Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/175

 III. ] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 148 if in the last canto he had not suddenly risen high above such sentiments and repeatedly given to the whole story a spiritual interpretation. Of this, | apie নি ৰ may give a few specimens. Radha describes aspect. Krishna. He is, she says, a flower to be placed upon her head; he is the ০0011517017 (অঞ্জন) that makes her eyes beautiful; he is a precious necklace clinging about the neck; she cannot, she says, conceive of life without him,—he is to her what water is to the fish, or wings to a bird—the very breath of her being and the only object of her life. By a torrent of such similes which arise sponta- neously, but are bound to lose their beauty in tran- slation, she describes herself as altogether merged and lost in the consciousness of her love. Alas, she has told all, but, though loving with all her might, she has failed to grasp him; giving all that her soul is capable of offering, she feels that Krisna remains unrevealed to her, as ever. In the last line she turns suddenly, with the cry, ‘Tell me, O Krisna, what art thou?’ This touching cry ' @& কৈছে মাধব কহবি cay’ is wholly spiritual and mystic, it is the agonised expression of the infinitely little in pre- sence of the infinitely Great. In the songs called Mathura, Vidyapati creates Krisha’s tender pathos by describing Krisna’s desertion pi ডন Gokula. The shepherd has left the groves of his childhood. is deserted. রোদিতি পিঞ্রে শুকে, ৫ধন্থু ধায়ব মাথুর মুখে। ae
 * “Krigna has gone to Mathura. Alas, Gokula
 * “হরি কি মখুরাপুর গেল। অব গোকুল শুন্য তেল ।