Obscure Religious Cults as Background of Bengali Literature c19.29

c19.29

was laurelled. We find in the *Yama-purāṇa* of the *Śūnya-purāṇa* that the messenger of Yama assumed the form of a human being and entered the city where Rāmāi lived in the form of a Hindu ghost. Rāmāi came forward and inscribed some mark on the forehead of the ghost (so as to initiate him to the Dharma cult), but the latter chained Rāmāi hand and foot and took him to Dharma-rāja Yama, who ordered Rāmāi to be cut into two with the help of a saw. But Rāmāi began to meditate on the *Karatār* (the Lord) and the saw could not pierce him; he was then successively cast into fire with hands and legs tied up and into the ocean with a slab of stone on his chest; but in each case Rāmāi was saved by the *Karatār*. The historical fact behind the legend is the persecution of the Dharmites by the Caste Hindus.¹ We find that some of the poets of the *Dharma-maṅgalas* at first refused to comply with the request of Dharma to compose any poem in his honour for the fear of social persecution and it was after repeated assurance that the Lord could persuade them to compose poems.² The story of the wrath of Lord Nirañjana (*Nirañjaner Ruśmā*) found in the *Śūnya-purāṇa* as well as in the *Dharma-pūjā-vidhāna* points out the simple fact that the Muslim conquest of Bengal and the persecution of the Hindus by the Muslims were regarded by the Dharmites to be the gracious device of the Lord himself to save the Dharmites from the hands of the persecuting Hindus.³ In the *Dharma-* pūjā-vidhāna the story of the wrath of Nirañjana was followed by many pseudo-Urdu verses, which are ascribed to Rāmāi Paṇḍit. Here Rāmāi eulogises the religion of the Muslims and condemns that of the Hindus and prefers the practices of the former. As a matter of fact there are some customs in the Dharma cult which are essentially Muslim. As for instance, we find in the liturgical texts the custom of sacrificing goats or duck or pigeon before Dharma by cutting their throat in a particular manner (javāi—Arabic Yavah), which is peculiarly a Muslim custom. Again, the animals or the birds are to be sacrificed with their face westward. In other places we find much importance given to the western direction in connection with the worship of Dharma or the accessory ceremonies. The description of the gates invariably begins with the description of the western gate. Much importance is also attached to the moon, who is depicted as the Koṭāla (gate-keeper) of the western direction. This importance given to the western direction and the moon undoubtedly bears testimony to the Muslim influence.¹ It is also to be noted in this connection that one of the most important incidents of the Dharma-maṅgalas is the incident of making the sun rise in the west by Dharma in response to the prayers of Lāusen. The incident is described in detail in all the Dharma-maṅgalas. Instead of taking this incident simply as an instance of the display of supernatural power by the devotee of Dharma, will it be far wide of the mark to infer that the whole incident was construed only to explain from the stand-point of the Dharmites why the west was regarded so important by them? Again, we find that some importance