Page:A History of Hindi Literature.djvu/60

46 A HISTORY OF HINDI LITERATURE month of November, the full moon, the morning sun, the days of the winter season, the nights of spring — Dev says these are most excellent." Later Writers on the Art of Poetry. — The reign of Aurangzeb (1658-1707J was marked by the beginning of the decay of the Mughal Empire. It was also the time when a period of decadence in Hindi poetry set in. This however was not felt at first as is shown by the names mentioned above. But towards the end of Aurangzeb' s reign, and still more after his time in the eighteenth century, the decline becomes evident. "While the number of poets still continues to be great there are no names of such outstanding importance as marked the time of Akbar and his immediate successors, and most of the writers are only imitators of greater poets who preceded them. The severe Aurangzeb was unfavourable to the arts and to Hindu learning, but the court patronage of poets was not entirely withdrawn, and many poets attended his court and also that of his son Bahadur Shah (1707-1712). The follow- ing are some of the writers on the art of poetry and kindred subjects from the time of Aurangzeb down to the end of the eighteenth century : — Kiilpati Misra (born circ. 1620) was a Chaube Brahman of Agra and a nephew of Bihari Lai Chaube. He attended the court of Maharaja Ram Singh of Jaipur. His chief w^ork, which is dated 1670, is the Ras Rahasya, a work on poetics. Ram Jl (born 1646) was the author of a Ndyikd Bhed as well as other works. Manda7i (born 1643), of Bundelkhand, wTote several works on poetical composition. Sukh Dev Misra (fl. circ. 1680), of Kampila, attended several courts. The Raja of Gaur gave him the title of Kavirdj . He wrote works on prosody, poetical composition and other subjects and is considered a poet of very great merit. Newdj (fl. circ. 1700) was a Brahman who lived at the Court of Raja Chhatrasal of Panna. He was the author of a play called the Sakuntald Ndtak as well as of many detached verses.