Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/442

 The message of Eastern India to the world. 406 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap.] Eastern India seems to have a singular mission for the world. There is no Haldighat, no Chillin- wala, no Kurukhestra, no Panipat in this part of the country. No martial feats, no acts of extra- ordinary bravery or patriotism mark this blessed land; but the pre-historic temples of Benares rise aloft invoking people from the furthest provinces of India to respond to their high religious call; the Sama-songs accompanied by the evening-bells and sung in chorus by Vedic Brahmins in the holy city carry us to the times when the Risis of old, set their first great utterances on religion to sublime music. The monastery of Nalenda, once one of the greatest centres of learning in the world, opened its portals to all peoples without distinction and drew pupils from every part of the then known world. The pillar-inscriptions of Acoka pro- claimed from here the great truths of universal equality, forbearance, and kindness, and shewed the solicitious care of an ideal monarch who was a father to his people—nay, was full of compassion even for the dumb animals. Here, in yet earlier | times, lived Ramain Uttara Kogola whose name as that of an incarnation of God is uttered by all — Hindus in the hour of death. And it was here that | the great Buddha from Kapilavastu preached his reli- । gion which has left its stamp on the civilization of the whole world, and whose influence may be traced not — only in the ‘Karma-bad’ on which modern Hinduism is based, but even in the Catholic Church of © Christians and inthe creed of the Shufis amongst Mahammadans. The Jaina Tirthankaras all at- tained their spiritual goal in this part of India, and | the great temple of Jagannath in Puri, and the