Page:Bengali Religious Lyrics, Śākta.pdf/39

Rh left her mountain home, and whose image now leaves the homes of the people, are sung; these are far fewer than Āgamāni songs. What the festival means to Hindus is thus expressed by a leading article this year (1922) in the Amṛitā Bāzar Patrikā, the most popular nationalist paper in Bengal. 'The spirit of Bijayā [i.e. Vijayā] means the spirit of peace and goodwill. 0n the day the image of the Goddess Durgā is immersed, the Hindu is required to immerse all unkindly and uncharitable feelings. He meets relations and friends, and makes peace with enemies on this day; the custom of the country is for everyone to salute his elders, to bless youngers, and to embrace whoever comes across him. As man is a quarrelsome being, naturally more or less spiteful and selfish, he is enjoined to make an effort on this sacred clay to forget and forgive and make peace even with his bitterest foes.

'Each day of the Pūjā is a day of sacrifice; for the way to resurrection lies through the Cross, the road to higher life lies through a sacrifice of the lower. The extent of our sacrifice is the measure of our spiritual uplift, and this self-immolation is necessary that the lower gross vehicle may be purified of its dross and transformed into a fit instrument of the Divine Energy. . ..

'Once a year, on the sacred Bijayā day, let us anticipate this final transformation of humanity [i.e. into holiness of life and heart]; let us forget our petty jealousies and antagonisms, and realise that we are one in the bosom of the Universal Mother in whom all things live, move and have their being!'

On the next new moon night, the Kālī-pūjā is held. The dualism which overlies Hindu monism is expressed in these two festivals; Durgā (Umā) represents the beneficent face of Nature, Kālī the maleficent; and they are associated respectively with the bright and dark phases of the moon. Kālī's ritual is more rigid, and. so far as we can discover, it is not lawful to offer her bloodless sacrifices.

The reader will note the resemblances between the