Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/559

 V.] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. ' 523 Then comes the Deva gostha. Here the boys The Deva describe a superb scene that they have witnessed pb in the Vrinda groves,—while they come as usual in the morning to solicit Yagoda’s permission to take her dear son to the woods. They say “O mother, _ believe not your Krishna to be a common child. We cannot conceive of his greatness. He is our comrade and friend, but he is no ordinary mortal. Resplendent beings, with halo of light round their টু A superb heads, appear in the forest; O mother, we never sight. knew that such beings lived in Vrindavana. A woman of superhuman beauty comes nding on a 4, fide lion to the forest every day and taking our Krishna and god- তর - 55555 in her arms gives him sweet creamand butter to eat. come down But Krishna distributes those amongst us! They, 6 Pay = honour to are so sweet, so sweet! O mother, though you area ___‘ Krisna. queen, you have nothing so delicious!” Thus the boys unconsciously indicate that the Goddess Bhaga- vati comes amongst them to meet Visnu who is incar- nated as Krishna. They continue “ Then comes, O mother, a host of other beings. We know them not. Never in Vrinda groves, have we seen such men! One of them rides on a buffalo (Yama, king of death), another a peacock (the warrior god Karti- keya) and athird, resplendent with a crown from which diamonds. shoot forth their light like suns, comes riding on a huge white elephant (Indra riding on the elephant:Airavata) and then comes another being with four faces, radiant as fire, counting the beads of his rosary (Brahma, the creator). They all come to our Krisia and if he looks at them with kindliness, they feel as if they are blessed, their eyes become tearful with joy; they dare not approach him too closely, they hold him in so great