The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c11.126

v1.c11.126

The language of such mystical poetry, whether it be of Solomon, or Hāfiz, or Sādī, or Jayadeva, or the *Bhāgavata*, is necessarily rich and voluptuous, and is apt to be misunderstood by expositors unable to enter into the spirit of oriental poetry; but, as justly observed by Scott, the most popular commentator in the English Church, such "descriptions must not be judged by modern notions of delicacy, which, in a very vicious age, is apt to be fastidious." A remarkable instance of this fastidiousness and prudery is afforded by the American Episcopal Church which, impelled by them was led to exclude from their edition of the *English Prayer-Book*, a passage of the "Te Deum" which had been repeated with devotional feelings by the Holy Church throughout the world for fifteen centuries, and which, in the present day, English ladies of the most refined feeling read without any improper idea being excited. Judged by such a standard, the language of the Bhakti system must appear peculiarly offensive, but where no wrong is meant, it would be unfair to insist on an interpretation which cannot but lead to wrong.