Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/659

 VI. ] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 619 Slenderness of the waist was held to be a point of feminine beauty, hence absurdities passed for niceties and were admired as poetic skill ! The literature that sprang up under the patron- age of courts was thus vitiated by their influence. Not only in the style of writing but in its subject- matter also, 1t showed the control of those evil stars that held sway over the literary horizon of Bengal at this time. The romantic conceptions of Persian tales are often singularly unpleasing to the Bengali mind; especially does this remark apply to those kutnts or serving women, who acted as agents in matters of illicit passion. Yet these women figure prominently in the literature of this period. Here is an extract, translated from Zelekhga, a Persian poem, in which a &ufmi is vaunting her powers before the heroine of the tale. The Bengali poets were trying their level best to import such characters into their poems. ‘Who is it that has tampered with your heart 2 Tell me why it is that your face beautiful asa flower has grown pale and yellowish. Why are you waning day by day like the moon? I am afraid you have fallen in love. Tell me who is that person. If he be the very moon whose abode is in the sky, I will make him come downto the earth as a slave to your wishes. If he be a spirit of the mountains, I know such charms that he would be put into a phial and brought to you. If he be merely a man, take my word, I shall make him a bond-slave to you. He will be made to minister to your wishes in every matter and you need not care to please him by offering him your services,” The Kutnis.