OPINIONS 541 Longing for Personal Life, sometimes the hero or heroine of a Mymelisingh ballad seems a fatalist in clinging to a course of action which persistently causes pain. But at bottom the reason for this i. truly not resignation but a longing for a personal life. For instance Malua whose hush and is crushed by a ruler who desires her. Malu a might by accepting her parents' prayer, escape from the cruel ruler's land thereby avoiding danger to herself and freeing he husband of responsibility for her. But she prefers to remain in the darger zone in abject poverty without even the joy of her husband's presence. Is this a lack of will ? Is it fidelity and passive love? Is it not rather a great love coupl d with a longing ίο follow the intense full life of the egn and instinctive insistence on the individual's swaraj ? In others of these ballads so rich in surprises and in lessons or the under. standing of the true India, I am struck by the exclamation of men.' I wiligo to strange lands ' and of women, "I will fly with you to distan lands.' For. people rooted in the soil to include geographic space among the possible solutions of their problems may show a subconsciour remembrance of ancient nigrations and in any case shows an imagination and flexibility unexpected perhaps in a peasantry possessively in love with its birthplace. Strength of Personality. A striking impression gathered throughout the ballads is recalled to me by this capacity of the young to think of themselves as separate from their childhood environment. It is that love of village and elders and devotion to duties to society and parents are all strong factors but stronger yet is love of one's chosen mate and devotion to one's personal freedom. Much of the greatness of the chief characters in these ballads lies in their deciding their problems for themselves with a firm base of conventions and love of their childhood home to work up from towards a solution perhaps not bringing a maximum of peace or temporary pleasures into their lives but manifesting very fully their love of liberty. Even in Chandravati' whose theme is an exception to the above viewpoint in some respects the poet has expressed regret and even resentment that religion and tradition should have succeeded in separating the maiden from her repentant Jaychandra. The Bengali Girls. But resourcefulness and strength of personality are not the only characteristics of the Bengali girls in the Mymensingh ballads. The beauty of maideus and young wives is sung enthusiastically and with a sense of good taste rooted in nature. One girl-child' shines like a bright stone in a dark house. Kamala, when angry is " a flower garden on fire.' A girl goes to the pond to bathe and when at the water's edge the wind blew the veil from before her face,' the bees left the waterlily for the lily of the shore ' another maiden's cheeks' have the glow of a hundred Champak flowers.' More subtle and even more firmly true to reality than such praises are the songs telling the effect of young women's beauty on others. When a child enters her youth and becomes beautiful, the neighbours with whom she has passed her life suddenly discover her and exclaims, 'From what place has this beautiful one come to our village?' Most delightful of all is the tale of how Kamala brought joy into the life of the aged cowherd who gave her shelter in her flight. The good old man firmly believes it is the Goddess of good fortune in person who has come to his hut. For the cows have suddenly begun giving more milk and, miracle of miracles, a buffalo long thought harren has given birth........................... Modern Psychology and the herdsman's piety are strikingly in harmony; who in the twentieth century would say that a beautiful and helpful woman is not a Goddess of good fortune?
