the present translator has been to give in the following pages as literal
a rendering as possible of the great work of Vyasa. To the purely English
reader there is much in the following pages that will strike as ridiculous.
Those unacquainted with any language but their own are generally very
exclusive in matters of taste. Having no knowledge of models other than
what they meet with in their own tongue, the standard they have formed of
purity and taste in composition must necessarily be a narrow one. The
translator, however, would ill-discharge his duty, if for the sake of
avoiding ridicule, he sacrificed fidelity to the original. He must
represent his author as he is, not as he should be to please the narrow
taste of those entirely unacquainted with him. Mr. Pickford, in the
preface to his English translation of the Mahavira Charita, ably defends a
close adherence to the original even at the sacrifice of idiom and taste
against the claims of what has been called 'Free Translation,' which means
dressing the author in an outlandish garb to please those to whom he is
introduced.

In the preface to his classical translation of Bhartrihari's Niti Satakam
and Vairagya Satakam, Mr. C.H. Tawney says, "I am sensible that in the
present attempt I have retained much local colouring. For instance, the
ideas of worshipping the feet of a god of great men, though it frequently
occurs in Indian literature, will undoubtedly move the laughter of
Englishmen unacquainted with Sanskrit, especially if they happen to belong
to that class of readers who revel their attention on the accidental and
remain blind to the essential. But a certain measure of fidelity to the
original even at the risk of making oneself ridiculous, is better than the
studied dishonesty which characterises so many translations of oriental
poets."

We fully subscribe to the above although, it must be observed, the censure