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348
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
KVEMBER, 1886.
records must be adaptad to definite dates; the If thou must go, my Lord, say not, "I go, reverse course of this is quite irrational and mis- I go." The falling of a thunderbolt on one causeth taken, and has led to nearly all the doubts that not the pang; it is the knowledge that it is falling exist regarding the Early Guptas.
which is unbearable. If the second Mahånåman of this inscription is With these may be compared Lakhima ThaDhâtusêna's maternal uncle, then the real point kurani's verses on the pangs of anticipated separaestablished by the record is, not that the Gupta tion, which are very popular in Mithild. They era began A. D. 166, but either that the details are as follows:of the Coylonese chronology are not as reliable as they have been supposed to be, or else that a
| भा भोकुं न भड़े कुटिलविषलतां कोटिमिन्दोवितर्काwrong starting point has been selected in working them out, and that they now require considerable
ताराकारात्तृषार्तः पिबति न पयसां विनुषः पत्रसंस्थाः। rectification
छायानम्भोरुहाणामलिकुलशबलां वीक्ष्य सन्ध्यामसन्ध्यां 24th September 1886. J. F. FLEET.
harrar raftaafa Taraft Area :
He breaks the crisp lotus tendrils to eat them CURIOSITIES OF INDIAN LITERATURE.
but does not do so, for he mistakes them for the The PANGS OF PARTING. The following lines are well known in Mithila.
rays of the moon; though athirst he does not They are very true, and are worth preserving.
drink the drops of water in the lotus leaves for he The metre is not very correct:
thinks them stars; in the shade of the lotus.
flowers dark with the swarms of bees he sees यदि यास्यसि नाथ निश्चित
night when there is no night; always dreading यामि यामि वचनं हि मा वद ।
separation from his beloved, the chakrandku
imagines even the day to be night. अशनेः पतनं न वेदन पतनज्ञानमतीव दुःसहम् ।।
G. A. GRIERSON.
BOOK NOTICE
ANCIENT PROVERBS and MAXIMS from Barmose Sources, Mr. Gray has been at some pains to collect all
or the Niti Literature of Burma, by JAMES GRAY. the parallel passages in the various nitis, and also London: Trübner and Co.
in his notes to give passages from the Indian This is a rendering of the four popular nitis classics which indicate the sources whence many of Burma, or nidhis as the Burmese prefer to of the niti aphorisms were drawn. The Burmese spell it. These are Likaniti, Dhamminili, Rija- glo33es of course show the manner in which the niti and the Suttavad thananíti, i.e. in the Pali people of Barma have assimilated Indian ideas, form of the words. The immense popularity of while borrowing their religion, better than do the these imported works, for they are strictly such, Pali texts; for, even if it be granted that these in Burma, especially of the first mentioned, makes last are taught along with the glosses, it is from it of some importance to have English transla- the glosses that the Burmese get their ideas of tions of them, and we therefore welcome this little the meaning of the texts. Useful, therefore, no book. Mr. Gray's introduction, however, has not doubt, as it is to give a rendering of the PAli much to say as to the date of the importation of for the benefit of English students, it would the Niti literature of India into Burma, nor of its enable them to more clearly apprehend the subsequent history there; and to say the truth workings of the Burmese mind if the text were very little as to this is known at present, or is accompanied by a rendering of the explanation likely to be known for a long while to come. of it as understood by the Burmese, as well as by
We are glad to observe that the author has the parallel passages culled from the earlier Indian PAli texts, of which he now gives only the trans- literature. At any rate this might be attempted lation, in preparation. The texts that circulate with reference to the Lókaniti; and in this concommonly in Barma, always or nearly always in nection we would note that a translation of the connection with a gloss in the vernacular, are most popular of the vernacular renderings of the very far from being correct, and a well-collated Likaniti was given by Captain Temple in the and carefully prepared text would be a valuable Journ. Beng. As. Soc., Vol. XLVII. Part I. p. 239ff., addition to our knowledge of Pali.
which has been overlooked by Mr. Gray.
