A notable critic has aptly remarked that a nation which has no past has no present. There are nations which had a hoary past but no notable present. In this respect India is an exception. It had a great past, has great present and is destined to have a great future because its literary and cultural roots are very deep. Right from the days of Vedic poets till the advent of Tagore, India has produced a procession of great poets, philosphers and thinkers.
The ancient poets and writers have left for posterity unique literary works which have endured and entertained mankind all through the ages. These great classics have been translated by deligent scholars into modern languages which have delighted the men of light and learning so much so that they have now been ranked among world's literary masterpieces. The present volume comprises the English translation of the four great classics of India as briefly described in the succeeding paragraphs.
(i) Hitopadesa or the BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS. It has been translated from Sanskrit by Sir Edwin Arnold. It is a work of high antiquity and extended popularity. It has been rightly styled as the 'Father of all Fables' and from its numerous translations have come Aesop, Pilpay and Reeneke Fuchs. Its author is Vishnu Sharma who undertook to teach the dull- headed, spoilt princes, the sons of King Sudarsana of the ancient kidgdom of Pataliputra.
By narrating some of the world's most delightful fables. the wise Brahman preceptor instilled in the princes 'the perfect cycle of kingly duty', and ultima- tely succeeded in turning the dull-headed princes into wise and responsible persons, perfectly trained and groomed for the discharge of onerous responsibilities as rulers.
(ii) Nala and Damayanti selected from the MAHA- BHARATA and translated by Sir Edwin Arnold. The episode of Nala and Damayanti is one of the most charming stories of Mahabharata. When its transla- tion appeared for the first time in European langua- ges, it created a sensation in the literary world. King Nala and princess Damayanti had already heard of each other's unrivalled beauty and endearing qualities and had secretly pledged to marry. They had convey- ed, mutual consent through the ministration of swans. In the venue of Swamvara the four immortal gods who had sworn to marry Damayanti had taken the form. garb and visage of Nala's ownself so as to hoodwink Damayanti. But she more killfully separated the gods from Nala by winning their affection and placed bridal garland round the neck of her lord.
(iii) Selection from the Ramayana by Valmiki and translated by R. T. H. Griffiths. Ramayana and Mahabharata are the two ancient epics of India. The former is the rest in Indian literature. Its author, sage poet, Valmiki, was perhaps the first poet of mankind. Ramayana is a veritable code of moral values and cherihsed ideals. Rama and Sita are the Hindu ideals of a perfect man and perfect woman. The story of Ramayana is too well-known to be recapitulated here.
(iv) Sakoontala by Kalidasa translated by Sir Monier Monier-Williams. The greatest of dramatists in the Sanskrit language is undoubtedly Kalidasa, the Shakespeare of India. His masterpiece and indeed the masterpiece of Indian drama is Sakoontala which has all the graces of oriental poetry. The drama is divided into seven Acts and is a mixture of prose and verse each character rising in the intensity of emotio- nal utterance into bursts of lyric poetry. Its story is too well-known to be recalled here.
(v) Ballads of Hindustan and Miscellaneous Poems by Toru Dutt. With an Introduction by Edmund W, Goose Toru Dutt's appearance on the literary scene of India her amazing literary calibre and her prema- ture and at the tender age of 21 years on 30-8-1877 are, alas, the saddest story and also the most tragic episode in the literary history of the world. The world has been deprived of an amazing genius which would have risen to any heights.
Her first literary effort "SHEAF GLEANED IN FRENCH FIELDS" is a wonderful mixture of strength and weakness of genius overriding great obstacles and of talent succumbing to ignorance and inexperience. But judging from her short life, she has joined the rank of literary immortals of history.
This volume, with its rich haul of five great classics of India, is a literary gem of inestimable value and is worthy of possession by all libraries-public or private and also by the book-shelves of all book- lovers.
STORY-BOOK from the Sanscrit at least possesses the minor merit of novelty. The "perfect language' ." has been hitherto regarded as the province of scholars, and few of these even have found time or taste to search its treasures. And yet among them is the key to the heart of modern India-as well as the splendid record of her ancient Gods and glories. The hope of Hindostan lies in the intelligent interest of England. Whatever avails to dissipate misconceptions between them, and to enlarge their intimacy, is a gain to both peoples; and to this end the present volume aspires in an humble degree, to contribute.
The "Hitopadeśa" is a work of high antiquity, and extended popularity. The prose is doubtless as old as our own era; but the intercalated verses and proverbs compose a selection from writings of an age extremely remote. The "Mahabharata" and the textual Veds are of those quoted; to the first of which Professor M. Williams (in his admirable edition of the "Nala," 1860) assigns a date of 350 B.C., while he claims for the "Rig-Veda" an antiquity as high as B.C. 1300. The "Hito- padeśa " may thus be fairly styled "The Father of all Fables"; for from its numerous translations have come sop and Pilpay, and in later days Reineke Fuchs. Originally compiled in Sanscrit, it was rendered, by order of Nushiraván, in the sixth century, A.D., into Persic. From the Persic it passed, A.D. 850, into the Arabic, and thence into Hebrew and Greek. In its own land it obtained as wide a circulation. The Emperor Ac- bar, impressed with the wisdom of its maxims and the ingenuity of its apologues, commended the work of translating it to his own Vizir, Abdul Fazel. That minister accordingly put the book into a familiar style, and published it with explanations, under the title of the "Criterion of Wisdom." The Emperor had also suggested the abridgment of the long seriesof shlokes which here and there interrupt the narrative, and the Vizir found this advice sound, and followed it, like the present Translator. To this day, in India, the "Hitopadeśa," under other names (as the "Anvári Suhaili "*), retains the delighted attention of young and old, and has some representative in all the Indian vernaculars. A work so well esteemed in the East cannot be unwelcome to Western readers, who receive it here, a condensed but faithful transcript of sense and manner.
As often as an Oriental allusion, or a name in Hindoo mythology, seemed to ask some explanation for the English reader, notes have been appended, bearing reference to the page. In their compilation, and generally, acknowledgment is due to Professor Johnson's excellent version and edition of the "Hitopadesa," and to Mr. Muir's "Sanskrit Texts."
A residence in India, and close intercourse with the Hindoos, have given the author a lively desire to subserve their advancement. No one listens now to the precipitate ignorance which would set aside as "heathenish" the high civilization of this great race; but justice is not yet done to their past development and present capacities. If the wit, the morality, and the philosophy of these "beasts of India" (so faithfully rendered by Mr. Harrison Weir) surprise any vigorous mind into further exploration of her literature, and deeper sense of our responsibility in her government, the author will be repaid.
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