§ 51 .] 
THE KRISNA-CULT OF BRAJ. [ 1500 — 1600 .] 
27 
49 . Natl Nardyan , of Braj. FI. 1575 A.D. 
50 . Padum Nabh, of Braj . FI. 1575 A.D. 
Faff. These four were all disciples of Krish’n Das Pan Ah an 
(No. 36). 
* 
51 . •TWT the poet Nabh a Das alias N dray an 
Das, of the Deccan. FI. 1600 A.D. 
We shall now anticipate the course of time a little in order to 
complete the history of this famous group of Braj poets. Krish’n Das 
Pay Ahdrl (No. 36) had a pupil, Ayr’ Das (No. 44), of Gal’ta, who in 
turn was preceptor of Nabh a Das alias N dr ay an Das, of the Dechan, 
who flourished about 1600 A.D. and was a Dom by caste. According 
to tradition he was born blind, and when but five years old was exposed 
by his parents, during a time of scarcity, to perish in the woods. In 
this situation he was found by Ayr’ Das and another Vaishnava named 
Kll. They had compassion upon his helplessness, and Kll sprinkled his 
eyes with the water of his kamandal , or water-pot, and the child saw. 
They carried Nabha to their Math , where he was brought up and receiv¬ 
ed the initiatory mantra from Agr’ Das. When arrived at maturity, 
under the direction of Ayr’ Das he wrote the Bhaht Mala (Fag.) or 
“Legends of the Saints,” consisting of 108 verses.in Chhappai metre. * 1 
It is one of the most difficult works in the Braj dialect, and, as we have 
it now, was avowedly edited, and perhaps rewritten, by a disciple (?) 
of Nabha Das entitled Nardyan Das who lived in the reign of Shah 
Jahdn (1628—1658). Mr. Growse, to whom I am indebted for this 
last piece of information, adds :■—‘A single stanza is all that is ordi¬ 
narily devoted to each personage, who is panegyrised with reference to 
his most salient characteristics in a style that might be described as 
of unparalleled obscurity were it not that each separate portion of the 
text is followed by a gloss written by one Priya Das (No. 319) in the 
Sarnbat year 1769 (1712 A.D.), in which confusion is still worse 
confounded by a series of most disjointed and inexplicit allusions to 
different legendary events in the saint’s life.’ Priya Das’s gloss is in 
the Kabitta metre. He was followed by Lai Ji (No. 322), a Kayasth 
of Kadhala, who in Hij’rl 1158 (A.D. 1751) wrote a further 
commentary, entitled Bhaht Urbasl . In the year 1854 Tul’si Ram 
1 The above js mainly taken from Wilson, Religious Sects of the Hindus, 
i, 60. Cf. Garcin de Tassy, i, 378. 
