Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/404

 Laksmi’s hymns recited by Muham- medans; who also worship her in Java. Civananda Kar and other poets, 368 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap India the deity presiding over the rice and oat- fields naturally obtained homage from her rural population in this season. In the Ramayana we find the description of a golden image of Laksmi with two elephants on either side pouring water over her head in the Agoka-Banika of Ravana. The goddess in that particular form and position is’ known here as Gaja Laksmi, and after more than | two thousand years, the Jaypur sculptors still make | images of the goddess exactly answering the des- cription of the Ramayana. The goddess Laksmi_ or Cri was one of the most familiar deities wor-. shipped by the Buddhists. On the door-way of many Buddhist temples the image of this goddess. is found in a prominent position curved in bas- relief. It is curious to observe, that a class of rural — Muhammedan folk of Bengal have, fortheir sole occu- pation, the reciting of hymns in Bengali in honour of | Laksmi-Devi. them, and their Hindu brethern do not seem to This function exclusively belongs to” grudge this. In Java, Laksmi is worshipped by the Muhammedans of the place. Alas, the humble agri- | cultural Hindu or the Buddhist could give up the ' worship of all gods and goddesses after his conver- sion to Islam but not of his harvest-goddess ! A long poem was written three hundred years — 1 ayo in honour of this goddess by Givananda Kar, ॥ who had the title of Gunarajkhan. The next poem. on the subject was written by Jagamohan Mitra, who seems to have been aclever poet. He devotes The last poem of a part of his book to a description of Giva and Uma in Kailaga and other matters. ৮. the Laksmi-cult was written by Ranjitram Das in 1800,