§ 37 .] 
THE KRISNA-CULT OF BEAJ. [ 1500 — 1600 .] 
21 
a work myself, but I now know that by the term Ashta Ch/idp is 
simply meant this list, which, so far as I can make out, was first given 
and so named in some verses of Sur Das (translated in No. 37) and 
next noted by me in a work entitled the Tul’si Sabdar’th Prahas, 
by Gopctl Siggh, of Braj, whose date I have been unable to give. 
I now proceed to mention these eight authors in detail. 
36 . ire Krish’n Das , surnamed Pay 
Ahari, or ‘he whose food was milk/ of Gohul, in Braj, FI. 1550 A.D. 
Bag. He was a disciple of Ballabhacharj and a member of the Ash ta 
Chhap, —see No. 35. He was a graceful and sweet poet, many of whose 
verses will be found in the Rag Sdgarodbhab. There is a legend that 
Sur Das in his poetry had exhausted all that could possibly be said 
concerning the god Krish’n, and that hence, when Krish’n Das wrote 
anything, it was always found to be identical with something that 
Sur Das had already written. One day the latter challenged him to 
produce a single stanza which did not comply with this disagreeable 
necessity, and he failed to do so. He then promised to bring an 
original verse next day, and going away spent the whole night in 
vain endeavouring to concoct one. In the morning he found a verse 
mysteriously written upon his pillow, which he took to Sur Das, who 
at once identified it as one which had been written by their master, 
Ballabhdchdr’j. In spite of this legend, which seems to point to a 
rivalry between the two poets, Krish’n Das is always graceful and 
as original as his subject will admit. His best known work is the 
Prem-ras-ras. His most famous disciples were Agr’ Das (No. 44), 
Kebual Ram (No. 45), Gada Dhar (No. 46), Deba (No. 47), Kalyan 
(No. 48), Hat! Narayan (No. 49), and Padum Nath (No. 50). Agr’ 
Das had Nabha Das (No. 51), the author of the Bhakt Mala, of whom 
more anon, for his disciple. 
37. Sur Das, the Bhat, of Braj, FI. 1550 A.D. 
Nir., Bag. Sur Das deserves a more extended notice. He was, with 
his father Baba Ram Das (No. 112), a singer at the court of the emperor 
Ah’bar (see Ain-i-Akbari, Blochmann’s translation, p. 612). He and 
Tul’si Das are the two great stars in the firmament of Indian vernacular 
poetry. Tul’si was devoted to Bam (ekant Ram-sebak), while Sur Das 
was devoted to Krish’n (ekant Krish’n-sebak), and between them they 
are considered to have exhausted all the possibilities of poetic art. 
b 3 
