Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/767

VI.] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 225 surrounding villages to assemble at the place of per- Its defects and incon: formance. This loud music would continue for a gruities. couple of hours, after which the play would begin in earnest. A green room, so to speak, was reserved for the actors to change their dress. Sometimes one would be observed to throw away his false whiskers, and dress himself as a woman, in full view of the audience ; the faces were not very clean shaved, so that while playing the serious part of a princess or a lady of high rank, an actor might often be ob- served to bear on his chin remnants of the beard or moustache that had adorned his previous mascu- line part. The performers including those who were dressed as women, would sing in chorus; and the master-singer was always behind them and could sometimes be seen pulling the ear of some erring lad who could not pitch his tone correctly to the high notes of the musical instruments. An- other actor, while delivering a speech, might be tem- pted by the sight of a Aooka, and in the midst of a pathetic display of feeling, be seen to stop fora moment to snatch a puff of smoke, so that the first line of a song would coincide with the curl of smoke that issued from his mouth. Sometimes we may see the mother of the hero weeping over his dead body; suddenly she springs to her feet, and takes her place in the middle of the chorus, which bursts into a song of grief; at the same moment, the slain hero himself rises, in order to swell the volume of the music! The want of scenic representation was made up for by the simple declaration of the actor that he had now removed to a different place. Thus, Narada the sage, who happens to be in the heaven of Visnu, declares that he will now visit the