History of Bengali Language and Literature c10.27

c10.27

These *kutnis* are numerous in Persian tales. They are not of the class of Durvalā, the maid-servant described in the Chandi Kāvyas dealt with by us in a previous chapter. The latter are knaves who repay the kindness shown to them by creating disunion amongst the members of a family to serve their own selfish ends and by robbing their masters as much as they can, when entrusted with marketing. Durvalā bears a family-likeness to Mantharā of the Rāmāyaṇa, though placed in different situations, and these women should not be confounded with the *kutnis* of the Māhomedan stories; they are not accessories to immoral purposes. The *dutis* perform a quite different function in the Vaiṣṇava poems where love is spiritualised.