pea'crit poetry. 419 



The present may he a proper phce for noticinr^ aclass 

 of poetry, which have been even more cukivated in the 

 Prdcrit and provincial languages than in Sanscrit. I al- 

 lude to the erotick poetry of the Hindus, 



On its general character, I shall briefly observe, that 

 it is free from the grievous defects of the Hinc/i poems 

 composed in the stile and metre of Persian verse: but 

 it wants elevation of sentiment and simplici-ry of diction. 

 The pa'jsion, which it pictures, is sensual, but the Ian- 

 guage refined; with some tenderness in the expression 

 and in the thoughts. Among the most celebrated po- 

 ems in tiiis class, may be mentioned- the Chaura fancha- 

 sicd comprising lifty stanzas by CnAURa. and Amaru 

 s'ataca contaming twice that number by Amaru. The 

 first is supposed to be uttered by the poet Chaura, 

 who, beino^ detected in an intrigue with a king's daugh- 

 ter, and condemned to death, triumphs in the recol- 

 lection of his successful love. The other, which is a 

 collection of unconnected stanzas on amatory topicks, 

 is reputed to be the work of the great Sancara 

 a'ch'arya, composed by him in his youth before he 

 devoted himself to the study of theology. 



Some of tlie com n.enta tors on this poem have at- 

 tempted to explain it in a devout and mysiical sense, 

 on the same principle upon which Jay ade'va's lyrick 

 poems are interpreted as bearing a religious meaning. 

 The mterpretation, however, is too str^med to be admit- 

 ted ; and ihough Jayade'va's intention may have 

 been devout, and his meaning spiritual; Amaru, or 

 whoever was the true author of the work bearing this 

 name, is clearly the love of an earthly mistress. 



The most singular compositions in this cla^s of poe* 

 try, and for which chiefly a notice of it has been here 

 introduced, are those in which the subject is treated 



E e 2 



