Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/253

 and exposing it to thunder-storms. * ae IV. ] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 221 destroys him in the severe fight which ensues. The _demons Vaka, Krimira and a host of others, sent by The God Indra, whose worship was forbidden. by him, ‘Kamsa, are killed in succession by Krisna. dooms Vrindavana to destruction, by sending heavy showers of rain for seven consecutive days and nights But Krisna holds up the mount Govardhana with the tip of his finger and so makes it ashelter for the village. The thunderer is weary ; the stormy winds crash against the rock; the lightning makes deep cavities in it; hail- stones destroy the trees; but beneath lies Vrinda- vana herbs is snug and cozy,—not one of its touched, nor a leaf nora petal of its sweet Kadamva flowers is broken under the surging floods which pass over the rock Govardhana. The accounts of these exploits and victories, however, are but of minor interest in the poem; its main attraction being the pastoral occupation,—the sports and the domestic scenes, descriptions of which are interspersed amongst those of the valourous exploits of Krisna undertaken to protect his friends who resigned themselves to his care. The tender love of his mother Jagoda, unwilling to part with him in the morn- ings, (when his comrades and fellow-shepherd boys call him to join their games and his elder brother Valarama invites him to the groves by sounding bis horn) lest he fall into the snares of Kamsa, ever plotting against his life; the beautiful pastimes indulged in by the shepherds, in which Krisna takes a prominent part ;—his love-making with the milk- maids ; and above all the deep religious meaning given to each passage by the enlightened Vaisnava inter- preters who invest the poem with high devotional He holds up the mount Govar- dhana, The domestic and pas- toral scenes. The deep religious meaning.