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 "Hitopadeśa" may
thus be fairly styled "The Father of all Fables"; for from its numerous
translations have come Æsop 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 Acbar,
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 series of 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"[1]), 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 "Hitopadeśa," and to Mr. Muir's "Sanscrit
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.
EDWIN ARNOLD.
[1] "The Lights of Canopus," a Persian paraphrase; as the "Khirad
Afroz," "the lamp of the Understanding," is in Hindustani.
THE BOOK OF GOOD COUNSELS
INTRODUCTION
HONOR TO GUNESH, GOD OF WISDOM
This book of Counsel read, and you shall see, Fair speech and Sanscrit
lore, and Policy.
ON the banks of the holy river Ganges there stood a city named
Pataliputra. The King of it was a good King and a virtuous, and his
name was Sudarsana. It chanced one day that he overheard a certain
person reciting these verses--
"Wise men, holding wisdom highest, scorn delights, as false as fair,
Daily live they as Death's fingers twined already in their hair.
Truly, richer than all riches, better than the best of gain, Wisdom is,
unbought, secure--once won, none loseth her again.
Bringing dark things into daylight, solving doubts that vex the mind,
Like an open eye is Wisdom--he that hath her not is blind."
Hearing these the King became disquieted, knowing that his own sons
were gaining no wisdom, nor reading the Sacred Writings,[2] but
altogether going in the wrong way; and he repeated this verse to
himself--
"Childless art thou? dead thy children? leaving thee to want and dool?
Less thy misery than his is, who is father to a fool."
And again this--
"One wise son makes glad his father, forty fools avail him not:-- One
moon silvers all that darkness which the silly stars did dot."
"And it has been said," reflected he--
"Ease and health, obeisant children, wisdom, and a fair-voiced wife--
Thus, great King! are counted up the five felicities of life. For the son
the sire is honored; though the bow-cane bendeth true, Let the strained
string crack in using, and what service shall it do?"
"Nevertheless," mused the King, "I know it is urged that human efforts
are useless: as, for instance--
"That which will not be, will not be--and what is to be, will be:-- Why
not drink this easy physic, antidote of misery?"
"But then that comes from idleness, with people who will not do what
they should do. Rather,
"Nay! and faint not, idly sighing, 'Destiny is mightiest,' Sesamum holds
oil in plenty, but it yieldeth none unpressed. Ah! it is the Coward's
babble, 'Fortune taketh, Fortune gave;' Fortune! rate her like a master,
and she serves thee like a slave."
"For indeed,
"Twofold is the life we
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