such as the cases of Durbāsā and Bhrigu, the Brahmans even dared declare themselves superior to the gods. Durbāsā cursed Indra for which he lost his sovereignty over heaven for sometime and the sage Bhrigu is said to have kicked the God Vishnu on the breast. But these instances are rare. In the Pauranik period people did not learn to rely on their own strength but to depend, for everything, on the grace of gods and Brahmans. This spirit of absolutely slavish and soul-killing dependence naturally weakened the Bengali character. But, as has already been noticed, the mentality of the people belonging to the earlier period, when stress was laid on self-culture and development of ethical virtues was quite different. The conception of such characters as the merchant Chand, Lau Sen, and others in the earlier period bears testimony to the stamina of the Bengali character. The bold female characters of the Pre-renaissance age cannot but evoke our admiration. Lakhā had to be tied down by her husband Kalu lest she should prevent him from carrying out his resolve of self-destruction. But in the latter age these characters as recast by the Brahmans in conformity with the the pervading spirit of the Renaissance, suffered the loss of their moral grandeur to a great extent. A heroic character, such as Sita, whom Valmiki invests with queen-like grandeur sinks to the level of common woman at the hands of Krittivasa and the poets of his school. When Rama unjustly suspects her, she cries like a helpless weakling and scarcely shews that majestic unconcern which we find in Valmiki's original. The male characters underwent even a greater transformation. In the place of Hadisiddha or Gorakshanath whose powers were even felt by the gods, we see Ramchandra himself, an incarnation of Vishnu praying to the goddess Durgā like a helpless child in his contests with Ravana, To a devotee divine help was never refused in times of need. Thus we find in the Chandikavya :— "Chandi descended from her place in heaven into the prison of Kālketu. When the goddess saw the hero in chains, she became quite ashamed of herself. When Kālketu saw the goddess before him, he made a reverential bow with tearful eyes. Then Chandi removed the heavy stone from the hero's breast and also broke the shackles which bound him."1 In another instance the same goddess vouchsafed a boon to the merchant Chandradhar of the Manasāmangal poems and "instantly the shackles gave way and the merchant was saved." In the cases of other gods and goddesses we find similar instances of kindly intervention in favour of devoted votaries. As the ideas of the Pauranik age took root in the minds of the people, they became quite helpless in every matter and looked to supernatural agency for relief on every occasion. Signs, symbols and sorceries held their sway upon popular mind, and self-dependence and manly energy became wellnigh extint. But in the Renaissance period, men became accustomed to resignation which is certainly a great spiritual virtue and the evils of Tantrikism gradually passed away. The lives of people became more and more regulated by rules of abstinence and other passive virtues. The flowering point of the Renaissance culture was reached in the extraordinary development of Bhakti amongst the Vaisnavas. The age preceding the Brahmanic revival had no place for the culture of faith, but the influence of Islam was clearly perceptible in the Renaissance cults in the form of a belief in a personal and anthromorphic God. In the place of impersonal nature of worship leading men to identify themselves with God (R), the Renaissance cults distinctly laid a stress on faith in personal gods. In however crude a form, this faith was recognised, the followers of Sakti cult believed their deities to watch and guard their devotees, driving their enemies away and protecting them from all danger with almost the same ardour with which the followers of Islam believed in the intervention of God in their struggles and conflicts with the Kafers. 1 See Kavikankan's Chandikāvya p. 105. (To be continued.) Bhaktamal (Krishnadās). 10. Bhakti Chintamani (Vrindaban Dās). 11. Bhakti Ratnakar (Narahari Chakravarti). 12. Bengali Rāmāyanas (D. C. Sen). 13. Chaitanya Mangal (Jayananda). 14. Chaitanya Mangal (Lochandās). 15. Chaitanya Bhagavat (Vrindaban Dās). 17. Chaitanya Chandrodaya Kaumudi (Prem Dās). 20. Chandika Vijaya (Kamala Lochan). 21. Dākcharitra. 22. Dharma Pujā Vidhān (Rāmāi Pandit). 23. Dharmamangal (Manik Ganguli). 24. Dharmamangal (Ghanaram). 25. Durgamangal (Bhabani Dās). 26. Durga-Pan cha-Ratri (Jagatram). 27. Durlabha-Sara (Lochan Dās). 28. Egypt and Israel (Petrie). 29. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 30. Folk Literature of Bengal (D. C. Sen) 31. Gangamangal (Madhavācharyya). Kaviraj, 32. Gauḍapada Tarangini (Compiled by Jagabandhu Bhadra). 33. Gita Chandrodaya. 34. Gita Govinda (Giridhar Dās). 35. Gita Govinda (Rasamay Dās). 36. Goraksha Vijay. 37. Gopi Chandra (Bhabani Dās). 38. Gopi Chandrer Git (Cal. University Publication). 39. Gopi Chandrer Sannyas (Sukur Muhammad). 40. Govinda Chandrer Git (Durlava Mallik). 41. Govindamangal (Dukhi Syam Dās). 42. Govinda Lilāmrita (Jadunandan Dās). 43. Hat Pattan (Narottamdas). 44. History of Mediaeval Vaisnava Literature (D. C. Sen). of Bengali 45. History of (D. C. Sen). Language and Literature 46. History of Bengal (R. D. Banerjee). 47. History of Bengali Language (B. Majumdar). 48. History of Indian and Eastern Architecture (Fergusson). 49. History of Music (Stanford & Forsyth). 50. Indian Art (Havell). 51. Indian Iconography (Gopinath Rao). 52. Indian Shipping (R. K. Mookerjee). 53. Jagannath Ballav (Rāmānanda Ray). 54. Jagaran (Mādhavācharyya). 55. Jagannathmangal (Gadadhar Dās). 56. Jagannath Ballav Nātak (Akinchan Das). 57. Kabikankan-Chandi (Mukundarām, Bangabasi Ed.). 58. Kaḍcha (Govindadās). 59. Kasi Parikrama (Jaynarayan Ghoshal). 60. Kern's Manual. 61. Krishnakirtana (Chandidās, Ed. by B. R. Roy). 62. Krishna Vijaya (Mālādhar Basu). 63. Krishna Prem Tarangini (Bhāgavatāchāryya). Krishnakarnāmrita (Jadunandan Das). 64. 65. Krishnamangal (Mādhabācharyya). 66. Krishna-Lilāmrita-Sindhu (Bhagavatacharyya). 67. Kulaji-literature (Genealogical works). 68. Mahābhārata (Nityananda Ghosh). 69. Mahabharata (Kavindra Parameswar). 71. Maharastra Puran (Ganga Ram). 72. Manasar Bhāshān (Ketakadās Kshemānanda). 76. Musalmani Kechha-o-Mantra Tantra, Vratakathā Sāra, etc., published by the Battala Press. 77. Mymensingh Ballads (Edited by D. C. Sen). 78. Narottam Vilās (Narahari Das). 79. Nām Sankirtan. 80. Padakalpa Latika (Gaurmohan Dās). 81. Padakalpataru (Vaishnava Dās). 82. Padavali (Govinda Das). 83. Padavali (Jnān Dās). 84. Padavali (Vidyapati). 85. Padaratnavali (Narottam Dās). 86. Padavali (Chandidās). 87. Padma Puran (Vijay Gupta, P. S. Sen Gupta's Ed.). 88. Padavali (Balaram Dās). 89. Padavali (Rai Sekhar). 90. Padavali (Jagadānanda). 91. Padma Purana (Bansi Dās, D. Chakravarti's Ed.). 92. Padmavati (Ãlāol). 93. Padamrita Samudra (Radhamohan Thakur). 94. Pashanda Dalan (Krisnadas). 95. Periplus of the Erythrean Sea. 96. Prem bhakti Chandrikā (Narottam Das). 97. Prem Vilasa (Nityananda Dās). 98. Rājmālā (Sukreswar and Vāneswar). 99. Rāmāyana (Krittivāsa). 100. Rāmāyana (Adbhutacharyya). 101. Rāmāyana (Jagatrām). 102. Rāmāyana (Chandrāvali). 103. Rāmāyana (Şaştivara Sen). 104. Sārāvali (Radhamadhab Ghosh). 18 |