574 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap. Vaisnava going to gostha or the meadows to tend the cows. influence 2 : এ চু নু: inCakta [his feature is evidently attributed to her in imita- and Caiva : কস ; e ই | ee tion of Krisna’s gostha ; a tender sentiments of Yacoda are not unoften attributed to Menaka, mother of Um g in the literature of the Caktas. We find the (iva of the Vedas transformed into an altogether different God in the Puranas. New features were added to his character which belong- ed to Buddha and thus he was represented in a light which satished the requirements of a particular period when bBuddhistic ideas predominated. This process of continually remodelling the gods in ac- cordance with the demands of particular epochs of Indian religious history, continues up to the present day, and itis this genius of the people of Bengal for giving a shape to the hoary gods of the Hindu- pantheon suitable to the tastes of the times, that keeps up a perenoial flow of inspiration derived from the particular form of religion that may be prevalent at the time. (Qiva himself takes on the Vaishnava stamp in some of the songs composed in his honour alter the advent of Chaitanya Deva. We quote a song below to illustrate this :—
- “ Civa losing all consciousness by taking drugs,
dances in the company of ghosts. His horn
- ভাঙ্গে বিভোর তভোলানাথ ভূতগণ সঙ্গে নাচিছে।
হরে বাম হরে রাম মধুর ডুম্ধুর বাজিছে॥ কর্ণেতে শেভিছে ধুস্তর ফুল। স্তর সেবনে আখি ঢুলুঢল । পেরানে বাঘছাল খপিয়া খপিয়া পড়িছে ॥ An old song of (iva,
