elephant; wisdom and patience best become a Brahman, Each creature is best adorned by its own special ornament. 19. It is better to fall from the highest point of a lofty mountain and be dashed to pieces among the rocks—it is better that one's hand should be bitten by the poisonous fangs of a dreadful serpent-it is better to fall into the fire, than that one's piety should fail. 20. If thou thinkest to behold noble-minded men fall from their firmness in misfortune, cease from evil efforts involving idle speculations. O fool! even at the end of ages the mighty mountains do not become small, nor does the ocean lose the powers that belong to it. 21. Glory, conquering all things, tears the bosom of men, as an impudent and forward woman, with her nails. long and sharp like swords. 22. Even the moon, the storehouse of ambrosia, the guide of the plants which grow year by year, compacted of nectar and filled with beauty, becomes shorn of its beams directly it reaches the region of the sun. Who does not fall into contempt directly he enters the house of another? 23. Girls with glances of admiration, a house filled with magnificence, prosperity attended with outward signs of royalty these are a man's portion as long as fortune attends him; but if that fails, all these things disappear, like the pearls on a necklace whose string has been broken in play. NOTES TO THE NÎTI SATAKA. 1. The second collection of Satakas ascribed to Bhartrihari relates to Nîti or Morality. The word Nîti may be taken to mean "moral philosophy, ethics, precepts inculcating prudent or moral behaviour." These precepts are thrown into the proverbial form. The first sloka is occupied by the invocation or salutation to Brahmâ, who is addressed as the deity, whose essence is self-knowledge, and by whom self-knowledge can alone be attained. This seems to refer to the doctrine which teaches the unity of the Supreme and the Individual Soul, since what we know when we know ourselves truly is the Brahmâ (Telang). 2. By means of this sloka an attempt has been made to fix the authorship of the Niti Sataka on Bhartrihari. It is supposed that he was disgusted at some discovery of infidelity on the part of his wife, and in consequence resigned his royal position to his brother Vikrama. There is, however, little or no authority for the statement, and the sloka itself is too vague to found any theory of authorship upon it. The commentator says that King Vikrama gained possession of a certain fruit which conferred immortality on any one who ate it. Vikrama gave it to a Brâhman, who gave it to King Bhartrihari. Bhartrihari gave it to his wife; she gave it to her paramour; the latter gave it to a lover of his own, in whose possession Bhartrihari saw the fruit. Such is the occurrence supposed to be recorded in this sloka. 3. We may compare the ideas in this stanza with the words of St. Paul, "If any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know" (1 Cor. viii. 2), or the line, "A little learning is a dangerous thing," of Pope. Jnana-lava-dur-vidagdham, "(The man) puffed up through smallness of knowledge." Durvidagdha is explained by the commentator as garvishța, arrogant. 4. Referring to the fable according to which crocodiles were supposed to have pearls between their teeth. maré's nest 22 5. Śaśavishâna, "the horn of a hare;" proverbial for that which does not exist. Cf. the following, given by Telang in his note on this passage "Esha bandhyâsuto yâti khapushpakritasekharaḥ mriga trishnâmbhasi snâtaḥ śaśaśṛińgadhanurdharaḥ.” "The son of a barren woman goes along, wearing a crown made from flowers that grew in the sky, bathing in a mirage, carrying a bow made of hare's horn." Bringing together all the most impossible things. With this sloka may be compared Prov. xxvii. 22, and Ecclus. xxi. and xxii. 6. Vyala may be translated either "elephant" or "serpent." 7. This stanza is the one in which the author shows the highest knowledge of the world. It is merely an elaborated form of the English proverb, "Speech is silver, silence is gold." The same idea runs through a good many verses of the Proverbs of Solomon, e.g., x. 19, "In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin." So also xiii. 3, xvii. 27. Cf. Ecclus. xx. 18, 19, 20. Orientals always seem to have regarded talkativeness as an evil and a sign of folly. empty pitcher makes the most sound." "The 8. Kinchid-jna, "knowing somewhat," is explained by Telang to refer not to the speaker's estimate of himself at the time of his "blindness," but to the view he takes of himself after his "intoxication" has left him. "When I knew (that which now I know was but) a little," is the idea to be conveyed. 9. As a dog prefers the carrion which he has before him to any sight however magnificent, so the fool keeps his eyes fixed on himself and his small acquirement, and 10. Continually falls lower and lower in the scale of intellect. 12-13. Cf. Ps. xlviii. 20 (Vulg.): "Homo, cum in honore esset, non intellexit; comparatus est jumentis insipientibus, et similis factus est illis." For bhuvi bhârabhûtâḥ, cf. Iliad, xviii. 1o4 : ἀλλ ̓ ἧμαι παρὰ νηυσὶ ἐτώσιον ἄχθος ἀρούρης. 14. Cf. Prov. xvii. 12. 15. With this śloka begins the section or chapter relating to wisdom. Cf. Hitopadeśa, Mitrabhedaḥ, 66, 71, 72, for ideas similar to those contained in the last line of this sloka. 16. Kalpa-anta, the end of a kalpa, the destruction of the world. A kalpa is supposed to be a day and night of Brahmâ, and to equal 4,320,000,000 years of men. After the creation of the world, it is supposed to remain unaltered for one of Brahmâ's days, a period of 2,160,000,000 years of men. The world, and all that it contains, is then destroyed by fire, only the gods, sages, and elements surviving. On Brahmâ's awaking after his night, which lasts an equal number of years with the day, he repeats the process of creation. This goes on continually until his existence of a hundred years is brought to an end, when he, the gods, the sages, and the whole universe are resolved into their constituent elements. 17. Abhi-nava-mada-lekha-śyama-gandha-sthahanam vâranânam, "Elephants, the surface of their cheeks dark through the lines of mada (flowing freshly)." Abhinava, &c., Bahuvrîhi comp. qualifying varaṇanam. 18. The Scholiast says on this śloka, "Yo yasya svâbhâvikaḥ sadgunah tad guṇam na ko 'pi hartum saknoti," "No one can take away the virtue of him who is virtuous in his natural disposition." Bohlen says, "Deus ipse sapienti adimere non potest doctrinam ; Brahmâ ipse nil valet adversus fatum (vidhi) et unum ipsi negatum est, ut infecta reddat quæ puoixãç menti quasi fuerint inusta." The latter part of this sloka refers to a supposed faculty of the swan for separating milk from water which has been previously mixed in the act of drinking it, which has passed into a proverb. Regnaud remarks, "Préjugé sur l'erreur duquel il est inutile d'insister." Cf. Sak., "Hanso hi kshîram âdatte tanmiśrâ varjayatyapaḥ," "For the flamingo extracts (takes) the milk (and) leaves behind the water that is mixed with it." The Hindus imagine that the hansa or flamingo has the power of separating milk from water (Śak., Mon. Williams, p. 266 note). Prof. M. Williams quotes this sloka of Bhartrihari in his note in Śak., and continues, “This reference is probably to the milky juice of the water-lily, which would be its (the hansa's) natural food, and to which allusion is often made by the Hindu poets." 19-20. Cicero (pro. Arch., c. 7) has a sentiment somewhat similar to that contained in these slokas: "Hæc studia adolescentiam alunt, senectutem oblectant, secundas res ornant, adversis perfugium ac solatium præbent; delectant domi, non impediunt foris, pernoctant nobiscum, peregrinantur, rusticantur." Cf. Prov. xii. 1. 21. Some editors have vachanena, "what is the use of words?" If the reading kavachena be taken, it means, "what is the use of armour?" trans. by Regnaud, "la patience est une cuirasse." The man who has enemies within, i.e., the passions, can have no worse enemies to fear. The passions or faults of the mind are six in number-desire, wrath, covetousness, bewilderment, pride, and envy. Shaḍ-varga, the aggregate of six things, is the appellation given to them (Mon. Williams' Lex., under Shad-varga). The end of the last line, sukavita yadasti rajyena kim? "If there is good poetry, what need of a kingdom?" seems to mean that the man who is learned and intelligent has no need of external things to produce or add to his happiness. 22. Enumerates the virtues which a man must practise if he would live happily. Kalâ, in l. 4, signifies here "qualities," referring to the virtues enumerated in the preceding lines. 23. Sińchate vâche satyam, "pours truth into the speech," or "impregnates the speech with truthfulness." 24. Kaviśvaráh, "learned poets;" lit. "kings of poets." Cf. śloka 12. Rasa-siddhaḥ well versed in or conversant with the poetical rasas or affections, accomplished in poetry (Mon. Williams' Lex., Rasas). The poetical rasas are ten: sringára, love; vira, heroism; bibhatsa, disgust; raudra, anger; hasya, mirth; bhayânaka, terror; karuna, pity; adbhuta, wonder; śânta, tranquillity; vatsalya, paternal fondness. 27. This stanza is quoted in Mudrârâkshasa, act ii. (p. 79, Majumdâr's series), trans. by Wilson : "Obstacles foreseen Deter the poor of spirit from an enterprise; 28. Even in adversity the foot must be constant; vipady |