Page:History of Bengali Literature in the Nineteenth Century.djvu/364

 340 BENGALI LITERATURE system of rhyme-ending. These divisions, in their suc- cession, in each complete song, are: chitan, par-chitin, phuka, melti, mahada (saoyairi, not present, however, in all songs), Ahad, and then second phuka and second me//a, and lastly antara. If the word-composition is continued, then, ciitan, etc., come again in their successive order. Now as to the system of rhyme-ending, the chan and par-chitin rhyme together. The phusa, has a different rhyme-ending ; so also me/ta which however rhymes in its turn with mahada and had. The second phusai has an independent rhyme but the second me//@ rhymes again with mahada, while antara closes with a different rhyme-ending altogether. The number of lines which each of these musical divisions contains is immaterial but itis essential that the lines should follow the rhyme-arrangement indicated above ; and this gives, as in stanzaic poems or sonnets, a compactness of arrangement. Taking each division to contain one line we may indicate the rhyme-arrangement in a normal scheme in this way (five rhymes in all aede)— a Chitan a Parchitan 6b Phuka e Melta e Mahadi ce Saoyari e Khad d Second Phuka e Second Mahada e Antara 1 The earlier Kabi-songs are, however, simple in structure, having generally mahada, chitan and antara only. There is some difference of opinion on this point and different accounts are given. According toa writer in Bandhab, Pouws, 1282, p. 265, the four divisions of Kabi-songs are chitan, mukh (or mahada), khad, antar@: or, in some cases, chitan, dhuy4, antara, jhumair.