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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 2, p. 432.

432 THE INDIAN EŁAfPIRE [CHAP. Sivaji, over whom he exercised great influence. His principal work was the Disbodh, dealing with religious duties. Sridhar, already mentioned under the head of Krishna-worship, wrote a number of poems based on the Sanskrit epics and Puranas. Moropant has also been dealt with. Mahipati (I715-90) was an imitator of Tukaram, but his chief importance rests on the fact that he collected the popular traditions about national saints. His various works, such as the Bhakta-vi'aya, the Bhakta-fiadmrita, the Santa-vi'aya, and the Santa-ilZsmrita, are commonly described as the Acta Sanclorumr of the Marathas. LZva.zis, or erotic lyrics, especially those of Anantaphandli (I 744- I8I9) and RamjosI (1762-18I2), are very popular, but often more fervent than decent. Another branch of Marathi litera: ture is composed of the Pawiizidds or war-ballads, mostly by nameless poets, which are sung everywhere through the country. There is a small prose literature. It embraces narratives of historical events (the so-called Bakhars), moral maxims, such as the Vidur-niZi, and popular tales. Bihbri Bihari literature is small, and, with the exception of the literature, songs of Vidyapati (see p. 424), unimportant. All the works which have come down to us are in the Maithil! dialect. Lyrics in the style of Vidyapati are popular, and there are more than a dozen of his imitators. Manbodh Jha (d. I788) wrote a Haribans, or poetical life of Krishna, of which ten cantos have survived. The dramatic art is still cultivated. The body of a play is written in Sanskrit and Prakrit, but the songs are in Maithili. Oriya The earliest Oriya works are lyrical verses dealing with literature. episodes in the life of Krishna. In the first part of the sixteenth century Jagannatha Dasa wrote a version of the Bdhgavata, Balarima one of the RdmJy,a.za, Sara!i Dasa a Bhkrata, and Achyutananda a Harivahgsa. None of these is of much merit. They were followed by Dina-krishna Dasa (who lived about three hundred years ago), mentioned on p. 424 as the author of the graceful, but wanton, Rasa-kallla; and shortly after him came Upendra Bhanja of Goomsur in Ganjam, whose fame rests upon two romantic poems entitled respectively, after the names of their heroines, LivanyavatZ and Kioibrahmn.izda-sundari, and on a Vaidihi-vildsa. They are spoilt by the excessive employment of a Sanskritized vocabulary. Bengali Most of the great Bengali works have been described under literature. the head of Krishna- or Siva-worship. We may also mention the Bengali version of the Afiahibharala by KaSi-ram Das (fif-