Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/277

 IV.] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. Nandi and Bhringi his savage-servants, and above all Uma, his devoted wife, figure conspicuously. Uma was married to Civa when she was merely a child. She was the daughter of Mount Himavata, who gave her to Civa, in his old age owing to The poets who wrote on the subject of this marriage the pleading and intercession of Narada. had before them the scenes of a Bengali home. In such homes girls of a very tender age, were occa- olven g in marriage to old men and the sionally situation created pathos too deep for expression. Uma, a girl of eight, was married to the old Civa— who was a beggar, hopelessly addicted to intox1- cating drugs and so poor, that he could not give a pair of shell-bracelets to his bride. There are innumerable songs in Bengali, describing the pathetic situation. In the month of Agvina (October- November) the rings with the Agamani songs, sung by the Vairagis which describe the meeting of Uma with her mother ; and there is no Bengali to whom they do not whole atmosphere of Bengal, appeal most tenderly. The domestic scenes of Bengal—the sorrows of Bengali parents—are really the themes of the songs, though they profess to deal with mythological subjects, which bear a realistic interest, full of deep pathos. There the queen of Himavata in the month of Acvina, says to her lord Uma, how she fares in Kail§sa without me. —‘‘Go thou and bring my I know not [ heard from Narada that she weptand cried ‘o mother, o mother.’ Civa takes profuse quantity of Bhang and Siddhi ; he loses his senses under their influence, and rebukes Uma for no fault of hers. Civa has sold all the clothes and valuable ornaments that you gave Uma 31. 241. The Joys and sor- rows of Bengali homes under a mythologi- cal garb. The Aga- mani songs