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XXII
INTRODUCTION matter But this is entuely intentional I have always had before my mind's eye what Professor Macdonell said to me about the remark which a German friend of his had once made in regard to assuming that a MS has a particular reading unless a special statement to the contrary is made
ich traue Ihnen nicht". Secondly, I was unfortunately unable to secure the originals of some of the MSS. and had to depend entirely on the copies supplied to me Moreover, in a few cases when the copy of one MS was made for me with collations from two or more other MSS, I could not with perfect certainty assume that the collated MSS had a particular reading when the collator was silent about it Because of this uncertainty I preferred to err on the side of profuseness and have made frequent use of the phrase 'All others', after which in many cases I have added in brackets the names of the MSS., about the actual readings of which I had the slightest doubt However, before this edition is printed it is my intention to consult the original MSS, only the copies of which I have collated. this would go a great way towar ds reducing what would be superfluous in the Critical Notes The MSS. show no uniformity in spelling, so much is this the case that a single MS. spells the saine word differently in different places Such variations of reading have not been included here Then again, mistakes in orthography or omissions of such words in verses as reduce the number of syllables necessary in a foot, errors of dittography (except when they are of some value in deciding the mutual relationship of two or more MSS) have all been ignored The symbol (V) signifies that the MS spells the leading incorrectly in cases when the reading is illegible, I have used the symbol (*) above the name of the MS. or above the reading. In Prakrit passages, however, I have tried to give the exact spellings as they appear in the MSS. It is, besides, necessary to add that where the MSS. Mt and Mg agree with Md, Md only has been mentioned, and similarly when T, 18 stated to have a particular reading, T2, T3, Te are to be understood to have the same, unless various readings of these latter MSS are there mentioned.
In regard to the Illustrative Notes I have refrained from being very exhaustive My object has been twofold, firstly, to point out obscure passages and to attempt satisfactory translations of the same. In doing so I have always referred to or quoted from the extant commentaries of the play and have shown the defects in their interpretations. In certain cases where the passages have not become quite clear to me, I have pointed out the difficulties of interpretation and thus prepared the way for further attempts at a better solution. In the second place, I have referred to the parallel passages in the other Rāma plays, the Anargharāghava and the Bälarāmāyana in particular, both in order to
