INTRODUCTION. 
XXI 
young growth had shown a tendency to shoot forth too luxuriantly, 
and even Malik Muhammad wrote verses which were quaintly 
unmusical. Sur Das and Tul’si Das possessed the strength of giants, 
and were far beyond their contemporaries in polish and in a 
sense of proportion; but the works of the other early writers of this 
period jarred upon the senses of scholars brought up in the strictly 
classical schools of Sanskrit philology. So, after one or two earlier 
attempts by minor authors, such as the poet Khem (No. 87), Kesab 
Das (fl. 1580) stepped forward and settled for ever the canons of 
poetic criticism. A romantic story connects him with the poetess 
Par’bin Rai, and it is said that it was for her sake that he composed 
his great work the Kabi-priya. Seventy years later, in the middle 
of the seventeenth century, Chintamani Tripathi and his brothers 
amplified and developed the rules laid down by him. This group of 
critical poets is fitly closed at the end of the 17th century by Kalidas 
TribedI, the author of the Hajara , the first great anthology of extracts 
from the works of the Augustan age of Hindustan. 
The latter half of this period, that is to say the 17th century, 
saw the rise of some remarkable religious sects, which gave birth to a 
considerable body of literature. The principal reformers who may be 
mentioned were Dadu (fl. 1600), founder of the Dadii PanthI sect; 
Pran Nath (fl. 1650), the founder of the Pran’nathis; and Gobind 
Siqgh (fl. 1698), the founder of the militant Sikh religion and 
compiler of the Qranth , or holy book of that sect. 
The Raj’put bards of this Augustan period have been already 
referred to, and, passing by the lubric but popular Nazir, the only 
other great poet of the time who need be mentioned is the graceful 
Bihari Lai Chaube (fl. 1650), nick-named “the mine of commen¬ 
tators.” Never was a description more accurate. He was the author of 
seven hundred verses, for each of which he received a gold ashrafi as a 
reward from his patron Jai Siijgh. Each verse is a perfectly polished 
jewel, designedly made as artificial as possible and capable of a double 
meaning. The greatest authors have not disdained to write com¬ 
mentaries elucidating the marvellous difficulties of this tour de force. 
With this graceful writer our survey of the Augustan age of 
Hindustani vernacular literature is concluded. From the early years 
of the 18th century commences a comparatively barren period. It 
was the period of the decline and fall of the Mughal empire and of 
the supremacy and fall of the Maratha power. Raj’putana itself was 
torn by intrigues, prince struggling with prince to rob his neighbour 
