Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/291

 ] | এ r a IV.] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 255 gods and goddesses in our mythology are often known to their worshippers by hundreds of names and these hymns addressed with 34 names, of which there is quite a legion in our literature, are _ called Chautiga (lit 34). This idea of a personal divinity as contrasted with that of the impersonal Civa is the predomi- nant feature in the literature of the Cakta eit. 408: In the month of Cravana (July-August) the villages of Lower Bengal present a unique scene. This is the time when Manasa Devi is worshipped. Hundreds of men in Sylhet, Backergunge and other districts throng to the river side or to the temples to recite the songs of Behula. The vigorous boat-races attending the festivity and the enthu- siasm that characterises the recitation of these songs cannot but strike an observer with an idea of their vast influence over the masses. There are some- times a hundread oars in each of the long narrow boats, the rowers singing in loud chorus as they pull them with all their might. The boats move with the speed of an arrow, even flying past the river-steamers. These festivities of Manasa Puja sometimes occupy a whole month, during which men keep vigil and recite the songs before the goddess, and are generally known as Bhasan Yatra. The wonderful devotion of Behula 60 her husband is the theme of these songs; and a vast poetic literature has sprung up in Bengal during the last thousand years in commemoration of the events of her life and that of Chand-sadagara The Bhasan Yatra;