58 
THE MODERN LITERARY HISTORY OF HINDUSTAN. 
[8 134. 
CHAPTER VII. 
THE AES POETICA. [1580—1692 A.D.] 
The end of the sixteenth century and the whole of the seventeenth 
century, a period corresponding closely with the supremacy of the 
Mughal empire, presents a remarkable array of poetic talent. Within 
this period the most prominent figures not already dealt with are 
Kesab Das , Chintamani Tripathi, and Bihari Lai. Kesab and 
Chintamani are the most salient examples of a schooL founded by the 
first of these authors which devoted itself to the technical development 
of the art of poetry; and this group will alone be considered in the 
present chapter. The next chapter will deal with the remaining poets 
of the seventeenth century. 
134. Kesab Das Sanadhya 
Misar, of BundePkhand. FI. 1580 A.D. 
Nir., Sun., Sat., Rag. His original home was in Teh’ri, but he 
visited king Madhukar Shah, of Ur’chha, and received much honour 
from him. Subsequently king indarjlt (No. 136), Madhukar’s son, 
endowed him with twenty-one villages, whereupon he and his family 
finally settled in ITr’chha. He was the first poet to describe in the 
vernacular (in his Kabi-priya (Rag.), a work which subsequent writers 
have frequently imitated), the ten constituents (^r^) of a poem. His 
first important work was the Bigyan Gita, which he wrote under the 
name of Madhukar Shah. Then he wrote the Kabi-priya for Par’bln 
Rai Paturi (No. 137). This was followed by the Rdm-chandrikd 
(Rag.) under the name of king indarjlt. He also wrote the learned 
Rasik-priya (Rag.) on composition (*rrf%S7) and the Ram-alaykrit- 
mahjari on prosody. 
Commentaries on the Kabi-priya were written by (1) Sar’dar 
(571), (2) N dray an Ray (572), (3) PhaPka Rauj (678), (4) Hari 
(761); on the Rdm-chandrikd by (1) Janakl Par’sad (577), (2) 
Dhani Ram (578); and on the Rasik-priya by (1) Surati Misar (326), 
(2) Ya'qub Khan (394), (3) isuf Khan (421), (4) Sar’ddr (571), (5) 
Hari Jan (575). 
