Page:History of Bengali Literature in the Nineteenth Century.djvu/361

 KABIWALAS 337 trimmings of an effete literary tradition and coming direct to the passion and emotion which throb and _pulsate in the individual. The ground on which they tread is as plain and simple as that which the Its common univer- ail appeal. peasant daily treads upon with his uncouth feet: yet it is from this common and universal soil that they draw their bracing and genial character. The Kabiwalas may not be the affluent inheritors of the spiritual estate of their ancestors but the apparently trifling things of art which had come down to them as their heir-looms served amply for their unmistakable insignia of rank and status. With thousand and one faults to its credit, the interest arising from the study of Kabi-poetry is not, except to the charlatan or the obtuse, the undesirable interest which springs from the contemplation of superlative erudity ; and although univer- sal popular appreciation, as we have already stated, is not the true test of poetic merit, such popular valuation is not to be wholly rejected asa false index by the pedantry of cultured criticism. Again, it must be borne in mind that most of these compositions were sozgs and not lyric poems and must be judged as such. It is not possible nor desirable to estimate the value of songs by the standard by which we ‘consider poetical compositions. We must appreciate a song through the ear and not feel it with the eye alone, It is not possible to convey Its quality as songs an idea of its melody through an and not merely lyric poems. appreciative essay ; it must be actually heard before its charm can be fully realised. This remark applies equally to the case of Baignab Padibalis. Those who have listened to Baisnab songs as well as to the songs of the Kabiwalas, sung by,an expert and tasteful singer, may appreciate their charmingness in 43