History of Bengali Language and Literature c10.24

c10.24

The literature that sprang up under the patronage of courts was thus vitiated by their influence. Not only in the style of writing but in its subject-matter also, it 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 *kutnis* 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 Zelekhā, a Persian poem, in which a *kutni* 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.