hildren. Mother,
they are now stricken with disease and sorrow. Oh Shyama,
the reliever of the three kinds of human afflictions, relieve
our sorrows. Come Mother, the destroyer of the demons,
and appear at the gates of Bengal.

The Barisal _Hitaishi_ refers also to the Durga festival, in which the
weird and often horrible and obscene rites of _Skakti_ worship not
infrequently play a conspicuous part:--

What have we learnt from the _Shakti Puja_? Sooner or
later this great _Puja_ will yield the desired results. When the
Hindus realize the true magnificence of the worship of the
Mother, they will be roused from the slumber of ages, and
the auspicious dawn of awakenment will light up the horizon.
You must acquire great power from the worship of the Mother.
Ganesh, the god who grants success, has his seat assigned
to him on the left of the great Mother. Why should you
despair of obtaining success? Look at Kartiki, the god
who is the chief commander of the armies of the gods, who
has stationed himself to the right of the Mother; he is
coming forward with his bow, to assist you against the demons
of sin, who stand in the way of your accomplishing that great
object, and as he is up in arms, who can resist?

The _Khulnavasi_ breaks out into poetry:--

For what sins, O Mother Durga, are thy sons thus dispirited
and their hearts crushed with injustice? The demons
are in the ascendant, and constantly triumphing over godliness.
Awake, Oh Mother, who tramplest on the demons!
Thy helpless sons, lean for want of food, worn out in the
struggle with the demons, are, struck with terror at the way
in which they are being ruled. Famine and plague and
disease are rife, and unrighteousness triumphs. Awake, Oh
Goddess Durga! I see the lightning flashing from the
point of thy bow, the world quaking at thy frowns, and
creation trembling under thy tread. Let a river of blood
flow, overwhelming the hearts of the demons.

The _Kalyani_ chides the Hindus for breaking their _Swadeshi_ vows to
Durga:--

You have made all sorts of vows to stick to Swadeshi,
but you are still using _bilati_ [foreign] salt, sugar, and
cloths which are polluted with the blood and fat of animals.
You swear by the Mother, and then you go and disobey her
and defile her temples. Do you know that it is owing to your
sins that Mother Durga has not come to acc