694 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap. sengali villages are hallowed above all by the wond- erful sacrifices of the sa¢zs, and their heroic death on the funeral pyres of their husbands, when, with a gentle wave of the hand from the midst of flames, nls Tone they would often indicate a wish to hear the name of god recited at the last moment. Here in Bengal the renunciation of Buddha has been practised by princes from age toage, by Dipankara Sri Fnana of Eastern Bengal—by Gopi Chand of the Pal dynasty, by Narottama of Kheturi, by Raghunatha Das of Satgaon, and in our modern times by the saintly Lala Babu of Paikpara, all of whom left their worldly glory, and went forth, beggar’s bow] in hand, caring for naught but the highest truth vouch- safed to man. Here the dynasty of the ancient rzsves and seers of the Vedanta Philosophy remains un- broken to the present day in the person of Ram Krisna Paramhansa, who exemplified self forgetful | divine love in the eyes of men now living. These villages of Bengal should not be taken for the homes of men like Mirzafar, Umichand and Nanda Kumara,—political intriguers, trained in courts to
heinous vices revolting to the nature of a rural people. Fifty years ago the one great fear of Hindu parents in Bengal was lest their sons should take the vow of the Sannyasin. They would not allow them even to sit on a Ausasana,—a seat which was generally used by Sadhus. Since the time of Buddha, renunciation in the cause of the highest truth has been no idle dream, no will-o’-the-wisp Renuncia- aor theory, amongst Hindus. It is a goal towards Hindu-life. which the whole Indian civilisation has continued to move, even as Western civilisation moves to- wards patriotism, and against political serfdom,
