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<title>ORIGINAL BENGALI WRITINGS</title>

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<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><b>
<font size="4">ORIGINAL BENGALI WRITINGS</font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<div class=Section1>

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none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><b><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></b></p>

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mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>(In English
Translation)</p>

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<p class=MsoNormal style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

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12.45pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><b>
<font size="4">ON ART AND LITERATURE</font><o:p><font size="4">&nbsp;</font></o:p></b></p>

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solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

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padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><b><span style='font-family:
Arial'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></b></p>

</div>

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15.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>&nbsp;</p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:
15.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<b
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><font size="4">World-Literature</font><o:p></o:p></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>(I)</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>‘REAL poetry, the acme of
poetical art,’ says Victor <span class=GramE>Hugo,</span> ‘is characterised by immensity
alone.’ That is why Aeschylus, Lucretius, Shakespeare and Corneille had
conquered his heart. Had he been acquainted with Sanskrit literature he would
have included Valmiki and the Vedic seers. As a matter of fact, what we want to
derive from poetry or any other artistic creation is a glimpse of the Infinite
and the Eternal. When the heart opens wide, it soars aloft to clasp the whole
universe with its outspread wings. In the absence of the spirit of universality
any work of art, however fascinating, exq1Jisite, subtle or deep, is
incomplete; it betrays an imperfection. And where this element of immensity is
present, we get something superior even if it contains nothing else; whether it
is charged with a grand significance or not, we get something that surpasses
all other virtues and we see our heart full to the brim. Whatever be the
matter, the, subject, the thought, the emotion or anything else, that does not
touch the core of poetry. Through all these or reaching beyond them what is
required is a glimpse of the vast, the waves of delight pervading the universe.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>When we read these lines
of Shakespeare,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:
center 2.0in right 4.3in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='mso-tab-count:2'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>.
. . <span class=GramE>and</span> rock his brains</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;</span><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;</span>In cradle of the rude imperious surge—<span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

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solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;border:medium none;
mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 41 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>or</span>
these from Hugo himself,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i>Le pâtre promontoire au
chapeau des <span class=SpellE>nuées</span><o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE><i>S'
accoude et</i></span><i> rêve au bruit de tous les infinis, –<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>we</span>
are borne on the bosom of a shoreless Deep. The same immensity pervades those
verses of Valmiki, which may be rendered:</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Know us as Kshatriyas
carrying on their duties while roving</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:3.25in;text-indent:9.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;</span><span class=GramE>in</span> the forest.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>We desire to know you, who
are roaming in the Dandakas – </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:right 258.95pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>and</span>
that phrase from the Vedic seer Shunahshepa,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:231.8pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>These constellations set high above, that are seen at
night,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Where were they during the
day?</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The works of Varuna move
unhindered,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The Moon comes nightly
revealing them.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>When we hear these sacred
words, do we not feel that all the bondages of our being break to pieces as it
happened to Shunahshepa? It seems Lord Varuna has lifted from over our head a
veil of cloud, a strong current released from some unknown quarter flows on
inundating both the banks of our heart. In<b> </b>fact, this water-god Varuna
himself is the fount of the seer's vision and the poet's creative genius. In<b>
</b>the Vedic hymns we always come across three gods together; these three in
unison, with combined power, guide man and the world to a continuous
progression and the ultimate success. This Trinity is Varuna, Mitra, <span
class=GramE>Aryama</span>. Varuna is the vast, the immense, the eternal, the
infinite, and absolute, beyond all limitation. Mitra is union, harmony,
beauty, bliss. Aryama signifies strength, power, <span class=SpellE><span
class=GramE>dynamis</span>. </span></p>
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solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 42 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

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none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span class=SpellE>In poetic genius too these three gods are at
once present. Varuna forms the basis on which stand Mitra and Aryama – in the vast
expanse of freedom, in the wide unbarred progress of the spiritual vision
heaves up in surges the gracefully rhythmic dance of the forces.</span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.05pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Therefore
the first principle of poetry is freedom from all narrowness: The poet will
adore the universal ideas and expressions that can be appreciated and welcomed
by all without any distinction of race, caste or creed. No doubt, the poet also
is a man and every man is endowed with individual as well as collective
traits. Life and conduct, social laws and customs, culture and education, that
is to say, the materials from which literary themes are derived differ in
different climes and times. Every language has its own characteristic and
special genius. The poet has to make use of all these things. In this world we
do not find any class of people known as cosmopolitans who do not belong to a
particular nationality. There is no one language known as the world-language.
But it is a matter of no consequence. The poet's genius consists in his ability
to show the universal in the particular: that is to say, how a thing limited in
time and space can be used as the symbol of the Eternal and the Infinite; how a
glimpse of the Infinite can be made to manifest itself in the finite. Just as
a poet has not to view a temporary truth confined to a small area to be the
absolute truth so also he must not have a bias for the abstract philosophical
truth which does not come into contact with a particular time, space and the
individual. In fact, the formless universality that does not or cannot bear
the touch of the physical world is particularly a matter of philosophy. The
philosophical truth always likes to shun the local <span class=SpellE>colour</span>,
for its purpose is not to exaggerate or make a display of the truth. But the
poet seeks for a living image of the truth. An image must exist and must have a
contour, yet the poet has to bring in the universal in the image itself, the
Infinite has to be made living and visible – that is the exclusive art of<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

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solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;
mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 43 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>his</span>
genius. For example, take the famous line from Virgil</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i>Tantae molis erat
Romanam condere gentem<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-bidi-font-style:
italic'>(Such huge labour was needed to found the Roman race.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Here
we find the pride of a particular nation displayed – the dangers and
difficulties that had to be faced and the endeavours undergone to build the
city of <st1:City><st1:place>Rome</st1:place></st1:City>. Here there is nothing
expressly universal. But the poet has made use of these words in such a way
that he does not seem to speak either about the city of <st1:City><st1:place>Rome</st1:place></st1:City>
or obstacles and difficulties met with in building that city. This we forget <i>in
toto. </i>There is a world-encompassing, stupendous and prodigious effort
standing erect before our vision, before the eyes of the world. The city of <st1:City><st1:place>Rome</st1:place></st1:City>
and the goddess Juno and the hero Aeneas are mere symbols and excuses to
express a great universal truth.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>In<b>
</b>a parallel manner, the epics of Dante and Milton have specifically dealt
with the Christian ideas. To us, modern intellectuals and adorers of materia1
science most of the ideas of these two poets may seem not only grotesque but
also superstitious – at least they will appear unfamiliar and strange. But once
we cross the barrier of words and enter the realm of the spirit, leaving behind
the outward theme, we are in contact with the inner soul and we come across
something altogether different which is vast and intensely near and intimate to
our own heart. Thus,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:21.1pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:-13.5pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Jehovah thundering out of Sion, throned</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:-13.5pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Between the Cherubim</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:10.8pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE>is</span> kindred to our own Vedic</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:10.8pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;mso-line-height-alt:
10.55pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE>Dawn or the head of the sacrificial fire.</span></p>
<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 44 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:8.15pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>However
foreign and unfamiliar the words and images used by the poets; however
skillfully they may conceal themselves under mystic symbols, still we can hear
and feel the secret of their heart that lies beyond names and forms:</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:8.15pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>...Above
the Olympian hill I soar, </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Above
the flight of Pegasean wing! </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
meaning, not the name I call –</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:7.65pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>A
poet is not bound by any clime and time. That does not mean he neglects them.
He utilises the elements supplied by time and space to create a
world-literature which is eternally infinite, true for ever and everywhere. On
the other hand, the kind of literature which is solely confined to time and
space, the suggestiveness of which has been exhausted in a particular form and
name, in which the universal spirit fails to move about freely, may at best be
called a rural parochial literature and can never claim to be world-literature.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:7.65pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>(2)</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:8.85pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Two
classes, two trends are to be discerned in the literature of every country. As
human life has two aspects – the natural and the spiritual – even so every
literature has a popular and a classical style. The natural or the physical
life is the foundation, and it supplies all necessary elements. But man's duty
and .his fulfilment consist in building up the spiritual life on this basis,
and to mould the natural elements into the spiritual and to impart a spiritual
meaning to them. Likewise the basic popular is to be re-shaped into the
classical and raised to a higher and nobler status.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:8.15pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Now,
what is meant by popular – &quot;plebeian&quot; – literature? It is the literature
of the people, the common man, <span class=GramE>the</span> literature that has
grown up around the ordinary life</p>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 45 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>of</span>
the ordinary run. When man is in his early childhood, when he has just dissociated
himself from his mere animality and has begun to know and feel his own self,
when he has learnt first to lisp, the delight which he then derives from
expressing his feelings and perceptions through articulate words marks the
origin of the first poet of nature. At this stage we find a spontaneous
exuberance of kindly experiences. The poet's vision is utterly physical here.
His eyes turn exclusively to the external world confined within his limited
ken. The poet portrays through word and rhythm his normal daily experiences
acquired in his own private chamber or while roving in the open fields around
homely hamlets. His imagination is also circumscribed. <span class=GramE>by</span>
such or similar environments. The language is soft, fluid and partly expressive
– it is molten and gliding. His themes stem from the happiness and sorrow of
the common life, ready at hand; nothing complex is to be found there.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.7pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Literary
creation starts with proverbs and fairy tales. Another stage sets in when men
do not relish merely the simple narration but want to narrate in a lucid and
artistic manner. <span class=GramE>Not only that, they do not want to indulge
in any ordinary subject but want to speak of something momentous and
significant.</span> And here is the foundation of true literature. But still
there is the admixture of popular, plebeian manners, modes of rustic
consciousness. The touch of spirituality, <i>i.e. </i>Soulfulness, the savour
of a bliss found elsewhere in seclusion and isolation and the wide universal
experiences of a true seer have not yet penetrated there. The great poet
exceeds not only his surroundings – his own people and land; he is able to
acquaint us with other climes and times, and he succeeds even in expressing
.the thoughts of humanity at large; but in the parochial poet who may speak of
such things there is still a reflection of narrowness, similar to tall talk In
the mouths of children. Here there is not much selection, no restraint, no
constructiveness, no high seriousness – there is instead an abundance, a
prolixity, almost a<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 46 <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:12.0pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>confusion</span>
and an irresponsibility, as it were, and as in the ordinary life there is a
pull towards the physical, the external and the small. The Ballads of the
English and the Romantic Songs of the French fall under this category.
Likewise, however deep in spiritual significance may be our <i>kirtans </i>or
the songs of the religious wanderers of our country, they can, without
injustice, be classed with those Ballads and Romances of the West.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:7.65pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>But
since the advent of Chaucer in English literature, the day we heard him say
about his dearest Italian poet Petrarch &quot;Whose rethorike swete&quot;</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:7.65pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Enlumynd
all Ytaille of Poetrie,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>what</span>
a new life and novel tune has appeared in English poetry, what a unique
resplendence has illumined its firmament! Chaucer elevated English literature
as from a mundane to the spiritual level. He is the father of ‘Great Poetry’.
He freed the language from the unrefined touch and flavour of narrow rusticity
and entered as it were the realm of a higher, nobler, more luminous and wider
perception and brought it down into his poetic creation. In French poetry also
this parochial influence pervades all its Romances, the Chansons de Gestes, and
even the Chanson de Roland. <span class=GramE>Real poetry, which is noble and
of permanent value, was first introduced by Ronsard.</span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:8.15pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Even
there poetry did not reach its deeper, its superior nature. It has had to <span
class=GramE>rise</span> one step higher: it crossed this third level and
entered the fourth where poetry is in its very character vaster and wider and deeper
– to be sure, Victor Hugo holds this touch of immensity. It is here that the
poetic spirit has achieved a divine energising inspiration that wants to have a
direct vision of the Truth and express it in words and rhythms in a noble
manner. Victor Hugo may not have achieved, but he has touched the new bourne.
Here the poet aims at infusing whatever is easy, simple, common and fluid</p>
<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;text-indent:8.15pt;
line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;
mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;'>Page – 47 <o:p></o:p></span></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>with</span>
a new spirit. Nothing unnecessary, irrelevant, profuse and diffuse has any
place in his creation. Ordinary everyday experiences are to be raised to the
level of a vivid, luminous expression of something rare. 'Great Poetry'
blossoms then and there, in this fourth stage. However fine Chaucer's first
outburst,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Enlumynd
all Ytaille of Poetrie,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>it</span>
is now surpassed in poetic valency by Marlowe's</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in;text-align:justify;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Was
this the face that launched a thousand <span class=GramE>ships</span> </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in;text-align:justify;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>And
burnt the topless towers of Il<st1:place>ium</st1:place>? </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The 'bruit de tous les
infinis' in Marlowe reminds us of the unique oceanic swell of <st1:City><st1:place>Milton</st1:place></st1:City>'s
verse and the Vedic mantra of infinite liberation ascribed to Varuna. Hence in
France Malherbe had to appear on the scene after Ronsard. It was Malherbe who
was the father of classical French literature, and it is he who paved the way
for that prince of classics, Pierre Corneille.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
natural march of literature towards the classical style shows also the very <i>raison
d'être<span style='font-family:"Arial Narrow";mso-bidi-font-family:"Arial Narrow"'>
</span></i>of literature. The literary genius of a particular nation does not
seem to attain its full strength unless and until it can discard as far as
possible all that is environmental, common, ordinary and parochial in outlook. <span
class=GramE>For the ultimate aim of literature is neither to reflect nor to ape
the all-too-familiar daily life in its theme and in its way of expression.</span>
The object of true literature is to scan the details of a greater life in a
far-off, inner and higher world. But to that end literature has to accept and
adopt this world too. It has to manifest that world in this world, but as a
refuge, a repository and means. True, the classicism with which we are so
familiar cannot be regarded as the highest revelation in literature, for the
genuine and the counterfeit are not the same. The works of <st1:City><st1:place>Milton</st1:place></st1:City>
and</p>
<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;text-indent:11.5pt;
line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;
mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;'>Page – 48 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Pope, of Corneille and
Delille, are not classics of the same type. For us Pope and Delille do not
appear as true classics, at the best they are perhaps classical. Pope and
Delille followed the same technique that had been introduced by Milton and
Corneille in the literary art, but they went to an excess. .We shall deal with
the drawback attending this excessiveness and deformation later on.
Nevertheless, do they not point to the real secret character of the literary
virtue?</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:9.6pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>In
our Bengali literature Vidyapati and Chandidas are the pioneer poets who made
an attempt at creating genuine poetry surpassing all plebeian <span
class=GramE>poetry.</span> They had infused the popular literature with a new
spirit, and thus formed a basis for real poetic utterance. The joy we derive
from the songs of Vidyapati and Chandidas can be called the real poetic
pleasure. For example,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:9.6pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Hearken, O Madhava, Radha
is at large.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:156.2pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>(Vidyapati)<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:156.2pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:8.85pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE>or</span>,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:8.85pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>I shall store up my
Beloved in my soul.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:19.2pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>To none shall I
disclose</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>The
perfect union of two hearts.</span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in;text-indent:139.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>(<i>Chandidas)<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:9.35pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>It
is said that Valmiki is the pioneer poet in Sanskrit literature. In our Bengali
literature it is Vidyapati, nay, to be more precise and <span class=GramE>accurate,</span>
it is Chandidas who is the father of poetry. He raised the natural vital
experiences to the level of the psychic. He has transformed even colloquial
expressions into a deeper rhythm and flow. But even theirs was only the
initial stage that required a long time to develop fullness and maturity. In
truth, this is the third stage we have already referred to. Throughout the era
of the Vaishnava<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;text-indent:9.35pt;
line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;
mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;'>Page – 49 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>poets</span>,
coming down to the time of Bharat Chandra the same line of sadhana, of
spiritual practice, continued. The Bengali poets who flourished after Chandidas
have hardly made any new <span class=GramE>contribution,</span> they have not
unveiled another layer of the soul of the poetic genius of Bengali literature.
What they have done amounts to an external refinement and orderliness. The
literature of this age has tried to transcend the ordinary thoughts, <i>i.e., </i>the
manner of ordinary thinking, and has considerably succeeded too; still the
presence of imperfection, the signs of a lower flight loom large there. We do
not find there – in the words of Matthew Arnold – 'a humanity variously and
fully developed' or a multifarious free scope of the universal life such as we
have already mentioned.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>This
very achievement of breaking down the limited movements within a narrow
compass and spreading it out into the vast has been won by Madhusudan, Bankim
and Rabindranath in Bengali literature during the current period of English
influence. The day Bankim produced his artistic beauty, 'Kapalkundala', and
Madhusudan penned –</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>In a battle face to face,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>When Birbahu<span
class=GramE>,¹</span> the hero sovereign,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Kissed the dust and
departed to the <st1:place><st1:PlaceType>land</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName>Death</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>
–</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>the</span>
day Rabindranath could declare –</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Not mother, not daughter,
not bride art thou, O Beauty</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:5.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>incarnate</span>, O Urvasi, denizen of <st1:place>Paradise</st1:place>!–</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:5.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>was</span>
a momentous day for Bengali literature to proclaim the message of the universal
muse and not exclusively its own parochial note. The genius of <st1:place>Bengal</st1:place>
secured a place in the wide world overpassing the length and breadth of <st1:place>Bengal</st1:place>.
</p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>&nbsp;</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span class=GramE>¹ <span style='font-size:
10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>The son of Ravana.</span></span></p>
<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;
mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 50 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>And Bengali poetry reached
that fourth stage or the highest status.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.05pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Nevertheless,
it may be asked if there has been the acme of literary creation that exceeds
even the best creations of Madhusudan, Bankim and Rabindranath, I mean, the
&quot;truly classic literature&quot; <i>(littérature vraiment classique) </i>of
Sainte Beuve which will literally shine in letters of fire in the hearts of all
men in all climes and times? Is there in Bengali any literature that consists
of words of purest revelation? <span class=GramE>If so, to what extent?</span>
According to us, there is not perhaps an absolute absence of such a literature.
No doubt, it is there, but it is very rare, rather exceptional. Bengali
literature in its great achievement has not been able to make that its normal
stand: the supreme classic heights are still an <span class=GramE>aspiration,</span>
they are yet to be attained and possessed.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.05pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>(3)</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:9.8pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>We
shall now try to probe to the bottom the question why the literature which we
call plebeian or popular cannot form the best literature. The reason we have
indicated is that such literature is exclusively confined to a particular time
and clime; the free air of the world, the myriad waves of the vast cosmic life
have no play there, it does not see man and creation in the perspective of the
universe as a whole. That is not the sole reason of the matter, but we should
clearly understand the deeper implication of this thing. For universal feeling
does not necessarily mean cosmopolitanism. It is not true that a literature
must be beautiful and sublime simply because it has connection and acquaintance
with all the ages and countries and that it will be parochial precisely because
it lacks these things. Cosmopolitanism is a thing especially of the modern age.
In the days of yore there was not that close association and exchange of
culture among different countries as we now find. It was not possible for our
forefathers to know and assimilate the gifts of other <span class=SpellE>civi</span><span class=GramE>lisations</span>
</p>
<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 51 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>as we can do now. But who would merely on this ground dare to say that the
literature of the ancient peoples was unrefined or insignificant? A Turgeniev,
an Amiel, <span class=GramE>a Leconte</span> de Lisle or a Pierre Loti can take
birth only. <span class=GramE>in</span> the present age. Dante, Homer, Valmiki
or the most ancient Vedic sages – none of them, like Turgeniev, Amiel, Leconte
de Lisle or Pierre Loti, sought for the tales of various other ages and
countries, and yet have these modern poets and litterateurs been able to create
anything similar to that standard world-literature?</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
sense of universality means transcending the limitations of time and clime.
Now, the main reason why man remains confined to a particular time and clime is
this that he clings to a particular avocation or religion or institution – his
very nature is to live within the confines of time and space. External life
(life of the outside world) – that is to say, mixing with men of various
countries, acquaintance and intimacy with the experiences and realisations of
the different countries and epochs – can and do break and melt the narrowness
to a considerable degree but cannot remove it altogether. For what is required
is to cast a look at ourselves, to change something of our inner nature. One
who has not been able to change this inner attitude will not get any genuine
universality or all-pervading sovereignty even if he travels over the whole
world. So what is required is to discover the universal soul in the heart and
not outside. And, for that, three boundaries have to be crossed, three walls
overleaped and this also in our inner being, in our inner chamber. The Vedic
sage Shunahshepa says that the God Varuna has three knots and they have to be
cut away: then and then alone man will ascend to the infinite wideness of
Varuna and will get the limitless and unfathomable ocean of delight of Eternal
Life. And what are these three knots? They are the knots of the Body, the Vital
and the Mind. For the poets and litterateurs too there are three similar knots.
First, the knot of the body, that is to say, the physical</p>
<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 52 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>sight</span>,
mere perception of the senses – to accept that which is external as absolute
truth and to draw a picture of the outer<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;
</span>form visible to the eyes and palpable by the senses. In<b> </b>literature
it has been termed 'realism'. A thing must be shown exactly as it is seen with
the physical eyes: this means that art is a photograph of nature, and it is the
principle of 'realism'. We can express in one word the objections that have
been or may be raised against 'realism': it has neither given nor can give
birth to true or universal literature. For where do we find the universe, the
whole? That is not in the external, not in the body. What is exclusively
external, what is merely a body is only a narrow field of differences and divisions
and strifes. True, there is some concrete union or harmony of the universe.
But so long as we remain bound to the body we cannot get a gleam of that thing.
This is as much the case with the aspirant soul as with the artist. The artist
who is engrossed with the exterior is compelled to be confined to a particular
time and space. He is only archaeological in his outlook. He is likely to
collect some materials for art but he himself cannot create anything of his
own. The paintings of Ravi Varma can never be placed in the comity of the
world, for we find there only the outer sheath, devoid of life. No doubt that
sheath may awaken some curiosity for its grotesqueness but never can it touch
the heart. If Zola or Goncourt deserves a place in the assembly of nations,
then I believe it is not for 'realism' but for something else, although
'realism' is in abundance there.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Therefore
the idealist has put up a brave fight against the realist. The place of union
of the universe is not in the body, but in the emotion of the vital being and
the heart. Likewise vitalism stands over against materialism, and idealism or
romanticism over against realism and naturalism. <span class=GramE>Bergson <i>contra
</i>Haeckel, Paul Verlaine <i>contra </i>Guy de Maupassant and Théophile
Gautier.</span> But it does not mean that we shall arrive at the true universal
literature if we solely cling to idealism, the vital being or emotion. True,
the vital being is<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 53 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>above</span>
the body, and the creation has been extended and liberated to a great extent in
it, but the universal is not met even here. The vital being is the second
bondage of man. The poetry that has been created or based exclusively on the vital
or the emotional stuff is clumsy and disorderly. There we find too much of the
personality, the idiosyncrasy and fancy of the particular individual. Naturally
it cannot bear the message of the vast universal life-force. The poet who is a
slave of his emotional impulse must perforce live in the imaginative circle of
his own temporary experience – his ego, the knot of his heart – and consider
the narrow compass of his surrounding and time as vast and gigantic. The
universe, the universal does not get a chance to be reflected in him. He can at
best be a poet of a particular sect, of a group or limited collectivity.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp; </span>So we find in literature another ideal which
seeks to remove all the mist, the narrow horizon of the heart and emotions
and stand supported by the mind and intelligence. And this ideal aims at a
quiet and steady purity and wideness of thought. It is not possible for
lawlessness, impurity, strife and narrowness to exist in the domain of thought
in the same measure as it is possible in that of the vital being and the
emotions. When we ascend to this domain we find a natural indifference or
aloofness; we find <span class=GramE>a poise</span> in a wider and freer world
overriding the boundaries of an ignorant ego and a bounded personality. In the
ancient literatures – such as Greek, Latin and Sanskrit – there is no such emotionalism
as indulged, for example, by the romantics, noting of that indiscriminate and
uncontrolled, that dark and confused passion born of rajasic inspiration. The
main theme of those ancient literatures is objectivisation and generalisation,
and so, wideness, vastness and universality are natural to them. In other
words, a vitalistic literature is not classical literature; classicism and the
classics bring in higher terms of literary creation. But is that the highest?</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:9.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>We
say, &quot;No.&quot; Intellect may anoint the body of <span class=SpellE>litera<span
class=GramE>ture</span> </span></p>
<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 0in 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 54 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span class=SpellE>with a kind of <i>sattwic </i>quality, poise and
grace; it may even make it rich with a diversity of manner and theme, yet this <i>sattwic
</i>quality, this largeness and elevation, often lack what may be called depth
and substance. Here we may get something of the rich smiling surface of the
ocean, but not the real vastness, the infinity of the cosmic creation, its
immeasurability. The literature which is formed with the help of thought and
mental discernment, brain-power and intellectual skill may be, as we have
already said, classical, it is not classic – it is not <i>world-literature; </i>it
cannot focus and show the universal Muse, the figure of the cosmic beauty. It
may at best give the frame-work of world-literature and never the inner <i>élan
vital, </i>the secret soul of world literature. For the sole function of
intellect is to place a thing in a systematic form and not to discover or
reveal anything. Intellect and intelligence play with the materials touched by
the senses and concretely felt by the heart. So, in the action of intellect,
there is always a sense of division, want and deficiency – elements that are
inherent in the gross senses and emotions upon which the intellect is based
after all. In fact, the very function of the intellect is to see things divided
and separated. It sees and understands the universe by analysing it,
dissecting it. It fails to see the whole thing all at once, that is to say,
simultaneously. It can never grasp the whole in a vast unity. Discerning
intellect is, as the Upanishad says, a golden cover on the face of Truth, it
cannot reveal the Truth in its reality, what it shows is a mere similitude or
semblance of the Truth, its external grandeur, a remote expression of the
Truth, and its divided and scattered rays. We can, of course, with the aid of
intelligence form a workable acquaintance with the world. But that is not a
true union. Based upon that ground alone classicism may easily become a
store-house of lucid and decorative words and moral lessons, but it would find
it extremely difficult to bring out the secret of things, the profound oneness
with the universe. It is a very superficial judgment to say that the</span></p>
<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 55 <o:p></o:p></span></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>influence</span>
of the intellectual faculty, the power of quiet intelligence, is what made the
Greek, Latin, Sanskrit literatures classics. A deeper light and power dwelling
behind this intellectual faculty is the source of the glory of the ancient
classics; the intellectual faculty is only an outer robe of that inner spirit.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
Body, the Life and the Mind are only eternals. What is exclusively physical,
vital or mental is mainly a field of difference, for it is a field of the
finite. The Soul alone is the inner reality. And nothing but the Soul is the
centre of the universe. The diversity and manifold particularities in the
creation have their oneness and a vast and concrete harmony in the Soul. And if
we realise this Soul we can easily and without fail embrace the universe. When <span
class=GramE>That</span> is known everything is known. In other words, not the
gross perception of the senses, <span class=GramE>nor</span> the impulse of
emotions nor even the dexterity of thought but a divine vision or revelation is
needed to create world-literature. This literature is neither realistic nor
romantic nor even classical; it is revelatory. A particular thing when seen
through revelation or divine vision no longer remains partial; it becomes
integral, no more particular but universal. Time, place and subject become then
embodiments of the Law of the Infinite, of the Rhythm of the all-encompassing <span
class=GramE>Self</span>, for it is only revelation, direct vision that can
give the quintessence of all truths, the profoundest beauty of all the
beauties.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.95pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Even
in the body, in the perception of the gross physical senses, there is a
profound truth, a supernal Beauty, a universal Form. There is <span
class=GramE>a universality</span> also in the vital being and the emotions. A
higher grandeur, a greater dimension of the universe is reflected in the powers
of the mind and intellect. But that universal revelation of which we speak is
not the proper characteristic of mind, vitality and body; there is only an
approach, a shadow, often a deformation of the Self in these fields. It is not
that these lesser instruments are to be neglected in the creation of
world-literature.</p>
<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;text-indent:12.95pt;
line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;
mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;'>Page – 56 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>But they are to be seen
from a higher, a transcendent plane. It is for this reason Kalidasa, a poet of
physical joy and sensual pleasure, Valmiki, a poet of vital feeling and
enchantment of the heart, and Vyasa, a poet of intellect and thinking power,
are poets of all ages and countries.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:8.85pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>We
were dealing with the natural and the genuine in literature. That alone is
real literature which sees a thing whatever it may be – in the great words of
Spinoza, <i>sub specie aeternitatis, </i>under the figure of Eternity. This is
the fundamental principle, the bedrock of real literature or of
world-literature. <span class=GramE><i>Sub specie aeiernitatis –</i> even a
little of this saving factor saves us from a great peril.</span> In<b> </b>the
stark realism of a Balzac or in the winging romanticism of a Victor Hugo, or in
the poised classicism of <span class=GramE>a Leconte</span> de Lisle we get a
glimpse of this very thing. That is why with all the defects we feel that the
sleeping Brahman is, as it were, astir in them; that a cosmic life-force, a
generous universal breath sways by in their creation, and we do not hesitate to
hail them as poets of the world.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:8.85pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
same thing holds <span class=GramE>good</span> with regard to the literature of
a particular nation. It is not true that poetry sweet and enthralling, the
magic of the ballads, is not known to the Maoris or the Santals or the Bhils.
If we leave aside the case of these uncivilised aboriginals, we come everywhere
across a decent class of literature among the cultured and civilised peoples.
But it is to be questioned whether that literature can be called a
world-literature or, even if it be so, then to what extent? Further, it has to
be seen whether the poet there has been able to go beyond the reality of
physical facts, the grandeurs of emotions or the dexterities of thought and has
seen the thing – his time and space and subject – <i>sub specie aeternitatis, </i>with
the lofty vision of the Soul of the divine poet, of the god Varuna, that
surpasses the immediate and the superficial, whether he has been able to raise
the natural object to its supra-natural prototype.<span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;border:medium none;
mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 57 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

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