Page:Love in Hindu Literature.djvu/26

 12 I. TAGORE. has already known " love's satiety," : as he confesses, " Beloved, my life is full."

Chitra is thus an artist's study in sex. It touches the very foundations of individual life, and thus of social existence as well. The sex-element in human relations is at once their imperfection and their grandeur. Chitrd announces in unmistakable terms the sacredness of this sex-impulse, the sanctity of this sex-attraction. We know what Wordsworth said, from his own experience, for all mankind, regarding the successive manifestations of the sex-idea on man's side in his relation with woman : " She was a phantom of delight When first she gleam'd upon my sight ; A lovely apparition sent To haunt, to startle and waylay." Chitra did really " haunt, startle and waylay " our man with a mission. In the next stage, Wordsworth's woman is " A creature not too bright or good For human nature's daily food, For transient sorrows, simple wiles. Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears and smiles."

The following is the lecture of Chitra to her spell-bound lover : " I am Chitra. No goddess to be worshipped, nor yet the object of common pity to be brushed aside like a moth with indifference." Further, "I am not beautifully perfect J have many flaws and blemishes My garments are dirty, and my feet are bleeding with thorns The gift that 1 proudly bring you is the heart of a woman. Here have all pains and joys