History of Bengali Language and Literature c7.s8.1

c7.s8.1

Yet another god and we have done with this chapter. He is Dakṣin Rāi, the god of tigers. He is worshipped in many parts of Bengal, where tigers make havoc amongst men,—especially in districts adjoining the Sundarvans. The form of this god, as made in clay, is that of a warrior with bow and arrows in his hands. He rides on a tiger. His first poetic votary was Mādhavācāryya, who lived in the middle of the 17th century. The work is called Rāyamaṅgala. The next poem on the subject by Kṛṣṇarām contains two significant lines, which show the god as anxious to receive worship from the country people, to whom he holds out a menace. The poet tells how he dreamt a dream in which Dakṣin Rāi appeared to him and said :—