Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/755

 VI. ] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE... 713 relations, the father had been deprived of 115 inheritance, and the poet passed his early life in poverty. While yet in his teens he was admitted as an apprentice in the revenue office of a Zemindar and was entrusted with the work of keeping the accounts. One day his master was taken by sur- prise to find some remarkably beautiful songs scribbled over the pages of the account-book, evidently in the hand-writing of the young appren- tice. When he came to know that Rama Prasada was their author, he was so highly pleased with the poetic talents of the young man, that he con- ferred a pension of Rs. 30 on him, and allowed him to retire to his village and devote himself to the composition of songs. Rama Prasada also obtained a pension from Raja Krisna Chandra, besides a gift of 100 dighas of rent-free land in 1758. After his retirement his fame spread all over Bengal, and his songs composed in the soul-captivating Ragin called the MMZalacri, wrought a revolution in the spiritual world. These songs came spontaneously from the soul. The motherhood of God is a definite realisation in them. Like a child, the poet prattles in them of his griefs and sorrows to the Divine Mother Kali. Kali, the Bens রঃ এ ॥ 3 ৬ বয় ama Prasada was a devout worshipper of Kali, Gather —Ka4li with her fierce destructive look, with a com- plexion dark as the darkest cloud, and with four hands, one holding the decapitated head of a sinner, another a sword, the third offering benediction and the last assurance to those who would not swerve from virtue’s path. When we call God all merciful, kind, and benign, there is one element which we try to white-wash to please our fancy. Surely the go