Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/466

 The break- ing of caste and oppo. sition of the Bhatta- charyyas. 430 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap, | from all quarters; for the news spread on all. hands that a God-man had come into their midst. By this time the sage Nityananda, who — was then a young man, had come and joined Nimai. They became the centre of a circle of men who — lived holy lives, did act of charity, and recited | and chanted the name of God, night and day, till _ vi songs of great poetic beauty were composed. Their — music, consisted of songs accompanied by the — Khol, Karatal and Ramg¢inga, and for whole nights the music would go on, with Nimai in the centre of the party, sometimes in a state of unconsciousness, and at others, singing enthusiastically with the rest, while his face beamed with a strange God-vision. The Bhattacharyyas, the great scholars of Nava- dwipa, opposed this movement. Nimai had broken the trammels of caste. He boldly declared, “Though one is a Chandal (Paria) he is superior to all Brahmins, if he is pious and has love for God.” If any one says, “Thou O Krisna art my life,” he will embrace him, no matter to what caste he may belong. Nothing indeed was holy or unholy in his eyes—even as he had said in his boyhood. “If any one takes food,” he said, “from the same | plate with a Doma (sweeper), he becomes pre- | eminently entitled by that act of mercy for obtain-— ing the favour of god. It a Muchi (cobbler) prays to God with true devotion, a hundred times do I offer — salutes at his feet.’’* Inasociety where the Brahmin | was held as a God, and a Doma as worse than a dog, these sayings from the lips of a Brahmin sounded stra bold. The company of men, drawn / Banga-Bhasa-o-Sahitya, pp. 284—8o.
 * For 75. in regard to the above quotations, see ne ]