of each age to consume the world, and at the final consum-mation of all things to consume also the gods and demons. Vide Nîti Śataka, śloka 13.

78. "How many noble men there are in the world, pure in thought, word, and deed!" Expecting the answer, "But few." Cf. Bhagavad., vii. 3: "Manushyânâm sahasreshu kaśchid yatati siddhaye," "Among thousands of men, who strive after perfection?' (Answer, "But few.") Cf.

also Bhagavadgita, xvii. 24 et seq.

8o. With this sloka begins the section on the praise of firmness or constancy.

81. Cf. Bhagavad., ii. 15

“Yam hi na vyathayanty ete purusham, purusharshabha, samaduḥkhasukham dhîram so'mṛitatvâya kalpate."

"The man whom these things (external things) do not affect, (O noblest of men), being the same in pain and pleasure, and firm, he is fit for immortality."

84. This sloka, beginning the section on the power of fate or destiny, is pure fatalism. Everything, both in divine affairs as well as human, is represented as moving according to an irresistible law, the law of fate.

The "basket" (karanda) is explained by Telang as the place in which the snake-charmer keeps his snakes. "Meeting with the same fate," "tena eva yâtaḥ pathâ,” went by the same route as the rat, i.e., died.

85. "The misfortunes of good men," sâdhuvṛittânâm vipattayah. Telang points out on this passage that there is a play on the word sádhuvritta. It means "well rounded,” as applied to the ball, and "of good conduct," as applied to men. Cf. Niti Sataka, Mis. Sat., 13.

87. Cf. Job xiv. 7, "There is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease; also Hor., Car. iv. 7; though both

the writer of the Book of Job and Horace seem to draw a different conclusion from the writer of this Sataka. The tree will sprout again, but "man dieth and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?" Horace says

"Nos ubi decidimus .

Quo pater Æneas, quo dives Tullus et Ancus

Pulvis et umbra sumus."

91. For this sloka, cf. Hitopadeśa, Mitralâbhah, 52. For Rahu, cf. Niti Sataka, śloka 27.

=

92. Tâvat prathamam, according to commentator, "Fate first creates, &c., and then destroys."

"An excellent man" (purusharatna, lit. a jewel of a man"), ratna, used commonly with nouns to express their extreme excellence.

93. As to the power of fate, cf. Hitopadeśa, Mitralabhah, 152—" Chakravat parivartante duḥkhâni cha sukhâni cha." “Like a wheel, pains and pleasures revolve.” Also in the Meghadúta, śloka 109, translated by Wilson

"Life, like a wheel's revolving orb, turns round,

Now whirled in air, now dragged along the ground."

The expression may find a parallel in Anacreon, xxxiii. 7—

τροχὸς ἅρματος γὰρ οἷα
βίοτος τρέχει κυλισθείς.

The power of destiny is recognised under a slightly different figure in the lines of Horace, Car. i. 34, 14—

"... hinc apicem rapax

Fortuna cum stridore acuto

Sustulit, hinc posuisse gaudet."

Or in Car. iii. 10, 10, where in

"Ne currente retro funis eat rota,"

an allusion has been thought to exist to the wheel of fortune.

94. The section relating to religious works begins with this sloka. The meaning of the stanza is as follows:-Man should give himself up to the works of religion, to study of the Scripture, to the exercise of liberality, to the instruction and the benefiting others; he should offer sacrifice to the deities and

C

the manes; for these works will produce happiness for him in a future state, and are not in the power of destiny or fate, as all other things are, including even the deities themselves. On the idea that the gods are in the power of destiny, cf. Eurip., Alcestis, 965:

κρεῖσσον οὐδὲν ἀνάγκας

ηὗρον,

καὶ γὰρ Ζεὺς ὅ τι νεύσῃ

σὺν σοὶ τοῦτο τελευτᾷ.

For

95. Continuation of the ideas in preceding sloka. Brahmâ working in the egg, cf. Manu, i. 9, 12, 13. The Avatârs or incarnations of Vishņu have been extended from ten to twenty-two. Those usually recognised are-1. Matsya, as the fish; 2. Kûrma, the tortoise; 3. Varâha, the boar; 4. Narasinha, the man-lion; 5. Vâmana, the dwarf; 6. Paraśu Râma, Râma with the axe; 7. Râma or Râma Chandra, son of Dasaratha; 8. Krishna; 9. Buddha; 10. Kalkî, the white horse. The first three of these incarnations are apparently connected with some Hindû traditions of the Deluge; that of Varâha, or the boar, is referred to Niti Sataka, Mis. Sat., 3. Siva (according to the fable) was supposed to have killed the sons of a Brahman, and was compelled to wander for twelve years as a mendicant bearing the skull of one of his victims in his hand. This is referred to in the Sringára Sat., 64, where it is said that persons who insult the god of love by want of susceptibility or reluctance are punished by being turned into ascetics, and pass their lives as Kâpâlikas, i.e., worshippers of Siva, who carry skulls which they use as the mendicant's jar in which to collect their food.

99. Cf. Prov. xxv. 18; Eccles. vii. 8. Śalya tulyah, “equal

to or like an arrow."

100.

"A field of koḍrava.” Koḍrava is a common kind of grain eaten by the poor, Paspalum scrobiculatum.

IOI. There is no escape from fate or destiny. This senti ment is repeated usque ad nauseam throughout the whole of the Hitopadesa. Cf. however, Suhridbheda, 15, for a remarkable passage

"Nâkâle mriyate janturviddhah śaraṇaśatairapi

kuśagreṇaiva sampṛishța prâptâkalo na jîvati."

"A creature, though pierced by a hundred arrows, does not die if his time be not come; but if the time of his death be near, he dies if pricked even by a blade of grass.”

106. The idea contained in the sloka occurs in Hit., Suhridbhedaḥ, 67, in the following form—

"Kadarthitasyâpi cha dhairyavṛitter
buddher vinâso na hi sankanîyaḥ
adhaḥ kritasyâpe tanûrapâto

nâdhaḥ śikhâ yâte kadâchideva."

"Loss of understanding is not to be apprehended in a man. of firm conduct though he be troubled; the flame of a fire which may have been overturned does not go downwards."

MISCELLANEOUS SATAKAS.

1. For the comparison of a woman to a plant, cf. Mrich., act i. 26: “Gaņikâ tvam mârgajâtâ lataiva!" "Thou, a harlot, art like a creeper growing by the roadside." Also Catullus, lxi. 34

"Ut tenax hedera huc et huc
Arborem implicat errans."

3. The creator Prajapati took the form of a boar for the sake of raising the earth out of the waters. The Taittiriya Sanhitâ says "This universe was formerly waters, fluid. On it Prajapati, becoming wind, moved. He saw this earth. Becoming a boar, he took it up." The Ramayana also says that Brahmâ became a boar and took up the earth.”

For Rahu, vide sloka 34.

8. "The drum sends forth an agreeable sound," &c. The following may explain the allusion:-The Mridanga is made of wood, and has two mouths. The right mouth is prepared with black kharali (a mixture of ashes, red chalk, the tar of the Diospyros glutinosa, and parched rice); the left mouth is simply covered with leather. The players, before beginning

to perform on it, anoint this end with an ointment made of flour. The meaning of the stanza seems to be, that as the drum sounds when struck by the man who has spread the flour ointment over it, so a man sends forth the praises of the patron who supplies him with benefits.

JO. This stanza contains throughout a play upon words used in a double meaning; the force of the expression is, however, untranslatable, except in the manner in which I have rendered them. Artham means 66 "" revenue as applied to the minister of state, "meaning" as referring to the man of letters; apaśabdham "common rumours" as well as "vulgar expressions; and padam, "a place" (i.e., of fame) as well as a quarter of a verse."

13. Cf. Prov. xxiv. 16. The just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again; but the wicked shall fall into mischief. Cf. Niti Sataka, 85.

14. The answer to the question proposed in this sloka is, "No! for the swan is too noble a bird to indulge in such low practices."