Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/148

118 "If he hears my name incidentally mentioned by any, his face is lit up with strange emotion and in vain does he try to hide the joy."

In cases where this feeling has arisen, and the persons concerned possess noble moral qualities—social and moral barriers continuing to excercise their full power, it is easy to see that the highest romantic idealism is the inevitable result. We then find that the very restrictions imposed, only accentuate the poetry of the passion. There is nothing which the lovers are not prepared to lay on the alter of this their highest dream. Such love is the nearest approach in cammon life to the mystic longings of the devotee's soul, for the realisation of God; and in fact, in the purity of its sentiment, and in its capacity for devotion and selfsacrifice, it approaches spirituality. Hence Vaiṣṅavism in Bengal adopted Parakīya as a symbol for the representation of divine love. Rādhā, the Princess, daughter of king Vrișa Bhānu and wife of Āyān Ghoșa, falls in love with Kriṣṅa—the shepherd boy. But Rādhā is thought of by Vaiṣṅavas as the human soul and Kriṣṅa as the incarnation of the Love of god. From this story every suspicion of grossness is understood to be eliminated, and the drama played out amidst the pastoral scenery of the banks of the Jumna, conveys only the purity and holiness of a hymn of worship.