Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/768

 726 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap. Vrinda groves, and, advancing afew steps from where he stood, begins to describe the scenes of Vrinda- vana, as if he had now actually traversed all the dis- tance between heaven and earth. In these yatras of the past, the audience comprised people of all ranks, for it was a free entertainment to which all were welcome, held at the cost of the master of the house: Early comers generally occupied the front places, irrespective of their position, andlate comers had the disadvantage of back seats; but people aid not mind this. They often stood on their feet enjoying the songs for hours together without seeming to feel the inconveniences to which they were subject. Redeemed Though defective in so many ways—and from a by rich poetry. superficial point of view the whole performance was marked by incongruity and want of all zsthe- tic perception,—yet the old yvatras had the power to captivate the soul and keep men and women trans- axed for hours at a time. The songs describing the scenes of Baikuntha, the heaven of Visnu, of Amaravati, the heaven of Indra, or of the Alaka, the heaven of Kuvera, couched in rich poetic words and set to pleasing modes of music, made up for all want of painted scenes. They suggested roman- tic situations, and carried the audience to heights of imagination where no painter’s brush could have led them. The outward anomalies, the defective and even grotesque elements, were all forgiven and forgotten. These songs, thrilling with pathos, gave life to the performance, and the audience laughed and cried as though they fully believed in the joys and sorrows of the characters of the play. A very familiar personality in the old yatras was