Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/307

 IV.] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 271 When she drew near to a place called Bhagher Bak, the corpse began to decompose. Decay set in and the form of the beautiful bridegroom be- came swollen and rotten; an intolerable stench came out of it and swarms of flies and maggots gathered round the putrid body. Behula saw before her eyes the workings of the immutable law of nature—the end reserved in the normal course for all human beings, and seeing this, she grew indiffer- ent to bodily pain. She washed and cleansed the corpse, she ate nothing, and when her grief was great, she wept alone in that forlorn condition. She passed the ghat of Noada and Srigalghata. People came to see her from the neighbouring villages and called her a mad woman who had lost her senses from grief. Whence came the strength and hope that sus- tained her in this distress ? She chanted the name of Manasa Devi a hundred thousand times a day and remained absorved in prayer, till her body became inert and motionless. Pale and emaciated with the dear relics of the prince’s body by her side, she suffered intensely. In dark nights the winds rose and crocodiles gathered round her raft, eager to devour the decomposed body. Jackals also came to carry it off whenever the raft drew near the banks, but she was preserved by Provid- ence from their attacks. Being completely resigned, in her extraordinary devotion to Manasa Devi, and passing through unheard-of sufferings, she felt that a power was growing in her, which she could not define, but could feel nevertheless to be more than human. Sometimes she saw the evil spirits of the air in The decoms posed corpse. The force. of prayer Complete- ly resign- ed.