

Vijay Gupta was a 15th-century Bengali poet from Barisal. He was part of a revival of Bengali literature in the late 15th century and early 16th century.

Quotes about Vijay Gupta

• Vijaya Gupta, one of the eulogists of Husain Shah, gives a gruesome detailed description of the outrage on Hindus by the Muslim qazis, Hasan and Husain. These two made a pastime of baiting the Hindus in all possible ways. Anyone found with the sacred Tulsi leaf on bis head (an obligatory Vaishnava custom) was taken to the qazi with hands and feet bound, and heavy blows were administered to him. The piyada (peon) tore away the sacred thread from a Brahman and spat saliva in his mouth. On one occasion a Muslim mulla happened to pass by a hut in a wood where some shepherd, boys were worshiping the goddess Manasa with the symbol of sacred earthen pots to the accompaniment of music. In righteous indignation the mulla made an attempt to break the pots, but was severely trounced. The mulla brought it to the notice of the two qazi brothers who exclaimed: “What! the scoundrel (haramzadah) Hindus make so bold as to perform Hindu rituals in my village! The culprit boys should be seized and made outcast by being forced to eat Muslim bread.” So the two brothers gathered a large number of armed Muslims and proceeded towards the shepherd’s hut. The mother of the qazis, a Hindu girl forcibly married by the former qazi, vainly tried to dissuade her sons; they demolished the shepherd’s hut, broke the sacred pots into pieces, and threw away the offerings to the goddess. The affrighted shepherd boys had concealed themselves in the wood, but some of them were hunted out and seized.
  • Majumdar R. C. and K. M. Munshi. 1990. The History and Culture of the Indian People The Delhi Sultanate. 4. ed. Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. p 632ff. also quoted (partially/paraphrased) in Bostom, A. G. M. D., & Bostom, A. G. (2010). The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims. Amherst: Prometheus. quoting KS Lal, Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India, pp. 238-39n124. also in SR Goel, Story of Islamic Imperalism. Also quoted in Ibn Warraq, Defending the West.

• But it should be said in fairness to Vijay Gupta that his work has not come down in its entirety or purity. It should also be said that some of his passages describing contemporary life, e.g. the oppression of Brahmans by Muhammadan Kazis, are remarkably graphic and have considerable historical value.
  • Bengali Literature by Ghosh, J.c. p 46