Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/815

 VI. BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 773 ‘And may the shell-bracelets of the Princess and her vermilion mark, the signs of her wifehood, —endure for ever. “Grant me this boon, O God. I brought up my husband with great pain, and now what can I covet more than to see him happy with a princess ? “Though I die and am reduced to dust I shall ever rejoice at this sight of the happiness of my husband. “Tf I die now and am transformed into a bird or a lower animal, or whatever else may befall me, I care not, as I have seen my beloved happy.” This song is couched in the idioms of at least five centuries back.* The story has been worked into such life-like details, that the woman M4lancha- mala does not here pose asa great heroine. She does not seem to attempt at reaching any inacces- sible height. Her woes give rise to great pathos, but with all these she continues to attract us, as an unassuming lovely village-girl that she is. Our Bengali folklore shows how peculiarly situ- ated a Hindu wife might be in the midst of en- vironment and influences favourable to the de- velopment of a spirit of sacrifice, devotion and fidelity. Her growth was ofteo as natural as that of a flower, and is quite faithfully portrayed in the old literature of the country, and even in this unassuming folklore, where nothing has been put forward for the sake of display. The story of Kanchanamala also shows the familiar ideal of the Hindu wife. Her husband neglects her. but she persists in her devo- Kanchafia- mala.
 * Thakur Dadar Jhuli by Daksina Mitra p. 195.