Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/664

 624 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. Chap. His poetry Badiujjamal. Alaol had grown old by this time tee, and had lost his wonted spirit—the spring of all his noble poetry. In the last part of this translation we miss his characteristic genial flow and sweetness of expression. Besides the above two works he wrote sequels to the stories of Lora Chandrani and Sati Maina —poems written by Doulat Kaziin Bengali. The latter works were undertaken by our poet at the command of Sola- _ man, another minister of the Aracan Chief. At the re- quest of an influential man of the court named Syed | A list of his Mahamed Khan, Alaol translated the Persian poem | চিঠি Hastapaikar by Nizami Gaznavi. Besides these, — Algol wrote several poems on Radha and Krisaa, some of which display exquisite poetic touches. Alaol was born about the year 1618; was thrown into prison in 1658 ; and being released lived to a good old age, till the close of the 17th century. It will be seen that Alaol the poet worked manly in the field of translation, and the chief work of his Muse on which his fame rests—the Padmavati—is only, as we have said, the Bengali translation of a Hindi poem. But Alaol’s transla- An im- tion is not only free but is also marked 105 great provement oe ‘ রর. on the originality, and though conforming in the main to original. the tale of the Hindi bard, is an improvement upon it in many respects. The Padmavati is written in a high flown Sanskritic Bengali. Alaol is the first of the poets who aimed at word-painting and at that finished — Sanskritic expression which is the forte of the — 3engali literature of the 18th century. In fact — Algol, though, generally speaking, inferior to Bharata Chandra, because he lacks the ‘elegant genius”