Page:The Slave Girl of Agra.djvu/185

 and Keshav Das delight the people, and Tulasi Das has re-written the ancient story of Rama in the Hindi tongue. It is recited and heard by millions of men and women in towns and villages in Northern India, and will be recited in this land, sire, when we are forgotten."

"Ay, Abul Fazel, you speak words of wisdom. But tell me, are the other Provinces as rich in literature in the present age as Northern India?"

"Raja Man Singh will tell you, sire, that in far Bengal the ancient Epics of India, told in the modern tongue by Kasiram and Kritibas, are recited in every town and village. And one rising poet, Mukunda Ram, appeared before the Raja and sang his new compositions, which affected him deeply."

"I heard him speak of the poetry of Bengal, Abul Fazel, and fain would listen to it. But the spoken tongue of Bengal is unknown to me, and at my age, and with my work, it is too late to begin the alphabets."

"Away in the south, too, beyond the territories which the Khan-Khanan rules, the brave and warlike Mahrattas have their stirring poetry, and the verses of Sridhar are known to the high and the low. These are the literary memorials of your age, great Emperor, and these will speak to future generations of its culture and thought."

"I am content that my subjects of all races and creeds should compose and sing in their own tongues. Great reformers, too, have risen among them, and are counting hundreds of thousands of pious men and women as their followers, while we make few converts to the Din-Ilahi—the Divine Faith which we have proclaimed."

"Their aims are the same as yours, sire. But they