Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/745

VI. ] BENGAL! LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 7০93 In the songs of Menoka and Yacoda we find true portraits of the tenderness of Bengali mothers. we রর motnhere In those days there was scarcely a Bengali mother hood, who did not pass sleepless nights of longing for some girl-child of eight, sent to a stranger-family to play the housewife under a veil. These little wives were not allowed to move about or talk except in whispers to others of her own age! We all know the silent agonies of the mother's soul for her little widowed daughter living on a single meal a day, and observing fasts and vigils ! This throbbing motherhood with its anxious eyes and fervent faith is called up to the mind’s eyes as we hear these old songs of the village bards. We find in them the deep spirituality which has always made Bengah women bear the ills of life in a contented spirit ; we see, besides, their devotion to their husbands, and notice their skill in the culinary art and their hospi- tality in these songs. Above all we have a glimpse of their deep piety proving them to be the true daughters of those who showed such marvellous fortitude and faith as safzs on the funeral pyres of their husbands. These songs represent the feelings of the village people of Bengal, full of tender domes- tic instincts, who have lived plain lives, but have aspired to scale the loftiest heights in religion. সি টু 2. ১9 We give a list of kaviwalas below : A list of Kaviwalas. 1. Raghu the cobbler was a resident of Salkia —a village on the western bank of the Ganges facing Calcutta. He lived in the middle of the 16th century.