102 A HiSTORY OF HINDI LITERATURE night ; the eager waiting of the chatak bird, who is supposed to drink only raindrops, for the beginning of the rainy season ; the chakor bird, that is never happy except when gazing on the moon; the swan that knows how to separate milk from the water with which it has been mixed — these and many other stock metaphors are continually recurring in Hindi poets. But many beautiful similes, drawn from a true observation of nature at first hand, are also found not only in the works of Tulsi Das, but also in the verses of other poets. 5. Another thing to be noticed in Hindi poetry is tke limitatio7i of the ra7ige of its subject matter. Not only is the religious interest dominant, but even in connection with this the subjects dealt with are con- fined to well-worn grooves. The stories of Rama and of Krishna form a very large part of the subject matter and have been told over and over again by poet after poet. There are differences in treatment, but the same details are constantly appearing again and again. Those religious poets who avoid these themes are very largely occupied with such subjects as have already been noted in a previous chapter, namely, the value of the gtiru, the importance of bhakti, the evils of transmigration, the deceit of maya, the transitoriness of the world, and suchlike subjects. One misses also the poetry of pure human love. There is indeed a good deal of erotic poetry of a very unhealthy type, but owing to the general practice of child-marriage, and the secluded position occupied by women, the romantic period of youth, which is the time of courtship, does not come into the lot of young men and women in India, and hence when love is described in Hindi poetry it is too often in connection with the courtesan. But the fidelity of Padmavati, the wifely devotion of Sita, and some other stories of the same type must not, on the other hand, be forgotten. There was also a tendency to look to previous writers for themes of poetic inspiration, and if a great poet achieved success in any subject, he was sure to have a large number of imitators. Thus there
