Page:A History of Hindi Literature.djvu/25

 GENERAL SURVEY OF HINDI LITERATURE 11 At the beginning of the nineteenth century a new influence came into Hindi literature through contact with the culture of Europe. In the eighteenth century the English had been struggling in India with the French for mastery, but now that conflict had been decided and the English supremacy was further established by the break up of the old Mughal Empire and the weakening of the Maratha power. English influence now began to make itself more and more felt in Indian affairs, and amongst other things the contact of India with the culture of the West had the effect of stimulating many new ideas, w^hile the sense of security which freedom. from internal disorder gave, encouraged the native genius of India to reassert itself. Hence there began about this time a mighty literary renascence in India which is still in progress. At the beginning of this period Lallu Ji Lai laid the foundation of modern Hindi prose and also created the literary dialect which was to be its principal medium. The printing-press now began to spread literature far and wide. The revival of Hindi poetry was led by Hari^chandra, and this period saw also the rise of the Hindi drama. The principle adopted in this book in dividing up the literature into periods is as follows. First of all the infancy of Hindi literature, connected with the bardic chronicles, is described ; and after that a new period is dated from each point where an important new influence begins to modify the literature. These periods begin (1) about 1400, when the religious influence of the Vaishnava movements began to affect Hindi literature ; (2) about 1550, when a new artistic influence makes itself felt; and (3) about 1800, when the literature began to be affected by the modern influence which came from contact with the West. In each period the literature that shows the new spirit in its fulness will first of all be described and then the other forms in turn, and something will be said as to how far each group or each writer is influenced by the new ideas.