Page:A History of Hindi Literature.djvu/93

 THE KRISHNA CULT 79 of Krishna's life during his residence at Brindaban„ Braj BasI Das belonged to the sect of Vallabhacharls. Su7idari Kunwari Box (fi. 1760 to 1798) was a princess of the Rathor family, and daughter of Raj Singh, Maharaja of Rupnagar and Krishnagarh. She was married to Bal Bhadra Singh, Maharaja of Raghavgarh. Many of her family were poets, and this lady wrote a large number of poems full of religious devotion, many of which are in honour of Krishna. Manchit Dvij (fi. circ. 1779), of Bundelkhand, was the author of Sicrbhldanllla, which is an account of the childhood of Krishna, and Krishnayan, which is a life of Krishna. His poems are considered to be of a very high standard of poetic excellence. Bibi Ratan Kunwdr', of Benares, was born about 1842. She was the grandmother of Raja Siv Prasad, who helped to develop Hindi literature in the nine- teenth century. In the Pre7?i Ratiia she has given an account of the devotees of Krishna, and in addition she was the authoress of many other verses. General Remarks on Krishnaite Literature.— A great deal of the poetry connected with the Krishna Cult deals with the amours of Krishna with the Gopis (milkmaids) of Braj, and especially with Radha. The great Hindu teachers of bhakii threw a mystical glamour over these stories. Krishna was to them the Supreme Deity, from whom all creation was but a sportive emanation, and who was full of love to his devotees. Radha and the other Gopis stood for human souls, of whom Radha especially typified the devotee, ready to offer her whole self in devotion to God. In the literature connected w4th this form of the bhakti movement the writers often use the most erotic language and sensuous imagery to describe the soul's devotion, under the picture of Radha' s self-abandonment to her beloved. Many of the verses could not be translated into English. Yet the writers of these lyrics of passionate devotion were often men of real religious earnestness, quite free from any impure motives in composing them. That literature of this kind has,