Satasai

The Satasai (Satsai) or Bihari Satsai (Seven Hundred Verses of Bihari) is a famous work of the early 17th century by the Hindi poet Bihārī, in the Braj Bhasha dialect of Hindi spoken in the Braj region of northern India. It contains Dohas, or couplets, on Bhakti (devotion), Neeti (Moral policies) and Shringara (love).

An important work in the Ritikavya Kaal or Ritikaal of Hindi literature, the Satsai is today celebrated in paintings in various Indian miniature styles, particularly in the Kangra style, as is the case with Jayadeva's Gita Govinda.

The story of the origin of the 'Bihari Satsai' is rather intriguing. When Raja Jai Singh I (ruled. 1611-1667), of Amber, near Jaipur, heard Bihari at the court of the Mughal Emperor Shahjahan, he invited Bihari to Amber.

Later Raja Jai Singh married a young wife and, lost in her love, didn't step out of his harem for over a year, also neglecting his state duties and his other wives. That was when his ministers and his senior wife coaxed Bihari to send the following couplet to him hidden amidst the flower petals meant for the Maharaja's bed:

"Nahin paraga nahin madhur madhu nahin vikasa yahi kal ali kali hi saun bandhyau again kaun haval."

"There is no pollen; there is no sweet honey; nor yet has the blossom opened. If the bee is enamoured of the bud, who can tell what will happen when she is a full-blown flower."

Reading these lines in the morning, the Raja was immediately brought back to his senses. Later he asked Bihari to write a couplet for him every day, and in turn he would reward the poet with a gold coin each time. Seven hundred verses later, the Raja asked that his verses be compiled in book form; hence the collection of the 'Bihari Satsai' was born out of a poet's need to impress his patron and a state's need to have its king back from the quagmire of sensual pleasure.

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Wikipedia