For England; O our India! as dear to me as She!

EDWIN ARNOLD

PREFACE

This famous and marvellous Sanskrit poem occurs as an episode of the
Mahabharata, in the sixth--or "Bhishma"--Parva of the great Hindoo
epic. It enjoys immense popularity and authority in India, where it is
reckoned as one of the ``Five Jewels,"--pancharatnani--of Devanagiri
literature. In plain but noble language it unfolds a philosophical system
which remains to this day the prevailing Brahmanic belief, blending as it
does the doctrines of Kapila, Patanjali, and the Vedas. So lofty are many
of its declarations, so sublime its aspirations, so pure and tender its
piety, that Schlegel, after his study of the poem, breaks forth into this
outburst of delight and praise towards its unknown author:
"Magistrorum reverentia a Brachmanis inter sanctissima pietatis officia
refertur. Ergo te primum, Vates sanctissime, Numinisque hypopheta!
quisquis tandem inter mortales dictus tu fueris, carminis bujus auctor,,
cujus oraculis mens ad excelsa quaeque,quaeque,, aeterna atque divina,
cum inenarraoih quddam delectatione rapitur-te primum, inquam,
salvere jubeo, et vestigia tua semper adore." Lassen re-echoes this
splendid tribute; and indeed, so striking are some of the moralities here
inculcated, and so close the parallelism--ofttimes actually verbal--
between its teachings and those of the New Testament, that a
controversy has arisen between Pandits and Missionaries on the point
whether the author borrowed from Christian sources, or the Evangelists
and Apostles from him.

This raises the question of its date, which cannot be positively settled. It