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 EARLY BHAKTI POETS 31 worshipped Rama as an incarnation and practised idolatry, (2) those who worshipped God under the name of Rama, but rejected idolatry and the doctrine of incarnation, and (3) those who worshipped Krishna. In each group during this period Hindi literature came to be used and was one of the great factors which helped to spread the various movements, while they on the other hand helped to stimulate the growth of Hindi literature. Almost the whole of subsequent Hindi literature is impressed with one or another of these forms of Vaishnava doctrine. Malik Muhammad Jayasi.— The bardic chronicles had a much more local currency than the religious verse described above, and outside Rajputana contributed little to the development of vernacular literature, but one remarkable poem of this period seems to show how even the poetry of the bards had been affected by the religious revival. This was the Padumavati of Malik Muhammad Jayasi who flourished about 1540. Malik Muhammad was a Muhammadan devotee, but was acquainted with Hindu lore, and profoundly affected by the teaching of Kabir. He was much honoured by the Raja of Amethi, who attributed the birth of a son to the prayers of the saint, and his tomb is still to be seen at Amethi. Besides the Padu- mavati, he wrote also a religious poem called the Akharavat. In the Padumavati he tells the story of a certain Ratan Sen who, hearing from a parrot of the great beauty of Padumavati, or Padmini, journeyed to Ceylon as a mendicant and returned to Chitor with Padmini as his bride. Ala-ud-din, the ruling sovereign at Delhi, also heard of Padmini and endeavoured to capture Chitor in order to gain possession of her. He was unsuccessful, but Ratan Sen was taken prisoner and held as a hostage for her surrender. He was after- wards released from captivity by the bravery of two heroes. He then attacked king Dev Pal, who had made insulting proposals to Padmini during his imprisonmicnt. Dev Pal was killed, but Ratan Sen, who was mortally wounded, returned to Chitor only to die. His two