IV.] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 169 funeral ground, and thus meets the demand of Vigwamitra. He is bidden by his master to watch and serve Serves in in the funeral ground during the night. It isa দে cloudy night and the rays of stars shine feebly over the grounds from which appears here and there the lurid light of funeral pyres that only increases the gloom of the place. A mourner comes, carrying a young lad in her arms, and implores, in a petious tone, help for cremating the dead child. Haric Chandra at once recognises in her his beloved Queen, the dead body being of his own son, the prince Rohitagwa who died of snake-bite on that very day. The interview between the royal couple in that plight becomes heart-rending; the King of the world in the guise of a Dom in rags, and the rae পা Queen Caibya whose beauty and character were ing. the themes of the songs of the Maghada bards, lowly at his feet in the agonies of insupportable grief. The whole story is tragic and full of tender pathos. Raja Haric Chandra suffers for the sake of truth. There is no other compulsion throughout all these trials than that which springs from within, —from asense of duty, which with men of high character, always carries the strongest force. The. Gayen sings in a melodious strain and his voice trembles with tender emotion, as he describes the sufferings of the King. The pathos created by the woes of the Queen and of the Prince melt the audience to tears, and the silence that prevails over that vast congregation is only interrupted by occa- sional sobs—the Chief Singer’s tone ringing in 22
