Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/100

70 forget banana plants, so that for the Dharma-puja nothing may be wanting."

In the Çivāvana, or songs of Çiva by later writers, who were the exponents of the Çaiva cult in Bengal, we find a chapter devoted to Çiva's agricultural speculation and experiences. The traditions about Çiva related in the Purāṅas have no bearing whatever upon these. We shall here quote a passage from the Çivāyana of Rameçwar, a writer of the 18th century, which will at once recall the anecdotes of Çiva related in the Çunya-Purāṅa. Rāmesçwar, Kavichandra and other writers, though their own idea of Çiva was of the high classical type, could not help embodying these humble episodes in their descriptions. This shows how greatly the rural people of Bengal favoured them. A song in honour of Çiva, though noble in all respects, would not be perfect in the popular estimation unless it included these humbler aspects of his character, that had found favour in the country for centuries. In that chapter of the Çivayana to which we are referring, Bhima, who first appeared in the Çunya Purāṅa as a devoted servant of Çiva in the rice-fields, still retains the tradition of this character, co-operating with Çiva in his field-labour.

"Çiva sits in the field and says to Bhima the ploughman:—