Many parts of it are written in such a turgid "Oriental" style, that a
close translation would be quite unsuitable to the English reader.
Such passages have therefore been much condensed; others, which are
hardly decent--or, as in the speech of the parasite in the last story,
tedious and uninteresting, have been omitted; but in general the
original has been pretty closely adhered to, and nothing has been
added to it.

The exact date of the composition of the "Dasakumaracharitam" is not
known. It is supposed to have been written about the end of the
eleventh century, and was left unfinished by the author; but as the
story of the last narrator is almost finished, not much could have
been wanting to complete the work, and the reader may easily imagine
what the conclusion would have been.

Some of the incidents correspond with those of the "Arabian Nights,"
but the stories on the whole are quite different from anything found
there, and give a lively picture of Hindoo manners and morals.
Unscrupulous deception, ready invention, extreme credulity and
superstition, and disregard of human life, are strongly illustrated.

The belief in the power of penance, which was supposed to confer on
the person practising it not merely personal sanctity, but even great
supernatural powers, was very generally entertained among the Hindoos,
and is often alluded to here; as is also transmigration, or the birth
of the soul after death in a new body, human or brute. Sufferings or
misfortunes are attributed to sins committed in a former existence,
and in more than one story two persons are supposed to recollect
having many years before lived together as husband and wife.