Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/629

 V.] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. — 589 subjects making the whole house burst into peals of laughter before the tears had dried in their eyes. iXrisna Mohana Ciromani of Kodalia in 24-Per- gannas was his great rival. Another kathaka of great renown who lived about this time was Cridhara Pathaka who contributed a large number of songs to the literature of Kathakata. To-day Ksetra Natha Chudamani of Bagbazar, enjoys the esteem and admiration of a large sec- tion of the Hindu community of Bengal. Asa story-teller there is no kathaka now living that can approach him. His songs and highly poetic descriptions call up vivid pictures before the mind. Krisna-kathaka of Shampukur is a person of superior scholarship but as narrator of story he stands below Ksetra Chudamaani. The kathakas of the old school were scholars, poets, and finished singers. The effect which their narration produced was wonderful. Born story-tellers as they were, their oration was coupled with power of music, the effect of all which was heightened by their command over Thelr language and their great scholarship. All this ভি made them the most popular figures in Bengali- influence. society and it is impossible to describe the hold which they had upon the women of our country. When their day’s work was done, they would hasten in the evenings to hear the stories narra- ted by kathakas at the house of some one who was generally a man of means and of religious tem- perament. The stories inspired the minds of women by instancesof the lofty sacrifice that Hindu wives have made for the sake of virtue, chastity and faith. In the case of great and illustrious