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SPRING FESTIVAL

for their strict decorum, but the festive day allowed a certain degree of licence. No sooner had Nobo Kumar and his party approached them than they greeted him with a song of Krishna in their own Northern language.

I

"Will Kanu go to Dwarka^[1]
Leaving us alone?
Cheerless be our village home,
Joyless maids and shepherds roam,
Lightless be Mathura's dome,
When Kanu shall be gone.

II

Will Kanu go to Dwarka,
At breaking of the day?
Our cows will leave the pasture ground,
Not listening to the dulcet sound
Of Kanu's flute with silver bound,
And Kanu's rustic lay!

III

Will Kanu go to Dwarka,
From Jumna's verdant grove?
Brindaban's milkmaids long will sigh,
And miss the bright, the languid eye,
The peacock plume, the bearing high,
Of him who won their love!

IV

Oh, weep ye for Basudeb,^[2]
And for Jashoda weep!
For Radhika of matchless grace,
Of jasmine bosom, lotus face,
Of silken frame and swan-like pace,
Our maids and matrons weep!"

1. Kanu or Kanhai is a name of Krishna. He left Mathura on the banks of the Jumna to found a kingdom at Dwarka in Gujrat. Nobo Kumur's intended departure from Birnagar to Debipur was alluded to in the song.
2. Basudeb was the father and Jashoda the mother of Krishna. Radhika was his own true love.

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