It is said that he was inspired to embark on composing a Bengali version of the
Mahābhārata after a recitation of the Sanskrit text at his patron's home. It is quite clear that the first four parvas—
ādi,
sabhā,
vana, and
virāṭā—were composed by him around the turn of the 16th century. The vanity refrain at the end of the virata parva gives the date of its composition as the
shaka year 1526 (1604 CE). He had embarked on the next book, the
vana-parva, but it is thought that he may have died shortly thereafter, Kashiram Das had named his text
Bharata-Pā̃cālī, where
Bharata refers to the
Bharata dynasty, and
pā̃cālī refers to the narrative song tradition of Bengal. The
pā̃cālī works attempt to tell a story that will keep the audience's interest. In this spirit, Kashiram Das avoids the long philosophical discourses that are part of the
Mahābhārata, such as the entire discourse of Kṛṣṇa to
Arjuna (the
Bhagavadgītā). On the other hand, he elaborates the story of
Mohini—the female avatar of
Viṣṇu who enchants
Śiva—based on a two-line
śloka in the original. Although other Bengali
Mahābhāratas had been composed earlier (for example,
Kavindra Mahabharata, 1525), the
Kashidasi Mahabharata soon became the staple of Bengali Mahābhārata readings. Composed in the
mangalkavya tradition, the vanity refrain has become a staple of Bengali tradition: môhābhārôter kôthaā ômṛtô sômān kāśīrām dās kôhe śune punyôbān This is translated to: "The
Mahābhārata tales are like
amrita, says Kashiram Das; it brings merit to listen to it." Other phrases that have become part of the Bengali folklore include "krodhe pāp, krodhe tāp, krodhe kulôkṣôẏ;" ("anger causes sin, anger causes heat, anger causes the demise of one's line"). When the
Serampore Mission Press was started in the 19th century, the
Kāśīdāsī Môhābhārôt in parts were among the first Bengali texts to be printed. Eventually, the complete text, edited by Jayagopal Tarkalankar, was published in 1936 by the same press. ==References==