Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/899

 VII. ] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 855 mountable or intricate—are overcome by love. The best men of the land during the first epoch of the British rule were drawn to Christanity by the noble examples of philanthropic love displayed by the Christian missionaries. They were not attracted by the inherent qualities of Christanity so much as by the examples of suffering for love before them. It was owing to these traits of disinterestedness in the life of early missionaries that men like the Young men Rev. K. M. Banerjee, the Rev. Lal Behari De, of Bengal anglicised. Michael Madhu Sudana Datta, Govinda Chandra Datta and last though not the least of this glorious -band, Dr. K. C. Banerjee had embraced Christanity. For nearly a century the enlightened Hindus were dazzled by the glare of western civilisation; and showed no inclination to admit that anything could have been noble or great in the past of their own nation. The great personality of Chaitanya Deva and his heavenly love, the poems of Chandi Das and the lays of other Vaisnva poets, the songs of Rama Prasada, the vivid and noble portraitures of domes- tic life found in Kavi Kafikana’s poems and the ex- quisite touches and elegance of Bharat Chahdra’s style could now command no attention from the educated young men of Bengal; in fact, Bengal with her wealth of noble ideas lay far off, though so near, and Europe, removed from us by land and sea became nearer.and dearer to the new generation of the Hindus who came in touch with the mission- aries.. In the domestic circle the parents became anxious for children who under the spell of mis- sionary influeuce failed even to admire the patient and self-sacrificing love for religion which had marked the Hindu women of the past, and revolted