himself to pleasing the assemblies of the good; with toil and labour he makes a {quarter of a verse ing to the thoughts of the world. by conform II. Whatever has been appointed by fate in this life for each man, that shall be his lot, be it great or small. The cloud rains day by day, filling all things, but only a few little drops fall into the châtaka's mouth. 12. The wise must be respected, even when the advice they give us is not suitable. The ordinary converse of such men is like Holy Writ. 13. A good man may fall, but he falls as a ball; an ignoble man falls like a lump of clay. 14. If, by the decree of fate, the world were ever to become deprived of lotuses, would the swan scratch in the dust-heap like the cock? 15. Elephants, filled with passion, heavy with sleep, may stand at the gate; horses, adorned with golden ornaments, may gallop about filled with spirit; their owner may be wakened from his sleep by the sound of drums, conchs, cymbals, fifes, and lutes: all this, a state like that of the lord of the deities, is the reward, outwardly displayed, of religious merit (gained in former births). 16. The joy of those whose minds are alive to the happiness of content is perfect, but the desire of those who are disturbed by the lust after riches never ceases. For whose sake was Meru created by fate full of wealth as it is? Meru pleases me not, though it is filled with an abundance of gold and silver, since it is satisfied with itself alone. 17. The red colour of the lotus, the care for others displayed by the good, the want of respect shown by the bad; this is the triad of qualities brought to perfection in each class by means of its own innate disposition. 18. Faithfulness in promises is the noblest quality among men; leanness is the best quality for a female elephant; wisdom and patience best become a Brâhman. 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 NITI 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 śloka 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 Nîti 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 śloka 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. 5. Sasavishana, "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 śloka 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. "The empty pitcher makes the most sound." 8. Kińchid-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 sloka 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 Brahma'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-sthahânâm vâranânâm, "Elephants, the surface of their cheeks dark through the lines of mada (flowing freshly)." Abhinava, &c., Bahuvrihi comp. qualifying varanânâm. 18. The Scholiast says on this sloka, "Yo yasya svâbhâvikaḥ sadgunah tad guņam na ko 'pi hartum śaknoti,” “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 quoixãç 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 Hindûs 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 Sak., 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, |